Engagement journalism is more than just an event for station members, a forum on issues, or a trivia night at a local brewery. Engagement is all of those things, but more importantly, it is a profoundly different mindset about approaching what a story is, what news is, and what journalism is. This reading list equips journalists, editors, and media leaders with essential knowledge, strategies, and case studies to foster meaningful engagement with their communities.
This collection of resources covers a broad spectrum of topics, from understanding the fundamentals of engagement journalism to exploring its impact on trust, revenue, civic participation and content creation.
You’ll find best practices and real-world examples from journalism organizations and leading newsrooms that have successfully integrated engagement into their reporting to better serve their communities. At America Amplified, we hope they will guide you in serving your communities better.
Introductory readings on engaged journalism
- Legacy Media is dead – what needs to take its place?
A prominent media critic lays out why things have to change and what the new journalism will look like: they share an ethic of first listening to communities and their needs and an urgency to innovate. - Manifesto for Community Centered Journalism
Learn from the Agora Journalism Center, a leading voice in the growing collaborative movement toward engaged journalism. From Audience to Partners: Community-Centric Journalism and the principles that underpin it. - Defining Engagement
Engagement is a term used in journalism to refer to everything from fundraising, website traffic, social media, newsletters, and deep listening. Ashley Alvarado shares newer definitions from WBEZ, WBUR, MPR, and LAist, the first cohort of Operationalizing Engaged Journalism, a yearlong, Knight Foundation-funded program. - Towards a useful typology of engaged journalism
What does engaged journalism mean to journalists? What are the common practices that can be thought of as engaged journalism? Why are journalists practicing engaged journalism, and how do journalists know if these practices are making a difference? Learn from The Impact Architects. - The 5 steps necessary for effective engagement journalism
The American Press Institute also looks at the Seattle Times’ Education Lab as an example of how engaged journalism is “making sure your work matters to your audience” and helping to “ensure that work finds the public support it needs to endure.” - Retraining reporters on what journalism is and how it works
Academic and former journalist Sue Robinson’s book, How Journalists Engage: A Theory of Trust Building, Identities, and Care, digs deep into what engaged journalism is and how it works. - Columbia Journalism Review on rethinking what journalism is and who practices it
This edition of the CJR magazine explores existential questions about the craft.
On engagement in practice
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- Learn the basics of asset mapping and how it can be used to enhance community engagement.
This guide from the American Press Institute provides a comprehensive overview of identifying and leveraging community assets to improve journalism and better serve your audience. - jesikah maria ross’ Participatory Journalism Playbook — A Field Guide to Listening and Reporting With Communities
Engaged journalism pro jesikah maria ross details how the station used participatory journalism for a project in the Meadowview neighborhood near Sacramento, California. - An early path-breaker: LAist/KPCC in Los Angeles
In many ways, KPCC/LAist has led the way in driving engagement with the newsroom in a host of innovative and impactful ways. From community-centered storytelling events to participatory photo projects and answering thousands and thousands of Angelenos’ questions. - How to reach new communities that are not at all on-line
A NYC news organization went old school and used snail mail to reach populations that would not otherwise see the content. - Make listening part of your newsroom routine
Learn how to build engagement into your newsroom workflow and daily operations. - Advice from journalists: Why we’ve invested in listening to people who don’t trust us
No new beat or newsletter can be created to undo decades of harm that news organizations have caused certain groups of people. But there is something simple you can do: listen and get curious about people’s experiences with and perspectives on the news. - What’s your process? Resolve Philly teaches you to engage before, during and after
Ways for journalists to incorporate engagement and transparency before, during and after interviews with private citizens. - Three challenges (and solutions) to texting with your audience (for engagement)
Texting has become an engagement tool for many newsrooms. Learn from the Let’s Gather story on Medium how you might need to go back to some basics. - How Community Engagement Journalism is Uniquely Positioned to Slow the Spread of Mis/Disinformation
Pen America’s comprehensive tip sheet on how community-engaged journalism builds trust and combats mis/disinformation in local communities. - Building an Audience-Centered Culture: A Case Study from KERA
Watch this 2-part webinar from Greater Public on KERA’s efforts to build an audience-centered culture. - Local foundations lead the way with a pivotal new strategy for bolstering community journalism
Read about how Report for America is finding funding success for local news in Community Foundations.
On engagement’s impact on trust
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- Engaged Journalism — Building Trust, Generating Revenue, and Fostering Civic Engagement
A study of how four news organizations practice engagement journalism and build trust. - Tips from Trusting News on interviewing community members
Questions and tips to consider when conversing about journalism and journalists’ role in your community. Check out other valuable Trusting News guides on their website. - Local journalists try new methods to reach, serve, and build trust with audiences
Five journalists, founders, and membership directors offered takeaways from their own experiments in this article by the NiemanLab. - The empathetic newsroom: How journalists can better cover neglected communities
Medicine came to the realization some years ago: Being a good doctor requires more than knowing science. The best doctors also understand their patients. Journalism isn’t typically a matter of life and death, but it’s as much a listening profession as medicine.
On understanding biases and privilege
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- “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”
Peggy McIntosh’s 1989 essay breaks down how white privilege presents itself in our daily systems. She lists 26 conditions that people of color cannot count on in their daily lives. - What is white privilege, really?
Recognizing white privilege begins with truly understanding the term itself. - How to constructively critique your coverage through the lens of race and ethnicity
Andrea Tudhope, formerly America Amplified’s Coordinating Producer, joined Keith Woods of NPR in this webinar on critically examining your coverage. From making sure the reporter lets sources have their own voice to listen for the unexpected, including context so that listeners don’t have to connect the dots themselves to much more.
On source diversity audits
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- Lessons learned from source diversity audits
Impact Architects reports on the most effective methodologies and use of source diversity audits and how to make sure they contribute to culture change in an organization. - Everything we learned about source diversity audits
Chalkbeat audited the audits and came up with several best practices. - Audience diversity research from NPR and Greater Public
NPR conducted research among Black and Hispanic light/non-NPR users to help understand what is working and what needs to change to better appeal to these audiences. See the research results and takeaways you can apply to your local audience development efforts. - Are you ready for source tracking? Here’s a practical playbook to know.
This playbook, published by the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri, will walk you through common blockers many news teams face as they integrate the source tracking tool into their workflows. - Build newsroom habits with source tracking
With all of the demands on a newsroom, how do you make time to build new habits to pursue larger goals?
On “What do you have to stop doing” to do engaged journalism?
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- Prioritizing a ‘stop doing’ list
How the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel focused on what they could stop doing to shift to a more community-centered journalism process. - How newsrooms can do less work but have more impact
The American Press Institute outlines steps newsrooms can and should take to determine what they can do less of to really connect with their audiences. - How to create a Stop doing list
What things can you or your team pull back on or pause? What things can you stop doing entirely? Follow this guide by the API.
On hosting events in-person or virtually
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- Discover six innovative live journalism event ideas to better engage your community
These tips offer creative ways to make your reporting more interactive and impactful, helping to build stronger relationships with your audience through dynamic, in-person experiences. - How Scalawag is using events to diversify its audience and grow membership
Rethink how you’re delivering content. Scalawag is discovering new audiences and building new relationships through its virtual events. - WITF and Braver Angels built bridges at a brew pub event
The Pennsylvania station held an event specifically aimed at better engaging with conservative community members. The event was well attended and taught the station several vital lessons about reaching beyond your captive audience. - Try a reverse town hall
Reverse the power dynamics and throw a live journalism event where politicians hear from the people they are supposed to be serving.
On assessing information needs
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- Using tools of organizing and media development to assess a community’s information needs
Madeleine Baer highlights models and methodologies of community engagement informed by disciplines outside of journalism. - How Santa Cruz Local uses surveys to inform its community-centered journalism
Surveys are a great tool for assessing information needs and finding out what your community is most interested in. For some ideas, see this Case Study by the Lenfest Institute. - How metrics and surveys can help you better understand your community
How the Arizona Daily Star used these tools to engage with Tucson community members.
On finding the right community partners
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- Growing partnerships in the Black community
How the Fayetteville Observer in North Carolina built partnerships and gained trust in the Black community. Audience roundtables, mobile newsrooms, source audits, and one-on-one meetings all contributed to a process that resulted in new stories and new audiences. - Meaningful collaboration with non-news partners
A workbook and guide to collaboration written by Heather Bryant of the Center for Cooperative Media. - Michigan Radio partners with a local non-profit to inform coverage of Detroit
Michigan Radio created a 20-person neighborhood advisory council and created an engagement reporter position as part of this partnership. - How the Sacramento Bee built strong community partnerships to better serve their community
Through partnerships with groups outside of mainstream media, The Sacramento Bee attracted new readers, gained access to a diverse talent pool of journalists, and elevated the voice of under-resourced communities in the area. - Collaborate with trusted messengers to reach new audiences
The American Press Institute explores what this looks like on a local news level and wrapped up a pilot program where they guided six newsrooms through a 4-month cohort where they worked to collaborate with trusted messengers and influencers in their communities. They also have tips on mapping local influencers.
On covering elections
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- Identifying the issues that matter to Philly (in an election)
Audience research can be a powerful tool for news organizations to understand their community’s information needs better and identify gaps in coverage areas. Understanding these gaps can help organizations ensure their reporting promotes civic engagement and participation, ensures transparency and accountability in government, and facilitates informed decision-making. - Supporting newsrooms in advancing democracy
Democracy SOS, an initiative stewarded by Hearken, offers many resources to help newsrooms cover elections and engage communities. - GenZ Post-Election Research
A new report shares insight into how Generation Z envisions their futures and what they expect from public and private institutions. - Try these community-centered election strategies from the Tennessean
From useful candidate questionnaires to debates made possible by partnerships, scorecards that met the audience’s needs and more. - More resources from America Amplified here.
On reaching Black communities
Check our resources here.
On reaching Hispanic communities
Check our resources here.
On reaching Immigrant communities
Check our resources here.
On reaching Rural communities
Check our resources here.
On reaching Younger communities
Check our resources here.
On really engaging with your community advisory board
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- Forming a community advisory board for your newsroom
Community advisory boards are one way to start more of your journalism from a place of listening. - Community advisory boards as an under-utilized superpower
With a thoughtfully chosen group of people coordinated intentionally, CABs become a treasure trove of connections and insights between your station and the community beyond your listening audience. It’s time to reimagine your CAB into one that plays an active role in your station strategy. - From listening to action: What a local news advisory committee taught Pittsburgh newsrooms
Putting together an advisory committee seems like a simple process. Learned how to build this committee differently with these tips.
On engagement’s impact on revenue
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- Engaged Journalism brings in new readers/listeners and new revenue – it’s true!
The Center for Media Engagement and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, released a study in 2023 that shows that engagement efforts not only strengthen relationships between newsrooms and communities but can also provide newsrooms with some much-needed revenue. - Columbia Journalism Review on how engagement can drive revenue
Detailed examples of ways that news organizations around the world are experimenting with new approaches to raising funds and supporting myriad forms of audience participation. - Hearken’s data on how engagement brings value to newsrooms
How stories done with engagement have high readership and impact on revenue. - The API on how a ‘culture of listening’ will grow revenue and contributions
Making the case for community-engaged journalism, arguing that having a “culture of listening” will build stronger relationships with communities and help grow revenue and contributions from those communities. - How news organizations can center community in their fundraising practices
The Lenfest Institute brought together leaders from 3 local, community-centered newsrooms to discuss engagement and revenue. - Forging a path from Solutions Journalism to revenue
A year’s worth of audience data from a dozen publishers shows that in addition to providing a democracy dividend, a solutions journalism approach to reporting offers a high likelihood of increased reader revenue. The overwhelming trend throughout the data set is that solutions journalism delivers the kind of loyal and engaged audience that is more likely to enter reader revenue programs to support journalism. This kind of reporting can also build a more engaged audience. - Service journalism and solutions journalism can drive revenue Service journalism and solutions journalism are both essential tools to make your reporting stronger and more useful to your audiences. Both tools can help grow your audience and revenue.
- How source tracking can help you ask for reader support
Source tracking gives you the opportunity to explain your mission and your journalism to readers and rebuild key relationships that can lead to financial support. Here’s how. - Increase newsroom revenue by prioritizing engagement
This Research conducted by the Center for Media Engagement shows that engagement efforts strengthen relationships between newsrooms and communities and provide some much-needed revenue. - How to pitch funders on collaborative journalism projects
Articulating the value of your journalism takes more than just sharing links. It’s about showing the impact of your work so far, describing your relationship with your community, and putting together a proposal that allows you to execute this work. Learn from this guidance by the Local Media Association’s Lab for Journalism Funding.
