The loss of local reporting across Pennsylvania is straining the fabric of our communities.
Residents have fewer trusted sources of information about what’s happening and why. Businesses, nonprofits, and local governments are struggling to get the word out about what they’re doing. And those with power and influence aren’t getting the scrutiny they require, which research tells us can cause everything from wasted tax dollars to an uncompetitive business environment and weaker economy.
That’s why today Spotlight PA is announcing a plan to build a network of community newsrooms — locally focused and linked together through our statewide reporting and centralized, efficient operations — to remake and revitalize local news coverage. To support this bold step forward, we are also announcing a major new investment and a call to action.
Three years ago, Spotlight PA launched its first regional team to provide deep, local coverage of State College and north-central Pennsylvania. We recently launched our second regional team, this time in Berks County. And we have just begun a study to consider a third expansion into the Lehigh Valley.
The goal of each community newsroom is simple: to return talented reporters and more and better journalism to local communities, while at the same time catalyzing discussion, collaboration, and action among residents, existing local media partners, and other important community organizations. We do not seek to compete with our existing media partners, but to work together to complete increasingly incomplete news coverage across the commonwealth.
As we continue to grow, we are especially interested in knowing where communities want to see more from Spotlight PA. We invite residents, community leaders, business leaders, philanthropists, and anyone else across Pennsylvania concerned about their local coverage and local accountability to suggest where we should build our next local team — and how we can do it together.
Amid so much turmoil and at a pivotal moment, we have the chance to collectively reclaim, revitalize, and remake local news. The future of our communities is inextricably linked to the future of a free press. In short, it’s time to take journalism back.
Our community newsrooms will be run by local editors, and supported primarily by local residents, businesses, foundations, and other institutions. Like our statewide team, our local journalists will be active and visible members of the community, participating in civic life and dialogue, convening and platforming vital discussions, and inspiring positive change.
Our reporting will be published on spotlightpa.org and via Spotlight PA’s extensive distribution network of 130 media partners — from newspapers to public radio to commercial television — elevating issues of regional importance to a statewide audience, better connecting residents with decision-makers in Harrisburg, and fostering mutual understanding among all.
Spotlight PA will provide centralized organizational support to each newsroom, including management, HR, finance, technology, editing, and product development support — an efficient way to maximize local reporting resources and minimize costly duplication.
To further that effort, the American Journalism Project — a national venture philanthropy investing in leading nonprofit local newsrooms across the U.S. — has awarded $1.8 million over the next three years to expand Spotlight PA’s business and operations team.
That major investment, the second by the American Journalism Project since Spotlight PA’s launch in 2019, is a recognition of the deep and growing commitment individuals, foundations, institutions, and others continue to make to ensure Spotlight PA’s success.
And it’s a call to action.
We chose a nonprofit business model to ensure Spotlight PA’s journalism answers to you — not shareholders, profit margins, or a self-serving owner. But that means we will rise or fall together.
In the coming months, you’ll start to see more reporting from our new Berks County newsroom, as well as a strategic plan to propel Spotlight PA into the next five years. We are building a lasting legacy of transparency, accountability, and informed communities — journalism that gets results.
We invite you to join this effort with a generous gift today, to consider increasing your support, or to reach out to our team to discuss how you can best sustain Spotlight PA’s indispensable journalism and mission. The good of our commonwealth depends on it.