Start a local news community

Some places have public meetings nobody covers anymore: a school board, a borough assembly, a city council whose decisions reach every household and are reported by no one. Communities News exists to give those places a newsroom of their own, run by people who live there, on the same platform that runs Alaska News today.

Starting one begins with a conversation, not a sign-up form. Here is what it takes and how it goes.

Is your community a fit?#

You do not need a finished newsroom. You need the start of one:

Public meetings that are recorded or streamed. City council, school board, borough or county assembly, planning commission. The platform turns those recordings into reporting, so they are the raw material.
Someone willing to be the editor. A person who takes responsibility for what gets published. That person is yours, not ours.
A few people who want to report. Two to ten contributors at launch is enough, growing from there.
A reason it matters. An outlet that closed or hollowed out, meetings no one attends, decisions residents only hear about afterwards.

If one of these is missing, that is still worth a conversation. We will tell you honestly whether your community is ready.

What starting one looks like#

You tell us about your community. A short note is enough to begin (what to include is below).
We reply with a real assessment of fit. Not a sales pitch: whether the meetings, people and local need are there, and what is missing if they are not.
We scope a pilot together. Which meetings to cover first, where the recordings and documents live, who the local speakers are, and how the newsroom will be funded.
We set it up with you. Wiring up sources, seeding the speaker registry, and getting your editor and contributors working in the tools. Expect weeks of setup, not minutes.
Your newsroom launches on its own community domain, with your editorial team making the decisions.

For the full picture of what the platform provides and what a local team provides, read For your community.

What to include in your note#

Your community's name, and roughly how many people live there
Which public bodies meet, how often, and where their recordings are posted
Who could take on the editor role, and who might contribute
What is failing about local news there now

Start the conversation#

Every community deserves a newsroom. The next one does not have to come from our research.