Friend,

Over the past 15 years, the United States has lost more than half the newspaper reporters covering state and local beats. With an average of two local newspapers shutting down each week, a growing number of communities has no access to the information they need.

The situation has been especially dire in New Jersey, which is why Free Press Action and our allies started organizing to urge the statehouse to create a publicly funded nonprofit to give people the news and information they need.

We gathered feedback from people to inform legislation. After mobilizing thousands of residents, organizing lobby days in the statehouse and testifying before lawmakers, the concept gained traction. The legislation passed in 2018 with strong bipartisan support and was the first major public investment in local journalism our country has seen in the past decade.

When you contribute to Free Press, you’re investing in smart organizing to fight back against media consolidation and for tangible solutions to bring local reporting back to our communities. Will you make your first-ever gift to Free Press by midnight? Your donation will go THREE times as far toward our work to revive local journalism.

The New Jersey Civic Information Consortium has been up and running since 2021. Since then, the nonprofit has awarded $6.5 million in grants focusing on diversifying journalism, improving government transparency, providing community-health news and better serving communities of color and immigrant communities.

As the impact — and massive reach — of online hate and disinformation continues to grow, trustworthy local journalism has never been more critical. Without local news, corruption increases, fewer people vote and people struggle to find information on essential services. These can be life-threatening problems.

We believe that what we accomplished in New Jersey can be a model for other states. Yes, community organizing is slow work. Building trust with and among local residents takes time, patience and deep listening. But our approach is yielding rich results, and is creating a future where local journalists and communities work together to tell the important stories of our lives.

If you're ready to combat disinformation and harmful narratives by reviving reliable local journalism, take advantage of our triple match offer on this #GivingTuesday before midnight. Your donation will go three times as far.

Is local journalism dead? Hell, no!

In solidarity,

Vanessa Maria and the rest of the News Voices team
freepress.net