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Sports reporter John Sorce works at his desk in The Emporia Gazette newsroom in Emporia, Kansas, on Dec. 20, 2023. The newsroom moved in July 2022. The Pulitzer Prize-winning daily newspaper was founded in 1890. (Courtesy: Ann Hermes)
Photojournalist Ann Hermes found many of the same things at the more than 50 local newsrooms she’s visited in a project documenting those local, often historic spaces before they’re lost to remote work, smart real estate deals and an industry under tremendous strain.
They include:
* The First Amendment, printed out on the copy machine, tacked onto walls
* Photo and print archives piled into corners or basements that no one has had the time to digitize
* People rooted in those places working very hard with very little
Hermes’ work photographing local newspaper newsrooms was featured recently in The New Yorker ([link removed]) . I spoke with Hermes about the project.
She is working to capture snapshots of this moment in time when local news is changing and fighting to survive those changes. Local newspaper newsrooms have looked a certain way for generations. That’s changing. She’s smart to capture that, to appreciate the nostalgia involved for what it is, and to want to connect those images back with the communities where they’re taken.
“This is for me a love letter to journalism,” Hermes said. “But I do want it to do more than that.”
You can read that piece, and see some of her images, here ([link removed]) .
Sponsored post
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Upcoming Deadline: Collier Awards for Ethics in Journalism, Apply by Dec. 22
In the past year, did you or your newsroom publish a story involving particularly sensitive sourcing or privacy considerations? Did you leverage data or AI ethically? Did you pursue ethical journalism in the face of incentives to do otherwise?
Your work may deserve a Collier Award for Ethics in Journalism. The Collier Awards recognize outstanding student, local, and national/international journalism. We celebrate not just what you publish, but the difficult & thoughtful decision-making that got you there. Applications are due December 22. ([link removed])
While you’re here:
* If you missed our info session on Today’s News for Tomorrow, the IRE/Internet Archive/Press Forward project archiving local newsrooms’ digital work, you can watch it here ([link removed]) and sign up here for the first-ever National Summit on Local News Preservation ([link removed]) . If you’d like to be considered for TNT, apply here ([link removed]) .
* You can register now ([link removed]) for the Institute for Independent Journalists’ 2026 freelance journalism conference, which takes place in March.
* You have until Dec. 12 to sign up for the Center for Community News’ CCN Champions ([link removed]) program. “The program is open to college/university faculty and staff, as well as local media leaders who want to start a news/academic partnership or want to take an emerging one to the next level.”
* And finally, because it’s delightful and I wish I’d thought of it, please enjoy this story from Eater about the woman who wrote a cookbook from the recipes she’s found on headstones ([link removed]) around the world.
That’s it for me. Thank you for reading. Please tell me a fond memory you have of a newsroom you used to work in. Mine, while fuzzy, was a sign taped to the women’s restroom that someone took a red correction pen to because that’s just who we are. 🥰
Kristen
Kristen Hare
Faculty
The Poynter Institute
@kristenhare ([link removed])
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