Have you seen “The Parent Trap?” Of course, I mean the one with Hayley Mills, but the one with Lindsay Lohan will do. 

As your quick reminder: These two girls go to the same summer camp and discover they’re twins separated at birth. They come from different worlds but have a ton to learn from each other.

Hilarity ensues in both versions.

And in both, discovering each other and working together makes them, and their families, stronger.

Last week, I spoke with Ken Ward Jr. for an upcoming story about his newsroom, the Charleston (West Virginia) Gazette-Mail, and I thought about Susan and Sharon (or Hallie and Annie). 

Stick with me here.

Whether it’s national and local, local newsrooms in different cities, or local newsrooms in the same place, newsrooms have a lot to learn from each other. 

Ward has been part of ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, and he told me how he and his newsroom have benefited from that partnership and its partnership with Report for America.  

Those two groups have injected energy back into the Gazette-Mail, which declared bankruptcy a year and a half ago. Last month staff celebrated that they had doubled digital subscriptions. (That’s the story I’m working on.)

ProPublica has modeled for him and his newsroom how to be mission-driven, he said, and how to publicly make the case that the work matters. 

He thinks ProPublica has benefitted from working with local newsrooms, too.

“The Local Reporting Network is showing big national outlets that there are barnburner stories out there that local reporters are better able to do,” Ward said. 

Some national organizations are starting to work with local newsrooms on specific projects, such as climate change. And local newsrooms are getting pretty darn good at working with each other on all kinds of things, including the opioid crisis, rural health and the environment.

I’m not trying to be “Pollyanna” here (although it is a personal Hayley Mills favorite,) but it’s exciting to see that collaborations aren’t just good for communities and audiences — they’re also good for newsrooms.


Screenshot, YouTube

While you’re here:

• I love this piece from Emma Carew Grovum about how to take your own digital security more seriously. 

• Also, this is a long read from Nieman Lab, but a good one that gets into the nitty gritty on why journalists need to understand the monetary value of our work. 

• And if your newsroom is keeping an eye on impeachment coverage, check out this Poynter Webinar on “Understanding Impeachment.”

That’s it! I’ll see you next week!