IPI’s survival guide for local media

An IPI global network guide for sustainable news media serving local communities in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.

Across the IPI global network of journalists, editors, and publishers, we’ve been speaking to more local media builders in more countries than ever before. Through the network we’ve tracked down the different ways media are talking to – and with – their local communities. It’s given us a front-row seat to some of the most exciting ways that local media are re-imagining journalism and building sustainability to meet the moment.

We travelled virtually: from women talking to women in villages in northern India to local tax watchers holding the government to account in Guatemala. We talked to new players with new ideas and to traditional media trying to pull off the always-challenging transition to the digital world.

This research and guide draws on the experience of media in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. We are grateful for the support and networks of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, which has helped us take our local media conversation further – and made it more global. It builds on an earlier round of deep conversations with media builders in North America and Western Europe (made possible by the support of Craig Newmark Philanthropies), and with minority language media in communities across Europe.