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Articles by Kristen Hare
What does it take to make an independent local newsroom work? More than good journalism.
There’s no “Field of Dreams” for local independent publishers, no “if you build it, they will come,” where the “it” is powerful, critical journalism and the “they” is subscribers happy to pay for it because they recognize the quality of the product and the necessity of that work for healthy communities. We’ve known that for a while now. But plenty of local news entrepreneurs are still finding ways to make it work.
Three things to figure out before starting that memoir
Mallary Tenore Tarpley got nearly 50 rejections on the path to publishing her memoir, “mostly from publishers and from grants and fellowships I had applied for — and I wasn’t prepared for how challenging it could be to get a book deal,” she said.
New to editing? Embrace being behind the scenes
Most editors start as reporters. At some point, either because there’s an opportunity, an urgent need, or sometimes both, those reporters become editors. And in most newsrooms, that’s about it. There’s no editor school. We learn by osmosis if we’re lucky, by example, and mostly by making mistakes.
Here’s how newsrooms are working with influencers
I’ve been watching a growing number of organizations explore collaborations between journalists and creators with great interest. In March, the Lenfest Institute and the Google News Initiative announced the creation of the News Creator Summit Series. Project C offers “insight, resources, and connections this new generation of journalists needs to build something lasting.” API has a guide on journalist/influencer collaborations.
Should you eat lettuce? 5 things newsrooms can do to cover the cyclosporiasis outbreak
Last Thursday, in Poynter’s daily faculty meeting, we pitched a piece to help newsrooms better cover the cyclosporiasis outbreak that’s put lettuce in several states on the danger-do-not-eat-unless-you-want-to-get-explosive-diarrhea list. By Friday, the whole thing seemed settled when the Food and Drug Administration identified a source. Two days later, the agency had an update: The test showed a false positive.
Why do journalists prewrite stories?
On Tuesday, NPR’s Nina Totenberg made news after erroneously publishing a story about the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who is not, in fact, retiring just yet. “When people saw what happened yesterday with NPR, there were a lot of nods and ‘there but for the grace of God go I’ comments,” said Jennifer Orsi, Poynter’s vice president for publishing and local news initiatives. Orsi has held several senior and executive-level editor positions during her 30-year career.
Saving local news also means saving the archives – Poynter
Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com Local News, Reporting & Editing The Tacoma-News Tribune at the Western Washington Fiar in 1964 (Courtesy Tacoma News Tribune, Image TNT0122N, Tacoma Public Library Northwest Room) By: Kristen Hare, April 9, 2026 Stephanie Pedersen had already been through two newspaper building moves by the time she got to Tacoma, Washington. In both those other cities, when the newspapers moved to new spaces, the physical archives moved to warehouses.
Saving local news also means saving the archives
Stephanie Pedersen had already been through two newspaper building moves by the time she got to Tacoma, Washington. In both those other cities, when the newspapers moved to new spaces, the physical archives moved to warehouses. “It was very rare that we ever even went back,” she said.
What are your favorite nonfiction books by journalists?
By the time Jerry Mitchell’s book was published in 2020, I’d already spent several years covering his work reviving cold cases. “Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era” quickly became one of my favorite nonfiction books written by a journalist. I appreciated how he showed the grueling, day-to-day work local journalism requires, and how many layers of people fought him in revealing the despicable work of the Ku Klux Klan.
Want to be a better editor? Start here.
When I coach young journalists, one of the first things I tell them is a lesson I’ve learned myself many times: It’s not where you work, but who you work for. Of course, the newsroom, its values and its culture matter. But the editor does, too. I asked the four smart editors behind our popular “Edit to Elevate” virtual workshop for one tip any editor might need to hear. Here’s what they said.
How do I know if that’s real? 3 tips from Poynter's MediaWise to stay smart in tricky times
Lately, I’ve found myself asking the same question again and again when scrolling social media – is that even real? When our feeds are flooded with images and videos that can easily be altered or faked by AI, it’s both important and a little daunting. Years ago, I learned three simple tips from Poynter’s media literacy team at MediaWise that I use regularly.
For journalists who covered Ferguson, the news from Minneapolis feels ‘uncomfortably familiar’
In the summer of 2014, a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis. As journalists began getting arrested, Poynter sent me back to the city — where I’d spent five years reporting — to cover what was happening. For a few days, I worked with a borrowed gas mask, a notebook, a backpack, my phone and a lot of goodwill from the journalists working there.
For journalists who covered Ferguson, the news from Minneapolis feels ‘uncomfortably familiar’ - Editor and Publisher
Posted Wednesday, January 28, 2026 10:39 am In the summer of 2014, a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis. As journalists began getting arrested, Poynter sent me back to the city — where I’d spent five years reporting — to cover what was happening. For a few days, I worked with a borrowed gas mask, a notebook, a backpack, my phone and a lot of goodwill from the journalists working there.
What's happening in Minneapolis? Hear it from the journalists who live there.
Even after more than a decade of covering the local news industry, it still takes me time to remember to get off social media, my phone, national news and wherever else I’m getting information and go directly to the source — the people who live there, who pay taxes there, who worship and shop and vote and raise their families there.
‘Hit the pavement, talk to strangers, listen:’ 5 lessons from great storytelling
This year, we revived the “WriteLane” podcast and got to listen as the Tampa Bay Times’ Lane DeGregory and retired editor Maria Carrillo spoke with winners of the 2025 Poynter Journalism Prizes about their work. Each episode offered a story behind the story. I asked Carrillo, DeGregory, producer Dalia Colón and editor Jennifer Orsi about one lesson that stuck out from the season. Here’s what they shared. 1. The basics still matter. And they still work.
“It's sitting with people:” How The Baltimore Banner got the overdose story.
Journalists at The Baltimore Banner sued for autopsy reports from Maryland’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. They pored through data and created a dataset other newsrooms could use to do their own investigations. They also stood on corners, sat for hours in nursing homes and illuminated the people behind the data points. Alissa Zhu, Jessica Gallagher and Nick Thieme of The Baltimore Banner won the 2025 Frank A.
This photographer is documenting old newspaper newsrooms while they’re still around
Ann Hermes knew her work as a photojournalist would take her to exotic places. And it has — to discover the food markets of Jerusalem, to see hammocks in Honduras and to witness the Arab Spring in Egypt. But the work that’s closer to home reveals something Hermes is skilled at seeking out. It might look like nostalgia, that’s there for sure, but Hermes is really capturing something else — people and places on the brink of change.
This photographer is documenting old newspaper newsrooms while they’re still around - Editor and Publisher
Posted Wednesday, December 10, 2025 9:33 am Ann Hermes knew her work as a photojournalist would take her to exotic places. And it has — to discover the food markets of Jerusalem, to see hammocks in Honduras and to witness the Arab Spring in Egypt. But the work that’s closer to home reveals something Hermes is skilled at seeking out. It might look like nostalgia, that’s there for sure, but Hermes is really capturing something else — people and places on the brink of change.
How Capital B works to be a window and a mirror for Black audiences
Capital B reporter Aallyah Wright reported on the explosion of dollar stores in Black communities and what happens when those stores move into the neighborhood. “They’re like an invasive species,” one source said. “They overpower all the resources and make the businesses in those neighborhoods vulnerable. That’s where dollar stores can thrive.
Help us save the digital archives of local newsrooms
A clear tub of five years of newspaper clippings are basically all I have to show for my first journalism job. All that work was published online, too. But with several changes in the content management system in the 26 years since I started at the St. Joseph (Missouri) News-Press, only four of those stories still live on that newsroom’s site. I’ve reported on the work journalists have to do to save their own digital archives for years. And I’ve always thought of it more as an individual issue.
People will tell you no. ‘Your job is to not listen to them.’
Sarah Topol spent a year and a half reporting on what life is like for a deserter in the Russian army. Her reporting “The Deserter: An epic story of love and war,” is “a thrilling tale of escape and a disturbing account of the war. It’s also a revealing portrait of how Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine has ricocheted through the private lives of Russia’s citizens, and the desperate choices some of them have made to survive,” the Times Magazine reports.
Want to tell your own story? Try memoir-plus.
Mallary Tenore Tarpley has spent most of her life writing her memoir — first in bright, fuzzy journals with joyful images of Winnie the Pooh, Minnie Mouse and stuffed bears, later in draft after draft on her laptop as she began her career. The story of her first book, “Slip: Life in the Middle of Eating Disorder Recovery,” is Tenore Tarpley’s journey of understanding the very real and imperfect middle place between acute illness and recovery.
Here’s why food editors don’t mess with Thanksgiving (but some would like to) - Editor and Publisher
Posted Monday, November 24, 2025 9:50 am It was around the Jewish High Holy Days, actually, when Sheryl Julian learned not to mess with people’s recipes. The menu was pretty much the same for the Jewish community in Boston, Julian said, who were then largely Ashkenazi. “One year I found a Sephardic Jewish woman raised in north Africa and she gave me this wonderful menu,” said Julian, food editor for The Boston Globe.
3 public records tips to remember: ‘Learn how it works‘
When The New Yorker’s Parker Yesko started trying to get records from federal agencies, it felt “kind of like sending requests through a portal into a void.” And compared to working with local, city and state officials, “it was quite intimidating and it did feel very hopeless,” Yekso said in the latest episode of the “WriteLane” podcast.
Why the New York Times is sticking around the South
This is Local Edition, your weekly look at what’s working — and what’s changing — in local journalism. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday. The New York Times isn’t new to working with local newsrooms. But it does appear to be getting better at the task.
How do you get the story? “You listen.”
In preparing to speak with people who’d been traumatized by sexual, emotional and physical abuse in Native American boarding schools created by the United States government, Washington Post reporter Dana Hedgpeth started by learning about the trauma itself. One source – National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. “One thing to do is – just like any good journalist, we’re all humans, right? – find a way to connect,” Hedgpeth said in the latest episode of The WriteLane podcast.
How we’re using humor in fraught times
Here’s a rather nonintuitive writing tip I learned early in my career: When there’s tragedy, drama or big emotions in a story, pull the writing back. Do less. Let the story carry the weight of what’s happening. It’s similar to a writing tip from Roy Peter Clark, who suggests to “use shorter words, sentences and paragraphs at points of complexity.” But what about the use of humor? I’ve seen it deployed expertly lately by my colleague, TyLisa C.
Want your work to stand out? ‘Hit the pavement.’
In the ‘90s, when Steve Lopez worked at Time magazine as a columnist, newsrooms and journalists made the sharp turn from print into digital. “And it struck me that here I was sharing my opinions about things, and suddenly everybody had a soapbox.” When everyone suddenly had the platform to call themselves an expert, how could he compete?
Rick Edmonds chronicled the media business with savvy, care and wit - Editor and Publisher
Posted Monday, October 13, 2025 10:10 am The business reporter began his story with a simple question. “Who, or what, is Charter Media Co., the firm that agreed yesterday to buy the Bulletin?” Then, Rick Edmonds answered it, cutting through spin, jargon and numbers with vivid detail.
Rick Edmonds chronicled the media business with savvy, care and wit
The business reporter began his story with a simple question. “Who, or what, is Charter Media Co., the firm that agreed yesterday to buy the Bulletin?” Then, Rick Edmonds answered it, cutting through spin, jargon and numbers with vivid detail.
Forget clicks. ‘You can engage people’s curiosity.’
S.P. Sullivan has covered nearly every beat except sports during his career at NJ Advance Media. Now, that coverage lives on social media. “I don’t sound like a news anchor,” he said. “I sound like a guy that’s sitting next to you on the bus.” That’s because he probably is the guy sitting next to you on the bus, Sullivan told Lane DeGregory and Maria Carrillo in the latest edition of the WriteLane podcast.
‘Let the story tell itself’: Lessons from ProPublica’s award-winning work
Get out of the way. That’s a big lesson from Kavitha Surana’s award-winning reporting for ProPublica. “Life of the Mother: How Abortion Bans Lead to Preventable Deaths” won the 2025 Batten Medal in the Poynter Journalism Prizes and the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
Want to become an investigative journalist? Start here.
If you’re ready to start building the skills you’ll need to work in investigative journalism, one place to start is a mindset shift, said Alexandra Zayas, ProPublica’s deputy managing editor.
Thinking about writing a memoir? Here's why you should.
Leslie Gray Streeter wrote “Black Widow: A Sad-Funny Journey Through Grief for People Who Normally Avoid Books with Words Like ‘Journey’ in the Title” because it’s the book she needed when she became a widow. “It was personal and raw and about the mess in the middle between loss and healing,” said Streeter, a columnist at The Baltimore Banner. “And I knew I’d have to get very real and candid.
Journalism changes. Good writing advice doesn’t.
So much has changed in storytelling in the last 50 years. From technology to techniques, platforms to practices, approaches to audiences, the way journalists work is always changing. Some really good writing tips, however, hold up. There’s “get the name of the dog,” which reminds us there’s power in the particular. “If your mother says she loves you, check it out,” is a call to verify even the things that seem obvious.
What’s the biggest mistake you made as a first-time editor?
Good editors are golden. They develop ideas. They push for depth and clarity. And the best ones fight for their people, both inside the newsroom and beyond. But good editors don’t inherently know everything they need to be good editors (at least most of them.) We asked the team behind the brand-new Edit to Elevate, a virtual course for early-career editors, about missteps they made early in their editor lives.
Your guide to 2025’s journalism conference season
Summer and fall are prime journalism-conference-season-time. There are lanyards and nametags, awkward happy hours, hallway hugs and hellos, and hopefully a lot of learning and inspiration. Whether you’re a conference circuit regular or a first-timer, here’s a growing list of some that should be on your radar. Know of one we missed?
How can you make time for book writing?
Here are two words that might make you swoon with longing or simmer with envy: book leave. In an ideal book leave, a person would get paid well enough (from a big old book advance?) to take unpaid leave from their day job and spend their time writing that brilliant book. In my mind, at least, they’re tucked into a cabin in the woods or on a coast and it’s cozy and they snack and nap their way through the whole thing. Chunky knits are likely present.
Here’s what Poynter looked like 50 years ago
If you’ve been to the Poynter Institute at any point since 1985, you’ve visited our current home on Third Street South in St. Petersburg, Florida. You’ll know the entrance walkway where the First Amendment is etched into marble (and guarded from slippers by small orange cones on rainy days); the shady courtyard with the statue of the man reading a newspaper; and the vast Great Hall where people eat, gather and, sometimes, get married. For a lot of people who’ve visited, it’s a special place.
How one local newsroom celebrates Festivus
Last week I went to Washington, D.C., for work and I flew Southwest. People are generally decent in this airline’s “Hunger Games”-style boarding process, but there’s always one couple sitting in the window and the aisle seats trying super hard to keep the middle seat open. On this trip, that couple sat in the aisle in front of me. A man trudged up from the back of the plane and tried to claim the seat. “There’s one up there,” the woman pointed. A woman behind him tried next.
Where 9 journalists get their election news
A few decades ago, your options for election coverage could be counted on one hand. Today, the news landscape is overflowing with choices. There’s TV, of course, with local and national options. Print is hanging on in some areas, though results might miss the deadline. Online news sites of all levels of repute are available. And, speaking of ill repute, you could turn to social media, where users often offer more spin than substance.
Press Forward announces $20 million to 205 local newsrooms
At least one newsroom in every state and two U.S. territories will get a piece of $20 million in Press Forward funding, according to an announcement Wednesday. They include legacy newspapers, weeklies, TV and radio stations, an alt-weekly, newer nonprofits, student-led newsrooms, those covering communities often underserved by journalism and newsrooms devoted to strengthening emerging journalists. The majority of newsrooms will get $100,000 towards general operating support.
After Hurricane Helene, ‘Neighbors are what’s getting us through this’
It’s taken days to understand the full devastation of Hurricane Helene, both here in Florida and up through North Carolina. In Florida, boats rest on streets and in trees, showing the ruinous path of the storm surge. On block after block, in cities and towns across the state, soggy piles of people’s lives and livelihoods sit on the curb. In North Carolina, my colleague Tony Elkins is sharing from Asheville, where he’s safe and busy clearing the roads with neighbors.
After Hurricane Helene, ‘Neighbors are what’s getting us through this’ - Editor and Publisher
Posted Wednesday, October 2, 2024 5:11 pm It’s taken days to understand the full devastation of Hurricane Helene, both here in Florida and up through North Carolina. In Florida, boats rest on streets and in trees, showing the ruinous path of the storm surge. On block after block, in cities and towns across the state, soggy piles of people’s lives and livelihoods sit on the curb.
The Star Tribune isn’t the only local newspaper that’s growing
On Sunday, The Star Tribune announced a big change in its name. And lucky for all of us, it wasn’t to something cringe-inducing, a la Tronc, but rather a name to reflect its expanding ambitions. “Our decision to add Minnesota to our name is a commitment to expand our work across our state, a direction we chose after two statewide tours and hundreds of conversations with our fellow Minnesotans,” wrote CEO and publisher Steve Grove in a reintroduction letter.
The Star Tribune isn’t the only local newspaper that’s growing - Editor and Publisher
Posted Wednesday, August 21, 2024 11:32 am On Sunday, The Star Tribune announced a big change in its name. And lucky for all of us, it wasn’t to something cringe-inducing, a la Tronc, but rather a name to reflect its expanding ambitions.
Wyoming reporter uncovers competitor using AI-generated quotes
Powell Tribune staff reporter CJ Baker thought a quote from a game warden in another news outlet seemed fishy. Turns out, it was probably generated by artificial intelligence. Aaron Pelczar resigned from the Cody Enterprise this month after allegedly using generative AI — like ChatGPT — to make up quotes from a liquor store owner, an astronomer and a deputy district attorney, among others. Baker began calling sources to verify quotes after reading an article about illegal elk hunting.
Opinion | Wyoming reporter uncovers competitor using AI-generated quotes - Editor and Publisher
Posted Friday, August 9, 2024 10:11 am Powell Tribune staff reporter CJ Baker thought a quote from a game warden in another news outlet seemed fishy. Turns out, it was probably generated by artificial intelligence. Aaron Pelczar resigned from the Cody Enterprise this month after allegedly using generative AI — like ChatGPT — to make up quotes from a liquor store owner, an astronomer and a deputy district attorney, among others. Click here to read more.
Axios and Tampa Bay Times institute mass staff cuts
Axios executed its first-ever layoffs Tuesday, cutting roughly 10% of its staff, The New York Times reported. That same day, The Tampa Bay Times announced it was offering buyouts to employees in an effort to reduce its headcount by 20%. The Times will implement layoffs at the end of the month if it does not reach its goal through buyouts. Both news organizations cited industrywide financial challenges for their cuts.
Why Bloomberg’s broken embargo matters
The big news last week: After 16 months of imprisonment in Russia under false charges, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was free. The Journal was not the newsroom to break that story, however. Bloomberg News was. And it wasn’t a scoop to celebrate, since it came thanks to what looks like a broken embargo and before Gershkovich and other prisoners were safely back in the United States. In the days since, the story of how that happened has itself become the news.
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