I’ve embarked on a public service project that I hope will make a notable difference in the vitality of our local news landscape in New Mexico.
The project is called the New Mexico Local News Ecosystem Mapping Project. It’s a partnership between researchers at UNM, the NM Local News Fund, and our new state chapter of Press Forward (the philanthropy targeting local news). I’ll be co-director with my UNM colleague Gwyneth Doland.
There are three main parts to this project:
- We’ll identify every media outlet in our state and locate them on an interactive map, so users can see where they are based, who they serve, how much local news they do, who owns them, and basic facts like that.
- We’ll survey every one of these so we have a deeper understanding of their mission, their services, their challenges, and so forth
- Then we’ll talk to communities — people all over the state — about their information needs and the extent to which those needs are being met, and how.
This will result in a map and report posted for all to use. And, importantly, give us a baseline of information that we can use to track change over the years ahead.
It’s cool that we’re part of a national effort. There are similar mapping projects happening in many states (i.e., Oklahoma, Wyoming, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin…). We’re following in the footsteps of others who have been at this kind of thing for a while (i.e., New Jersey, Maryland, Oregon, Colorado…). In fact, we’re all sharing best practices and findings via an umbrella group, Local News Impact Consortium.
Wish us luck! And if you are in a New Mexico media outlet and want to answer our survey, please get in touch with me!