Collaborating in a Pandemic: Adapting Local News Infrastructure to Meet Information Needs

As media outlets around the globe seek to play a constructive role in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, this study looks at how local news initiatives in the U.S. city of Philadelphia attempted to respond to the information needs of marginalized communities. Using a communication infrastructure theory framework, it draws from focus groups with residents of two neighborhoods-one majority Black and one majority Latinx-as well as participant observation of and interviews with journalists in a city-wide local journalism collaboration and two community-centered projects. Through this it explores how the crisis affects links between local media and organizations, and how having community-centered projects and infrastructure for collaboration facilitated the circulation of information within and between storytelling networks in the region.

Automated summary

This study examines how local news initiatives in Philadelphia, USA, responded to the information needs of marginalized communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. By utilizing a communication infrastructure theory framework, the study investigates the impact of the crisis on the links between local media and organizations, and how community-centered projects and collaboration infrastructure facilitated the circulation of information within and between storytelling networks in the region.