Today, the Listening Post Collective at Internews and the Information Futures Lab at Brown University are unveiling a new Civic Information Index that tracks communities’ civic health—including the vibrancy of their local news ecosystem—down to the county level. Here, Director Dale Anglin writes about why Press Forward funded it. You can view the index at civicinfoindex.org.
At Press Forward, we are galvanizing a movement to reinvigorate local news nationwide. But our overarching goal is not to preserve journalism for journalism’s sake; it’s to strengthen communities.
In fact, we believe the futures of reliable local journalism and communities are inextricably linked. Thriving neighborhoods are those where people participate—by voting, volunteering, and understanding and discussing important issues that impact their lives. Trusted sources of information play a vital role in this. After all, how else can someone stay informed about what’s happening at City Hall, in the local business district, or at a nearby school without trustworthy local news?
Dale R. Anglin, Press Forward Director
We at Press Forward need data to guide our work and help local leaders, funders and journalists understand the roles that news and information play within the larger context of a community’s civic health. That’s why, as one of our first investments, we supported the development of the Civic Information Opportunities Index, which includes 21 data sets that can help us view and evaluate communities wholistically.
Created by The Listening Post Collective at Internews and the Information Futures Lab at Brown University, the Index allows users to see both where their communities are excelling and where they face unique challenges. By inputting the name of a town or a ZIP code, one can quickly see a range of factors and determinants, including volunteer rates, housing insecurity, medical debt and the existence of local news outlets, among others. We need to look at these specific data points both in isolation and together, so we can see a community’s unique civic realities, opportunities, and, as we invest, watch how they shift over time.
As funders, we are optimistic about the potential of the Index to guide local leaders and foundations in their investment decisions. By leveraging insights provided by the Index, these stakeholders can identify areas that require support and determine the most effective ways to allocate their resources. We also hope that journalists will use the Index to uncover community trends to report on, and that journalism support organizations will use it to strengthen local media ecosystems. We are also excited about the invitation for local people to continue improving the Index, by adding trusted sources of local news to the database.
As evidenced in this Index, more media outlets in a community doesn’t inherently mean better civic health. The local information ecosystem is only one factor in nurturing civic life, albeit an important one. True changes require partnerships with and action by journalists, media outlets, local government, residents, civic organizations, foundations, and others. Seeing these determinants together can point us all in the right direction as we seek to nurture healthy, resilient communities.
Learn more about the Civic Information Index.