Frequently Asked Questions
How do you decide which outlets to include or exclude from the map?
We collected information about sources of local news and information from a variety of places including the Minnesota Newspaper Association membership directory, the Minnesota Historical Society, the City of Minneapolis's BIPOC/Multicultural Media Directory, as well as membership lists from LION, INN, and elsewhere. Our 2018 data also drew heavily on curated lists provided by the now-defunct Crowdtangle platform and a database curated by an independent researcher. We also relied on contemporaneous press coverage about changes in the local news ecosystem to identify outlets we may have missed or that were part of families of news organizations under the same owners.
As we have not sought to code anything about the content of local news in Phase 1 of this project, we take a deliberately broad definition of what constitutes a local source of information since we know that many people rely on non-traditional sources to stay informed. Therefore, we have erred on the side of inclusion as we have created our database and plan to do more to distinguish between these sources in Phase 2 of this project when we examine the content of local news coverage.
What characteristics do you code each outlet for?
We have coded for geography: both where each outlet is physically located (its newsroom address or headquarters) as well as what communities it describes as its main coverage area or areas. For each of these geographic variables, we have sought to identify different geographic levels including city, town, or census-designated place, as well as county, metropolitan area, etc. For news outlets that are hyperlocal in their focus (i.e., a particular neighborhood or neighborhoods), we have listed these communities along with the city they are apart of, but we are only able to analyze relevant census data at the city or town level.
In addition to these variables, we have also sought to identify the outlets' current owners, and where relevant, their most recent prior owners. We have then coded ownership for whether owners are commercial, nonprofit, or owned by a public service media or governmental organization. Additionally, we code commercial owners for whether they are part of larger chains or conglomerates and for whether they are part of a publicly traded company. Where possible we have also collected data on when outlets were founded, when they may have most recently had a change in ownership, and where relevant the data at which they closed.
Lastly, we categorize outlets for what types of modes they publish or disseminate content in (e.g., radio, television, print, or digital-only). We also, where relevant have collected data on whether outlets serve "niche" audiences (e.g., fishing enthusiasts), college communities, or specific racial or ethnic groups as their primary audience focus.
Is there more information about methodology available?
We are working closely with the Local News Impact Consortium to develop data-sharing standards and a common codebook for these kinds of news outlet data. We hope to release more detailed information along these lines soon through the Consortium.
Why isn't a particular outlet included?
We may well have missed it! Please send us a note and we will update any omissions or errors!
About the Project Team
Benjamin Toff is the Director of the Minnesota Journalism Center (MJC), an Associate Professor at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and the Project Lead for the MJC Ecosystem Mapping Project. He studies public opinion, political communication, digital media, and changing journalistic practices and is co-author of Avoiding the News: Reluctant Audiences for Journalism (2024, Columbia University Press). From 2020-2023, he was also a Senior Research Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford where he led a multi-country study of the factors driving declines in trust in news. He is currently working on a new book exploring the role played by opinion surveys in news coverage of politics. Prior to his academic career, he worked as a professional journalist, mostly as a researcher at the New York Times.
Quentin Cochran is a graduate student at American University pursuing a PhD in political science. His research interests include the role of media and news in the political process and the politicization of (mis-/dis-)information. Quentin is an alumnus of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where he received a BA in political science with a minor in mass communication and, more recently, aided the Minnesota Journalism Center Ecosystem Mapping Project as a research assistant.
Jessica Tuleassi is a PhD student in the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication and served as a research assistant on the Minnesota Journalism Center Ecosystem Mapping Project.
The Ecosystem Mapping Project is an ongoing research initiative of the Minnesota Journalism Center, which is housed with the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication.