Recently launched NEWSWELL supports local news outlets to empower communities, transform local news industry
Edward Lopez, a multimedia intern at Stocktonia during the fall semester, talks with Corinne Kappeler, a social impact consultant for the news outlet, in Stockton, California, last September. Stocktonia is one of three California news organizations acquired by NEWSWELL, a nonprofit that aims to strengthen local news in areas known as news deserts. Photo by Robyn Jones/Special for Stocktonia
Based out of Arizona State University, a recently launched nonprofit organization is transforming the desert landscape — but perhaps not the desert you’re picturing.
NEWSWELL, which publicly launched Jan. 22, is strengthening local news outlets in areas known as “news deserts.” A news desert is an area with limited or nonexistent coverage by local or national news outlets, thereby restricting the community’s access to the credible and comprehensive information that impacts them most. But NEWSWELL is not limited to areas where news coverage is scarce: The innovative nonprofit is looking to strengthen the local news industry as a whole.
“We know that having a reliable and high-quality source of local news knits together communities and increases civic engagement,” said Nicole Carroll, executive director of NEWSWELL. “Our mission is to support local news organizations so they can help their communities thrive.”
The nonprofit is currently focusing its efforts in California and has acquired the Santa Barbara News-Press, Times of San Diego and Stocktonia. In acquiring the organizations, NEWSWELL is able to support them through access to shared resources, industry innovations, new opportunities for revenue and digital advancements for growth and sustainability.
This support will strengthen the newsrooms’ existing coverage and turn them into living laboratories, where NEWSWELL will test ideas and innovations from ASU partners that can redefine a sustainable, thriving business model for local news.
While the news outlets receive support and collaboration opportunities from ASU researchers, faculty and students, they continue to operate as independent news organizations that are not influenced by the university, donors or advertisers.
To help support NEWSWELL’s mission, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, a group that supports effective democracy by funding innovative projects related to free expression, journalism, research, arts and culture, has provided a $5 million grant to the nonprofit.
According to research from Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University, more than 3,200 newspapers have closed since 2005. Newspaper employment has also decreased by 70% in the last 15 years. The struggles of the news industry impact those working in it as well as community members who are no longer getting local information to help them make informed choices in their lives.
Local news coverage can also act as the catalyst for necessary policy change, community action or drawing national attention to an issue. Santa Barbara News-Press, one of the mastheads acquired by NEWSWELL, won a Pulitzer Prize — considered the highest reporting award in the field — in 1962 for its editorial coverage of a semi-secret organization’s activities.
Times of San Diego staff members have earned nearly 200 individual awards over the last decade, and the site has been named the best local news website eight times. Meanwhile, Stockonia has delivered important coverage on local government, public safety, business and more in Stockton and San Joaquin County since it launched in 2022.
“I started Times of San Diego because I see local news as an essential part of democracy, and becoming part of NEWSWELL ensures that Times of San Diego will be here for the long run,” said Chris Jennewein, editor and general manager of Times of San Diego. “Since joining NEWSWELL, we've already doubled the staff and we're now publishing as many as 30 articles a day.”
Jennewein said that part of the appeal of joining NEWSWELL was the potential to uplift future journalists. Times of San Diego, which had previously offered internships sparingly, has been able to consistently offer internships to young journalists over the last year, after NEWSWELL's soft launch in 2024. They currently have four interns: two are located in California, and two are students at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU.
This spring, students in the Cronkite News Phoenix Sports Bureau will cover the San Diego Padres spring training in Phoenix for the Times of San Diego, producing written, video and multimedia content tailored to the site’s needs.
Consistently named the country’s most innovative university and home to one of the premier journalism schools, ASU is naturally aligned with NEWSWELL’s mission. NEWSWELL is part of ASU Media Enterprise, a collection of varied media outlets that range from broadcast television programming to science and technology journals.
"We are committed to being part of the solution to the local news crisis in hometowns across the country,” said Mi-Ai Parrish, managing director of ASU Media Enterprise. “Access to trustworthy local news and information is at the heart of our charter, and we couldn’t be more proud to launch NEWSWELL.”
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