A New Local Journalism Collaboration

Local journalism is under pressure. Newsrooms have shrunk. Coverage gaps have widened. Yet at the same time, for the communities in the WAMC Northeast Public Radio’s coverage area—from the North Country to the Berkshires to the Hudson Valley—the news does not stop. And those stories deserve to be heard far beyond the small towns where they happen.

That's the problem a new partnership between WAMC, the Times Union, The Berkshire Eagle, the Adirondack Explorer, and other local newsrooms is designed to address. Together, we're building a shared platform spanning audio, video, newsletters, and social media aimed at extending the reach of rigorous local reporting and connecting audiences across the region with the journalism that matters most to them.

The initiative reflects something we've long believed at WAMC: public media's job isn't just to produce good journalism, but to make sure good journalism finds its audience. As Sarah Gilbert, WAMC's President and CEO, put it, “at a time when misinformation spreads faster than facts, our region has a real opportunity to lead—and this collaboration is how we intend to seize it.”

Our partners share that conviction.

Casey Seiler, editor of the Times Union, sees the collaboration as a way to raise the visibility of strong reporting across the full WAMC footprint—a goal that aligns directly with how we've approached this from the start.

Kevin Moran, Executive Editor of the Berkshire Eagle, agreed, “When trusted journalism reaches more people, the entire region benefits.”

“This collaboration is about extending the reach of rigorous, community-grounded reporting,” said Tracy Ormsbee, Publisher of Adirondack Explorer. “By meeting audiences where they are, we can bring more people into the stories that shape life across the North Country and the Northeast.”

WAMC will work with independent producers, community startups, and like-minded organizations to expand access to the kind of journalism that strengthens civic life. This initiative only works if it stays grounded in the lived experiences of the people it serves.

New audience-facing products will launch later this year. We'll share more details as they become available at wamc.org/news-collab.