American Journalism on the Brink
Action Toolkit
- Host a screening of Stripped for Parts with your community — email Rick (rgoldfilm@gmail.com) and Grace (ggalletti@berkeley.edu) to get started!
- Community building — Local newsrooms, connect with your local community, let them know about your work, and get more subscribers
- Fundraising — Ojai Valley News Foundation raised $22,500 at their event in January.
- News Guilds and other activist organizations — use it for local organizing
- Universities and highschools — rent or purchase the film to educate the future of journalism
- Elected officials — Screen the film to push for policy that supports local news
- Get your local news from multiple sources and financially support each one
- Listener-sponsored radio stations, online startups, news coalitions, independent newspapers, and more
- Check out these local news directories:
- Media and Democracy’s Local News Directory which contains newsrooms from the Institute for Nonprofit News‘ and Local Independent Online News Publishers
- The National Newspaper Association’s member newsrooms
- Community Organizing
- Check on your state’s local news policy with Rebuild Local News’ State Activity Tracker — and call your local representative in support
- Free Press has a list of petitions to sign and other actions
- Follow the Press Freedom Threat Tracker
- Unionizing helps protect journalists
- Share the NewsGuild-CWA’ resources for unionizing
- Donate to our Stripped for Parts impact campaign and organizations doing the work to save local news (see below)
Organizations doing the work to save local news
- Rebuild Local News is one of the nation’s leading nonpartisan, nonprofit coalitions uniting newsrooms, labor unions, and civic organizations committed to revitalizing local journalism.
- They have some great explanations on the loss of news and its consequences
- Check on your state’s local news policy with Rebuild Local News’ State Activity Tracker — and call your local representative in support
- Most recent policy updates
- Media and Democracy Project
- Local news directory
- Sign their petition at the FCC holding Fox and the Murdochs accountable for 2020 lies about the election
- Join events, and sign up for their newsletter or blog to learn more about actions to support local news
- Read about efforts to promote press freedom in the US
- Free Press (not to be confused with The Free Press, a different organization) was created to give people a voice in the crucial decisions that shape our media.
- The Institute for Nonprofit News strengthens and supports more than 450 independent news organizations in a new kind of news network: nonprofit, nonpartisan and dedicated to public service.
- The NewsGuild-CWA fights for justice on the job for journalists and other workers.
- National newspaper association uses their peer networks to support their member newsrooms.
- They offer newsroom resources and events
- Volunteer for their congressional action team that keeps up with policy affecting news
- Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers strengthens the local news industry by helping independent news publishers build more sustainable businesses.
- Get more support by becoming a member if you’re an independent news business
Journalists and activists protest outside the headquarters of hedge fund Alden Global Capital in 2018. 
Journalist Elizabeth Hernandez protests outside the NYC headquarters of hedge fund Alden Global Capital in 2018. 
Journalist Julie Reynolds began investigating the secretive practices of hedge fund Alden Global Capital as it bought up local news outlets across the country and slashed their budgets. 
Larry Ryckman and others launched the Colorado Sun in 2018 in response to the rounds of layoffs and cuts at the Denver Post after Alden Global Capital took ownership of the paper.
Resources to Learn More
- The State of Local News Project by Penelope Abernathy
- This landmark study of local news (covered in Stripped for Parts) is the most comprehensive–and ongoing– coverage of the crisis of diminishing local journalism in America.
- The Local Journalism Initiative by Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols
- This 2021 report (cited in Stripped for Parts), lays out the case for public funding of local journalism in America.
- Democracy Without Journalism? by Victor Pickard (who appears in Stripped for Parts)
- Uncovers the historical and structural roots of the American journalism crisis — and what we must do to fix it.
- Hedged by Margot Susca
- Reveals how private investment funds helped destroy american newspapers and undermine democracy
- The Roadmap for Local News by Elizabeth Green, Darryl Holliday, and Mike Rispoli
- Contains a set of recommendations – a “roadmap” – to revitalize and reimagine the local news ecosystems in this country so communities get the news and information they need to thrive.
Addressing new challenges in 2025:
Many legacy news organizations– newspapers, broadcast and cable channels– have not risen to the challenge of covering the new Administration in Washington that has attacked journalism, journalists and news organizations nationwide. At its best, The Fourth Estate, roots out “abuse of power” and “without fear or favor.” Its approach is powerfully-articulated in a February, 2025 editorial by the Barre Montpelier (VT) Times Argus, in response to the nation’s news media being called “enemy of the people.”
Seek out alternative sources for national and international news: Substack sites like those of Heather Cox Richardson and The Contrarian; Portside, The Guardian, Jacobin, ProPublica, and many more. Where do you go for national news and opinion? Let us know and we will add to our list.
Become an activist! Never has the country needed the increased and committed involvement of all the people, from every demographic, individually and in group efforts, to make our democracy work: for everyone, including the most vulnerable.
STRIPPED FOR PARTS 