Does your local news coverage reflect your community? [Sponsored]

Join API for a conversation with local news leaders using source data to improve their journalism

By on January 29, 2025

[This is a sponsored post from ONA supporter American Press Institute, written by Director of Product Strategy Liz Worthington. API supports local and community-based media through research, programs and products that foster healthy, responsive and resilient news organizations.]


Who are the people your newsroom exists to serve?

Do you just have a general idea based on what you cover?

Or, do you know for sure?

For three years, the American Press Institute has worked with news organizations across the country to track the diversity of community and expert voices quoted in their local coverage through Source Matters. Source tracking helps publishers ensure their coverage is fully and fairly reflective of the communities they aim to serve. This information can validate what you know and identify gaps or missing voices in your coverage. Acting on this data can improve your journalism, grow your audiences and deepen engagement.

On Thursday, Jan. 30, you can join API’s conversation with two of our local newsroom partners, sharing lessons from their work in source tracking and how that care leads to better audience engagement and new storytelling initiatives. This webinar is in partnership with Online News Association and follows one we hosted last month on making data actionable with Metrics for News.

The San Antonio Report has been using Source Matters for two years. Editor-in-Chief Leigh Munsil stresses to her newsroom that this is not only the right thing to do but that there is a business case for doing this work. “It’s essential to the existence of our newsroom to be the voice of our communities,” she said.

In the San Antonio metro area, 66% of the population identifies as Hispanic/Latinx—one of the largest majority-Hispanic cities in the United States. Blanca Méndez, the newsroom’s Community Engagement Editor, said earlier source tracking informed the San Antonio Report’s goal setting to increase Latinx representation in sourcing. They were able to increase Latinx voices by 52% thanks to ongoing tracking, commitment from their newsroom and broadening sources and storytelling approaches. Join us on Thursday to hear some specific examples and how her newsroom reached these goals.

Colorado Public Radio will also join in the conversation. They have been auditing their sources since 2020 and started using Source Matters in 2022. Each year they publish a diversity source report, usually in February.

“Our goal is to not only better reflect the demographics of the people in the state, but to help our listeners and readers feel seen and included no matter their population size,” the 2023 report stated. “We know that there are many communities that have been left out of news coverage — a range of ethnicities and culture identities, rural Coloradans, various socioeconomic statuses and others. We strive to elevate more of those voices so that our coverage reflects a more complete picture of Colorado.”

Sherkiya Wedgeworth-Hollowell, the Managing Editor of Accountability and Outreach at CPR, has made Source Matters part of her newsroom’s editorial process. The source auditing workflow is built into performance reviews and is a regular part of reporter-editor conversations. In two years, CPR journalists tracked over 14,000 sources. While the larger goal is to better reflect Colorado and serve underserved communities, Wedgeworth said source tracking is a humanizing effort in the newsroom to be more inclusive.

“We don’t have quotas or goals or numbers to reach, but it helps us to be more aware and intentional in our reporting,” she said.

For other newsrooms, source tracking serves as a compass. Conecta Arizona recently published their latest results using Source Matters and plans to join the conversation on Thursday. Among their sources, 90% identify as Latinx or Hispanic, and source tracking helped to amplify perspectives from entrepreneurs, athletes, influencers, students, academics, artists, experts in non-traditional fields and working people with different life experiences.

“This Source Matters analysis isn’t just a look at the past; it’s a compass guiding our future,” wrote founder Maritza L. Félix. “It reminds us that our journalism is stronger, more authentic, and more impactful when it truly reflects the voices of those we serve. We want what we say to be backed up by data, and with this tool we can analyze and adjust when our feet are off the ground.”

Register now to learn how source tracking improves audience engagement


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