We’re not the first to think about how to build community-centered newsrooms and involve people more deeply in your journalistic work. There’s a wealth of best-practice examples, guides, and ideas we can draw from.

We want to collect the best of them here. Let us know if you have anything to add. Who or what has truly helped you take a step forward in building a newsroom where the community is at the heart of both the journalism and, perhaps, the business model?

Playbooks and Guides

Membership Guide by the Membership Puzzle Project

If you only have time to read one thing, we recommend this. The Membership Puzzle Guide offers a detailed overview of everything involved in shifting to membership-based funding and community engagement. It includes practical examples for each topic, showing how it has worked for others. And most importantly, it starts by giving you a clear overview of what “membership” actually means – how it differs from subscription models or donation-based funding.

Playbook and Toolbox by the Listening Post Collective

The Listening Post Collective gives you tons of ideas on how to start gathering new perspectives, reaching people, and – most importantly – listening better. For example, you’ll find a survey template that’s perfect if you’re just getting started with your project and want to find out what the biggest information gaps are in the community where you plan to build your news offering.

JMR’S Participatory Journalism Playbook

Of course, you’re probably thinking a lot about digital tools to engage your community. But when it comes to local journalism, participation should also happen on the ground. In her guide, Jessikah Maria Ross shares a wide range of tried-and-tested formats to help you do just that. This guide was also published by the Listening Post Collective.

Engaged Journalism Ressources by the European Journalism Centre

The European Journalism Centre has compiled a whole range of examples showing how organisations across Europe are building their business models and journalism around participation. This includes a database of over 180 community-centered organisations – a great place to browse if you’re looking for inspiration from others who are already doing this kind of work.

Engagement Toolkit by the Solutions Journalism Network

In our experience, there’s a lot of overlap between those interested in solutions journalism and those focused on community journalism. After all, both are ultimately about using journalism to help us leave the world – starting with our immediate surroundings – a little better than we found it. The Solutions Journalism Network has put together a toolkit that offers you a variety of engagement tactics to support that mission.

Community Canvas Guidebook

The Community Canvas Guidebook wasn’t written specifically for journalists, but it gives you a great overview of everything that goes into building a community. The Community Canvas itself is a fantastic tool to help you check whether you really have clarity on who your target audience is and how you want to engage with them.

Community Powered Journalism

The book Community Powered Journalism lays out five key mindsets we need to build successful newsrooms in and for our communities. And because it’s not just about uncovering great stories – but also about finding ways to fund this work – the authors don’t shy away from a few tough financial questions either. The book offers a clear snapshot of where we stand with community journalism as of early 2021. Definitely another must-read.

Best-Practice Collections

• The Listening Post Collective: Playbook (Listening Post Collective, 2017)
• Types of local news events to consider plus 17 practical lessons (Better News, February 2017)
• Reaching new audiences (Better News, November 2017)
• How to Introduce Engagement Efforts to Your Newsroom (Hearken)
• Guide to Audience Revenue and Engagement (Tow Center for Digital Journalism, February 2018)

This article is part of our community journalism wiki. Here you can access the full wiki, where you will also find additional resources and further use cases.