Announcing a bold vision for local news in Texas

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Today, we are excited to announce a new chapter for The Texas Tribune: We will be launching a network of local newsrooms that will inform, empower and engage Texans at the community level.

Fifteen years ago, The Texas Tribune reinvented the business model for public service journalism. Our journalism filled a gap in Texas policy and politics and its impact on the regions of Texas. We have changed the discourse in the state.

At the same time, local news continues to face challenges. Massive economic and technological changes have had a major impact on many newsrooms and the work they can deliver to bring communities together. That has affected civic engagement, public trust and local accountability.

We want to use our experience and expertise to do something about this.

The Texas Tribune will create, partner or merge with local, community-based newrooms that inform residents more deeply about their communities. We’ll start this effort in Waco by creating a new local newsroom, which we anticipate will launch in early 2025, followed by an Austin newsroom.

The models for these newsrooms won’t be the same, because the needs of our different communities aren’t the same. In some places, we’ll create new newsrooms. In others, we will build newsrooms based on strategic partnerships with other outlets to leverage existing resources that can provide a broader and stronger news product. If there’s an opportunity to acquire a news outlet in transition and build on its work in support of a community, we will do that.

Our plan is to grow a network of local newsrooms that will lead to stronger news ecosystems across the state, empowering and building trust with more Texans.

The Texas Tribune has already helped newsrooms across the country learn how to build a model similar to ours. Through the Texas network, we will offer support services — fundraising, marketing, human resources, technology, legal and business support — so the local newsrooms can focus on what they do best: telling the stories of their communities.

We are excited that the American Journalism Project has made a $2.75 million investment to support the transformation of our business model, as well as our revenue generation capabilities in both Waco and Austin. The venture philanthropy will also provide us strategic support similar to what they’ve provided other startup news organizations across the country, and it will build upon the community listening work they’ve done in Waco with local leaders.

Like the Tribune, the work of these newsrooms will be free to read and free to republish. They will be funded the same way the Tribune is — with individual gifts, foundation grants, corporate support and by membership, while also seeking new opportunities for revenue.

We are not alone in this effort. States like Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, old and new newsrooms alike are looking for ways to cover state government and local communities equally well.

This is a bold step for The Texas Tribune, and to do it right, we’ll need your support, your feedback and your input.

We are excited to get started. Our communities depend on it.