The closing a few years ago of the
Straitsland Resorter, an independent weekly newspaper, rippled like waves across the small lake and river communities of rural northern Michigan.
Residents of those communities – Indian River, Burt and Mullett lakes and others – suddenly lost weekly coverage of school tax proposals, local and county budget talks, ground breakings, forest fires and much more.
“It’s a loss,” says Scott Swanson, who, along with his wife, Kathy, owned and published the 2,000-circulation newspaper for more than two decades. The couple closed the newspaper in 2022 after failing to find a buyer. “I don’t think people are as well informed now as they were then when I was informing them.”
That’s the case in many communities across rural Michigan and the country. Many small-town newspapers have changed hands, reducing staff and coverage. Some – like the
Straitlands Resorter – closed shop. And others, responding to economic pressures, have abandoned coverage of some communities, creating news deserts.
Concerned about diminishing local news coverage and its impact on residents of northern Michigan, the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation has joined Press Forward, a national movement to strengthen American democracy by revitalizing local news and information. The Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation represents the local Northern Michigan chapter of Press Forward.
Through Press Forward, a coalition of national funders is investing more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms, close longstanding gaps in journalism coverage, advance public policy that expands access to local news, and scale the supporting infrastructure the sector needs to survive and thrive.
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“The challenge of rebuilding America’s local news landscape is vast and depends on multi-layered solutions at the national and local levels, including through these local chapters,” said Dale R. Anglin, Press Forward director. “Press Forward Locals are critical to our success because they are closest to their communities and can identify and collaborate on authentic approaches for the places they serve.”
Press Forward offers its local chapters a suite of supportive resources to help them succeed. Local chapters can apply for grants to accelerate their work. Press Forward also offers local chapters technical assistance, such as coaching and training, research and case studies, and access to peer networks to cultivate shared learning
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The Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation is one of 22 local chapters across the country and the only one in Michigan. As the host of Press Forward Northern Michigan, the foundation aims to bring together local funders, donors and news media partners to expand resources for place-based news and storytelling.
“The idea behind Press Forward is to create a new partnership between philanthropy and news organizations to strengthen local journalism,” said David Mengebier, president and CEO of the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation, whose stewardship region includes Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska and Leelanau counties, as well as the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.
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David Mengebier“What has been transpiring the last decade or more are newspapers going out of business. Those still around are basically skeletons of their former selves. They’re really struggling,” Mengebier said.
The foundation has been involved in efforts to support local journalism in the mostly rural region for some time. The organization helped raise funds to support two journalists through Report for America, a national nonprofit service program for journalism that partners with newsrooms to help cover under-reported topics and under-covered communities. The initial effort resulted in the hiring of two reporters for the Traverse City Record-Eagle. Interlochen Public Radio later shared a reporter with the Traverse City newspaper.
Community foundations, he said, are well suited to help in endeavors such as bolstering local news coverage because “we’re seen as neutral, like Switzerland. We really exist to improve the quality of life of the people and places we serve. We are trusted to bring people together.
“I have a personal interest in having strong local news outlets in our area,” he added. “I see this as one of the cores of our community. We found out about Press Forward and applied to become a local chapter.”
The Press Forward engagement comes in the wake of a survey released late last year about the Northern Michigan News Ecosystem.
The survey found that news outlets in the region had about 115 editorial staffers, down from 142 three years ago. In the last three years, the region lost at least 34 reporting and editing positions, or 24 percent of the editorial staff at the outlets. These losses were mostly at outlets that provide accountability or watchdog reporting outside the Grand Traverse and Leelanau hub. The loss in reporting resources was offset partially by the addition of eight reporting and editing positions, largely at public radio and digital operations.
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Jason M. KarelOne of northern Michigan's main newspapers, The Record-Eagle has participated in collaborative journalism efforts.Supported by local news and community members, the study’s main goal was to quantify the overall reporting resources in Northern Michigan and qualitatively understand how they were changing. The survey also assessed regional news outlets’ needs and their interest in collaborating with others. The survey reached 50 outlets across 23 counties.
The survey turned up a number of possible ways to help strengthen the news outlets that remain. In addition, respondents overwhelmingly expressed interest in collaborating with others across the region to share reporting, training and other resources as one way of bolstering their reporting.
“Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula are struggling as much as most places in the country,” says Peter Payette, who is executive director of Interlochen Public Radio and member of the survey’s steering committee. “There are news deserts and places where news coverage is declining and threatened.”
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Interlochen Public RadioWhile news coverage in the Grand Traverse region has remained pretty strong, Payette and others are concerned about other parts of northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. Long before learning about Press Forward, IPR and other news outlets and community members came together to support and sustain local journalism. Their study and survey were funded by a grant from Rotary Charities of Traverse City.
With a local Press Forward chapter and a willingness among news organizations to collaborate, Payette and others are hopeful. The collaboration has already led to workshops on the Freedom of Information Act and virtual training on Solutions Journalism. IPR and Rural Innovation Exchange are also sharing news.
“My hope is that we can find a collaborative future in this post-competitive industry, rather than have a bunch of smaller organizations working in isolation from one another and struggling from the tide that is sweeping all of us out,” Payette said. “I want to see great journalism done in our region, by our staff and by everyone in our region. We can do more with a thoughtful collaborative approach.”