YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, Oct. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Mahoning Matters, a
digital-only news outlet serving Ohio's Mahoning Valley, launched today. The
announcement was made by Mandy
Jenkins, general manager of The Compass Experiment, a local
news laboratory founded by McClatchy and funded by Google News
Initiative's Local Experiments Project.
Mahoning Matters will focus on vital topics that impact the
daily lives of Mahoning Valley residents -- how local government
functions for underserved residents, the impact of business
decisions on the economy and the effect of political and business
corruption on the Valley's identity and future.
The Mahoning Valley is located in northeast Ohio, straddling the Pennsylvania border, with the city of
Youngstown at its center.
The Mahoning Matters' editorial team is composed of four
journalists who formerly worked at The Vindicator, Youngstown's daily newspaper that closed in
August 2019. They include editor
Mark Sweetwood, who spent more than
a decade as the managing editor of The Vindicator; Justin Dennis, who has reported extensively on
courts and government in Ohio and
Pennsylvania; Jess Hardin, who worked at the U.S. Office of
Special Counsel before joining The Vindicator as a reporter in
2018; and Jeremy Harper, who worked
as a copyeditor and page designer for The Vindicator for more than
20 years.
"Our mission is to tell the local stories that aren't being told
anywhere else in the Mahoning Valley," said Mark Sweetwood the digital news startup's
editor. "We aren't following the media pack. We won't likely be
chasing the latest crash that's on the noon news. Our goal is
meaningful, original reporting about the people and topics that
matter most to the Mahoning County
area."
Subjects that will be covered in the first few weeks of
operation include the local housing market, health access in
underserved communities and the impact of climate change on Valley
homeowners. Mahoning Matters will also post obituaries and Valley
sports scores.
"The launch today of Mahoning Matters is an important first step
to explore a sustainable business model for local news," said
Mandy Jenkins. "The lessons we learn
in the Mahoning Valley will be invaluable as we build our next
sites--and hopefully will be applicable to the entire
industry."
In determining potential locations for The Compass Experiment's
digital-only local news sites, Jenkins and her team are looking at
localities with 60,000 to 300,000 residents and limited sources of
local news. Youngstown was
selected as the first of these sites not only because of those
criteria, but also due to its distinct local identity and loss of
its daily newspaper.
Over the next several months, two new locations will be selected
for the launch of digital-only news outlets by The Compass
Experiment.
"We know that local journalism is vital to thriving communities,
engaged citizens and a healthy democracy," said Craig Forman, President and CEO, McClatchy. "We
are proud to partner with the Google News Initiative on The Compass
Experiment to launch a new source of local news to Valley residents
and congratulate the Mahoning Matters team on this important
milestone for local journalism."
"The launch of Mahoning Matters underlines our commitment to
collaborate with publishers on the problem of local news
sustainability," said the Google News Initiative's Jim Albrecht. "We've been delighted by
McClatchy's willingness to work with us in a transparent and
rigorously experimental way--on this and other projects--and we
look forward to reporting what we've learned back to the
industry."
The Compass Experiment will span three years and share what
works with the industry to scale successes.
About The Compass ExperimentThe Compass Experiment is an
initiative co-founded by McClatchy and Google to explore
sustainable business models for local news.
About McClatchy
McClatchy operates 30 media companies
in 14 states, providing each of its communities with strong
independent local journalism in the public interest and advertising
services in a wide array of digital and print formats. McClatchy
publishes iconic local brands including the Miami Herald, The
Kansas City Star, The Sacramento Bee, The Charlotte Observer, The
(Raleigh) News & Observer, and
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. McClatchy is headquartered in
Sacramento, Calif., and listed on
the New York Stock Exchange American under the symbol MNI.
#ReadLocal
About the Google News InitiativeThe Google News
Initiative is our effort to help journalism thrive in the digital
age through evolving business models to drive sustainable growth,
elevating quality journalism and empowering news organizations with
new technology.
Contact:
Jeanne Segal
jsegal@mcclatchy.com
O) 202-383-6085
M) 202-271-8880
View original content to download
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mahoning-matters-launches-to-serve-youngstown-and-ohios-mahoning-valley-300935099.html
SOURCE McClatchy