What Works: The Future of Local News

Freelance investigative journalist Julie Reynolds talks about her singular pursuit of the truth about Alden Global Capital, the secretive New York hedge fund that has gobbled up newspapers across the country, stripping assets and firing reporters. Reynolds connects the dots from Alden to Cerberus Capital Management, the "shadow bank" that backed Alden's recent takeover of Tribune Publishing. Dan explores pink slime news sites, and Ellen reports on some good news for newspaper readers in the town that inspired Frostbite Falls, home to Rocky and Bullwinkle.

In their first episode of the What Works podcast, Dan Kennedy of Northeastern University and veteran journalist Ellen Clegg discuss the crisis in community journalism, as well as promising initiatives aimed at solving it. Kennedy interviews Massachusetts Representative Lori Ehrlich, a Marblehead Democrat who has co-sponsored legislation to create a commission to assess the state of local journalism in the Commonwealth. As Ehrlich has said, the "lack of local news coverage is a fundamental threat to our democracy and civic society."