November 7, 2024

Working with The Associated Press (AP), the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) is enabling its member newsrooms to expand their reach, bringing crucial, local election stories to wider audiences across the U.S.

In Tarrant County, Texas, the Fort Worth Report chronicled how University of Texas at Arlington students flocked to vote at campus voting sites that local politicians wanted closed. The Barn Raiser wove together stories from across the country of young people working with tribal communities to get out to vote. In Nevada, the Sierra Nevada Ally told the story of Latino voters flexing their growing political clout. 

These are just a few of the hundreds of stories INN members publish each week, often covering communities no one else is covering, telling stories that would otherwise go untold. Their mission is to make sure their stories reach as many people as possible, but that can be hard for digital startups and public-service outlets serving smaller communities. 

To help these independent newsrooms reach the broadest audience possible, INN is announcing the launch of a new collaboration with The Associated Press. 

“It’s crucial that nonpartisan news and information reach as wide an audience as possible. The AP is pleased to be continuing its work with INN to expand the reach of factual journalism,” said Nancy Watzman, program manager of philanthropic development at AP. 

INN members’ politics and elections coverage is now available via AP’s third-party distribution service called APT, allowing thousands of AP member news organizations in the U.S. to freely republish the stories. 

This collaboration extends the reach and impact of On the Ground, INN’s politics and elections republication service. The added distribution will run through the end of 2024 with support from Knight Foundation. 

“The local news crisis in America is urgent,” said Knight Foundation Vice President of Journalism Jim Brady. “That’s why we’ve acted swiftly to bolster election integrity and support this partnership with AP and INN newsrooms. This collaboration is one of the many ways we are working to ensure that communities have access to news that help them make informed decisions.”

“INN Network newsrooms do great work that can help voters engage in the civic life of their communities. Through this collaboration, we’re able to bring more of that content to more people and help them at the polls and beyond as they seek to hold their elected officials to account,” said Jonathan Kealing, INN’s chief network officer.

By doing so, INN and the AP are helping make sure that the coverage closest to the ground level gets the attention it deserves. Megan Stokes, editor-in-chief of Oviedo Community News says that “it’s essential that the work that will help people make the most informed decisions at the polls and in their communities gets amplified to increase access and foster this public-service thinking surrounding election coverage.” 

That also goes for news outlets focused on serving communities often neglected by legacy and mainstream media. “In an election cycle where over $100 million has been spent on ads demonizing LGBTQ+ communities, it is critically important that stories centering LGBTQ+ voices and issues be lifted up across the media landscape,” says Ken Schneck, editor of Ohio-based LGBTQ+ publication The Buckeye Flame.

INN’s On the Ground service relies on technology from Overtone, a platform that aggregates and categorizes all INN member stories, and delivers them to AP’s distribution system. 

“Each of these dozens of outlets is deeply focused on covering its communities’ most impactful issues,” said Reagan Nunnally, Overtone co-founder and partnership lead. “We are proud to contribute technology that helps spotlight this work to neighboring communities as well as far and wide. Each story is complete with authentic viewpoints.” 

About INN

The Institute for Nonprofit News strengthens and supports more than 475 independent news organizations in a new kind of news network: nonprofit, nonpartisan and dedicated to public service. From local news to in-depth reporting on pressing global issues, members of the INN Network tell stories that otherwise would go untold – connecting communities, holding the powerful accountable and strengthening democracy. INN programs help these news organizations develop revenue and business models to support strong reporting, collaborate on editorial and business innovation, share services and advance the diverse leaders who are forging a new future for news.

About AP

The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world’s population sees AP journalism every day. Online: www.ap.org

About Overtone
Overtone was founded in 2021 and operates a global team of experts in AI, journalism, and advertising. Overtone trains machines to understand the human signals in news, including showing how a story resonates with an audience. This approach allows Overtone to filter and sort news by relevance to engaged audiences. This is leading to more sustainable journalism businesses, more responsible advertising, and ultimately an internet that’s made for humans, not machines.