LION Summit Keynoter Elizabeth Green: The future of local is “unbundled, multi-regional verticals”

Elizabeth Green is co-founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of Chalkbeat, and co-founder of the American Journalism Project, the first venture philanthropy firm with a mission of building an ecosystem of “social enterprises” for news. She’ll be chatting with our executive director Chris Krewson on Friday morning at our Summit (have you bought your tickets yet?)–– it’s a conversation you won’t want to miss. Elizabeth gave us a sneak preview by answering some of our questions below.

Everyone has a soapbox. Stand on yours. What’s the one thing you’d like more people to know about the local media industry?

Too many of us assume that the local news outlets of the future will look structurally the same as the local news outlets of the past: covering a bundle of different topics in a single geography. In fact, the most successful commercial innovation in local news looks really different. A series of unbundled, multi-regional verticals now provide everything from the weather and classifies to movie listings, restaurant reviews, real-estate news, and home-team sports coverage. And these multi-regional verticals are growing. The other important local beats, the ones that aren’t commercially viable but matter so much to our civic health, should be organized in the same way. For more on this idea, see Chalkbeat’s 2025 plan.

In a sentence, describe what you hope folks will learn from hearing you speak at our conference.

The resource we most need to accumulate for the future of local news is bravery.

What’s one media publishing resource or tool you’re obsessed with and would recommend to others?

A subscription to Inside Philanthropy.

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Elizabeth will talk more about the future of local journalism, Chalkbeat’s strategic plan, and the American Journalism Project at 9:15 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 25 at our Summit conference in Nashville. Tickets are still available here.