Home About Me My Work Contact

Expertise & Passion: The Local News Crisis

Since the closure of my local newspaper, The Northwest Current, in 2019, I have been extremely passionate when it comes to researching and writing about the Local News Crisis. Below are the articles I've written and projects I've worked on pertaining to the Crisis, including two Senior Theses. If you are interested in working with me on a future project about the Crisis, feel free to contact me using the form on my contact page.

Writings on the Crisis

The Fulcrum •

Community is Keeping this Young News Outlet Alive

In 2018, WAMU 88.5 – Washington, D.C.’s NPR member station – saved beloved local publication DCist from certain death. WAMU’s funding and support kept DCist alive and enabled it to continue serving the community with the thoughtful journalism readers had come to love. Six years later, however, WAMU announced it would shut down DCist in favor of prioritizing audio-first content. DCist then joined the thousands of newspapers and news sites that have disappeared across the United States in the last...
Daily Trojan •

An Annenberg professor's newspaper will help local news - Daily Trojan

Kris Kelley wanted to go to law school. Instead, she’s fixing the local news crisis.
The adjunct journalism professor spent her undergraduate years at UC Berkeley majoring in English with what she thought was a passion for law, but a case of burnout pushed her in another direction. She tried marketing and advertising, but a move to Spain rerouted her yet again — this time, to assist NBC with coverage of the Barcelona Olympics.
“It was a lot of fun,” Kelley said. “I was basically hired for that s...
Daily Trojan •

Your roommate is a local journalist and the world already depends on her - Daily Trojan

Franklin, with his apparent penchant for analogies, joked with me that journalists are like traffic cops on the 10 Freeway. If you think a police car is nearby, you’ll probably abide by the posted speed limits or only drive slightly above to avoid a ticket. But if you find no cops in sight, you may push your luck. When a locality has journalists assigned to local government affairs, officials are cautious. But take the journalists away and … you get the idea. 
There is — don’t worry — evidence f...
News/Media Alliance •

What Happens When a Community Loses Its Local Newspaper | News/Media Alliance

In the span of just nine months in late 2019 and early 2020, the Washington, D.C. area lost two local newspapers, The Washington Post Express and The Current. A combined readership of 300,000 daily and weekly readers lost their connection to their local news in print and online. D.C. is just one of many such cases nationwide of a community losing its local newspapers. In an age dominated by electronic media, the loss of local news media poses serious concerns for the readers that turn to these p...

My Projects

2022 Thesis: Save Local News

For my High School Senior Thesis Project, I wrote a research paper and created an awareness campaign about the intersection of the Local News Crisis and disinformation in the United States. 

View the Project

2026: Senior Capstone

Coming soon! Stay tuned :)