E&P Reports with Mike Blinder

Local advertising dollars are growing, but the businesses spending them—and the products they're buying—are changing faster than many media companies' sales strategies. For publishers building their 2027 budgets, Borrell Associates' CEO Gordon Borrell's message is direct: Growth will require finding a different customer and bringing more to the sales call than another advertising package. Access more at this episode's landing page, at: https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/borrell-local-advertising-is-growing-is-your-sales-strategy-keeping-up,264270  

What if the newsroom you've spent years competing against could become your most valuable partner? As publishers face shrinking staffs, declining revenue and audience challenges, an experiment involving 48 newsrooms offers a new path forward. The Economic Opportunity Lab demonstrates how collaboration can expand reach, share resources and attract new funding. In this episode of E&P Reports, Dana Piccoli of the Local Media Association and Jared Council of the Lenfest Institute explain what worked and how even small publishers can benefit from their free playbook. Access more at this episode's landing page, at: https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/stop-competing-start-collaborating-how-local-newsrooms-can-share-resources-grow-audiences-and,264155  

The crisis facing American local journalism is no longer a slow, predictable decline. Newspaper closures are accelerating, rural communities are losing their last reliable news sources, and even the digital audiences publishers spent decades building are shrinking dramatically. Northwestern University's newly released 2026 State of Local News Report paints a troubling picture of an industry confronting structural challenges that threaten its future. During a recent episode of E&P Reports, Medill's Tim Franklin and Zach Metzger explained why the situation is worsening — and what might still be done to reverse the damage. Access more at this episode's landing page, at:  https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/borrell-why-local-media-advertising-got-harder-to-sell,261030   

Imagine running a newspaper where you're the editor, reporter, photographer, designer and sometimes the person challenging city hall. For many rural publishers, that's not an exaggeration. It's their daily reality. Yet amid growing concerns about news deserts and disappearing newspapers, some small-town publishers are finding ways to survive by rethinking their business models and strengthening community relationships. During this episode of E&P Reports, Bill McKenzie of the George W. Bush Institute and Texas publisher Suzanne Bellsnyder discussed what it really takes to keep rural journalism alive. Access more at this episode's landing page, at: https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/rural-journalism-isnt-dead-but-the-old-business-model-may-be,263907

When much of the news media industry is talking about contraction, Detroit PBS is doing something decidedly different: building. The public media organization has broken ground on a new 50,000-square-foot campus designed not simply as a television facility, but as a home for journalism, radio, education, culture, community engagement and multiplatform storytelling. During a recent episode of E&P Reports, Detroit PBS President and CEO Rich Homberg explained why the project represents the culmination of a 15-year effort to rethink what a local media organization can become.  Explore more at this episode's landing page, at:  https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/detroit-breaks-ground-on-a-40-million-bet-on-the-future-of-local-media,263826