Last week Marc Lacey and Jodi Rudoren wrote a note about The Local newsletter launch which can be read below:
“We’re thrilled to introduce The Local, a new journalism initiative aimed at serving and engaging communities, starting in the Twin Cities. This pilot newsletter will launch in August with the goal of deepening our relationships with readers in Minneapolis and St. Paul and helping them feel more connected through journalism. Our hope is that The Local: Twin Cities can serve as a model for similar future efforts elsewhere around the country.
“We chose the Twin Cities because it’s a region with a vibrant media ecosystem, hunger for news and tons of creativity. We’re excited to offer a unique and high-quality newsletter to complement what’s already there. The voicey newsletter will combine from-the-ground reporting and service with insightful curation of all The Times offers through a local lens.
The project is being led by Hanna Ingber, who brings deep experience in both service journalism and newsletters. We have hired two creative and entrepreneurial Minnesota journalists, Shadi Bushra and Jay Gabler, to co-host the newsletter in the Twin Cities. Talya Minsberg will round out the team as a senior staff editor based in New York.
“The Local is the latest in a series of projects The Times has recently pursued both to cover the United States in greater breadth and depth and to support local journalism. Earlier this year we announced the creation of a Texas news hub, now a half dozen reporters strong and growing.
Our local investigative journalism fellowship led by Dean Baquet has continued to expand its footprint and impact over the past four years, winning prizes including a Pulitzer.
“One of our goals for The Local is to support local news outlets, viewing them not as competitors but as partners. We will frequently promote their stories and journalists and look for innovative ways to collaborate. Two such projects are already underway: We will be recording a special episode of a Wirecutter podcast at the Minnesota Public Radio booth at the state fair in August and be a sponsor of the Minnesota Star Tribune’s North Star Summit in September.
“The Team. Here’s who will make it happen.
“Shadi comes to us from MinnPost, a nonprofit newsroom, where his reporting included how federal policy shifts affected asylum seekers and how immigrant-run businesses responded to Operation Metro Surge. He arrived in the U.S. as a 3-year-old refugee from Sudan and soon moved to Minnesota. After graduating from Stanford and Columbia Journalism School, he worked for Reuters in London, Cairo and Sudan as both a reporter and photographer. He now lives in Farmington, Minn., with his wife, four kids, several dogs, cats and a bearded dragon.
“Jay, who has a Harvard Ph.D. in sociology, has spent the last few years covering arts and culture for the Duluth News Tribune, where he wrote and narrated a five-part podcast on the history of the Edmund Fitzgerald. He previously served as arts editor at the Twin Cities Daily Planet, theater critic at City Pages and a digital producer at Minnesota Public Radio’s music station, The Current. Jay, who has a side hustle doing book reviews on Instagram, is moving back home to Minneapolis this month.
“Hanna, a deputy on Newsletters, comes to The Local after 14 years at The Times focused on journalistic innovation and audience engagement. A longtime editor on the International desk, Hanna created and led the Reader Center, an ambitious project that expanded callouts and article comments, and was the founding editor of the newsletter On Tech. Most recently, she led a collaboration between Express and Obits.
“They will be supported by Talya, a native of St. Paul who has been working with Hanna to develop this initiative over the past months. A versatile journalist and enthusiastic team player, Talya will be senior staff editor, serving as a crucial link between The Times and our journalists in the field, helping make the breadth of our coverage feel urgent and relevant and using video, social media, comments, graphics, data and other storytelling tools to build community.
“Please join us in welcoming Shadi and Jay to The Times, and in congratulating Hanna and Talya on their new roles. We’ll have more news about The Local’s launch in the coming weeks. For now, please encourage Minnesotans you know to sign up here.”
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