Amy Kovac-Ashley, Tiny News Collective

As told to the team at the Local News 2035 project.

It’s a gift to be able to think about the future of journalism. That might sound strange, but this industry doesn’t spend enough time looking ahead. We’re constantly focused on what’s happening right now, what’s directly in front of us. Our inability to envision who we want to be and who we want to serve has trapped us in a cul-de-sac.

The Local News 2035 project lets us focus on the future we want and how to get there. We’re in a discovery phase, but we don’t always recognize it. We need to give more people the resources to explore what might work for their communities. That’s where the real promise lies. It’s a rare moment to look into the future and ask: where do we want to be? And get an opportunity to reach for consensus on how we get there. 

I love journalism, but I get frustrated when I see so much potential wasted. Promising little shoots are sprouting up — cooperative approaches, community-centered models — but too often the conversation becomes “that can’t work” instead of “what do we need to make it work?” We keep falling back into old patterns, focusing on ourselves first instead of the people who need what we’re providing.

Honestly, we need to get out of our own way.

Part of the problem is cultural. There’s so much skepticism in journalism — which can be healthy — but it often turns into cynicism. We spend all our time mining problems without getting to the repair part. The competitive spirit lives on, when what we need is cooperation. We also refuse to learn from failure. News experiments with hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial backing have failed, yet nobody will talk honestly and openly about what went wrong there. Without that accountability and transparency, how can we move forward?

What excites me is working with the founders at Tiny News Collective who are building from the ground up, centering and serving their communities. I see brave people with ideas, connected to their communities, trying new things, iterating, learning and trying again. These approaches and products might not look like traditional journalism to some, but they’re doing the work that matters.

TNC’s members today, I hope, will be what we call legacy media — in a positive way — 10 or 20 years from now.

The sense-making that happens with local news is also so vital. Local and community news can connect dots for people, it can weave stories, and it can make people feel that they’re part of a greater narrative — something other types of media cannot do. 

We at TNC have the luxury of living between horizons two and three of the framework provided by Local News 2035. What most resonates with us is the business model innovation that focuses on philanthropy and local government supporting the launch of small, independent newsrooms across the country. That coupled with watering the driest deserts to create a more equitable news ecosystem are key to our mission. Building that kind of local infrastructure is where our unique talents and skills shine, and we’ve had experiences already doing that work. It’s an area we expect to lean into in 2026 and are looking for fellow travelers to spread that work.

When I think about the third horizon for 2035, I see so much promise: Thinking about not just what can an individual do, but how can we all — given the different roles that we play — try to make that better future and that better vision become reality,

Amy L. Kovac-Ashley is the executive director of Tiny News Collective.

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