This project from a team led by Kevin Loker at The American Press Institute plans to leverage recent and upcoming convenings of local news leaders and researchers to better understand how each can learn from the other to improve local journalism and limit polarization in their communities. Their aims are to gain new insights on:

• The kinds of depolarization insights that resonate with journalists and the leaders of news organizations
• The settings in which local news leaders and researchers can have fruitful exchanges (e.g., differences with in-person versus digital exchanges)
• How the context for depolarization insights relates to fruitful exchanges (e.g., focusing on elections head-on versus a geographic starting-point: journalism in rural communities).

The project team plans to do this by evaluating recent and future interactions between researchers, community groups, and local news leaders through surveys and interviews.