Despite the serious headwinds that the local news business is facing, there are many excellent state and local news outlets. **This panel will highlight four exceptional news organizations** that are prospering and finding new ways to cover their states, cities and towns — doing better than ever covering the diverse communities they serve. Their editors will discuss what they are doing to connect to their communities and to cover the news in these difficult times. Our distinguished panelists are: - [**Donna Ladd**](https://www.mississippifreepress.org/listings/items/donna-ladd/), Founding Editor and CEO of the [Mississippi Free Press](https://www.mississippifreepress.org/about/) which has the goal of “deep public-interest reporting to inspire solutions for Mississippi’s challenges.” - [**Akash Mehta**](https://nysfocus.com/author/akash/), Editor-in-Chief of [New York Focus](https://nysfocus.com/), an “independent nonprofit newsroom investigating power in the Empire State” which says it is “guided by the belief that politics is not a sport.” - [**Nina Misuraca Ignaczak**](https://planetdetroit.org/author/nina-ignaczak/), Founder and editor of [Planet Detroit](https://planetdetroit.org/), focused on the environment and public health in Detroit and Michigan that “centers grassroots voices, holds power accountable, spotlights solutions and serves the community.” - [**Angela Kuper Copeland**](https://www.thepaper.media/news/editor-publisher-names-angela-kuper-copeland-editor-extraordinaire/article_b55e1ab0-e17d-4691-9810-b9ef2fb19ef1.html), Editor of [The Paper](https://www.thepaper.media/), Morganton NC, an all-local weekly community newspaper that “delivers deeply-reported, original journalism in print and online, earning more than 30 state and national awards in just two years.’ [**Stefanie Murray**](https://centerforcooperativemedia.org/about/our-team/), director of the [Center for Cooperative Media](https://centerforcooperativemedia.org/about/our-team/) will moderate the panel. Local news is a vital resource. Local journalists alert us to dangers, root out waste, and strengthen our communities. On top of all that, they make us better citizens. Studies show that civic engagement increases where local news is strong — more people vote. Local news is particularly crucial in these difficult times. Among other things, the panelists will discuss how they are assessing the impacts of the MAGA cuts and how they are covering the growing movement to defend our democracy. This event is co-hosted by the [Media and Democracy Project](https://www.mediaanddemocracyproject.org/journalism-directory) and [Markers For Democracy](https://markersfordemocracy.org/).