LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Google News Initiative announced this week that Louisville Public Media (LPM) is one of 25 projects selected in its 2021 North American Innovation Challenge. LPM will receive support for a research project that seeks to better understand local media connection and disenfranchisement in Louisville’s West End.
Over the next year, 89.3 WFPL News Louisville will work with an outside firm to create a series of focus groups with West End residents to learn more about how, when and why they consume local media, and what products or services are most important to them. WFPL will use this information to refine current products — such as newsletters and podcasts — as well as potentially develop new products. The focus group participants will be paid, and LPM will share our findings publicly once the project is complete.
“By including perspectives from people who’ve been historically excluded from the civic conversation, this project will lead to more accurate reporting from LPM and help get at the greater truths of life in our community,” said Louisville Public Media President Stephen George. “Through intentional outreach and relationship-building, we can — and should — include communities and individuals who have been marginalized by the local media ecosystem, enabling us to better serve our community and our audience to better understand their neighbors.”
This project marks another milestone toward LPM’s strategic goals to better include, reflect and serve our community with news and information that informs, inspires and empowers.
The announcement from Google, which includes a video featuring George, is here.
About Louisville Public Media
Louisville Public Media (LPM) is an independent, community supported not-for-profit corporation serving our community with three distinct public radio stations and an investigative unit: 89.3 WFPL News Louisville provides local, national and international news, public affairs and cultural programming; 90.5 WUOL Classical Louisville is our city’s only classical music radio station; 91.9 WFPK Independent Louisville showcases independent, alternative music and an array of musical genres; and the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting (KyCIR) shines the light of accountability on the people and institutions in power.
Louisville Public Media is also a proud member of the Kentucky Public Radio Network and manager of the Ohio Valley ReSource, a regional journalism collaborative reporting on economic and social change in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia.
About the Google News Initiative and Innovation Challenge
The Google News Initiative (GNI) is Google’s global effort to enable a sustainable, diverse and innovative ecosystem of quality journalism. Through rounds of regional funding, the GNI Innovation Challenges will empower news organizations from around the world to demonstrate new thinking in online journalism, better understand their communities and develop new publishing business models. In turn, we share knowledge generated from the projects with the wider industry.