Katherine Repasky | assistant editor

The future of American local journalism was the focus of discussion Sunday evening, as the lights dimmed in PNC Recital Hall for a screening of “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink.”

With this, Duquesne University’s Patricia Doherty Yoder Institute for Ethics and Integrity in Journalism and Media celebrated its fifth anniversary by educating students about local newspapers fighting to survive.

The documentary examines the effects of the currently expanding hedge-fund ownership on American newspapers and the journalists who continue to fight for local newsroom independence.

Those interviewed in the documentary attributed the injustice of their doors closing to preadtory hedge funds deliberately collapsing local papers for personal profit.

Those most impacted had the chance to use the documentary to show Americans how public and well-researched knowledge by journalists is not something to be produced or exploited for profit.

Following the screening, audience members heard from a panel of journalists, including Steve Mellon, Chris Krewson and Noelle Phillips, all of whom are currently working through the changing industry.

Mellon, a local journalist who started his career in Southern Indiana, reminisced on the impact he saw small-town journalism having on rural and poorer areas.

“With great pride, I would walk in and see everybody looking at the local newspaper, and reading my stories,” Mellon said.

In time, he realized small-town residents were actually more intrigued in receiving something more personal from the paper.

“They weren’t really looking at my stories all that much. They were interested in who died, who got married. Those little columns in a small newspaper. The connecting tissue that brought the community together, made a community,” he said. 


Without those stories, residents can become strangers to the people and circumstances happening around them, Mellon said. Locally printed newspapers give residents a way to directly follow and engage with their communities, including local governmental decisions.

The contrast between regional news and social media became clear as the panel discussed how the majority of people consume news today.

“A lot of it is bent on making us dislike, distrust and hate each other,” Mellon said, speaking on how he views social media as a less community-focused source of news.

In contrast, Krewson, a former top editor at Philadelphia’s Billy Penn, said social media can provide an opportunity for these independent journalists and smaller organizations to reach audiences and funding.

“There is kind of a budding symbiosis that we’re seeing today between independent news operations, legacy news operations and creators,” Krewson said. “By drawing audiences, driving them to those publications … in some cases, that’s helping to bring back some of the traffic they’ve lost for things like AI overviews.”

Krewson said looking into these new relationships between news and social media could provide opportunities for news organizations, but the transition will not happen easily.

“It’s just going to be incredibly volatile. It’s going to be rocky for a while,” Krewson said.

The panelists all agreed to acknowledge that there is no easy answer moving forward for local journalism.

Even so, Phillips from The Denver Post encouraged aspiring students to work for their college newspapers, pursue internships and consider starting their careers in smaller communities.

“The community needs you now more than ever. If you’re excited about it and want to be a journalist you can make a difference,” Phillips said.

Other solutions for young writers were offered as well. Krewson encouraged students to learn and lean into new forms of storytelling, including video and social media and to consider platforms such as Substack.

“Journalism isn’t the problem. The problem is the current business,” Krewson said.

The documentary showcased how the future of local journalism will look much different than its past. In face of this, viewers were reminded that local stories will always remain relevant.

Callie Colantonio, a sophomore integrated marketing communications major, said the documentary made her think differently about her own consumption and view of local news.

“It made it clear to me how important having reliable access to information about what is happening around me is,” Colantonio said. “I can see how printed news is much more trustworthy than something that can be easily manipulated on social media.”

Katherine Repasky can be reached at repaskyk@duq.edu