LINK nky launched in 2021 with a simple mission: Bring local news back to Northern Kentucky, which hadn’t had consistent coverage since the Cincinnati Post closed in 2007.
Right after we launched, went to city council meetings and commission meetings and planning and zoning meetings, expecting to be met with neutrality or maybe even distain. That’s what local reporters are used to.
You can imagine our shock at how excited every single city was to have us. Some cities brought in tables to make sure we had places to work.
But everyone could see it, even the officials who might not always get the most favorable coverage: When there’s no one covering local news (beyond the murders and the car crashes, that is), the community becomes less involved.
While Cincinnati still has four television stations, a public radio station and a daily newspaper, research from Associated Press’ Medill Local News Initiative found that after the Cincinnati Post closed in 2007, fewer candidates ran for public office, incumbents became more likely to win reelection, and voter turnout and campaign spending fell.Â
So you can only imagine what that looked like in Northern Kentucky, where none of those news organizations venture unless there’s a U.S. Senator in town or a highway was shut down.
When there’s no local news, you don’t know what’s happening at city council. You don’t know if your taxes will go up or what decisions the school boards are making that will affect your kids.
You don’t know about the athlete down the street who is an Olympic qualifier, you can’t look at photos of recent community events or even necessarily know there are community events happening.
On Local News Day, we want to celebrate the community that has welcomed us in and helped us see the world through their eyes.
We want to thank our local news team, and shoutout all the other local news teams working day and night to keep their communities informed.
And, because this stuff is not cheap, we also want to ask you to help support our work if you find value in it. While monetary donations help us keep our reporters in your cities, there are a lot of other ways you can support us if finances are tight.
That can look like a lot of things: You could post this story on one of your social accounts and tag your favorite local journalist; you could sign up for one of our newsletters and forward the interesting ones to your friends; you could subscribe to our weekly print publication (it’s only $50 a year!).
If you have feedback or ideas, you can email us at news@linknky.com.
And if you want to meet one of us on person, we’re spread out across the community every Friday for our LINK nky Office Hours. We welcome ideas, feedback or just your company. Check our Facebook page for everyone’s locations (I’m at Coppin’s – please come see me! I’m usually at one of the long tables by the bar because they have plugs. I always look tired, but that’s just because I have too many kids, so don’t take it personally!).
We’re so glad we’re here, and with your help, we will be here for a long time to come.
Meghan Goth is the executive editor at LINK Media. Email her at mgoth@linknky.com.
