By Emma Weidmann | Editor-in-Chief
This spring a new source of free, nonprofit journalism is launching in Waco. The Waco Bridge will be the first in a growing network of local newsrooms across the state powered by The Texas Tribune, and it comes during a time of seismic shifts in journalism and shrinking local news economies.
The Waco Bridge was born from research conducted by the American Journalism Project with funds from the Waco Foundation, alongside more than 100 conversations with members of the community — faith leaders, business owners, educators, artists and activists alike.
The Waco Bridge is “dedicated to empowering Wacoans with high-quality local news and information that connects communities and fosters public engagement.”
Ayan Mittra, Texas Tribune senior managing editor, said one of the biggest challenges facing the industry today is how to meet readers where they are. To rise to that challenge, Mittra said The Waco Bridge will push its journalists to “do more listening” as the publication focuses on nontraditional methods of news delivery.
As a digital-first outlet, The Waco Bridge will capitalize on web publication, social media coverage, email newsletters and in-person community events.
“Ultimately, we want to be a public service. We want to be serving a community. And so, how do you serve a community? You address the needs of the community,” Mittra said. “I think part of those needs is having reliable, accessible information [and] news. And also, I think too often, we as journalists think that if we create news, people will come to it… I think the evolving part of journalism is meeting people where they are, and that is with different types of information delivery methods.”
The venture is an ambitious one. The Associated Press reported that in 2023, 2.5 newspapers in the U.S. closed each week, compared to two per week in 2022. In January, the Los Angeles Times laid off 115 of their newsroom staffers. As local newsrooms suffer nationwide, their importance becomes more glaring. But, Mittra doesn’t see The Waco Bridge as stepping into a shrinking economy. Rather, it’s filling a void.
“This is where we learn what’s going on with our neighbors and what’s going on in our communities,” Mittra said. “And in a time [when] there’s so much misinformation going on at a national level, and so much of the national discourse can be very divisive, there’s a real sense of community and connection that comes through local journalism and local news, and the Tribune wants to be a part of that solution, and so that’s why we’re taking this on.”
Dr. Mia Moody-Ramirez, chair of the Baylor Department of Journalism, Public Relations and New Media, is on the launch committee for The Waco Bridge. Moody-Ramirez said that in her early discussions with The Texas Tribune, Waco was identified as a news desert.
Due to falling viewership of cable TV in the streaming era, many are left without access to Waco’s broadcast news channels, KWTX, KXXV, KCEN and KWKT. Additionally, a Hispanic-owned newspaper in Waco, Tiempo, closed down in 2018.
Moody-Ramirez said when she first came to Waco in the ’90s, the Waco Tribune-Herald was a three-story building, and “the whole newsroom was packed.” Now, only 11 employees are on the newsroom staff.
“Back then, they had a lot of reporters working for the Trib,” Moody-Ramirez said. “And so that’s one shift, the fact that people who live in Waco, they can’t pick up… a daily printed paper, so if they want to read content, they do have to have a subscription.”
Because of this, Mittra said the city’s rapid expansion and prime location between Austin and Dallas make it a good spot for the first outpost in the network. The Texas Tribune’s intention is for The Waco Bridge to be “additive,” executives say, bringing a new type of content to the city that doesn’t threaten to dominate the pre-existing outlets.
That collaborative nature is what convinced Moody-Ramirez to serve on the launch committee, and eventually, the board of The Waco Bridge.
“The reason I’m doing that is because I do feel like this is something that we need in Waco to fill in the gaps,” Moody-Ramirez said. “You don’t have to pay for it, and it is going to cover stories that they see that are not being covered in the Trib.”
Other than being an addition to the news ecosystem in Waco, the incoming newsroom will bring with it The Texas Tribune tradition of hosting live community events.
Mittra said one of the most integral positions created is the Community Engagement and Events Manager, who will spearhead in-person community events for those living in Waco to talk about the issues that impact them.
“[The position] is going to be focused on consistently engaging with different communities across the city, really hearing what people want to be talking about, what people have questions about, bringing that back to the newsroom to fuel our journalism and to help us see opportunities to provide news and information in ways that’s really a direct response to community need,” Mittra said.
Holding in-person events shows that journalists are not a mysterious “other,” but individuals who live and work in the communities they cover, which in turn builds trust with their audience, Mittra said.
“They need to know who is covering their communities, who is the right person to represent them… who they should talk to to make sure that the journalism is accurate and representative and reflective,” Mittra said.
