Indiana News Ecosystem

Journalism at the Crossroads of America

A team of researchers at The Media School at Indiana University, led by associate professor Suzannah Evans Comfort, has produced the first-ever news ecosystem report for the state of Indiana.

The purpose of this report is to establish a baseline understanding of the Indiana news ecosystem, which has never before been systematically examined. This project has revealed that local journalism in Indiana faces significant challenges amid ongoing change for the industry. At the same time, it also demonstrates that Indiana is home to 225 news organizations that strive to serve our communities through factual reporting.

And that’s a source of Hoosier pride.

This report is the first step toward a more nuanced understanding of Indiana’s journalistic ecosystem as it evolves out of the crisis that has characterized the last two decades of local news.

This multimedia project also includes an interactive map of every professional news organization in Indiana as well as video profiles of working journalists.

Access more details about news organizations by hovering over the county and clicking “drill through,” then “county data.” News organizations, ownership, media type, and county characteristics are available. On mobile, news organizations will appear in a table.

^{Note: Submit additions or corrections to the news organization database by emailing Suzannah Evans Comfort at comfort@iu.edu.}

Voices of Hoosier journalists

We asked how journalists in Indiana are meeting the moment of challenge and change in the news industry. See below to view videos and reports on each topic.