Demystifying the work journalists do is just one of the many challenges local news organizations face as they try to build trust among their audiences. This work is even more crucial for communities of color, who are often underrepresented in newsrooms and news articles alike.
The Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader began to address this challenge by bringing community members of color into the organization to write opinion essays on racial justice, with the paper’s editors providing support and coaching to ensure the writers felt confident in their work.
But they didn’t do it alone: the Herald-Leader teamed up with a local civic education nonprofit, CivicLex, to better understand the needs of Lexington and the surrounding Fayette County and spread the word about the project, titled “Our Voices.”
