COURIER Year in Review 2023
In a year filled with distressing news about the death of local journalism, the decline in news readership, and the low-levels of public trust in media, COURIER has bucked the industry trends and continued to build a new model for digital-first, values driven local news. We’ve expanded our network, grown our subscriber base, and engaged millions of Americans across the country with pro-democracy news. We also continued to prove through our research that when news outlets intentionally produce, package, and deliver reporting for passive news consumers — that is, people who won’t pay through paywalls or actively seek out news — it measurably increases their informed civic participation. This is what truly pro-democracy media looks like.
So while there is still so much work to be done to combat the rising threats to our freedoms, we are so proud of the work our newsrooms have done this past year to increase the flow of good, factual reporting and storytelling to audiences who would not otherwise seek it out. Here are just five great accomplishments the COURIER network achieved in 2023:
1. We launched newsrooms in Nevada and New Hampshire
In 2023, we launched two new newsrooms: The Nevadan/El Nevadense in Nevada and Granite Post in New Hampshire. With these additions, COURIER now has newsrooms with full-time reporters on the ground in ten states across America! In just over four years, we’ve rapidly grown our audience, reaching an average of over 10 million people weekly with free, factual information on the platforms where they spend their time.
2. COURIER goes national 🚀
In November, we unveiled a slate of new national content products that explain, expose, and fight back against threats to Americans’ freedoms and democracy, featuring a powerhouse lineup of contributors who are producing smart newsletters, web content, op-eds, and social content that are must-reads for anyone who cares about the direction of our country. Our national products and contributors will also amplify our great state reporting, lifting up critical local news to national audiences and bolstering the on-the-ground insights of our state reporters.
3. We snagged an exclusive interview with POTUS 🇺🇸
The White House invited COURIER for an exclusive interview with the President backstage after his rally at the Belvidere Stellantis auto plant in Illinois this fall. One of our national social correspondents got to talk with the President about jobs and workers, sharing exclusive video footage with our audiences across TikTok, Instagram, X, and other channels.
The Biden Administration doesn’t get enough credit for how deeply and strategically they have begun to embrace new models of media, journalism, and social influencers to get their message across to audiences that are no longer reached by the traditional press corps. By offering new and emerging media outlets access to administration officials and the President himself, they are demonstrating their own evolving understanding and strategic leveraging of today’s decentralized media ecosystem to keep Americans informed and engaged on their achievements and priorities.
4. We saw explosive growth on TikTok and Instagram among Gen Z + Millennials
In 2023, COURIER went big on TikTok and Instagram. We embraced vertical videos, with our reporters creating direct-to-camera breakdowns of local news and key issues. And it paid off! Our team saw major growth across our news network, where our newsrooms now reach over 500,000 young people on IG and TikTok alone. Camaron Stevenson, our Senior Political Correspondent with The Copper Courier in Arizona, was even recognized as “Best TikTok” by the Phoenix New Times — just months after he taught himself how to make TikTok videos of his reporting!
Social media platforms are constantly evolving, and algorithms increasingly control what news reaches people. That’s why COURIER will always stay committed to innovating new ways of meeting our audiences where they are and reaching them on the platforms they frequent with the kinds of content, formats, and trusted voices they most want to engage with.
5. Our state newsrooms produced more award-winning, impactful reporting.
Across the country, our stellar on-the-ground state reporters continued producing high-quality reporting on the issues their communities care about. A great snapshot of this was our coverage in the lead-up to the 2023 elections. From uncovering school board candidates’ right-wing ties in Iowa, to exposing Governor Youngkin’s last minute illegal voter purge in Virginia, to breaking the story on a Republican Supreme Court candidate’s pro-life resume that drove the winning narrative in Pennsylvania’s state Supreme Court race in November, our reporters delivered excellent journalism.
And you don’t have to just take our word on it – our North Carolina newsroom, Cardinal & Pine, won 7 awards from the North Carolina Press Awards this year, and COURIER, our staff, and our reporting were mentioned over 150 times by the media this year.
Looking ahead
2024 will be a decisive year for the future of our democracy — the most decisive in many of our lifetimes — and the media has a critical role to play in ensuring that Americans are informed, engaged, and know what’s at stake to stave off the worst possible outcomes. But traditional media is failing to reach many Americans, and there are zero meaningful efforts underway to get them to correct course. That’s why COURIER’s model for data-driven, needle-moving local journalism and the reporting our newsrooms publish every day are so important.
Beginning in January, our teams will be closely covering legislative sessions in their statehouses, reporting on what’s at stake in the 2024 elections, and continuing to earn the trust of millions of Americans who will be more informed, empowered, and engaged in saving our democracy thanks to our work.
Instead of just bemoaning the collapse of local and traditional news organizations or chastising the harm that both-sides media is doing to our democracy, we are actively building the solution. COURIER is quickly becoming the largest, most influential pro-democracy news network in the nation. 2024 is going to be a long, hard, but victorious year for our democracy. Be a part of it by donating today.
