A brand-new news outlet is setting up shop in Fort Worth.
will launch this year as a free, online news outlet focusing on government accountability, education and the arts.
The Report brought on as CEO and publisher. He has had a long career as a newspaper editor, most recently at the Victoria Advocate.
He said the Fort Worth Report鈥檚 goal is to meet the demand for in-depth coverage of the city.
"Research shows, in communities where there's less local journalism, that the community suffers," Cobler said. "It suffers financially, because, and , because there's just less accountability."
Cobler said the site will start out with five or six team members, and he鈥檚 working on hiring right now. He鈥檒l measure success by how important the Report鈥檚 work becomes to people鈥檚 lives.
"If it goes spectacularly well, people in Fort Worth and Tarrant County will every day say, did you see that in the Report? Did you see that? Did you check that out?鈥� he said. 鈥淲e will be an integral part of the fabric of the community."
The newspaper industry has been in decline for years, in part because the Internet stole the ad revenue newspapers rely on. The COVID-19 pandemic. Since the beginning of the pandemic,.
Fort Worth鈥檚 main news source is facing similar challenges. Last year, in response to 20 years of layoffs and buyouts that diminished the newsroom. The union plans to advocate for better wages and stronger layoff protections for reporters there.
The Fort Worth Report is a nonprofit, and its initial funding comes from The Burnett Foundation.
The outlet worked with , an organization that works with news organizations to improve their business models, to determine what areas to cover.
The News Revenue Hub , and found that news consumers in Fort Worth feel like existing reporting does not responsibly cover communities of color, or delve deep enough into the inner workings of city government.
The focus groups also showed a desire for solutions-based journalism 鈥� stories that don鈥檛 just point out a problem, but also explores ways to fix it.
Cobler said the Fort Worth Report will base its priorities on those findings.
鈥淲e鈥檙e truly not going into this with any kind of a political agenda at all. We really want what鈥檚 best for Fort Worth and Tarrant County, and we think what鈥檚 best for Fort Worth and Tarrant County comes through really good local journalism,鈥� he said.
Cobler said the plan is to start sending out a newsletter in March, with a full website launch sometime this spring.
Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org. You can follow Miranda on Twitter .
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