Promising Partnerships: An Interactive Map of Public and Commercial Media Working Together
Victoria Feng and Conor Smith, two undergraduate students at Annenberg, led this research project mapping out collaborations between public media and local news outlets across the United States.
The public media system is crucial for Americans, reaching almost 99% of people with free and often high-quality programming. At the same time, local newspapers have faced growing financial challenges despite being associated with higher voter engagement and lower political polarization. For the past few months, we have been researching partnerships between public media and commercial local news outlets as publications seek to combine resources.
We found over 20 partnerships across the United States. In 2022, Chicago Public Media acquired the Chicago Sun-Times for $61 million, a move that the Northwestern Local News Initiative labeled one of the most ambitious partnerships to date. The result? Digital audience growth and stronger investigative reporting capabilities. There have also been partnerships where public media outlets and commercial news outlets share information, such as the Collaborative Detroit Newsrooms network.
And here in Philadelphia, public radio station WHYY has worked with a variety of other local news outlets. In 2011, WHYY collaborated with NBC10 on innovative newsgathering methods. And in 2019, it acquired digital news startup Billy Penn.
Click on the states in the interactive map below for more information about each partnership.
In addition to the map, on April 7, 2025, we held a panel on public media at the Kelly Writers House featuring MIC Co-Director and Annenberg professor Victor Pickard, Penn Creative Writing lecturer and journalist Matt Katz, and WHYY Executive Vice President and President of New Ventures and Enterprises Kyra McGrath (L’81). The panel, which was covered by the Daily Pennsylvanian, focused on the history of public media in the U.S., what it’s like working at a public media outlet, and current threats to PBS and NPR.
Billings, Sandi. “Northwest Public Broadcasting Launches Health Care Reporting Initiative.” Northwest Public Broadcasting, 27 Jan. 2022, www.nwpb.org/2022/01/27/northwest-public-broadcasting-launches-health-care-reporting-initiative/.
Brod, Robby. “What You Need to Know about WITF’s New Partnership with LNP | LancasterOnline.” WITF, 28 Apr. 2023, www.witf.org/2023/04/28/what-you-need-to-know-about-witfs-new-partnership-with-lnp-lancasteronline/.
Colorado Public Radio Staff. “Colorado Public Radio Acquires News Website Denverite.” Colorado Public Radio, 6 Mar. 2019, www.cpr.org/2019/03/06/colorado-public-radio-acquires-news-website-denverite/.
“Community News Collaborative.” WUSF, www.wusf.org/community-news-collaborative. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
“Delaware Journalism Collaborative Launches to Address Community Polarization.” Cape Gazette, 25 May 2022, www.capegazette.com/article/delaware-journalism-collaborative-launches-address-community-polarization/240651.
Epler, Patti. “Civil Beat Is Partnering With Hawaii News Now.” Honolulu Civil Beat, 4 Mar. 2020, www.civilbeat.org/2020/03/civil-beat-is-partnering-with-hawaii-news-now/.
Fuller, Austin. “Connecticut Public Lands Knight Grant for Puerto Rico Partnership.” Current, 13 Jan. 2025, current.org/2025/01/connecticut-public-lands-knight-grant-for-puerto-rico-partnership/.
“KERA Completes Acquisition of the Denton Record-Chronicle.” KERA, 7 Aug. 2023, www.kera.org/2023/08/07/kera-completes-acquisition-of-the-denton-record-chronicle/.
“LAist and CBS Los Angeles Expand Local Coverage Through Newsroom Partnership.” LAist, 7 Jan. 2025, laist.com/press-releases/laist-and-cbs-los-angeles-expand-local-coverage-through-newsroom-partnership.
Lane, Mary Anne. “GPB Renews Long-Term Partnership With Discovery Education Creating Digital Learning Environments Statewide.” Georgia Public Broadcasting, 22 Mar. 2018, www.gpb.org/blogs/education-matters/2018/03/22/gpb-renews-long-term-partnership-discovery-education-creating.
Mimidis, Courtney. “NBC10 Announces New Partnership With WHYY.” NBC10 Philadelphia, 6 Dec. 2011, www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/nbc10-announces-new-partnership-with-whyy/1917761/.
Morell, Claudia. “With $61 Million Raised for the Deal, Chicago Public Media Acquires the Sun-Times.” WBEZ, 31 Jan. 2022, www.wbez.org/culture-the-arts/2022/01/31/chicago-public-media-acquires-chicago-sun-times.
Nebraska Public Media News staff. “Nebraska Public Media to Broadcast 2nd Congressional District Debate.” Nebraska Public Media, 18 Sept. 2024, nebraskapublicmedia.org/es/about/pressroom/press-releases/nebraska-public-media-and-partners-to-broadcast-1st-district-congressional-debate/.
“NJ News Commons.” Center for Cooperative Media, centerforcooperativemedia.org/njnewscommons/. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
Ogilvie, Caleb. “Alaska Public Media to Expand Reach through Acquisition of TV Station.” Current, 20 Dec. 2024, current.org/2024/12/alaska-public-media-to-expand-broadcast-reach-through-acquisition-of-tv-station/.
“OPB Editorial Partnerships.” OPB, www.opb.org/partnerships/. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
“Our Newsroom Partners.” Outlier Media, outliermedia.org/about/newsroom-partners/. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
“Partners.” Granite State News Collaborative, www.collaborativenh.org/partners. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
Schmidt, Christine. “How Mississippi Today and WLBT Balance Data and Broadcast Needs While Co-Investigating Stories.” Nieman Lab, 25 Feb. 2019, www.niemanlab.org/2019/02/how-mississippi-today-and-wlbt-balance-data-and-broadcast-needs-while-co-investigating-stories/.
“Sinclair and Nebraska Public Media Announce Launch of First Station Offering Free Virtual Channel Hosting in ATSC 3.0.” Business Wire, 16 Oct. 2024, www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241016288080/en/Sinclair-and-Nebraska-Public-Media-Announce-Launch-of-First-Station-Offering-Free-Virtual-Channel-Hosting-in-ATSC-3.0.
“The Baltimore Banner and WYPR Announce Partnership to Strengthen Local News In Maryland.” WYPR, 19 May 2022, www.wypr.org/2022-05-19/the-baltimore-banner-and-wypr-announce-partnership-to-strengthen-local-news-in-maryland.
Wolfman-Arent, Avi. “WHYY Acquires Local News Site Billy Penn.” WHYY, 15 Apr. 2019, whyy.org/articles/whyy-acquires-local-news-site-billy-penn/.