{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Lay of The Land","title":"[REWIND] #89: Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland) — Local Journalism in Cleveland ","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/da09e3e8\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3383,"description":"Today we’re running a replay of one of my favorite conversations from 2022 with Lila Mills of Signal Cleveland. Since we last spoke, Signal Cleveland has continuously produced reliable daily journalism across a plethora of local topics and built Cleveland Documenters, a group of nearly 700 greater Cleveland residents, representing nearly every zip code in the county, who are trained and paid to cover public meetings. Additionally, launched in December 2023, Signal Akron joined Signal Cleveland as the 2nd newsroom within the Signal Ohio network of independent and community-led non-profit newsrooms — now representative of one of the largest local nonprofit news startups in the country with more than 20 staff and over $15 million raised so far.I have a deep-rooted belief in the importance of local storytelling, as a way to inspire, educate, and build community locally; it’s one of the many reasons I love doing Lay of The Land, and it’s why I think this conversation about Signal Cleveland resonates so broadly and why I’ve become such an advocate and supporter for the work they’re doing — what local storytelling is to the community, local journalism is to democracy and society overall!--Lila has been working in community and media for more than 20 years. She most recently spent almost 11 years with the nationally-recognized community building program Neighborhood Connections where her work ranged from editing a community newspaper to serving as associate director. Prior to that, Mills was a student newspaper advisor at Cuyahoga Community College and a reporter at the Plain Dealer. Born and raised on the southeast side of Cleveland, Lila is a first-generation college graduate with degrees from Columbia University.From 2000 to 2020, the newspaper industry's advertising revenue fell by an estimated 80%, from 2000 to 2018, weekday newspaper circulation fell from 55.8 million households to an estimated 28.6 million, 1800 communities have lost their local newsroom since...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/83f-43Wz3A8u4303ZUZ8sIr3iY-45NuHaXW4rZCGBA0/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzE2MTMwLzE2Mjg3/MTAwMjUtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}