The Southern New Mexico Journalism Collaborative is a partnership of local news organizations and interested community stakeholders seeking to redefine local news in the southern half of the state.
Local news strengthens democracy, holds leaders accountable, and connects communities. Yet across Southern New Mexico, newsroom cuts and closures have left fewer reporters to cover critical issues like food insecurity, housing, broadband access, extreme weather, and health and mental health. Many Spanish-speaking and rural communities have long been underserved.
To address this, the New Mexico Local News Fund launched the Southern New Mexico Journalism Collaborative in 2022, partnering with local outlets and community groups. We've focused upon solutions-based journalism and in-depth, bilingual stories about Southern New Mexico you can't find anywhere else.
As newsrooms continue to shrink, we believe strong partnerships are vital to building inclusive, resilient local journalism. This work is and has been funded by the Democracy Fund, Solutions Journalism Network, the Knight Foundation, the Con Alma Health Foundation, and the El Paso Community Foundation.
Our newsroom partners include Carlsbad Current-Argus, Ruidoso News, Alamogordo Daily News, Las Cruces Sun-News, KRWG Public Media, KTAL Community Radio in Las Cruces, The Las Cruces Bulletin, the Columbus NM News, and the Deming Headlight.
The Rebuild
How Southern NM Recovers from the Pandemic
In 2022, the Southern New Mexico Journalism Collaborative launched a project to cover stories related to the pandemic and recovery — everything from health and mental health impacts to high-speed internet access.
We’re looking at these issues from a solutions-based reporting model, in which responses to social challenges, like the pandemic, are critically examined. We seek to better connect and engage with communities, especially those under-served in local news, across the southern half of the state. Here are the latest stories.
What is Solutions-Based Journalism?
The concept of solutions-based journalism starts with an understanding that, historically, journalists have devoted too much attention to social problems — but without comparable attention to the possible solutions to those problems. This can lead to a false sense of hopelessness — a belief that progress in addressing society’s most pressing challenges just isn’t possible. In an attempt to counter that long-practiced (and misguided) trend, journalists across the world are embracing a refreshed approach — solutions-based journalism — to critically examine solutions that are being applied, whether in their own communities or elsewhere.
Not every news story produced by the Southern New Mexico Journalism Collaborative is a solutions story, but many of them are! And we believe this dynamic approach will help to change the conversation around local news; improve equity, diversity and sustainability in the practice of journalism; and strengthen ties with audiences across southern New Mexico — for the betterment of our region.
