Home | Innovate Local top of page Home About Cases Upcoming webinars! Partners Articles Join our Slack community Innovate Local. A program for sharing actionable ideas. ONE PRACTICE AT A TIME. PRESENTED BY WAN-IFRA. Browse 35+ previous cases Welcome to Innovate Local! Our latest webinar How iTromsø built a data gathering tool which allows it to supercharge its local investigative journalism iTromsø is a 22-person newsroom in northern Norway. It had a two-pronged problem: journalists were spending hours wading through municipal documents every day, all while competing with another local larger newsroom – for stories as well as readers. The solution was to build DJINN, a tool that automatically monitors public data sources, ranks documents by newsworthiness, and flags story leads for journalists to pursue. That frees up time for journalists to call sources, and work the stories that the tool surfaces. Now the team has gone further, building a layered system of agents and sub-agents that actively supports complex local investigations, with editorial supervision at every step. In this webinar we’ll learn how the iTromsø team built a tool to solve a clear editorial problem and how AI agents are allowing this small team to cover even more and deeper investigative stories. Presented by Rune Ytreberg, Data Editor, iTromsø, Norway ​ Video Previous webinar: April 22 Service Journalism that Pays Off – Lessons from Village Media Many publishers talk about service journalism. Village Media has built its entire growth model around it. In this session, CEO Jeff Elgie explains how practical, everyday journalism—housing guides, school updates, local government coverage that people can use—has become a direct driver of reader revenue, stronger habits, and higher advertiser relevance. You will hear how they use AI to monitor local councils without losing editorial control, how their community platform increases engagement around specific topics, and why they now describe themselves as a “community impact organization” rather than just a media company. For publishers looking for concrete, replicable ways to turn utility into sustainable business results, this is a case worth studying closely. Presented by Jeff Elgie, CEO, Village Media, Canada Video & write-up Innovate Local Advisory Council 2026 We have a fantastic Advisory Council to support and guide our work. Thank you to this international group of passionate, experienced and generous local media leaders from across the globe for your commitment and valuable input to Innovate Local! Cordula Schmitz Funke Mediengruppe Germany Christ Janz Capital Brief Australia Isabel Russ Russmedia Austria Ken Doctor Lookout Local USA Markus Rask Jensen Amedia Norway Richard Prest DC Thomson United Kingdom Actionable ideas from two years of webinars. By topic. Young readers How Mediahuis is figuring out what young audiences will pay for, and what they are learning How a bold test to focus only on younger readers drives traffic and subscriptions across all age groups at Amedia How The B-Side delivers daily, hyperlocal news from Boston Globe Media to engage younger audiences How Stavanger Aftenblad covers junior football like it’s the Champions League ​​ Journalism & mission How Borås Tidning’s investigative team builds community connections while driving conversions and supporting the brand Showing up. First principles and lessons from Lookout Local’s successful local models How Amedia’s AI sandbox will allow reporters to do more How hands-on, in-person support to local newsrooms helps NTM achieve their north star goal Growing revenue How Ouest France's self service platform for local events drives revenue and engagement The multifaceted product portfolio of VK Media for local advertisers How Polaris is rebuilding sales in recruitment focusing on passive job seekers How DC Thomson is selling corporate subscriptions to local businesses Audience Development How Tamedia is growing local newsletter portfolio with automation How new ways of thinking about arts audiences has boosted subscription sales at Hamburger Abendblatt Stampen Media’s deliberate strategy and tactics for local e-papers How The City in New York built from the ground up to listen, respond and foster community ​​ There are many more – here! Local media for the 21st century The first global program for local media Innovate Local is the only truly global program for local media professionals. It’s built on WAN-IFRA’s mission to support a free and independent press. We’re building a global hub for knowledge sharing and networking around the future of sustainable local journalism. And we invite you to be part of it. Tired of waiting for the silver bullet for local news? Innovate Local is where you want to be. Through this program we'll share the best ideas, drawing on our global network of local publishers. Simply join, listen, hopefully be inspired and feel free to copy the idea! The program is about exploring how local media can become indispensable to local people and businesses by: – Leveraging data and AI – Deploying user needs models – Drawing on new formats for storytelling and the journalism product – Developing relevant advertising products – Developing additional revenue streams - Two compact webinars a month. - Regular schedule. - One publisher case each time, looking at one solution. - Recordings and resources will be collected here. What is Innovate Local about? We're keeping it simple. Innovate Local is open to everyone and free for WAN-IFRA members. Who is the program aimed at? Innovate Local is for anyone working in a news media company operating in its own geographical community – anyone involved in the business of journalism close to home. What do you get when you join the program? You get access to one case webinar a month (live and on demand) with documentation. We're also building a community of local publishers exchanging ideas and experiences on a dedicated Slack channel, moderated by our experts. ​ Not a WAN-IFRA member? Learn about the benefits of being one. A WAN-IFRA membership costs €800/year for an individual. Corporate memberships start at €1,600. Non-members get a 3 month free trial to try Innovate Local, register here. After that the program costs €2,800 a year for six seats. Join us now! We'll be back with more webinars after summer – watch this space! Tell us more about yourself and we'll send you webinar link and information about upcoming webinars. Join our community on Slack Interested in becoming an Innovate Local Tech Partner? Contact us! Join publishers already in the program: