Philadelphia Local Media Field Guide

We may be tethered to global networks, streaming content from around the planet, and joining in conversation (or conspiracy) with folks from all corners of the earth, but we also live in places with local characters and concerns, among people with local needs and contributions. Historically, local media — city newspapers and broadcasters, bulletin boards and billboards, place-based music scenes and book clubs, town criers and neighborhood gossips — have informed and bound our communities. Yet in recent decades, amidst globalization, digitization, corporate consolidation, and privatization, our traditional local venues have either been subsumed into international conglomerates or disappeared altogether. In the spring of 2024, student in a “Local Media” class at the University of Pennsylvania assessed the important roles served by place-based media, as well as what’s lost when local modes of communication collapse. They asked: what values are inherent in the newsletters, radio shows, and