Over the past 15 years, more than one in five newspapers have closed and many that remain open are a shell of their former selves. Studies show that the loss of local journalism leads to decreased civic engagement and increased polarization of communities. Founded in 2004 and relaunched in 2018 as a public media outlet, DCist reports on the District (rather than federal Washington) with relentless curiosity. Now owned by WAMU, the site publishes more than a dozen stories a day (drawing 1 million unique pageviews each month), digging into local topics that matter – city politics, transportation, the arts, education, housing, and more. DCist is determined not to restrict its journalism behind a paywall, but instead to engage readers directly through feedback, story input, and citizen-led, ground-level reporting. This is the future of local journalism, and you can be part of it.
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