One year ago, we launched The 19th News Network (19NN), a collective of national, regional and local publishers who share in our newsroom’s mission of advancing gender and racial equity in journalism. 

The network launched with 25 member newsrooms from across the country. Over the past year, that number has expanded to 102. 

Members of 19NN are tiny, hyper-local newsrooms and national legacy publications. They cover education, climate and health. They serve LGBTQ+ people, Black Americans, and residents of states and cities. Though our missions and audiences vary, we all share a commitment to equity through quality, fact-based reporting. 

Our readers can find excellent work from 19th News Network newsrooms that we run on our site and feature in our daily newsletter. Collaborations with members have led to reporting on the cost of postpartum depression, analysis about court cases with potentially seismic impact for trans Americans, and an exploration into the emerging political constituency of people with long COVID. 

Ahead of November, we published our first network-wide reporting project on abortion and the election, a 10-story series that tackled the myriad ways abortion showed up in races up and down the ballot.

Journalists are often hard-wired to compete — breaking news or securing a scoop provides an adrenaline rush that draws so many of us into a tough and often precarious profession. But as newsroom sizes and resources across the country dwindle, it has become clear how critical partnerships are to keeping the journalism industry sustainable. Setting competition aside and embracing collaboration will help us tell smarter stories with more in-depth reporting, combining expertise, skills and perspectives from across newsrooms and beats. 

I’ve been heartened to witness how enthusiastically 19NN members have leaned into the power of partnership, and I’d like to thank them for that spirit of collaboration. It’s a benefit to our industry, and it’s a benefit to the people we serve above all: our readers. 

For newsrooms interested in joining us, you can find more information and ways to join here.

We’ve also compiled a list of all the 19NN members on Bluesky. We urge you to follow them and consider this ever-growing list a trusted resource of newsrooms you can count on — just like we do.