Sophie Culpepper is a staff writer at Nieman Lab covering local news. She previously co-founded the hyperlocal Lexington Observer, where she reported on public schools, local government, economic development, and public safety among other topics as the digital news nonprofit’s only full-time journalist for two years. She is a proud alum of and forever believer in student journalism, and was a managing editor at her independent college newspaper, The Brown Daily Herald.
The nonprofit Newswell, based out of Arizona State University, already owns three local news sites in California: Stocktonia, Times of San Diego, and the Santa Barbara News-Press.
“We, as a field, need to be able to make coherent, persuasive, rigorous, and empirical arguments for why local news and information is critical to the health and safety of our communities.”
“Reducing the information density of teaser elements on paywalled articles and offering discounts may help newspapers increase their online subscriber numbers.”
“If policy is being crafted that impacts our members, I think it’s important that we are making efforts to help shape it to their benefit. The sausage-making is going to happen whether we choose to be a part of it or not.”
Culpepper, Sophie. "Local news orgs missed out on political ad money in 2024, and other takeaways from a survey of local media companies." Nieman Journalism Lab. Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, 16 Jan. 2025. Web. 25 Mar. 2025.
APA
Culpepper, S. (2025, Jan. 16). Local news orgs missed out on political ad money in 2024, and other takeaways from a survey of local media companies. Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved March 25, 2025, from https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/01/local-news-orgs-missed-out-on-political-ad-money-in-2024-and-other-takeaways-from-a-survey-of-local-media-companies/
Chicago
Culpepper, Sophie. "Local news orgs missed out on political ad money in 2024, and other takeaways from a survey of local media companies." Nieman Journalism Lab. Last modified January 16, 2025. Accessed March 25, 2025. https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/01/local-news-orgs-missed-out-on-political-ad-money-in-2024-and-other-takeaways-from-a-survey-of-local-media-companies/.
Wikipedia
{{cite web
| url = https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/01/local-news-orgs-missed-out-on-political-ad-money-in-2024-and-other-takeaways-from-a-survey-of-local-media-companies/
| title = Local news orgs missed out on political ad money in 2024, and other takeaways from a survey of local media companies
| last = Culpepper
| first = Sophie
| work = [[Nieman Journalism Lab]]
| date = 16 January 2025
| accessdate = 25 March 2025
| ref = {{harvid|Culpepper|2025}}
}}
