Local Signal: Mapping how communities get informed
Local Signal studies the full information environment of a place: not only its news outlets, but also the institutions, people, networks, spaces and routines through which residents learn what is happening around them.
Local information does not travel through journalism alone.
People learn about their communities through a mixed system of local media, municipal institutions, schools, libraries, sports clubs, cultural venues, neighbourhood groups, businesses, creators, messaging channels and face-to-face encounters. Local Signal makes this system visible. It asks who produces locally relevant information, who reaches residents, which channels are trusted or routinely used, where important information fails to travel, and what role journalism plays within the wider network.
Map the actors
Identify the formal and informal nodes that generate, distribute, interpret or amplify local information.
Trace the routes
Follow information across websites, social platforms, messaging groups, print, noticeboards, public spaces and personal networks.
Find the gaps
Show which communities, topics and neighbourhoods are well served, overlooked or dependent on a small number of actors.
Desk research combined with direct immersion in the community.
Each map is built through a layered process. Structured data provides comparability; time spent in the locality reveals the channels, habits and relationships that are invisible from a distance.
Scoping and boundary setting
Define the primary locality, normally the functional urban area, and the relevant secondary administrative area. Record commuting patterns, language communities and cross-boundary information flows.
Structured desk mapping
Compile media, institutions, civic organizations, political actors, sports bodies, creators and major commercial actors. Record legal identity, ownership, funding, platforms, audience indicators, geographic reach and documented relationships.
On-the-ground observation
MJRC researchers spend time in the community and document where information appears in daily life: libraries, cafés, transport hubs, municipal buildings, markets, cultural venues, campuses, places of worship, noticeboards and recurring events. Short field notes record visibility, language, format and intended audience.
Semi-structured local interviews
Researchers interview a diverse group of residents and local intermediaries, including journalists, librarians, community organizers, teachers, cultural workers, local officials, business owners, students, older residents and administrators of neighbourhood groups. Interviews explore regular information habits, trusted and distrusted sources, missing coverage, crisis communication and differences between neighbourhoods or social groups.
Information-route tracing
Participants are asked to reconstruct how they learned about a recent local event or issue. These “information journeys” help identify the sequence of sources, intermediaries and platforms through which a signal travelled, and where it stalled, changed or acquired credibility.
Rapid intercept conversations
Where appropriate, researchers conduct brief, non-identifying conversations in public settings to test whether the sources identified by experts are also visible to ordinary residents. These are used as directional evidence, not as representative polling.
Community validation
A draft ecosystem map is checked with local participants through a small roundtable, workshop or remote review. Participants identify missing nodes, challenge assumptions and distinguish nominal reach from real local influence.
Triangulation and quality control
Claims are compared across public records, platform data, field observation and multiple interviews. Disagreement is retained where it is analytically meaningful. Every quantitative observation is date-stamped and sourced; qualitative findings are attributed by participant category unless explicit permission is given.
Resampling
Core indicators are revisited at sensible intervals, with faster updates during elections, emergencies, major closures, ownership changes or other events likely to reshape the information ecosystem.
What the map includes
A growing map of local information ecosystems
Local Signal will expand continuously as new communities are researched. Each location will have its own page combining baseline social, political, economic and technological data with an analysis of the local information environment. During summer 2026, MJRC is conducting fieldwork in Oviedo, Chichester, The Hague, Hamburg, Travemünde, Liepāja and Pärnu.
All locations
Results from the first locations will be published in October and November 2026.
Help us understand how your community gets informed.
Local newsrooms, researchers, civic organizations, librarians, community groups and residents can contribute data, suggest overlooked sources, validate a local map or collaborate on a full study.
A living evidence base and a continually updated local directory.
Local ecosystem database
A structured registry of entities, accounts, visible audience indicators, ownership, finance, relationships, offline channels and dated field observations.
Local Signal dossier
A concise narrative analysis of how information moves through the community, which nodes dominate, where journalism is central or peripheral, and which groups or topics are poorly served.
Network and route maps
Visual representations of important relationships, distribution pathways and information journeys reconstructed through field research.
Comparative research
Cross-place analysis of recurring patterns, including the role of institutions, informal networks, language, local identity and platform dependence.
Public-interest research with clear boundaries.
Local Signal documents public activity and collects only the personal information necessary for informed, voluntary research participation. It does not enter closed digital groups without permission, publish private contact details or treat interview testimony as representative of an entire community. Participants are informed about the purpose of the research and may remain unnamed. Sensitive observations are aggregated or withheld where publication could expose individuals or vulnerable groups. The project distinguishes measured reach from perceived influence and records uncertainty rather than forcing false precision.
Invest in independent media research and join a community of practice.
MJRC takes no government money — so the questions we chase are set by the field, not by a funder. A contribution keeps our research and global analysis independent, and buys you a seat closer to the work: early access to new findings, invitations to small-group briefings, a place in our Supporters Circle, and the option to be listed on our Supporters Page.