York Local News

About:​ York Local News abbreviated (YLN) is a locally based media outlet owned run democratically by
its workers. They hire a diverse team of journalists from different areas of York to report on news affecting
the local populace, and they also publish stories submitted by York residents. Because YLN is owned by
its workers, they hold democratic elections every year to determine who sits on the board of advisors, with
one vote per person. The board of advisors makes decisions regarding how the business is run, which
include employee wages and benefits, what articles get published, and who to hire.

Mission Statement:​ to provide a voice and reliable source of information to the citizens of York by
publishing honest, credible, and organic community-made articles.

Letter:

January 1st, 2020

Dear Newsguild Representative,

I am Nate Linder, the currently elected president of York Local News, a grassroots news outlet owned and
operated in York, Pennsylvania. Since 2015, YLN has been publishing credible, well sourced, and
unbiased articles written by York residents, and we have been successful as one of the first worker coop
news outlets in the U.S. This means that our outlet is 100% is owned and run by its workers, who
democratically decide on business matters and decisions with the rule of one vote per person.

Unlike most other news outlets, York Local News does not receive funding from advertising or from large
corporations. Instead, we operate using the generosity of small donors and with the help of our volunteer
workers. While this helps our outlet stay away from the harmful filters that advertising can put on news
media, it also makes it more difficult to receive the funding necessary for business operations, and as of
recently our donations have slowed down. As a result our outlet risks going out of business if we are
unable to boost our funding for the 2020 year.

In light of this, we are asking you and several other prominent news media groups for endorsements and
to publish an article or make a tweet raising awareness about our outlet. We believe that groups such as
the Newsguild could help bring more awareness to our local paper, and could provide enough donations
to allow us to continue bringing quality articles to York residents.

At York Local News, we pride ourselves on the values that we share with groups such as Guildnews.
Because our outlet is run as a democracy, our workers are fully entitled to vote on wages, company
policy, and publishing procedures. Not only does this give our workers rights that other outlets do not, it
also prevents the bias that manifests in other corporate news sources due to a wealthy management
class making decisions regarding hiring, firing, and publishing. As a result of our worker democracy, our
outlet also has 100% wage equality, from our management team to our editors and writers.

Along with democracy, diversity is another one of our core values, and because of this we not only
publish articles written by our large team of full time journalists, but we also publish guest articles mailed
to us by anyone in York. This gives our readers the opportunity to read articles from York residents living
in the suburbs, the city, and the rural areas that wouldn’t have a voice otherwise.

Another guarantee that our outlet makes is that any article published by York Local News will be credible,
well sourced, and written by a journalist with firsthand experience on the issue being covered. Because
we are run locally from York city, we have the resources to investigate issues without solely relying on PR
statements by government officials and corporations. This lets us conduct high quality investigative
journalism that larger scale outlets fail to perform consistently.

Finally, our outlet is run by York residents for York residents. Because our management, writers, and
workers all live in York, our outlet does what we can to support the local community. This includes
bringing attention to small businesses, holding politicians and companies accountable through
investigative reporting, and supporting local charities and nonprofits. Because we live in and operate from
York, we all do what we can to support the community.

While we know that Newsguild is a very active and busy organization, we believe that assistance from
your group could help bring our outlet forward, and open the way for more local worker coop news outlets
to enter the market in the U.S. If you would be willing to give us your endorsement going forward, we
would appreciate it if you would contact us at your earliest convenience.

Thank you for your time,

Nate Linder
York Local News
President

Link to Newsguild Website -

https://newsguild.org/mediaguild3/