By Tere Figueras Negrete
Have you thought lately about where you get your local news? Not just the headline you caught while scrolling, but the information that shapes how you show up in your families and neighborhoods.
We have. For the past year, Press Forward South Florida has been listening — surveying residents, sitting with community leaders, and tracking how people across Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties actually find and use local news. What we’re hearing is honest, sometimes uncomfortable, and ultimately full of possibility. And it’s why today, we’re opening our first round of grants to strengthen local newsrooms across South Florida.
What the data is telling us
South Florida has a rich and complicated news landscape. We’ve documented more than 100 sources of local news and information serving the region: newspapers, TV stations, digital outlets, student publications, podcasts, social media accounts, and more. That breadth is something to be proud of. But as one community leader told us: “The South Florida media landscape — like any place — is fractured, but even more so here: cultural fractures, language fractures, geographic fractures.”
Residents trust local news and want more from it. 61% of survey respondents said local news can be trusted to get things right. 65% said it helps them be a better citizen. More than half said it helps hold leaders accountable. And yet, residents are also telling us that local coverage doesn’t always reflect their lives or their most pressing concerns. A third actively disagreed with the statement “I feel people like me are seen and represented in local media.”
Where people get their news and where they trust it are two different things. 66% of respondents turn to social media for local news at least a few times a week — even though those same platforms rank near the bottom for trust. As one focus group participant put it: “The challenge is how to find the information and know if it’s true.”
The communities with the greatest information needs are often the hardest to reach. 47% of South Florida residents are foreign-born, and 61% speak a language other than English at home. For many, finding accurate information about housing, government programs, or immigration policies is genuinely difficult. Black South Floridians reported significantly lower rates of trust and representation in local media than their peers — 47% said they do not feel represented, compared to fewer than 40% of respondents overall.
Where we go from here
The data goes beyond describing a problem — and there’s more of it on the way. Later this year, we’ll be releasing a full landscape report with everything we’ve learned about how South Florida residents access, trust, and engage with local news. But the findings we have in hand already point clearly toward where to build. South Florida has the ingredients for a stronger, more equitable news ecosystem: a vibrant and diverse media landscape, residents who value and want local news, and a philanthropic community ready to invest in change. Local newsrooms that are stronger, better resourced, and more connected to one another can better serve the communities that need them most.
That’s why Press Forward South Florida is opening its first round of grants to strengthen local newsrooms across the region. We’re offering two types of support:
- Newsroom Strength grants pair local news organizations with a professional sustainability audit and coaching through LION Publishers — a national network dedicated to helping independent newsrooms build lasting business models — plus a $20,000 stipend to act on what they learn.
- Collaboration grants of $20,000–$100,000 over two years support newsrooms that want to work together to share infrastructure, audiences, and resources to do more than any one outlet can do alone.
Ready to apply or learn more?
Local news is the connective tissue between residents and the decisions that shape their lives. When that infrastructure weakens, communities feel it. Based on what more than 1,300 residents told us this past year, South Florida deserves better — and we intend to help build it.
📅 Applications open: June 22 – July 24, 2026
💻 Virtual info webinar: Tuesday, July 7, 1-2 PM | Register here
💻 Virtual info webinar: Friday, July 10, 1–2 PM | Register here
📋 Full grant guidelines and application | Learn more here
✉️ Questions? info@pressforwardsouthflorida.news
Explore our South Florida News and Information Database and join us in ensuring that our region’s media landscape thrives.
Press Forward South Florida is a local initiative fueled by national insights and local donors, part of the national Press Forward network of 80+ funders. The Miami Foundation is proud to serve as fiscal sponsor for Press Forward South Florida.