For independent news entities, community engagement is vital, Knight adviser says

In an interview for an upcoming "Empowering Independent Media" report update, Eric Newton, senior adviser to the president of the Knight Foundation, said community engagement "is a key" to the success of independent news efforts. "The content must engage people, the connectivity must engage them and when appropriate they need to be asked directly for money to help," he said. "News proprietors need to be able to clearly show the impact of the work. If people do not believe news and information matters, if they do not see the impact of journalism, it is difficult to establish and maintain professional media organizations."