Join us on the National Summit on Local News Preservation

December 8, 2025

The closing and loss of newspapers in the US has increased significantly in recent years. In the vacuum left by this decline, a variety of local news sources have appeared online. But the web pages and related born-digital assets generated by this shift have presented complex preservation challenges. Newsrooms, working to adapt to new platforms and formats with reduced resources, have been unable to develop solutions and form partnerships to ensure their digital assets are available for future research. Archives and libraries have also struggled to respond to these challenges. Not only does the distributed and multimedia nature of this content present major obstacles, but the training, support, partnerships, and tools needed to conduct these preservation and access activities have been out of reach. The loss of access to today’s local news will present serious consequences for future journalists, scholars, and the broader public.

Join the Internet Archive, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), and the Poynter Institute for the National Summit on Local News Preservation. This event will bring together the producers, preservers, and users of local news to develop collaborative, scalable solutions to address the urgent preservation challenges presented by the rapidly changing local news landscape. Through panels, presentations, and facilitated discussions, Summit attendees will:

• Learn about the strategies and partnerships behind successful local news preservation initiatives
• Support the development of a set of local news preservation recommendations to be distributed nationally to newsrooms, archives, and libraries
• Network with leaders from news and cultural heritage organizations
• Become familiar with tools and programs that can support the preservation and access of online and other local digital news assets

The event will take place on June 17, 2026 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center (National Harbor, Maryland). Register now to attend!

This event seeks to bring together representatives from news and cultural heritage organizations. Editors, reporters, and journalists from all types of media organizations are encouraged to attend, as are archivists, librarians, and other heritage professionals. 

This is a FREE event. A limited amount of funds are available to support attendee travel expenses. Lunch and refreshments will be provided. This event is made possible with support from Press Forward and the Society of American Archivists Foundation.