July was a special month for the Austin Monitor on numerous fronts. Since making the bold and important decision to remove our paywall at the end of the 2021, we’ve reached nearly 150,000 new readers. Though early into our new model, we see this growth as a great sign for further elevating our impact. It’s […]
Joel Gross
Posted inGraphics
Featured Data: Austin Police Department Budget, 2012-2022
During the 2020-21 budget process, City Council cut $31.5 million from APD’s budget, citing the protests and “community outcry against the disproportionate impact of police violence on Black Americans, Latinx Americans and other non-white ethnic communities,” according to the approved budget. The following year, however, Council members approved a record-high APD budget – more than […]
Posted inMission Note
Notley/Monitor Poll: Austinites value local news but disagree on quality
Nearly seven in 10 Austinites believe that local news is important to them personally, but only 36 percent rate highly the quality of local news reporting, according to a June survey of 507 likely voters commissioned by Notley and conducted by Change Research for the Austin Monitor. When broken down by party identification, the importance of local news […]
Posted inMission Note
Our mid-year review: Readership takes a dramatic turn up
Even though our roots go back to the mid-1990s, the Austin Monitor officially launched as a nonprofit in 2013. To some, that may not seem like a long time ago, while to others (myself included) it feels like a different era. Strong and enduring nonprofits are constantly assessing the environment they operate in, and at […]
Posted inMission Note
Monitor’s new community-building tool helps foster accountability and trust
Earlier this month, the Austin Monitor proudly participated in Amplify Austin Day. I previously laid out why this day is so special. Today, in addition to thanking our scores of supporters, I want to go deeper on why the follow-through from this day of giving is vital to our organization and mission. To lead off, […]
Posted inNonprofits
Nonprofit Spotlight: Four questions for the Downtown Austin Alliance
Great downtowns don’t just happen. They are built by people who care deeply about making downtown welcoming, vibrant and vitally important to the culture of the city at large. The Downtown Austin Alliance embodies that spirit of collaboration and stewardship through advocacy, direct services and activations that bring downtown’s public spaces to life. What is […]
Posted inMission Note
Amplifying the ‘Austin Monitor’
Amplify Austin Day began on Wednesday, March 2, this year. This collective effort by our community to support local nonprofit organizations is so aligned with our work, scope and mission it feels like we’re twin planets orbiting the same sun. We hope you will participate in Amplify Austin and that you will consider amplifying our […]
Posted inMission Note
Why now is the time to remove our paywall (and how you can help)
The Austin Monitor officially launched as a nonprofit in 2013, but our reporting roots go all the way back to the mid-’90s. We have been producing ongoing and in-depth public service journalism that covers important issues in the community for nearly 30 years. Since our official launch over eight years ago, we’ve seen two significant […]
Posted inMission Note
Enhancing your news experience: A first step
We know there are a lot of information and media sources that compete for your time. It seems like this number grows exponentially every year, and with the move to everything digital, we know it is important to factor in the experience of reading the news along with the quality of the news itself. Our […]
Posted inMission Note
Introducing the Austin Monitor’s strategic advisory council of guides
Few industries are as American as the press. Revered by the Founding Fathers as “one of the great bulwarks of liberty,” the role of the free press is literally written into the First Amendment, and its impact has proven invaluable time and time again. At the same time, the vast majority of news outlets operate […]
Posted inMission Note
Local news is a two-way street
I often describe the Austin Monitor as a news source that exists at the intersection of local government and community. One of the many reasons we believe this space is so important is because of the tremendous influence each side has on the other. The community shapes local government and local government shapes the community. […]
Posted inMission Note
Our decisions shape the community
I previously described elections as a “high-stakes civic intersection between information and action” – in other words, right in the Austin Monitor’s wheelhouse. When it comes to turnout, this recent special election had numerous factors stacked against it: mid-year (not November), off-year (not coinciding with a major federal election) and non-presidential (not voting for presidential […]