About the work of the Local News Network
The Local News Network at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism conducts research into the field of journalism and its business model, with a mission to make the product more valuable and the industry more sustainable. Students also support local news outlets across the state with voter guides and original reporting projects on issues important to Marylanders.
The News People Need (2026)
The Local News Network conducted a human-centered design study by listening to people in Maryland about what "jobs" they need news organizations to do in today’s media landscape. Over several months, the team recruited and conducted deep-dive, open-ended interviews with a wide range of 17 Maryland residents across regions of the state and different ages, ethnicities, professions and news behaviors.
The study findings explain how news organizations can begin to create journalism that is more actionable, useful and indispensable.
Maryland General Assembly Primary Voter Guide (2026)
The Local News Network surveyed all 235 General Assembly candidates who faced a competitive primary, and 141 responded. Candidate responses were published in an online database organized by primary race. Student journalists also did background checks on all the candidates.
The database is paired with several stories on findings from the responses and background checks. The topics include candidates’ perspectives on President Donald Trump, the state’s budget problems, housing affordability, data center development and a state ban on entering agreements with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
Maryland School Board Election Voter Guide (2024)
The Local News Network surveyed all 109 candidates, 74 of whom responded, and published all candidate Q&As, organized by Maryland county.
LNN also published five stories on Merrill College's Capital News Service, diving deeper into key findings revealed by the survey responses — including opinions about the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, book banning, cellphones in schools, school safety and gender identity.
Child care: Missing in Maryland? (2024)
The Local News Network took a comprehensive look at the child care shortages that have developed in most parts of the state since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Included were an overview of the shortages, a look at the difficulty parents have in assessing the quality of child care facilities, an assessment of what the shortage means for the state's plans to expand pre-K and a look at innovative child care solutions outside of Maryland. The project also includes a close look at what's happening with child care in each of the state's 23 counties as well as the city of Baltimore.
Behind the Blueprint (2024)
The Local News Network published a comprehensive report on the Blueprint for Maryland's Future, the 10-year, multibillion-dollar plan to remake public education in the state. Included were an overview of the Blueprint and its fiscal impact, along with stories related to its "five pillars": hiring more skilled and diverse teachers, improving college and career readiness, expanding access to pre-K, bolstering school funding and ensuring that the Blueprint actually works. "Behind the Blueprint" also includes summaries of the strengths, weaknesses and funding changes under the Blueprint plans for each of the state's 24 school districts.
Contracted Out (2023)
Maryland's school districts are required by law to tell the state how they spend their money — and the Local News Network took a close look at that data. The records include every business or individual contractor that got at least $25,000 from a school district in a single fiscal year. The project includes a series of stories and a publicly available interactive database that shows how every district spends their money.
Maryland Board of Education Voter Guide (2022)
With schools in Maryland facing issues ranging from pandemic-related learning losses to safety, the Local News Network sent a questionnaire to all 155 school board candidates to get their views on important issues ahead of the 2022 midterm election. The results were published in their entirety by Capital News Service with candidates organized by county. Reporters followed up with multiple stories on trends that showed up in the results of the questionnaire.