Credit: Design by Jack Spatafora
Every day, folks across the Tampa Bay area wake up and seek information that shapes their movements, views and thinking.
Some of the questions are easy.
What do I wear for this weather? What does my commute look like? What do I do with my weekend or the extra money burning a hole in my pocket?
Others are more consequential.
Can we afford groceries? Can we afford rent? What’s happening in our neighborhood? Who should I vote for, and why?
There’s one question people should never have to ask themselves: Can I afford the information I need to understand my own community?
There are statistics aplenty supporting the importance of local journalism, including these from Pew Research Center:
81% of those who closely follow local news are likely to vote
85% of U.S. adults view local news outlets as important to their community’s well-being
About 71% of people trust local media to report news accurately
61% believe it does a good job keeping an eye on local political leaders
There are even nifty slogans about journalism like the one Jeff Bezos’ paper adopted in 2017: Democracy Dies in Darkness”
But if journalism is that important, why does so much of it end up behind paywalls?
Why is journalism treated like a commodity when it should be treated as a basic need for any community that seeks to have healthy residents?
Why are we asking people to make the same calculation they make about groceries or medicine just to understand their own community?
When journalism is treated like a commodity, it opens the door for misinformation to thrive.
When people are charged to drink from the well of good information, they quench their thirst with bad-faith blogs and social media feeds succumbing to trends in the hopes of attracting eyeballs and earholes.
That is no way for people to live.
Creative Loafing Tampa Bay (aka CL), now under new local ownership, hopes to do its part to change that with the Tampa Bay Journalism Project.
For too long, too many news organizations have treated each other like competition. CL has always known that to be untrue. We are better together—and Tampa Bay is stronger as a community when every outlet is the best version of itself.
Because while journalism hasn’t disappeared or come under attack to the degree the doomsayers describe, access to it has become more limited.
The Tampa Bay Journalism Project (TBJP) is built around a coalition of non-paywalled, community-centric publications that have made their content available to share with TBJP partners who are all free to repackage and re-share the stories for their unique audiences, on their unique platforms, thus expanding access to local journalism for all.
Current partners include:
The only barriers to accessing the stories are someone’s ability to read, internet connection, access to radio, or proximity to a newsstand.
A common thread between each of the partner newsrooms are their small staffs, all deeply dedicated to, and invested in, the communities they cover and live in.
Each TBJP newsroom maintains its independence, but benefits from the shared resources of the collective.
And Creative Loafing Tampa Bay wants to do more to contribute—but we need help.
A $750,000 capital campaign is underway to help expand CL’s newsroom, which grew from two to three editorial staffers after being purchased by employees and two new partners last January.
Tax-deductible contributions to Tampa Bay Journalism Fund’s fiscal sponsor, the Alternative News Foundation, will help CL pay for three additional reporter-editors and a staff photographer, each on two-year contracts, with wages that allow them to live in the community they cover.
News reporter
Arts & Entertainment editor
Food & Drink Critic-Editor
Staff photographer
Funds raised will also pay for legal fees, public records requests, dining, and fees for a local artist or designer to create each cover of the CL print edition that hits stands each week.
All the work CL staffers and freelancers create will be available to TBJP partners who will meet regularly with each other and the community to discuss coverage needs and ideas.
People shouldn’t have to decide whether they can afford the information they need to understand their own lives. A more accessible model—where local journalism is not just supported, but made available to all—is possible.
The Tampa Bay Journalism Project is our attempt to get that done.
Donations—including those from a DAF, stock, crypto, or cash—to the Tampa Bay Journalism Project are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
More information is available via altnewsfoundation.org. Ask more questions, or meet with our publisher, James Howard, and Editor-In-Chief, Ray Roa, by sending an email.
We’ll keep updating this post with FAQs and advanced messaging as our project evolves.
Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.
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This article appears in Mar. 12 – 18, 2026.
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