Ashley Wadhwani-Smith, editorial director for Black Press Media, was named the Local Media News, Content and Audience Innovator of the Year by Local Media Association for growing audience at the local publications across the company.

Each year, the Local Media News, Content and Audience Innovator of the Year award recognizes a high achiever in audience and platform development with the results to back it up.

Here’s what Wadhwani-Smith had to say about her work and what gets her excited about local media:

Tell us a little bit about how you got into the industry

While graduating from my bachelor’s of journalism program, I was lucky enough to be hired as a part-time reporter in my hometown of Maple Ridge, British Columbia. During that first year at the then-Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Times I was exposed to two key truths about hyperlocal community storytelling: 1. there are endless stories to tell in community journalism and if you’re lucky to be a part of as great a news team as I was, you’ll get every opportunity to try new things; and 2. local news reporting is anything but boring or safe — in fact, tenacity and a critical sense of responsibility in the work we do is essential.

From there, I was hooked. I went on to be given opportunities by my colleagues who are now my mentors at Black Press Media to cover provincial and national stories, before moving into audience strategy, which I feel so privileged to get to do for a living.

What makes you excited about the local media industry?

Despite the disruption we have faced collectively — the impacts of the pandemic (socially, economically), Meta’s removal of allowing news on its platform in Canada — the passion to come to the table and tell the stories that matter has felt unwavering. I think it is fair to say that we don’t end every single day feeling like the work we do matters, yet then there will be a story that is backed by a lot of research, persistence and collaborative edits that connects with readers and has a tangible impact — and today, we get to watch that impact in live time. What is so special about local community news is how intimate that can be: overhearing people at a coffee shop talking about it or a local politician including it in the biweekly council meeting (both real examples that have happened in recent weeks).

What keeps you up at night about the local media industry?

Between 2020-2022 I think we all saw firsthand how quickly news consumer habits can shift and what followed was a sense that two-year audience strategies needed to be accelerated to more like six-month or even three-month plans. Since then, I think there has been a sort of residual reader fatigue after two years of information overload. During that time, a portion of the public became very misinformed about the value and importance of credible journalism and the role we play in ensuring a healthy society by keeping institutions and those in power accountable.

I worry about how misinformation is becoming harder to identify and how we as an industry can keep up in combating fake and false information when this is predicated on major tech giants being held accountable.

Where do you see your company in the next five years? 10 years?

It’s not a secret that our industry has been experiencing change and transformation, particularly when it comes to how best to support businesses in reaching their customers as well as how readers rely on news and how they wish to consume it. If the pandemic taught us anything it is that the best plan you can have is one you don’t absolutely have to follow, and agility allows for pivoting and out-of-box thinking.

Here is what I know: As our industry evolves, we have to evolve, as well. But at the core of it all, regardless of the ever-changing platforms of choice, our continued focus on local journalism and building community at the most hyperlocal level has always been our advantage and we’re proud to be a part of the communities we serve. I carry a lot of hope in that.

What are you most proud of that you or the company has done?

Reflecting on nearly nine years with Black Press Media (now a division of Carpenter Media Group), I feel incredibly proud of the layers of storytelling and content we have created. The goal has and always will be about not just chronicling, but building, community.

Today, readers are able to connect with our neighborhood-level reporting, as well as our regional reporting, and along the way can learn about what is happening in nearby communities, while also reading about how to be a tourist in their own backyard. And if they are looking for a local business, real estate or cars for sale, we have that, too!

That just touches the surface.

A lot of brilliant minds from such a variety of expertise have come together and created a one-stop virtual community, all of which is built on the foundation of decades of credible storytelling and our belief in that work. I think that is so special.