In September 2025, News is Out, the pioneering queer media collaborative, released the LGBTQ+ Media Mapping Project. This year-long effort was the brainchild of Tracy Baim, co-founder of Windy City Times and a queer media legend. The project, which was made possible thanks to support by The MacArthur Foundation, and assistance from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and Local Media Association, took a deep dive into the ecosystem of queer media, something Baim had long wanted to explore.
After the report was released last September, we ran into an issue that is rather common with reports: while the data remains evergreen and important, the support for a report of this kind has a shelf life.
As a steward of the project, I wanted to help expand the report and share this data with audiences who might ordinarily bristle at cracking open a report. After putting our heads together, the idea for The Map of Us podcast was born. The limited series podcast distilled the report’s seven key topics and allowed for collaboration between members of News is Out. While I produced each episode, members of News is Out led discussions on LGBTQ+ news deserts, the economics of local queer media, collaboration and more. These podcast episodes, which averaged around 20 minutes, provided an intimate look at the information provided in the report, giving real voice to the numbers and statistics.
When it came time to launch the podcast, we knew the right partner would be key. We immediately turned to Ken Schneck, founder and publisher of The Buckeye Flame, Ohio’s nonprofit LGBTQ+ news and information publication, and host of the weekly podcast This News Is So Gay. As a News is Out affiliate, The Buckeye Flame offered an established podcast platform and engaged audience, allowing us to build on an existing community rather than starting from scratch.
The partnership paid off. The Map of Us has been listened to nearly 10,000 times, extending the reach of the LGBTQ+ Media Mapping Project to journalists, publishers, funders and community leaders. That kind of reach is rare for a report. It took information that usually stays intra-industry and put it directly in front of the people we serve.
Now, people interested in the Mapping Project’s findings get to experience it as more than data, as real voices, real experiences and lessons learned.
Reports like the Media Mapping project are important, but likewise is the ability to think outside of the ways we present vital data. When more people outside of the typical audience get to experience the impact of what we do, we are only strengthening our cause and creating more allies, not just readers.