We asked ABQ newspaper readers if we need a different option. Here’s what they said.

When we launched City Desk ABQ in January we set out to create an alternative to the city’s traditional news outlets that no longer provided in-depth daily insight into how the city’s decisions and decision makers really work. 

To build a newsroom that makes an impact we promised to tell stories our readers could use to understand how their city really works. So how’s that going? 

In June we asked readers to give us their feedback on our first six months. Nearly 400 readers — all anonymous — took the time to answer a series of questions about how they use City Desk and other local news options and what we could do better. We received over 3,000 individual comments and answers. 

As promised, we’re sharing the results with you. Here are some of the toplines of feedback we received:

What makes City Desk ABQ different from other local news options?

More than 60% of respondents said City Desk’s model provides them with news about the city they can’t get anywhere else. 

One anonymous reader said, “If you want to understand how ABQ really works, this type of coverage is important.”

Lots of readers gave feedback that reinforced how going in depth on issues helps them understand not just what happened, but why.

How do readers use City Desk stories?

In addition to knowing why people are reading our stories, we wanted to know what they do with the information they received. 

More than 60% said they had found a story important enough to share with friends, family or neighbors. 

Nearly a quarter said they had donated to a nonprofit or cause included in one of those stories. 

And 18% – almost 1-in-5 readers – said they had reached out to an elected official or participated in a public meeting because of a story they read in City Desk.

One reader told us how they had been alerted to a proposed change in the city’s immigration policy and then reached out to a group organizing community opposition to join their efforts:

City Desk alerted me to the anti-immigrant proposal by Bassan. Thanks to that, I reached out to El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, talked to friends about it, kept in touch, went to the rally on Monday, and eagerly awaited news of the decision.

All of the feedback is anonymous, but we love seeing how readers used our reporting to learn about something important to them and then getting involved in time to impact the decision.

That type of civic engagement driven by good journalism was so unique, the team at News Revenue Hub who helped to design and manage the survey called it out in their analysis of the results:

Readers appreciate the inclusion of links to contact elected officials, which fosters civic participation. This feature is seen as an enormous benefit, promoting engagement in local government. [One reader said,] “City Desk also adds those links to contact elected officials directly on pertinent issues.”

What can we do more? What can we do better?

As a nonprofit news outlet, we believe news should be a public service so we asked readers what they would like to see in the future and what we could do better. 

Almost half of our readers asked for more coverage of politics and local government.

Armed with that feedback, we began looking for solutions. 

As a startup local newsroom, the prospect of covering national news and fact checking misinformation was more than we could do ourselves.

In August, we launched a new partnership to bring national, politics and election coverage from The Washington Post to Albuquerque for free to City Desk subscribers. It isn’t free to provide, but it is information readers can use and it is an important part of our mission to help readers make informed decisions and fight misinformation. 

Admittedly, City Desk is still a work in progress. 

As we’re planning coverge of the last few weeks of incredibly important state and local elections and next year’s mayoral and city council races we are leaning on your input to tell us what matters most to you.

More than 80% of our readers believe it is important to fund journalism that matters to them.

If everyone who agreed gave regularly – $25 or $100 now or $10 per month, we could double our coverage and expand our impact citywide.

If you are one of the 46% of readers who want to see us expand our coverage or one of the 81% who believe good journalism deserves reader support, now is the time to consider a donation to the city’s new newsroom alternative. 

Thanks for being a reader and supporter of independent, nonprofit local news that matters. 

Have feedback you’d like to share? Send it to editor@citydesk.org