The media profiles from the U.S. and Canada in our Global Project Oasis Media Directory were created using information provided by LION Publishers. The 1,606 media profiles from the U.S. and Canada that are now available in the global directory were also included in the analysis for the 2024 Global Project Oasis report.
In June 2025, SembraMedia began leading the research in North America. LION Publishers will continue to be a supporting partner in Project Oasis but SembraMedia will now maintain the media directory for the U.S. and Canada. You can search all of the media profiles from North America in the Global Directory.
Until May 2025, the first Project Oasis directory and report for the U.S. and Canada were developed as a collaboration between UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, LION Publishers, Douglas K. Smith and the Google News Initiative, to map the progress of locally focused digital news publishers.
LION Publishers and their partners created the initial database with short profiles of local digital news publishers in the U.S. and Canada. You can find LION’s first Project Oasis report on North America here. The media profiles are included in the Global Project Oasis Media Directory.
To create the North American directory, the Project Oasis team in the U.S. and Canada identified more than 700 local news organizations that met their criteria. The original database included LION members, as well as members of the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN). Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) also contributed to the original research.
To collect data, a survey was sent to eligible organizations, and representatives from those organizations submitted their information for inclusion in the database. For organizations that did not respond to the survey request, researchers at UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media compiled media profiles using publicly available information.
The selection of U.S. and Canada profiles for the Global Project Oasis Media Directory follows the criteria for inclusion, developed by an international team with the goal of identifying independent, digital native media organizations that operate with editorial independence and transparency, and produce original content that serves the public interest.
The original data collection took place between April and July 2020, LION Publishers updated the database in 2022 and 2023, and SembraMedia began leading the project in 2025 and is working on updating and expanding the profiles in the database.
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