Meet the team

Sarah Stonbely, PhD

Research director, Center for Cooperative Media

Sarah Stonbely (Ph.D., New York University) is the Principal Investigator on the Local News Ecosystem Mapping project. Since heading the research agenda at CCM, Stonbely has produced white papers and research reports on collaborative journalism, the effects on content of changing media ownership, ethnic and community media, audience satisfaction with local news, and the structural correlates of success for hyperlocal news outlets. Prior positions include research associate on the News Measures Research Project under the direction of Phil Napoli, and postdoc at George Washington University in the School of Media + Public Affairs. Sarah received her doctorate in political communication, media sociology, and journalism studies from NYU in 2015; her expertise is in journalism culture and practice, local news ecosystems, and research methodology.

Jesse Holcomb

Assistant Professor, Calvin University

Jesse Holcomb is an assistant professor at Calvin University, where he teaches communication and journalism. Prior to that, Holcomb spent 10 years in Washington D.C. at the Pew Research Center, where he was associate director of research. Holcomb has served as principal investigator on several large national projects for organizations including the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, the Knight Foundation, the Institute for Nonprofit News, among others. Holcomb was a co-author for Phase I of the project and is also involved with Phase II.

Magda Konieczna, PhD

Assistant Professor, Temple University

Magda Konieczna (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison) is an assistant professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her book, Journalism Without Profit (Oxford, 2018), focuses on nonprofit news organizations and the future of journalism. She has a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and was a city hall reporter in Canada before moving into academia. Koneiczna was a co-author for Phase I of the project.

Matthew S. Weber, PhD

Associate Professor, University of Minnesota

Matthew S. Weber (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is an associate professor in the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota and the Cowles Endowed Fellow of Media Management. Matthew is an expert on media industries, organizational change and the use of large-scale Web data. His recent work includes a large-scale longitudinal project mapping the health of local news and the impact of local news on communities. Additional research includes an examination of the role of technology in local news organizations, and the effectiveness of adopting social media within organizations. Weber is involved with Phase II and Phase III of the project.