NW Newswell

NW Newswell is the operating name of NEWSWELL, a nonprofit founded in 2024 and affiliated with Arizona State University. Its purpose is to keep local journalism financially and operationally viable. The organisation supplies local news sites with back-end services - finance, human resources, legal support, audience expertise and business operations - so that their reporters can concentrate on reporting. The work sits at the intersection of local news, the nonprofit sector and higher education.

The model is being tested through three prototype local news sites: Stocktonia, Times of San Diego and the Santa Barbara News-Press. Each operates with full wraparound support while remaining a local newsroom. The organisation's technical work spans audience analytics and expertise, business operations support and the mechanics of nonprofit news operations. Staff work alongside students and researchers at ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. ASU has been ranked the most innovative university in the United States for ten consecutive years.

NEWSWELL was founded by Nicole Carroll, former editor-in-chief of USA TODAY and a Pulitzer Prize winner at The Arizona Republic. Its stated orientation is toward public value and community service rather than profit extraction, drawing on ASU's charter to assume responsibility for the communities it serves. Geographic presence includes Palo Alto, Stockton, San Diego and Santa Barbara in California, and Arizona through the ASU affiliation.