Community Interest
National Journalist, Local Mission: David Greene’s Lancaster County Vision
Story by Sally Reynolds, Director of Digital Marketing Operations at LNP Media Group
Since 2005, more than a third of U.S newspapers have closed their doors. Of those that remain, about half are owned by hedge funds with no connection to the communities they serve.
Lancaster County’s own local news organization, LNP | LancasterOnline, is also at risk.
Without LNP | LancasterOnline, residents would have no source of information that is solely dedicated to covering Lancaster County on critical topics such as zoning decisions, school board policies, county commissioners’ meetings, business openings (and closings), tax increases, criminal incidents and courtroom cases. This is reporting that affects the daily lives of every person who lives in this county.
However, the traditional newspaper funding model is broken. Revenue from subscriptions and advertising alone no longer comes close to covering the costs of reporting news around the clock in print and online.
But there is a vision for a sustainable future for news in Lancaster County, and that vision is being led by McCaskey graduate David Greene, host of the syndicated podcast “Left, Right & Center” and former host of NPR’s “Morning Edition.”
Greene started his career as an intern with the Sunday News here in Lancaster. Three decades later, he took the first step toward a sustainable future for local journalism in Lancaster County with the creation of a new nonprofit organization, Always Lancaster, in late 2025. LNP | LancasterOnline’s assets were transferred to Always Lancaster by former owner Pennon in January 2026.
Greene’s vision for the future of local news is rooted in Lancaster County itself, in the qualities that make this area such a great place to live and work. “I couldn’t imagine Lancaster County without LNP,” Greene says. “I couldn’t imagine this place as a news desert.”
Lancaster County is a special place with the right ingredients to support a local nonprofit news source, Greene says. He lists four unique qualities that make the move to nonprofit news possible here:
- A strong spirit of philanthropy, exemplified by annual community fundraising events such as ExtraGive and FaithfulGive.
- An owner (Pennon) of a news organization that was willing to gift the assets to the nonprofit (Always Lancaster).
- A deep sense of civic engagement and pride.
- The existence of respected, high-quality journalism.
“The core of the nonprofit vision is that it will really feel like the new LNP is owned by this community,” Greene says.
The specifics of how this vision will look are still in the works. “It’s not just about finding the right content platforms to stay connected,” he says.
LNP | LancasterOnline can thrive, Greene says, if it continues delivering local news and information while also becoming a hub of civic discourse where people can feel connected, overcome disagreements and solve problems together.
Civic discourse also means LNP | LancasterOnline listens to feedback.
“I take this so, so seriously,” Greene says. He wants to hear from residents: “What stories are we missing? What are we not covering that’s important, and also, frankly, how can we better tell stories that maybe have angered you in the past? How can we tell them in a way that does not immediately make you feel dismissed or unheard or not part of our community?”
One of the hardest challenges in journalism today, Greene says, is staying true to the fact-checking and accountability that make journalism trustworthy, while also making it clear that the newspaper is listening to, and engaged with, the community it serves.
This is a tremendously exciting moment for Lancaster County, and you can help turn this vision into reality. Please consider supporting local journalism for your community by donating to lanc.news/donate.
To donate by mail, make your check payable to the Lancaster County Local Journalism Fund and send it to:
LNP Media Group
PO Box 1328
Lancaster, PA 17608
If you have questions about this project or would like to get involved, please email info@alwayslancaster.org.
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