About

Last update: September 2025

Hi, I'm Rob! This site exists for journalists who seek to effectively serve a community as a path to successful journalism.

Here's the nut: If you serve your community, and emotionally connect with your community, absolutely everything will go better, including trust in news and your revenue models. I refer to this effort at connection as "emotional engagement of a journalism audience."

I'm a former chief editor at a daily and a current community journalist, working in the field. I've also been running a journalism training program for more than 15 years – my "graduates" are at news organizations everywhere, doing amazing things!

My emotional engagement journey began decades ago. I worked with the authors of a major research project performed by the now-defunct Readership Institute of Northwestern University, into what drives consumers of news. I've never stopped refining it, building on it and testing new approaches to emotional engagement in the real world. I've seen the results. I've realized, frankly, that I've got a method that works and a responsibility to share it.

For Poynter, I wrote the article, “Love your community and watch your revenue models do better.” I recently served on a conference panel, “The First Commandment of Sustainability: Know Thy Audience (Keynote),” with representatives from Hearken and the Knight Foundation. In early August 2025, I was in San Francisco, serving on an engagement panel at the 7th World Journalism Education Congress.

The site is set up as a newsletter, though I envision that it will grow to become a field guide to having an effective relationship with a journalism audience. I invite you to subscribe, to get content alerts and full access.

I care deeply about community journalism. I invite you to peruse my posted resources (start here at this one-sheet guide and click on stuff!), watch for news of upcoming speaking engagements, and follow the Successful Journalism for Communities Facebook page. Subscribe to keep in touch and gain more tools – it's all free for journalists, students and academics! I can be reached at Rob@SuccessfulJournalism.com. I want to help.

Rob Golub

Editor and Founder

Rob@SuccessfulJournalism.com

Successful Journalism for Communities

SuccessfulJournalism.com