My colleagues and I recently learned a lot about what people think of the newspaper — what readers value in our reporting and what’s missing. Those conversations gave us a clearer picture of how the Times Free Press connects (or doesn’t) with our community.
During listening sessions we hosted in September, one longtime reader called the newspaper the “connective tissue” of Chattanooga. Another Chattanoogan said she relies on friends or TikTok for news and questioned the relevance of a legacy paper. One reader — sometimes a critic — said he was “honored” to attend. That humility stayed with us.
These comments were among many shared in a series of meetings at the Times Free Press. We invited people from across our community to tell us what they need from local news: What deserves more coverage? What questions still don’t have answers? What are your neighbors talking about? We called these gatherings listening sessions because our job was exactly that — listen and learn.
In all, 68 people showed up to nine sessions, generous with their time and frank with their views. We asked them to be candid and unvarnished, and they were.
The meetings reflected Chattanooga: CEOs, activists, environmentalists, developers, educators, health care providers, artists, entrepreneurs, newcomers and people whose families have been here for generations. We heard from subscribers, casual readers and from folks who don’t read the paper much at all.