Explore Chicago’s Independent Media and Local News Outlets
Our guide is here to help you explore more news and culture coverage of the city.
Advertise your local business, corporate entity, nonprofit, or government agency to a combined audience of more than 4.5 million.
Looking for new sources of information about Chicago’s diverse communities?
Photo Credit: Atavia Reed: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
About the Chicago Independent Media Alliance (CIMA) and our media directory.
The Chicago Independent Media Alliance (CIMA) is a coalition of local, community-driven media and news organizations. CIMA, a project of the Reader Institute for Community Journalism, encompasses traditional, non-traditional, legacy, and new-media organizations—many of them BIPOC-led and BIPOC-owned and operated. They also include print media organizations that have been around for more than a century, 21st-century podcast entities, newsletter producers, youth groups, filmmakers and news/media web platforms. CIMA members are for-profit and nonprofit; some have fiscal agents. They reach diverse communities, including Black, Latinx, Asian, Arab, Polish, LGBTQIA+ and immigrant communities.
Together, CIMA members …
– Primary outlets reach a combined audience of 4.5 million.
– Represent all of the city’s 50 wards and many nearby suburbs
– Produce content in 6 languages
– Uplift a wide range of voices to ensure that media is inclusive of —and accessible to— diverse communities.
Visit our directory to receive an overview of each outlet’s market volume, frequency, reach, coverage areas, and the type of content produced.
*The media directory identifies CIMA members by logos; please note that the directory also includes media organizations not in CIMA.
