News Media Help Desk launches live chat support for local news publishers

COLUMBIA, Mo., Oct. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- News Media Help Desk, a centralized hub that provides local news publishers with essential digital resources at no cost, has launched its newest resource: live chat support. The Help Desk is made possible by collaboration between the Reynolds Journalism Institute and the Local Media Consortium.

The new live chat feature will be staffed by humans — not artificial intelligence — to provide intentional and easy-to-access strategic digital support. The chat is in the bottom-right corner of webpages on newsmediahelpdesk.org. The people responding to chats will be the same full- and part-time staff who have been powering the Help Desk since its December 2025 launch.

"We felt it was important to launch this feature and staff it with humans, rather than AI," says Leah Becerra, Product Director at the Help Desk. "Local news sustainability isn't one-size-fits-all. So, we needed to make sure the answers this chat service provides are high-quality and reliable. We trust humans to do that more so than AI."

When staff is online, Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. (Central), the purple chat bubble will let site visitors know, "we are online." Outside those hours, questions can still be submitted through the chat. If users share an email address, a Help Desk staffer's response will be sent to their inbox.

The new live chat support can connect local news professionals to content inside the Help Desk, like case studies and guides or third-party tool entries in the Scorecard database. The chat can also help local news publishers know when the Help Desk's free support offerings aren't enough to solve a problem, like when hands-on help is needed.

"We recognize that a lot of our resources are very do-it-yourself, and sometimes a newsroom just needs someone they trust to do the work to get to the next phase of a project," Becerra says. "By chatting with people, we'll have an easier time spotting those newsrooms and be able to connect them with affordable options to do things like web development, strategic analysis, creative work and more."

The Help Desk's service for connecting newsrooms to affordable vetted contractors who can help do work is called Digital On-Demand Services (DODS). The fractional matchmaking service was launched in 2022 and is managed by the Local Media Consortium.

"Adding a live chat to the Help Desk gives DODS a direct channel to find out what technical support newsrooms need," says Liz Hayes, DODS program manager. "This helps us match them with the right vetted expert contractor who can turn their challenges into positive results."

To access News Media Help Desk and its support chat, visit newsmediahelpdesk.org. Questions for the Help Desk's team can also be emailed directly to [email protected].

News Media Help Desk is a help desk for the journalism industry. This website is a free, centralized hub designed to provide local news organizations with access to essential resources, expert assistance and affordable hands-on help through Digital On-Demand Services fractional support. With these resources, the Help Desk aims to guide local news publishers through digital challenges that affect the sustainability of news operations.

The Help Desk is made possible by collaboration between the Reynolds Journalism Institute and the Local Media Consortium. The initiative is also supported by a grant from The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

For the media kit and screenshots of the live chat, click here.

Media contacts:  Leah Becerra [email protected] 

SOURCE Local Media Consortium