5-minute read
Ten years ago, Barry Friedman launched LkldNow. Since then, we’ve published over 9,100 posts with Lakeland front and center.
Friedman often worked out of local coffee shops, connecting with readers, community members, and supporting other local businesses. He wanted readers to understand: “We are local, our focus was local, everything about us was Lakeland.”
“Whether it’s about new businesses or what’s going on in politics and government,” said Friedman, “our focus is on community improvement. And that’s really guided our coverage.”
Where it started
Friedman worked as a reporter and editor in Tampa before moving to Lakeland and becoming an editor at the Ledger. He was an early explorer of the internet (we’re talking 1989 and Prodigy) and combined his interest in journalism and computers by founding theledger.com, bringing the print-only newspaper into the digital space.
After 32 years, Friedman parted ways with the Ledger in 2014. But he wasn’t done with journalism. He knew the industry was evolving and yet still integral to civil discourse. Many young people were no longer subscribing to print newspapers and turning to the internet and Facebook instead.
Friedman envisioned a free, trustworthy and mobile-friendly online news outlet that would focus solely on Lakeland.
He recognized that information and opinions were flooding the internet. His site, LkldNow, would be a platform with reporters doing the hard work for readers — sifting through to curate news and information, publishing articles that were direct and easy to understand.
Recounting the Sept. 10, 2015, LkldNow launch party in an article published the next day, Friedman thanked those who “expressed support for my crazy dreams.” He shared 10 principles, the “crazy dreams,” that guided him when establishing the online news organization.
Nonprofit, community service
Journalism is rarely viewed as an act of service, but from the beginning, this was one of Friedman’s guiding principles. “A big part of what we’ve tried to do is illuminate Lakeland to let people understand the community better,” he said.
Friedman founded LkldNow as a nonprofit organization. “Being a non-profit telegraphs to readers that it’s the readers that are central to what you’re doing,” Friedman said. “Community improvement is a central part of the mission.” He also chose not to take a salary, reinvesting in the organization and fostering up-and-coming journalists.
There have been occasional investigative pieces, including one that stands out to Friedman. “Lakeland First’s Big Spending Has Changed City Elections” is “by far the most important thing we’ve done,” he said. Allison Guinn’s article shined a light on the role of a local PAC in city elections.
Friedman also believes that LkldNow’s voter guides have helped readers make informed decisions in elections. “I would like to think that we are a trusted source and that we have earned a reputation to be trusted,” he said.
Ten years later
There is very little that Friedman would change about those initial 10 dreams.
Yes, social media has shifted: in 2015, he believed it should be “deeply ingrained into the reporting process.” Today, Friedman says it should be “ingrained into how we operate,” recognizing that social media can be unreliable and opinionated. He also admits that publications can experience pressure from advertisers, so LkldNow shifted to a business-sponsorship model.
In June of 2025, Friedman retired, but his 10 principles still provide the foundation for LkldNow. These core values attracted Trinity Laurino to the organization when she was hired as community engagement director in 2019. She became executive director in 2022.
“I’ve long been a believer in the power and the ability to leverage mass communication for the public good,” she said. “I thought Barry had really come up with a brilliant way of aligning the public good of journalism with the way in which we sustain it and support it by making this a nonprofit.”
Laurino has been instrumental in establishing LkldNow’s Insight Polk beat, an independent reporting initiative made possible by the Community Indicators Project with funding by GiveWell Community Foundation & United Way of Central Florida.
According to Laurino, Insight Polk recognizes the vital role that journalism has to play in solving local challenges. “By being a nonprofit, our community and our readers are our core stakeholders,” she said. LkldNow’s coverage can increase the community’s collective understanding and connect people with resources.
“We want to be Lakeland’s hometown news source — a robust and reliable source for quality news, delivering the news in the ways and where people actually want to consume it,” Laurino said.
Celebrating with a Candid Conversation
LkldNow will mark 10 years on Sept. 18 with Candid Conversations: Understanding Today, Shaping Tomorrow. The event will help fuel the organization’s next decade of free, independent journalism.
Laurino admits that this is a challenging time for news, but “I’m constantly inspired by both the brilliance and the vision that we have here in Lakeland.”
Candid Conversations will feature Friedman, David Bunch, and Ana Wood-Rogers. Local visionaries, according to Laurino. “Ordinary people who live here in Polk County, in Lakeland, and reshaped this place into what they thought it could be.”
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