Currently various entities are actively spreading disinformation to weaken democracy. It’s vital that we provide an accurate record of historical events and help the public understand their role in democracy. Thanks to a grant unedited episodes of “Local 12 Newsmakers” from 1997 - 2017 are digitized and available to the public. This new initiative, called Cincinnati Stories: Increasing Civic Awareness, creates an engaging and informative experience for users to become better informed of the local civic landscape.

CHPL has millions of items on loan, but most aren’t primary sources. By digitizing a local news show with first-hand accounts of events, CHPL gives the public a critical resource to help them understand history and how it still shapes us. CHPL’s Genealogy & Local History team worked with a vendor to digitize 399 tapes with over 300 hours of unedited interviews that span a critical era in Cincinnati’s history, including a community relations crisis, a changing demography, civil unrest, and the public's response.

The collection was made freely available for researchers and the public to enjoy in late 2022. Library staff and “Newsmakers” host and local historian Dan Hurley were featured in a February 2023 radio interview talking about the initiative. "Having this available to future citizens and historians of the Greater Cincinnati area will help us all the better understand our past so we can best plan for our future," Hurley says.