Bloom Labs joins MuckRock Foundation’s growing ecosystem of technology partners, expanding free access to community mapping tools for thousands of newsrooms.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Sept. 9, 2026) – Bloom Labs, a leading provider of local news mapping technology, today announced a two-year partnership with the MuckRock Foundation to expand free access to community-focused analytics tools for thousands of newsrooms and independent journalist members around the country.
For more than ten years, Bloom Labs has worked closely with newsroom teams to make it easy and affordable for them to visualize and understand the geographic representation of their coverage, leading to more efficient decision-making and growth over time. Its platform transforms geotagged news stories into spatial insights about coverage gaps, neighborhood-level reader experiences, and regional collaborations across newsrooms, universities, and other organizations to sustain journalism in communities that need it most.
The partnership with MuckRock will streamline and expand access to Bloom’s geotagging tools and analytics dashboard as a partner of MuckRock Accounts, an ecosystem of trusted news technologies launched in 2025 with support from the Knight Foundation and Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. MuckRock Accounts aims to make reporting tools and support more accessible to newsrooms of all sizes by letting team members tap into the technology network with a single MuckRock account. Bloom Labs joins a dozen other partners on MuckRock Accounts that uniquely strengthen journalism processes and practices, including DocumentCloud, Sunlight Research Desk, Plucky Wire and Stanford University’s Agenda Watch.
While complementing them, Bloom Labs is the first partner focused specifically on helping newsrooms meet geographic representation goals, including measuring coverage areas and identifying underserved communities. Although Bloom has offered analytics tools for free before, the partnership makes them more accessible via an interoperable authentication system, meaning newsrooms with a verified MuckRock account will be automatically approved to access Bloom, which previously took up to 24 hours. This simplified process is possible because MuckRock verifies newsrooms with similar eligibility requirements, allowing their existing credibility to bypass additional steps. Over time, basic account information will continue to be synced from MuckRock, further streamlining administrative maintenance and costs.
“We are thrilled to make Bloom Labs available to over 3,500 newsrooms and 1,000 freelance reporters who already have verified MuckRock Accounts. Bloom’s focus on geographic distribution, reach and engagement is a natural compliment to other products in our ecosystem for gathering, analyzing and reporting on public information in communities across the country. With a free MuckRock Account, investigators, journalists and newsrooms can find help at every stage of a story’s lifecycle, from preliminary research to reaching readers where they are.”
Allan Lasser, Head of Product for MuckRock Foundation
Through 2028, Bloom Labs will work with MuckRock and the other partners to continue streamlining processes and affordability for newsrooms navigating different news products. Bloom will co-host training sessions, demos, and office hours to help people and organizations learn about the most relevant opportunities, and will publish findings and lessons from the partnership to inform the broader journalism technology field.
“It is truly an honor for Bloom Labs to join MuckRock’s ecosystem where I know our shared mission and principles for technology collaboration and accountability will thrive. We have seen firsthand how Bloom gives newsrooms a unique strength to serve their community, and we can’t wait to see the new superpowers that emerge as the partners and newsrooms begin to work more closely together.”
Stephen Jefferson, Founder and CEO of Bloom Labs
Verified MuckRock newsroom accounts can access and begin using tools on Bloom Labs at no cost starting today at: www.bloom.li. Existing newsroom accounts on Bloom have the option to connect their MuckRock account for easier login, account management, and access to other MuckRock partners. Office hours are open to anyone who wants to learn more or for onboarding assistance and questions at: calendly.com/stephen-jefferson/muckrock-office-hours-30-minutes.
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About MuckRock Foundation
Founded in 2010, MuckRock Foundation is a nonprofit, collaborative organization and newsroom that brings together journalists, researchers and the public to request, analyze and share government information, making politics more transparent and democracy more informed. Learn more at https://www.muckrock.com.
About Bloom Labs
Founded in 2015, Bloom Labs is a community-focused technology company for local news, dedicated to building more transparent, resourceful, collaborative methods to empower local newsrooms and other organizations to better serve their communities. Learn more at www.bloom.li.