How VTDigger built one of the biggest local online news nonprofits
VTDigger has a staff of 19, an annual budget of $1.5 million, and aspirations of reaching the $2 million revenue mark by 2021. By one measure, that makes VTDigger the largest investigative reporting nonprofit in the country that is focusing on local or state news. Remarkably, it has happened in the nation’s second smallest state.
“People are seeing what’s happening in their local newspapers,” founder Anne Galloway told CJR. “We now have more reporters than the Rutland Herald. It’s terrible what’s happening in the industry. But we are one solution.”
Nieman Lab also featured VT Digger this week, focusing on both the content and revenue areas that newspapers used to dominate that are being taken over by local online news sources.
Local news braces for impact as FCC votes to repeal Net Neutrality
The Federal Communications Commission voted 3 to 2 along party lines Thursday to repeal Net Neutrality rules established under the Obama administration that prohibited Internet service providers from blocking individual websites, "throttling" the load time of websites based on the nature of their content, or charging websites to be in a "fast line" in terms of page load.
According to one poll, Net Neutrality repeal is opposed by 83 percent of Americans.
LION has called it a direct threat to independent local journalism, a warning that was echoed recently in a report by Poynter on how repeal will hurt local news, a report in MediaShift, and in a column by The Guardian.
Some in Congress are already moving on legislation that would overrule the FCC's decision.
Related: The Free Market Argument For Net Neutrality. FCC Must Investigate Fraud Before Voting on Net Neutrality. Kill net neutrality and you’ll kill us, say 800 US startups. Why Brands, Agencies Should Care About Net Neutrality.
Reader revenue, trust, a social shift and other 2018 media predictions
Nieman Lab is publishing its annual batch of predictions from a diverse group of people in the journalism business.
Even in a newsletter that publishes a billion links each week, Nieman is publishing more of these than we can link to here, but some of the highlights include: In 2018, more nonprofit newsrooms will be launched. The year of the voter means less reporting from the party and campaign level, more reporting from communities. Your journalism curriculum is obsolete. Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities. Social and media will split. Or there'll be a social media apocalypse. Local media will get conservative. Platforms’ power will demand more reporters’ attention. We’re all going to break up with Facebook — or at least cool things off a little bit. Newspapers will have to be good enough for readers to pay for. There will be lots of fun with subscription products. And finally, "good journalism won’t be enough ... If journalists want the public to listen, then journalists have to listen to the public. If journalists want the public to care, then journalists have to care about the public.”
News About Local Independent Online News Sites
APPALACHIA: ‘100 Days in Appalachia’ Nears One-Year Mark in Telling Untold Stories of Rural America.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP: The audiences are in charge: are publishers listening?
POTOMAC LOCAL: In January, Potomac Local in Virginia will launch a subscription system after years of free content/advertising-based model.
PRO PUBLICA: Here are the seven investigative reporters in ProPublica’s first Local Reporting Network group.
SAN DIEGO: Q&A: Architect of San Diego news nonprofit on recruiting wealthy contributors.
SOUTH DAKOTA: In South Dakota, a local news and information source springs from the library.
Tools and Tips: Advertising and Revenue
AD FRAUD: Report: CMOs Overwhelmed By Cost of Mobile Ad Fraud.
AD SPEND: 2018 Local Ad Spend To Top $151 Billion. Advertising is not marketing: Here’s what it will look like in 10 years.
AD TECH: ‘The art of buying crap’: The Guardian wants publishers to unite to clean up programmatic.
CLASSIFIEDS: Will ‘Moonlighting’ Startup Help Newspapers Regain Classified Revenue?
FOUNDATIONS: How Philanthropy and the Media Could Work Better Together. Fifteen ways funders, J-Schools and researchers can better support local journalism.
NATIVE ADVERTISING: Native advertising success: less talk about you, more talk about the needs of your customer. Ten Experts on The Secret to Good Native Advertising.
PATREON: Patreon backs away from a new fee structure after users revolt.
PODCASTING: Podcast ads remain stubbornly old-fashioned. NPR publishes a guide to making the transition to audio storytelling. Apple, off-Apple, and adaptations: These were the most important podcast trends of 2017. Apple launches its podcast analytics service into beta.
POLITICAL ADS: Big Political Ad Spend Set for Local in 2018, but Will News Sites Be Ready?
SUBSCRIPTIONS: To double circulation profits, The Economist has 16 people focused on retention. A “subscription is – you pay your money and you get a product and it’s a product relationship. And membership is – you join the cause because you believe in the work.”
Tools and Tips: Journalism and Technology
CRIME: Fight Against Mugshot Sites Brings Little Success.
DATA: Can data save journalism? In the UK, data journalism and investigations are getting more local.
DRONES: When disaster strikes, drones can go where reporters can't.
FOIA: ‘This is unprecedented’: Public colleges limiting journalist access.
HEADLINES: The Long View of Headline Writing: Where Art Meets Science.
IMMIGRATION: What to do (and what not to do) when writing about Dreamers.
IMPACT: How a local paper built a tool to measure impact.
METRICS: Why Recirculation Is A Key Metric For News Publishers in 2018. Google is sending more traffic than Facebook to publishers — again. 79% of websites globally are tracking visitors' data.
MOBILE: With “My WSJ,” The Wall Street Journal makes a personalized content feed central to its app. There Is No One-Size-Fits-All Approach To Mobile Apps.
RACE: News media offers consistently warped portrayals of black families, study finds.
REDIRECTS: ‘Every vendor has this problem’: Why website redirects keep plaguing publishers.
SOURCES: New guide helps whistleblowers and journalists work together.
TOOLS: Your 17 favorite tools for journalism from 2017. "Better News" Website Offers Free Resources on Newsroom Innovation.
TRANSPARENCY: How do you use an anonymous source? The mysteries of journalism everyone should know. Journalism can't afford for corrections to be next victim of 'fake news' frenzy. Does The New York Times’ Reader Center Truly Replace Its Public Editor? A new study tested ways in which trust in online news might be affected by the presence of several transparency-related indicators.
TRAUMA: Kentucky public TV station offers staffers counseling after lawmaker’s suicide followed investigative reporting.
TRUST: Trust, truth remain cornerstones of news media brands.
VIDEO: Five tips for teaching video skills to your newsroom.
Industry News
AMAZON: Understanding Amazon as an Advertising Platform.
APPLE: Sources: Apple is acquiring music recognition app Shazam.
BING: Microsoft looks to make Bing results smarter with new AI-powered features and Reddit partnership.
BOSTON HERALD: Bankrupt Boston Herald sold to newspaper chain that already owns most of the area's suburban papers. Union will press Boston Herald for over pensions, severance pay. With the Boston Herald changing hands, here are five updated ideas for making it better.
BOTS: How Bots Are Threatening Online Discourse.
BUZZFEED: After falling short of 2017 revenue targets, Buzzfeed focuses on diversifying its revenue streams. Buzzfeed laying off one-third of its UK staff.
COX: Who Will Buy Fortune, Sports Illustrated, Time and Two Major Cox Newspapers?
ETHNIC MEDIA: What sister publications can teach us about collaborations between ethnic and mainstream media. CUNY seeks to fill gap left by closure of New America Media.
FACEBOOK: The duopoly, the FCC, and the hunger for scale — these three forces are roiling the news industry, from corporate conglomerates to your hometown daily. What Happens When the Government Uses Facebook as a Weapon? Facebook will (finally) shift to viewable-only organic reach counts for Pages next year. Facebook publicly released its internal harassment policy — and it could change the way companies talk about harassment going forward. Former Facebook exec says social media is ripping apart society. Baby Boomers love Facebook, so let them have it. Can Facebook Contend in Local Search? Facebook plans to stop paying publishers to make news feed videos. ‘Facebook is not transparent:’ NY Times CEO Mark Thompson says the platform’s role needs to be clearer. Facebook to book advertising revenue locally amid political pressure.
FACT CHECKING: Facebook’s fact-checking network signs up its first conservative partner, the #NeverTrump-ing Weekly Standard. 2017 Lie of the Year: Russian election interference is a 'made-up story.'
FAKE NEWS: In Ireland, lawmakers are trying to criminalize sharing fake news. Should we stop saying 'fake news'?
FOX: Disney buys Fox's movie and entertainment division for $52 billion. The new, smaller Fox could start buying up more local TV stations. FCC Launches Review of TV Station Ownership Cap.
GAWKER: Former Gawker employees are crowdfunding to relaunch a Gawker.com that’s owned by a nonprofit and funded by readers.
GUARDIAN: Guardian to go tabloid on 15 January as editor Kath Viner says it will hit break-even next year.
HARASSMENT: Farai Chideya: Newsrooms Need to Purge Secrets in Order to Heal. Journalists aren’t as tied by NDAs as they think. Top female journalists give advice on how to stay safe in the field. What managers should be doing to combat sexual harassment. Boston Globe details incidents of sexual harassment; fails to name names.
LA WEEKLY: Just sell the paper and go home’: Sacked LA Weekly writers to new owners.
LINKEDIN: A rough guide to viral content and distribution on LinkedIn.
REFINERY29: Refinery29 Lays Off 34 Employees Amid Digital Media Headwinds.
STORIFY: Storify’s standalone service is shutting down next year.
STUDENT MEDIA: How High School Journalists are Innovating with Podcasts, 360 Video and More.
TRONC: Pioneer Press suburban staffers protest stalled talks with Tronc. A date has been set on Los Angeles Times' workers' bid to unionize.
TRUMP: Inside the bubble: why Roy Moore has conservative media on his side. Roy Moore's campaign against the media could be a preview of 2018. Aspiring journalists at conservative Liberty University see themselves as the antidote to 'fake news.' ‘Journalism for rent’: Inside the secretive firm behind the Trump dossier.
TWITTER: Twitter Users Like Long Tweets More Than Short Ones. Bloomberg’s Twitter News Network, TicToc, Goes Live Dec. 18. Twitter will now let you publish an entire tweetstorm all at once.
YOUTUBE: YouTube Advertising Crackdown Puts Some Creators Out of Work. Google Blocks YouTube Access From Amazon's Streaming Devices.
UPCOMING EVENTS
COVERING YOUR LOCAL HOSPITAL: Rose Hoban of North Carolina Health News will talk about the many stories to be found in delving into the finances, policies, practices and performance of your local hospital in a LION webinar at 2 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22. It's free for LION members, and only $15 for non-members. |