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News, information and much more for independent online news publishers. 
How funding of journalism can build stronger communities

Molly de Aguiar, managing director of the recently-launched News Integrity Initiative at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, and formerly with the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation in New Jersey, makes the case for community foundation support of local journalism.

"... in the wake of the violence and hatred in Charlottesville, I’ve been thinking about life’s daily disasters — ICE raids, dismantling environmental protections in secret, police shootings, destroying net neutrality, the increase in hate incidents — and noting that philanthropy needs to urgently embrace the opportunities to build trust and empathy within communities by putting news and information at the heart of their funding strategies."

"Community foundations, place-based foundations, and local family foundations are especially well-positioned to use their grantmaking and, perhaps more importantly, their convening power to build bridges between the public and local newsrooms, as well as support collaborative community storytelling projects."


LION adds 19 new local publisher members from 15 states

LION has welcomed 19 new members, all publishers and/or owners of local independent online news sites, from 15 different states over the past four months, and has added more than 40 new members over the past year. It has more than 160 members running local news organizations in 39 states.

LION's newest members run local news sites in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Daktora, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Wisconsin. Like the rest of LION's membership, they include publishers of both for-profit and nonprofit news organizations, niche and generalist.

For more information about becoming a LION member, visit the LION website or contact Executive Director Matt DeRienzo at mattderienzo@lionpublishers.com.


In shadow of Washington Post, indie site only local news source

Bethesda Beat, a local independent online news site in Maryland, operates in the shadow of the Washington Post, but is the only news source doing day-to-day news coverage of local government in its community of more than 500,000.

"Our strength is reporting on the news," Publisher Steve Hull says in a Q&A on the LION website. "We tried covering the local arts scene and high school sports. We spent a fair amount of time and money on both--and didn't attract much of an audience. My advice would be early on stay focused on what you do best and what the audience responds to."


LION webinar tackles hiring, managing, paying ad sales reps

Three veteran local independent online news publishers will share advice, ideas and best practices on finding, hiring and keeping advertising sales reps, managing performance and structuring the right pay plan.

Scott Brodbeck, publisher of ARLNow.com in Virginia, Kelly Gilfillan, publisher of Home Page Media in Tennessee, and Jay Allred, publisher of Richland Source in Ohio, will lead a LION webinar for the publishers of small news organizations who've struggled with finding people to sell advertising for their site and structuring a pay plan that makes it worth their while.

This webinar is free for LION members and only $15 for non-members.


News About Local Independent Online News Sites

BALTIMORE: Last month, Baltimore City Paper said it was closing. Now, a nonprofit is working to restore alternative media.

COLLABORATION: InvestigateWest, KC PBS, NJ Pen, Quartz, Texas Tribune, Gannett selected for collaborative reporting project grants.

NEW JERSEY: Push for local news fund continues as New Jersey takes majority of auction proceeds.

SOUTH: Survey of indie media in South asks if “movement journalism” can help newsrooms better cover social justice strife.

WOMEN: Women are making their mark in digital news startups.


Tools and Tips: Advertising and Revenue

AD FRAUD: Here’s the Big Mistake Most Attribution Companies Make When It Comes to Ad Fraud.

AD MEASUREMENT: Facebook, Google Challenged to Improve Ad Measurement Standards.

GOOGLE: Google Reboots Display Network, Gives Advertisers More Control.

GRANTS: “I need to do something about this”: Uncharted Journalism Fund is funding stories that wouldn’t be told otherwise.

MEMBERSHIP: In a few hours, The Marshall Project raised a five-figure sum from its new membership program.

MOBILE: Can Engaged Time Metrics Help Fix Mobile Ads?

NATIVE ADVERTISING: How Brands Can Avoid Deceiving Their Audience in Native Advertising. Conde Nast's Branded Content More Effective Than Traditional Advertising. How Quartz achieved a 90 percent renewal rate for branded content.

NEWSLETTERS: Inside, the collection of industry newsletters, continues to bet on email, the “largest social network.”

PROGRAMMATIC: ‘We’re paying for the mistakes’: Publishers say brand-safety fears have unfair consequences. Help media advertising clients analyze heavy versus light Internet users.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: How four of the priciest content subscriptions stack up. Ad-Tech Expert’s Advice to Local News Publishers: Pivot to Digital Subscriptions.


Tools and Tips: Journalism and Technology

ADVOCACY: News or opinion? Online, it’s hard to tell. NY Times’ Frank Bruni on Blurring Line of Opinion and Reporting, Scourge of Writers as Brands.

DATA: Media Innovation Fellows use data and technology to improve local media.

DIVERSITY: "Diversity in newsrooms has been bad for decades and it probably won’t get better." The New York Times bubble tea disaster shows why inclusive newsrooms matter. The power of the first quote.

EMAIL: This free tool will help you pause the flood of email with just one click.

ENGAGEMENT: How can newsrooms not be creepy? Sign of the times: A local newsroom aims to build trust. Coral Project guides to audience engagement and a guide to community metrics teach newsrooms how to fish. Lessons on overcoming polarization from Bowling Green and Ohio County, Kentucky. ProPublica engagement reporter Ariana Tobin on defining her role.

INSTAGRAM: Five quick steps to catchy Instagram captions.

INTERVIEWING: Three free Android apps to record phone calls made with your smartphone.

METRICS: The State of Attention Analytics – Editors Weigh In. Is it really so bad to see what readers think of our work? Parse.ly has raised $6.8 million and reached profitability. Here’s what it’s doing with the money.  What we know about what motivates people to tune in to news.

OPIOIDS: Four facts every journalist should know when covering the opioid epidemic.

PRIVACY: Mental health and the media: when privacy trumps getting the story.

REFUGEES: Canada’s Syrian refugees ill-served by media coverage.

REPORTING: Top journalists reveal the best reporting advice they have received.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Your Guide to Social and Digital Certifications: Google, Facebook, HubSpot and More. How Top Publishers Are Restoring Trust on Social. How to spot a fake viral video.

STORY COMMENTS: Remember that Norwegian site that made readers take a quiz before commenting? Most are failing. The Coral Project’s Guide to Managing Abusive Commenters.

TRAFFIC: ‘Raining clicks’: why we need better thinking on technology, data and journalism.

TRAINING: How to train your newsroom when time and money are short.

USER EXPERIENCE: Here’s how you can start fixing your site’s bad user experience.

VIDEO: Want to make your next video go viral? Follow these 7 tips. Here’s why publishers won’t stop pivoting to video.


Industry News

ADELSON: How Sheldon Adelson uses the media to punish those he dislikes.

ALASKA: Alaska's biggest daily newspaper files for bankruptcy. New publishers emerge.

AMAZON: Why Amazon is Poised to Kick the Media Industry’s Ass.

CHARLOTTESVILLE: Lessons for the news media from Charlottesville. When reporting on race in the South, "evenhandedness" can distort history. This week should put the nail in the coffin for ‘both sides’ journalism. Press lessons from civil rights movement. “Charlottesville is a reminder to us … that we have to ramp up our game.” How courageous journalists of the last century stood up to the KKK. SPJ Ethics Chairman: Journalists Should Speak Out Against Discrimination. Photographer behind graphic Charlottesville image recounts near-death experience. After Charlottesville, Mark Zuckerberg pledges to remove violent threats from Facebook.

FACEBOOK: How the Facebook, news media relationship has changed in 1 year. ‘Rip it up and start again’: Fairfax unveils new commercial strategy, moves away from Facebook. Facebook is rolling out a Trending News section on mobile, now with its own link. Facebook Is Finally Launching Its Long-Awaited Original Video Tab. Facebook Courts Video Makers for ‘Watch’ Tab With Financial Incentives. Here’s why 4 publishers jumped onto Facebook Watch. With Facebook Watch, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram hopes to attract more viewers to local videos. Facebook offers in-stream-only video ad buys as it looks to rival YouTube, TV.  Facebook Working on a Video Chat Device in Hardware Push. The AP makes the case that its wire stories overall do better on Facebook than individual publications’ stories.

FAKE NEWS: Partisanship, Propaganda, and Disinformation: Online Media and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election.

FOIA: Politicians blocking people on social media ignites debate.

LIBEL: Everything About Disney and ABC's 'Pink Slime' Settlement Should Scare the Hell Out of You.

MILLENNIALS: Six Powerful Insights Helping Digital Publisher Romper Reach Millennial Moms.

NABJ: Black Journalists, ‘The World Needs You.’

OATH: Can Oath, the Arranged Media Marriage of Yahoo and AOL, Avoid a Rough Divorce?

OWNERSHIP: The billionaire class and media ownership. The slippery slope of the oligarchy media model.

PRESS FREEDOM: After leaving New York Times, James Risen will direct press freedom efforts at First Look Media. Experts Say Journalists Could Be Espionage Act’s Next Frontier.

PRINT: Legacy media journalist's lament: "The pursuit of digital readership broke the New Republic—and an entire industry." The media today: Wake up to your analytics overlords, sheeple. Why I quit: local newspapers can needlessly ruin lives for empty clicks. Union-Bulletin managing editor on downsizing: ‘We’ve been stung.’ Jeff Jarvis on how he'd run a newspaper differently.

SINCLAIR: How a Conservative TV Giant Is Ridding Itself of Regulation.

SOUNDCLOUD: SoundCloud saved by emergency funding as CEO steps aside.

TWITTER: Study asks whether reporters are influenced by who they follow on Twitter.

WIKITRIBUNE: Here’s how we built Wikitribune in 72 hours.


UPCOMING EVENTS

LION SUMMIT - CHICAGO: Register now! LION Publishers' annual conference will be held Oct. 26-28 in Chicago.

LION WEBINARS: LION Publishers hosts a monthly webinar series. Upcoming webinars:
* Sept. 14: Hiring, paying and managing sales reps at local independent online news sites, with ARLNow.com Publisher Scott Brodbeck, Home Page Media Publisher Kelly Gilfillan and Richland Source Publisher Jay Allred.


Is Your LION Publishers Membership Up for Renewal?
 
For many of our LION Publishers members, it's time to renew! Your membership includes participation in the LION Publishers Den on Facebook, networking and support from fellow LION publishers, our new newsletter, discounted rates on media liability and directors and officers insurance and more. 

Plus, being a member gives you access to a members-only rate to the LION Summit – a savings of up to $175 compared to the non-member rate. If your membership is due for renewal, please go to http://www.lionpublishers.com/members/dues/renew to submit your payment. Those who opt for multi-year membership save, and easy, secure payment options are available via credit card or through Paypal. (Not sure when your membership expires? You can look it up easily on LIONPublishers.com.)

 
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