Why do some local independent online news sites die?
Poynter looks at three LION members who closed or sold their local independent online news sites in this piece that discusses the realities of the business and the need for journalists who launch local news organizations to work hard on revenue development if they want to succeed.
"As a long-time journalist, a strong, accurate, timely, compelling news site was not the hard part," said David Boraks. "The hard part was running the business."
Related: The U.S. media's commercial nature is great for business, terrible for democracy.
Six local news leaders join LION board of directors
Expanding the leadership of Local Independent Online News Publishers, six new members have been elected to the Board of Directors.
The six, five of whom are active members of LION Publishers and leaders in their respective local news organizations, were unanimously elected by the Board to three-year terms.
They are Glenn H. Burkins, Publisher of Q City Metro, Kim Clark, VP of Business Development, Noozhawk.com, Rosemary Hoban, Editor, NorthCarolinaHealthNews.org, Uriah Kiser, Publisher, PotomacLocal.com, Tracie Powell, Democracy Fund senior fellow, AllDigitocracy.com Publisher, and Teresa Wippel, Publisher, MyEdmondsNews.com.
The new directors include the publishers of both for-profit and nonprofit news outlets serving a variety of communities all across the country, and the first outside Director elected to the Board.
Knight, Democracy Fund to match nonprofit newsroom donations
The Knight Foundation and the Democracy Fund are teaming up to offer $2 million in matching funds to nonprofit newsrooms. It's an expansion of a successful Knight program that boosted a number of nonprofit newsrooms' annual fundraising campaigns earlier this year. Now more news organizations will be eligible for the program.
Related: Knight Foundation awards $1 million to projects aimed at fighting misinformation. Deadline is Friday to apply for Lenfest Foundation funding for local news innovation projects.
LION podcast: Liena Zagare on the case for online legal ads
The latest episode of LION's podcast features Liena Zagare, publisher of BKLYNER, and husband Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of Buzzfeed, who penned an article for the Columbia Journalism Review that argues for changing laws requiring that legal notices be published only in print. We asked Zagare and Smith about that and the impact it might have on LION sites, and also discussed BKLYNER and the future of local news.
News About Local Independent Online News Sites
BILLY PENN: In a town full of news, here’s how Billy Penn chooses its stories (and competes with everyone else).
GRANT FUNDING: The deadline is Friday to apply for funding for collaborative journalism projects.
HAWAII: What a team at the Honolulu Civil Beat is learning while experimenting with Facebook Live.
TENNESSEE: Behind Home Page Media’s Growth in Nashville: Change and One Big Constant - LION Board Member Kelly Gilfillan.
UK: Grenfell reflects the accountability vacuum left by crumbling local press.
Tools and Tips: Advertising and Revenue
AD CAMPAIGNS: How design thinking can improve advertising campaigns.
AD DOLLARS: Digital Ad Revenues Hit $19.6 Billion in Q1 2017, Up 23% Year-Over-Year (but most is going to Facebook and Google). The Race Is On to Challenge Google-Facebook ‘Duopoly’ in Digital Advertising. Google and Facebook 'will lose millions in ads over extremism fears.'
AD TECH: Popping the filter bubble ... in advertising. The great gusher of content comes with warning signs. Google plans to stop scanning users’ emails for ad targeting.
BITCOIN: Bitcoin-supported journalism? A startup is trying to setup blockchain-supported marketplaces for journalism. What the heck?
MOBILE: News apps are making a comeback. More young Americans are paying for news. 2017 is weird. The Toronto Star, “surprised by low numbers,” is shutting down Star Touch, its expensive tablet app.
NEWSLETTERS: Vox’s health care newsletter (with ads sold out) is filling a role beyond “articles on the Internet.” Same old email newsletter? Update your playbook with this tool.
PAGE LOAD: Meredith increased revenue per visit 20 percent by getting ads to load faster.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: The state of paying for news. The complexities of converting readers into subscribers. When they trust media less, they’re willing to pay more. Why publishers’ e-commerce ambitions are extending to subscriptions.
USER EXPERIENCE: For Some Publishers, User Experience Trumps Revenue.
VIDEO: Limited in their ability to monetize video on Facebook, publishers eye video-licensing opportunities. Facebook video ad viewability rates are as low as 20 percent, agencies say.
Tools and Tips: Journalism and Technology
DATA: Data journalism chapter debuts in 2017 AP Stylebook. How Data.World seeks to transform data journalism.
ENGAGEMENT: The Economist is using Medium to give readers an inside look at its reporting and production.
EVERGREEN CONTENT: The Gift that Keeps on Giving: Making the Most of Evergreen Content.
HEALTH CARE: Telling stories that show ‘real life-or-death consequences’ of health care bill. Report on addiction treatment shortages now — not once a health bill passes.
INSTAGRAM: Why Instagram is this journalist’s favorite tool. How news publisher Attn is getting Instagram to pay off.
INVESTIGATIVE: Martin Baron: 'There is a business case in addition to the moral case for investigative journalism.'
MARRIAGE: "I almost let my journalism job destroy my marriage. Don’t make the same mistake."
NEWSROOM CUTS: ‘You can’t shrink your way to profitability’: Jeff Bezos talks about the future of newspapers.
PARENTING: The news business is unfair to journalists with children. Let’s change it for the better.
PODCASTING: What makes a great interview? This podcaster sat down with interviewing legends to find out. “A step in the right direction,” but “I want more…”: The industry reacts to Apple’s podcast changes. With Amazon Polly experiment, The Washington Post hopes to capitalize on growing interest in audio.
QUALITY: The News Quality Scoring Project: Surfacing Great Journalism From The Web.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Trying to write a killer headline for social? Here are some of the most (and least) effective phrases. Using social media appears to diversify your news diet, not narrow it. Can journalists live without Twitter?
STORY COMMENTS: How The New York Times moderates 12,000 comments a day. The Washington Post gets more than a million comments every month, so it’s using AI to tackle them.
VIDEO: Tips For More Engaging News Live Streams. YouTube has 1.5 billion logged-in monthly users watching a ton of mobile video. YouTube’s mobile app will soon better display all video formats, add messaging. Violence On Facebook Live Is Worse Than You Thought. A Stand-Alone App for Creators of Facebook Live Videos Is on Its Way. Fox Sports Cuts Web Writing Staff to Invest More in Online Video.
TRAINING: Helping journalists deepen their digital skills on their own time.
WRITING: Nine ways to end your stories.
Industry News
APPLE: Apple News Gives Publishers (A Bit) More Demographic Data. For Axios, Apple News beats Google AMP and Facebook Instant Articles.
ATLANTIC: With a revamped CityLab, The Atlantic is making a bigger bet on niche media.
BUZZFEED: A BuzzFeed IPO could threaten the innovation that helped it grow. Why digital news IPOs are so rare.
CANADA: New poll finds Canadians still think they’ll get the news even if their local newspaper disappears.
CHICAGO: Who will own the Chicago Sun-Times? After weeks of waiting, it’s in the government’s hands.
DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA: Digital First shuts down high school sports site in Michigan, lays off reporters.
FACEBOOK: Media Companies Are Getting Sick of Facebook. News Corp. in Advanced Talks With Facebook on Subscriptions. Facebook unveils new tools for group admins. Facebook Has New Vision Beyond ‘Connecting,’ and It Thinks Groups Are Key. Facebook may finally have to compromise its user experience in order to keep growing. Macedonian Publishers Are Panicking After Facebook Killed Their US Political Pages.
FAKE NEWS: How fake news influences real news. Do you trust the news, or do you trust your news? In the U.S., there’s a huge gap between the two. How to spot fake news (and teach kids to be media-savvy).
GATEHOUSE: GateHouse Media agrees to buy Courier Times, other Calkins properties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
GOOGLE: Google Gets Record $2.7 Billion EU Fine for Skewing Searches. Google News launches a streamlined redesign that gives more prominence to fact checking. Google has proposed changes in laws for requesting data.
GUARDIAN: What went wrong with the Guardian's push into the U.S. Class is still a taboo topic in the U.S. The Guardian’s ambitious new rural reporting projects are tackling it.
INSTAGRAM: Instagram Stories reach new highs as Snapchat engagement falls off a cliff.
LEE: Lee Enterprises to Buy Dispatch-Argus of Moline/Rock Island.
McCLATCHY: McClatchy has deal to sell most of its stake in CareerBuilder.
NET NEUTRALITY: Why media companies should support a decentralized Web.
NPR: Across the United States, NPR is reorganizing its member stations around regional hubs.
PRESS FREEDOM: “We’re slowly but surely being dragged into a new normal in this country” as press briefings shrink and fade. Case tests the limits of New York's shield law.
STUDENT JOURNALISTS: Media Startups Try a Lower-Cost Model: Unpaid Student Writers.
TRUMP: Drive-by journalism in Trumplandia.
TWITTER: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Rethinks Ad Tech Acquisition Strategy.
UNIONS: An unlikely big player in digital media: unions.
UPWORTHY: Upworthy Was One Of The Hottest Sites Ever. You Won't Believe What Happened Next.
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Wall Street Journal fires correspondent over ethics conflict.
WASHINGTON POST: The Washington Post’s New Social Media Policy Forbids Disparaging Advertisers.
UPCOMING EVENTS
LION SUMMIT - CHICAGO: Save the dates! LION Publishers' annual conference will be held Oct. 26-28 in Chicago.
LION WEBINARS: LION Publishers hosts a monthly webinar series. Upcoming webinars:
* July 18: Making sense of metrics for local independent online news publishers, with Metrics Shift Editor Jason Alcorn.
* Aug. 17: Free content for local publishers from national partners, with Tucson Sentinel Publisher Dylan Smith.
* 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.) |