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Revenue, Reporting, Community focus of LION Summit in Chicago

A strong lineup of speakers is taking shape for LION's annual summit in Chicago Oct. 1-3. Discounted early bird registration ends tomorrow (Saturday, Aug. 15), so sign up today.

In addition to a packed schedule of member panels offering practical, specific ideas and advice on growing revenue, running a local news business, technology and journalism, speakers will include:

- Michele Mclellan of Michele's List, who will talk about advertising best practices for online local news sites, and her recent survey measuring the financial success of sites across the country.
- Jan Schaffer of J-Lab, who will talk about legal issues facing online news sites and lead a discussion of lessons learned from failed startups.
- Steve Waldman of LifePosts, who will speak to the opportunity that exists in hyper-personal news such as anniversaries, engagements and obituaries.
- David Boraks of Davidson News in North Carolina, who will talk about his recent decision to shut down the site and lessons learned from a decade as a local news entrepreneur.
- Jake Batsell of Southern Methodist University, who will talk about community engagement and sustainable business models.
- Edward McCain of the University of Missouri, who will talk about preservation of digital archives and the crisis we face of losing historical records when news archives disappear.
- Jaci Smith, a recent Reynolds Journalism Institute fellow, who will talk about native advertising for small news organizations.
- Teresa Schmedding of ACES, who will talk about plagiarism and verification of digital and social media content.
- Samantha McCann of Solutions Journalism Network, who will talk about the opportunity solutions journalism offers for better reader and community engagement.

Register here.


LION member spotlight: Carson Now

"... We compete in a somewhat different way. Our editorial mantra is: Do it first, do it (very) different, or link to it and do something else. We will not waste time doing stories that have already been done by others, just so we can have our own version. That kind of pack journalism is all about ego, and is a terrible waste of resources."

This week's LION member Q&A features Kirk Caraway, publisher of Carson Now in Nevada. He's not only caught up to and surpassed the competing local daily newspaper's web traffic, he's been an innovator in online advertising as well.

"We also have a unique advertising system called NowAds that I developed that has been a big success. It pulls in posts from the advertisers' Facebook pages and sorts them into a newsfeed-like stack with the most recent posts at the top. It's super easy and efficient, there is no work to do to create or update ads, and the advertisers love it. It accounts for more than half our revenue."


LION among 50 journalism asking Obama for more transparency

LION Publishers is among more than 50 journalism organizations who have signed on to a statement urging President Barack Obama – yet again – to stop practices in federal agencies that prevent important information from getting to the public.

The organizations, including the Society of Professional Journalists, American Society of News Editors, Investigative Reporters & Editors and LION, sent a letter to the president Monday urging changes to policies that constrict the flow of information to the public, including prohibiting journalists from communicating with staff without going through public information offices, requiring government PIOs to review interview questions and monitoring interviews between journalists and sources.


'Patch junior' to open two dozen local news sites in New Jersey

The Daily Voice, which was formerly known as Main Street Connect and was launching cookie cutter local news sites in Connecticut and New York when Patch was experiencing its brief heyday, is planning a big comeback after suffering a financial implosion similar to Patch's.

It plans to launch nearly two dozen local sites in New Jersey, led editorially by Jerry DeMarco, whose formerly independent site, Cliffview Pilot, will be rolled into Daily Voice. It currently operates 43 sites in Connecticut and New York.

The company's new model features fewer editorial employees and a lower expense structure.


Facebook working on Twitter-like mobile notification news app

Facebook is working on a mobile app that will feature Twitter-like breaking news notifications.

Who wants to bet that its "Instant Article" partnerships involving publishers posting content directly on Facebook are part of the plan?


Nonprofit news sites launch in California, New Hampshire

The Knight Foundation has invested $250,000 in a new nonprofit statewide online news site in California, called CalMatters.

And another statewide independent nonprofit is about to launch in New Hampshire - the New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism.


Jarvis: Stop parroting each other, be an information organizer

Author and Tow Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism Director Jeff Jarvis has a new media column in the New York Observer, and his debut urges journalists to stop writing a repetitive take on the same story that everyone else has. If journalists want to survive, do original and unique reporting.

Jarvis also sees a role for journalists as organizers of information. "Rather than thinking of ourselves only as storytellers who provide content for users, we should also be helping our users inform each other ..."


There's increasing panic over the rise of ad blocking technology

Ad-blocking will lead to almost $22 billion of lost advertising revenue this year, and publishers are panicking about a feature in the new iPhone and iPad operating system that makes ad blocking very easy.

Part of the media's problem: Younger internet users have decided they can't stand online ads.

Arguments that blocking ads is somehow "unethical" are shot down. And some are arguing that publishers only have themselves to blame for the phenomenon.

And another take is that if marketers are worried about ad blockers, they should throw more cash at mobile.


Tools and Tips: Advertising and Revenue

APPLE NEWS: Why Apple may be a less scary publishing partner than Facebook. Who's going to 'curate' Apple News? The marketing department, for starters.

SPONSORED CONTENT: From the Poynter archives: How news organizations can sell sponsored content without lowering their standards

AD RESEARCH: Asking customers about their experiences can better inform future advertising campaigns.

LINKEDIN: Quality over quantity: How to make LinkedIn work for you.

EVENTS: "The events business won’t save American journalism." But the New York Times sees it as a big potential business.

PAYWALLS: How to set up a paywall on your WordPress site (and why you should).  Tinypass and Piano Media merge, and embrace “paywall” as a fluid concept. And Politico Pro is a lesson in the benefits of a laser-focused paywall.

MOBILE ADS: If you're building a startup, build for mobile. Retail ad spending is speeding to mobile. And why there is no "mobile customer."

CO-OP MONEY: Study: Local advertisers are leaving behind $14 billion in co-op marketing every year.

CPM RATES: How the Local Media Consortium is leveraging its relationship with Google for higher CPMs.

UNDERWRITING: Two unconventional, slightly controversial ways to keep a reporter on a beat.

DIRECT RESPONSE: ChariPick counts on the 'instant gratification of giving' for users.

LOCATION APPS: Mapsense CEO: The rise of on-demand, location-based apps is a ‘huge’ opportunity.

VIDEO ADS: Mobile vs. PCs: Where are video ads more annoying?

FUNDRAISING: Marshall Project finds plenty of partners, but fundraising is still not easy.

VIEWABILITY: The viewability disconnect: Finding agreement between buyers and sellers.


Tools and Tips: Journalism and Technology

MOBILE: We’re doing mobile journalism wrong: Here are four ways to do it right.

SHOW YOUR WORK: An excellent piece in Columbia Journalism Review about how showing how a story has evolved from the original can build trust with readers.

ONA AWARDS: Independent local news sites including LION member Jim Brady's Billy Penn are among finalists in the Online News Association's annual journalism awards.

SLACK: How seven news organizations are using Slack to work better and differently. And the New York Times built a Slack bot to help decide which stories to post to social media.

DATA: On the ethics of web scraping and data journalism. And 101 real-world webscraping exercises in Python 3 for data journalists.

PUSH NOTIFICATIONS: How The Wall Street Journal plans to make its push alerts more personal.

STORY COMMENTS: Bad comments are a system failure: So why can’t you fix them like any other bug?

VIDEO: Vertical video on the small screen? Not a crime. And how Facebook's autoplay videos are ushering in a new era of silent storytelling.

TWITTER: Fifty-nine free Twitter tools and apps to fit any need. Starting from scratch — Twitter lists expose the heart of a story. And Twitter finally drops the 140-character limit from direct messages.

FACEBOOK: Facebook confirms live broadcasting will soon open to journalists and verified profiles.

DIVERSITY: Diversity has to be intentional and other lessons from Feministing.

GIFS: An app for journalists for animating text: Create short GIFs to share on social media by animating text and video.

PHOTOS: The Guardian debuts Grid, an open-source image management system. And NewsPix helps online news organizations engage readers.

POVERTY: In America, only the rich can afford to write about poverty.

PRIVACY: Are you an editor or a censor? Publishing decisions when news is highly personal.

LISTICLES: Using BuzzFeed’s listicle format to tell stories with maps and charts.

STORY PREP: Six questions journalists should be able to answer before pitching a story.

SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING: Five dashboards for monitoring nearby social content.


Industry News

PUBLIC MEDIA: BizLab is exploring the future of public media’s digital dollars. And Adam Davidson weighs in on the economics of public radio in the podcasting era.

IPHONE RISING: Android’s lead over the iPhone in the U.S. is rapidly narrowing.

LONG-FORM MOBILE: E-readers won't drive future books sales, phones will. Publishers are rethinking books for small screen.

APPLE TV: Apple said to delay live TV service to 2016 as negotiations stall.

SEARCH: Could Google's local pack update drive searchers to Bing?

PERISCOPE: Periscope has 10 Million users (kinda).

FACEBOOK: A Harvard student lost his Facebook internship after pointing out privacy flaws.  Here’s how to use Facebook’s mystifying privacy settings.

SLANT: It's a publishing platform built on pay-per-click content.

NEWS CORP: News Corp. sales miss estimates on news unit decline.

SNAPCHAT: Snapchat Discover Is averaging just 2.5 ads a day (and 110 stories).

VOX: NBC Universal invests $200 million in Vox Media.

YOUTUBE: Why did YouTube stay with Google instead of going with Google's new parent company, Alphabet?

TRIBUNE: Tribune Publishing doing ‘top to bottom’ digital review.

DRONES: Public safety officials say rogue drones a growing nuisance across the U.S.

HOTEL SUBSCRIPTIONS: New York Times, Financial Times allowing hotels unlimited digital access in first-of-its-kind program.

THIS: Big platform companies are turning against links. This.com is fighting to save them.

TWITTER: Twitter now offers instant and complete access to every historical public Tweet to enterprise customers.

YELP: How a bad Yelp review early on can kill a fledgling business.

GROUPON: The rise, fall and improbable comeback strategy of Groupon.


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 www.lionpublishers.com/members/dues 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.)

Thanks to our current members who have already renewed!
 
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