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News, information and much more for independent online news publishers. 
*** HAVE YOU REGISTERED FOR THE LION 2017 SUMMIT? ***


How Charlotte Agenda got to $1 million in two years

One of the highlights of LION's annual conference (Oct. 26-28 in Chicago) is the practical, real-world sharing of advice, ideas and information about the local online news business.

An example is Ted Williams, publisher of Charlotte Agenda in North Carolina, who will be talking about how that site reached $1 million in revenue within two years of launching.

We asked him for a preview of his talk, which will discuss the "reinvention of advertising," targeted audience development, and how to craft a revenue strategy around it.


Why Madison 365 is focused on communities of color

"Locally, we are the only outlet in town with more than two people of color on the editorial team. We have as many people of color on our team as the entire rest of the local media combined."

In a Q&A with LION member Robert Chappell, associate publisher of Madison 365 in Wisconsin, we hear about why that's so important.

"The mainstream press covers “diversity” by talking to the three or four community leaders who they have decided are “spokespeople” for the black and Latino communities. Those folks are terrific leaders and are very good at dealing with the press. However, we are more deeply embedded in the community."


An open-source mobile app for small news organizations

Attendees of LION's annual conference in Chicago Oct. 26-28 will hear from Christopher Guess, a Reynolds Journalism Institute fellow who is developing "Push," an open-source mobile app for small news organizations.

Here's a preview of his talk.

"Small news organizations are limited by staff, money, and expertise. They may want an app, but they don't have the money to pay a developer to build one from scratch, they don't have the expertise to manage the development of one, and they don't have the staff to maintain it."

Related: The Batavian launches new mobile app.


Knight funding tackles declining trust in media

With an investment of $4.5 million, Knight is launching a special commission and funding more new projects to address declining trust in media.

“One of the hopes is that the commission will help inform policy decisions, funding decisions, grant-making decisions — and inform the public about what might be potential solutions to address the falling trust in our society in major democratic institutions.”


News About Local Independent Online News Sites

BERKELEYSIDE: At Berkeleyside, especially as membership revenue grows, local journalism is directly tied to the business model. Also, lessons from Berkeleyside's direct public offering.

FAMILY OWNERSHIP: Addressing problems in a family-owned publishing business.

MOBILE: Local independent online news site The Batavian launches new mobile app.

OREGON: Just 22, this digital news publisher is ready to go old-school with print.

SPIRITED MEDIA: Spirited Media’s Jim Brady: Growing audience through display advertising is ‘not natural.’


Tools and Tips: Advertising and Revenue

AD TECH: Over half of paid programmatic impressions probably aren’t viewed by an actual person. Google and its partners will issue refunds to advertisers over fake traffic. YouTube’s new ad tech automatically personalizes ads, can now target using Google Maps, app install data. Why brands continue to invest in digital advertising, despite the industry’s many problems. Why some marketing, PR execs are relying on their gut rather than data.

E-COMMERCE: ‘Social is a black hole’: Commerce-focused publishers have a Facebook problem. Facebook will introduce canvas templates for its e-commerce-focused ads.

FACEBOOK ADS: Facebook ad rates soar 171% in 2017.

FUNDRAISING: How to talk so major donors will listen (or how to listen so major donors will talk).

MEMBERSHIP: How to thank your members to keep them coming back. “Behavior first, rules second” and other lessons from membership organizations outside news.

MOBILE: Marketers must redefine ‘premium’ in mobile.

PLATFORMS: Publishers are seeing real gains from Google AMP and Facebook Instant Articles (but revenue remains a question mark). Publishers want more data, monetization options from Facebook, Google and Apple. How Facebook’s, Instagram’s and Snapchat’s audience size estimates compare.

POLITICAL ADS: FEC considers banning programmatic political advertising, creating database of all political ads.

REPORT FOR AMERICA: Report for America launches with a pilot in rural Appalachia. Its co-founders on 'emerging' journalists, Google's role and diversity.

SCALE: Premature scaling: Why it kills startups and how to avoid it.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: Will more than 2% of digital readers ever pay for news? “A whole universe living between ads and subscriptions.” Most Americans are annoyed by online ads — but many would rather just endure them than pay up. Few dailies have achieved digital subscription success achieved by New York Times and The Washington Post. In paywall age, free content remains king for newspaper sites. Washington Post digital subscriptions soar past 1 million mark. Facebook’s about to launch its news subscriptions initiative. The Washington Post is in. Growing news subscriptions with data analytics. Tony Haile wants to build the TSA Pre✓ for how we consume news. Can the new scroll subscription service help embattled local publishers? Axios is holding off on its high-end subscription product, for now. An independent local newspaper in Norway has 99% subscription rate, still seeks new revenue. Media must embrace mobile payments in all future formats.

VIDEO: The secret cost of pivoting to video. Side effect of the pivot to video: audience shrinkage. Pivoting-to-video publishers face a big monetization gap. YouTube now requires creators to be partners to use external links in cards.

 

Tools and Tips: Journalism and Technology

ARCHIVES: The internet isn’t forever. Is there an effective way to preserve great online interactives and news apps?

BOTS: The news bots are coming. Do you know how to build yours?

COMMUNITY NEWS: Before Facebook, society columns provided news—and community.

DATA: Data that looks like it means something, but doesn't.

DESIGN: Study: Clean website design really is better. Text-only news sites are slowly making a comeback. Here's why.

DRONES: Poynter workshops produce new drone journalism ethics policy.

FREELANCE: Broadcaster opts to hire local reporters over parachute coverage.

GUN VIOLENCE: The Trace is working to close the gaps in public understanding of everyday gun violence in the U.S. Reporter goes beyond numbers to explore mental health toll of Chicago violence.

HEALTH CARE: How fostering community among health journalists can help revitalize the beat.

HEROIN: The story behind the Cincinnati Enquirer’s stunning “Seven Days of Heroin.”

METRICS: How news agencies are using audience metrics, overcoming challenges. The 90-year story of why volume metrics dominate digital media.

PERSONALIZATION: All the news that’s fit for you: The New York Times is experimenting with personalization.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Photographers launch #nofreephotos campaign aimed at brands, influencers and bloggers.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Let’s get hyperpersonal. Why social media can be more rewarding than face to face. A social-focused journalist on reinventing newsgathering. (And you can hear P. Kim Bui speak at the 2017 LION Summit!)

STORY COMMENTS: We need a “Verified Reader” tag for comments. Why one blogger is killing Disqus comments on his site.
STORY FORMATS: Beyond 800 words: new digital story formats for news.

TRUST: Mistrust, efficacy and the new civics: understanding the deep roots of the crisis of faith in journalism. PolitiFact met fact-to-face with the Tulsa GOP to talk about media bias. Here's how it went. Transparency is the new objectivity. Local news tops national media in trustworthiness.

VIDEO: How to use video assignments to promote community engagement.

WOMEN JOURNOS: For women journalists, mentoring can make the difference. Female journalists fight online harassment. In 2010, women were 'significantly underrepresented and misrepresented' in the media. Where are we now?

WRITING: Writing well about terrible people. Why journalists ditch the thesaurus when it comes to “said” (for new journalism students who don’t). How switching from science to sports reporting taught me about good storytelling.


Industry News

AI: Google explains how artificial intelligence becomes biased against women and minorities.

ALASKA: With Alaska Dispatch News layoffs, a farewell to journalists who helped define an Alaska era.

BOSTON GLOBE: At the Globe, an innovative approach to funding public-interest journalism.

CNHI: Community Newspaper Holdings merges with owner of 65 local TV stations.

EUROPE: Don’t try too hard to look cool (and other lessons from European newsrooms’ digital experiments).

FACEBOOK: Facebook could still be weaponized again for the 2018 midterms. Senator says Facebook was slow to recognize Russia's involvement and strategy behind ad campaigns. Why regulating Google and Facebook like utilities is a long shot. Mark Zuckerberg can’t stop you from reading this because the algorithms have already won. "I helped create Facebook's ad machine. Here's how I'd fix it." This new Facebook feature could help you find out who's running a page.

FAKE NEWS: How fake news turned a small town upside down. CNN poll: 54% say Russia-backed content on social media moved 2016 election. Welcome to the age of cheap overseas information. Facebook and Google enable news site knockoffs. Stop giving photoshoots and admiring profiles to bros who make AdSense cash writing fake news. As Google fights fake news, voices on the margins raise alarm. The FT warns advertisers after discovering high levels of domain spoofing.

FOIA: 2017’s best of FOIA (so far).

FOX: No apology, no explanation: Fox News and the Seth Rich story.

GOOGLE: Journalism doesn’t need a subsidy from Google – it just needs a fairer deal.

NORTHWEST: Local journalism in the Pacific Northwest: Why it matters, how it’s evolving, and who pays for it?

PRESS FREEDOM: Police posed a greater danger to journalists than demonstrators in St. Louis. In dozens of states legislatures are considering — and sometimes approving — new laws that restrict free speech. Is the First Amendment obsolete?

PRINT: How the Birmingham Mail separated print from digital to save the newspaper.

PUERTO RICO: As crisis unfolds in Puerto Rico, journalists help connect families.

PULITZERS: Changes ahead for Pulitzers? Stay tuned, says new administrator.

TRUMP: Dancing around the word ‘racist’ in coverage of Trump. The travel ban is still a Muslim ban, and the press should say so.

TV: Nielsen sues ComScore to block new TV audience measurement service.

TWITTER: Twitter doubles tweet length for some users. Twitter, please don't mess with the perfect measure. As Facebook reveals dark posts, Twitter keeps them hidden. Twitter pledges to update public policies after Trump threatens North Korea. Twitter decides what is newsworthy.

UK: How a new generation of radical activists have set up their own news sites to take on established press in the UK.

VETERANS: From jobs to journalism: Task & Purpose is finding a niche reporting on veterans’ issues.


UPCOMING EVENTS

BUSINESS PLANNING FOR NONPROFIT NEWS: The Institute for Nonprofit News will host a one-day intensive on business planning for nonprofit news organizations Oct. 3 in Philadelphia.

ONA CONFERENCE: The Online News Association's annual conference will be held Oct. 5-7 in Washington, D.C.

ASNE CONFERENCE: The American Society of News Editors and Associated Press Media Editors joint conference will be held Oct. 8-10 in Washington, D.C.

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

LION WEBINARS: Upcoming LION webinars are free for members and just $15 for non-members.
* A PAYWALL MODEL FOR LOCAL ONLINE NEWS: Jay Senter, publisher of the Shawnee Mission Post in Kansas, and Mark Henderson, publisher of the Worcester Sun in Massachusetts, will discuss their experiences with and best practices for paid subscription/paywall business models from 2 to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14.
* FACEBOOK LIVE IN LOCAL NEWS COVERAGE: Charlotte-Anne Lucas of NOWCastSA will offer advice and discuss best practices on the technical requirements of livestreaming video on Facebook, building an audience for livestreams, and choosing the right topics and events to cover with live video from 2 to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12.


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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