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News, information and much more for independent online news publishers. 

NewsMatch got 43,000 new donors to support journalism
 
The Institute for Nonprofit News' 2017 NewsMatch program, supported by the Democracy Fund, Knight Foundation and other foundations, raised $4.8 million last year in support of nonprofit news organizations.
 
"In 2017, NewsMatch provided 109 newsrooms with more than 500 hours of fundraising training, a professional campaign toolkit, national marketing around the importance of contributing to nonprofit news, targeted advertising using $100,000 in ad credits donated by Facebook, and a 1:1 match of individual donations, up to $28,000 per news organization. Nearly all 109 organizations who participated in NewsMatch raised more money, from more donors than ever before. In total NewsMatch helped raise nearly $5 million for local and investigative journalism and inspired 43,000 new donors to give to nonprofit news."

Now applications are being accepted for the 2018 program, with some key improvements included:

  • The program will support nonprofit news organization’s membership models by matching the full-year value of new recurring donations during NewsMatch.
  • It will offer extra bonuses to small and medium organizations that show they have measurably improved their fundraising capacity over 2017.
  • It will match gifts made by individuals through their businesses and family foundations.

The deadline to apply is Aug. 1, 2018.

 
New Jersey to invest $5 million in local journalism
 
A first-of-its-kind program won final approval by the New Jersey legislature last week and will see state government investing $5 million into programs dedicated to strengthening local journalism. Baked into the legislation is language to safeguard against concerns that government funding might threaten editorial independence.
 
 
Local journalism world rocked by Annapolis murders
 
The mass shooting murders of five people who worked at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, last week rocked the small world of local journalism, and had news organizations re-evaluating their security measures and questioning whether President Trump's rhetoric has created an open season on journalists
 
The newspaper received death threats and emails celebrating the shootings following the attack. On the far right, the shooting drew praise, celebration.
 
The Capital Gazette shooting and the true value of local newspapers. Honor the dead journalists by respecting their profession. Can journalists counteract hatred toward the press? It starts with explaining what we do.
 
Related: Freedom from what?: It’s time to broaden the definition of a “free press.” How to help the victims of the Capital Gazette shooting.
 
 
Competing with Facebook for local advertising dollars
 
"We offer geographic and other qualifications that Facebook and Google cannot guarantee. We’re reaching prospective customers for retailers and service providers in New Canaan in a way that those larger ad platforms are not structured or equipped to do. While advertisers may choose to float a “boosted” (i.e. paid-for) post in front of those who identify as living in a specific town, using Facebook alone in no way says that the target user seeks out or trusts Web advertising that pops into the user’s News Feed," Michael Dinan, publisher of local independent online news site New Canaanite, says in an interview with Street Fight. "NewCanaanite.com is read entirely—and, if our newsletter stats tell me anything (66.5% open rate, 31.3% click-thru rate), near exclusively—by local people, including the most involved stakeholders of the town and supporters of its merchants."
 
Related: Watch Broadstreet Ads CEO Kenny Katzgrau's presentation at LION's summit in Orlando last month on the advantage small independent online publishers have over Facebook and Google.
 
 
Local governments worsen with decline of journalism
 
This can't be shared and discussed enough: When local papers close, costs rise for local governments. And in general, civic engagement declines when local journalism declines.
 
 
 
News About Local Independent Online News Sites
 
CHICAGO: Block Club Chicago acquires archive of DNAinfo.
 
ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Five takeaways on connecting business and editorial. The 100-Day Plan: This self-directed INN course guides you through the process of creating a 100-day plan designed to help publishers achieve their strategic goals through incremental steps.
 
PRO PUBLICA: How Pro Publica and Frontline tracked down a violent white supremacist — with a government security clearance.
 
VIRGINIA: Former Times-Dispatch Reporters Leading an Online News Startup: The Virginia Mercury will go live next month.
 
 
Tools and Tips: Advertising and Revenue
 
E-COMMERCE: Retailers are turning to commerce publishers for content, but the deals come with risks.
 
GDPR: ‘Everyone is breaking the law right now’: GDPR compliance efforts are falling short. New European rules may give US internet users true privacy choices for the first time. California passes sweeping law to protect online privacy. Google aims at privacy law after Facebook lobbying failed. Post-GDPR, How Many Will Really Opt Out Of Personal Targeting?
 
KOCH FUNDING: Charles Koch, champion of free speech? His grants to news media accelerate.
 
 
MERCHANDISE: T-shirts and tote bags: How Minnesota Public Radio quickly created #MPRraccoon swag.
 
PODCASTING: The best tools and tech to create a podcast in 2018. Getting used to the sound of your own voice: Four tips for podcasting beginners. Is there an opportunity for publishers as small businesses consider launching their own podcasts? Two makeshift Virginia podcasts find freedom on a shoestring budget.
 
SPORTS BETTING: As states legalize sports betting, will sports media go all-in?
 
SUBSCRIPTIONS: Huge rise in willingness of Americans to pay for online news. Would readers pay for content if they better understood the news industry's financial struggles? Quality journalism will always be a win among readers. News organizations are looking to Spotify and Netflix as models. Is that really a good idea? In Facebook subscription pilot, "transactions happen directly on the publishers' websites, so publishers have full control over the relationship with their reader, including data, payments and pricing." Subscription publishers (still) have platform problems. Quartz’s Jay Lauf: Getting readers to pay is critical. Data-driven conversion strategy pays off for tronc. "To get people to subscribe, make it easy for them to cancel a subscription."
 
Thanks to California, a news site (or other business) now has to let you cancel your subscription online.
 
 
Tools and Tips: Journalism and Technology
 
CLICKBAIT: As publishers pump out repetitive content, quality reporting suffers.
 
COLLABORATION: News outlets join forces to track down children separated from their parents by the U.S. Seven newsrooms, 4 countries, thousands of kids: ProPublica launches a project to find immigrant children.

DATA: Data journalists, unite! How data journalism is evolving in Brazil. Five free data visualization tools for beginners.
 
 
DRONES: Five lessons learned about the drone part of drone journalism.
 
ENGAGEMENT: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s victory points to a media failure that keeps repeating. "Engaged Journalism Lab" aims to build trusted, inclusive, and audience-driven journalism. A more nuanced understanding of 'journalism' is desperately needed — and we need our communities’ help. How the Globe and Mail blew its news meetings wide open.
 
EVERGREEN CONTENT: Three Articles That Never Expire and When to Share Them: Find your timely deep dives, greatest hits, and deserving underperformers. How to Make Smart Resurfacing a Part of Your Daily Publishing Strategy: Tools and workflows to lift up your most valuable content, no matter its age.

FOIA: The costs of secrecy: FOIA trends at the Army, Navy, DIA and ODNI. For journalists covering prisons, the First Amendment is little help.
 
IMMIGRATION: After the travel ban, new avenues for news coverage.
 
INVESTIGATIVE: Five ways these small newsrooms did big projects. Kathy Shaw, relentless tracker of clergy abuse, got the story out.
 
PHOTOGRAPHY: Stop editorializing with photographs. Why photojournalism matters.
 
 
SENIORS: Bridging the age gap: How do older journalists adapt in an industry that suddenly feels foreign?
 
SOCIAL MEDIA: Using TweetDeck to gather news? Here's how to do it right.

SOURCES: When is the last time you looked at your coverage to ask who is missing, and why?
 
STORYTELLING: NPR’s guide to building immersive storytelling projects.
 
TRUST: Earn trust by sharing what motivates your journalism. Distrust in mainstream media is spilling over to fact-checking. Complicating the Narratives: What if journalists covered controversial issues differently — based on how humans actually behave when they are polarized and suspicious? We’re In an Epidemic of Mistrust in Science. Four News Startups Trying To Improve Civic Discourse. Globe and Mail tests new in-article explainers.  To rebuild trust, we need to change journalistic process.

VIDEO: Social Media Video Tips: The Art of Standing Out in Crowded Feeds.
 
 
Industry News
 
 
CANADA: Postmedia to close more local newspapers, cut staff cost by 10 percent. Torstar cutting 11 full-time, 10 part-time staff at StarMetro in Toronto.
 
COPYRIGHT: The EU is targeting platforms for copyright violations, but could end up hurting publishers, too.
 
DIVERSITY: Fewer women, people of color worked at radio stations in 2017 than 2016, a new survey shows.
 
ETHICS: One Of The Web’s Most Prolific Online Marketing Writers Has Been Promoting His Clients In Articles For Forbes, Entrepreneur, And Inc. Magazine.
 
FACEBOOK: The Great Facebook Crash: The social giant is retreating from the news business. It’s been a painful transition for publications that had come to depend on it. Slate’s Facebook traffic has dropped by 87 percent since 2017. (Anyone else wanna share numbers?) How Vogue diversified away from Facebook. How the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel grew Facebook reach 6x in a year. How to drive Facebook shares and comments on your web content. Is Facebook a publisher? In public it says no, but in court it says yes.
 
Facebook users can now see all the active ads run by a page. Here’s how many Facebook ads some publishers are running on their main pages. Facebook tweaks political ads policy, but not enough to satisfy irate publishers. Three ways to take advantage of Facebook’s new advertising algorithm. Brands More Skeptical of Facebook than SMBs in Wake of Controversies.  ‘Trial and error is not appropriate’: Facebook’s issue ads policy sweeps up brands.
 
Inside Facebook and Twitter’s secret meetings with Trump aides and conservative leaders who say tech is biased. How the big platforms are getting played by conservatives. How social networks set the limits of what we can say online. Facebook’s disclosures under scrutiny as federal agencies join probe of tech giant’s role in sharing data with Cambridge Analytica. Facebook’s Political Rule Blocks Ads for Bush’s Beans, Singers Named Clinton.

FAKE NEWS: Americans may appreciate knowing when a news story is suspect, but more than a third will share that story anyway. How the account that lied about Harley-Davidson's CEO used IndyStar to spread fake news. Adobe is using machine learning to make it easier to spot Photoshopped images. Tools from Indiana University detect viral information, who is spreading it. Reliability ratings from journalists could actually help audiences identify misinformation. I never said that! High-tech deception of ‘deepfake’ videos.
 
GANNETT: USA Today Network launches a conservative opinion newsletter.
 
GATEHOUSE: Top executives at Digital First and GateHouse step out from behind the curtain.
 
GOOGLE: Google URL Inspection Tool Shows Marketers What The Search Engine Sees.
 
HARASSMENT: From Tags To Trolling: How tweets to a small group precede attacks on critics of the Syrian and Russian regimes. Women in public-facing journalism jobs are exhausted by harassment. ‘Sobering findings’: Survey reveals rampant sexual harassment in UK media and advertising.
 
INSTAGRAM: People spend almost as much time on Instagram as they do on Facebook. How to get started with IGTV, Instagram's new long-form video feature. The Guardian finds less polished video works better on Instagram Stories. Ten tips to creating the best Snapchat and Instagram Stories.
 
LA TIMES: Life after tronc: Norman Pearlstine’s plans for the LA Times. What’s next for the L.A. Times, and a few other questions of the moment for the news business.
 
 
MASSACHUSETTS: Eagle-Tribune and affiliated papers north of Boston put up for sale.
 
MINNESOTA: Can the Star Tribune Hold Its Own in an Industry in Freefall?
 
NEW YORK TIMES: Jill Abramson, Ex-New York Times Editor: The ‘Narcissistic’ NYT Is Making ‘Horrible Mistakes,’ Needs a ‘Course Correction.’ A New York Times obituary writer for 14 years, Margalit Fox takes a crack at her own epitaph. As The New York Times extends its reach across countries (and languages and cultures), it looks to locals for guidance.
 
PITTSBURGH: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette dropping print edition two days a week.
 
 
PRESS FREEDOM: Court decision threatens protections for journalists under New York’s shield law. The war against the press comes to the local newsroom. Platform uses crowdsourcing to fund journalism where press freedom is weak. The 2018 New England Muzzle Awards: Spotlighting 10 Who Diminish Free Speech.

PRINT: Instead of abandoning print, the 119-year-old MIT Technology Review is doubling down on it. Newspapers Become Lobbyists as They Try to Save Their Industry From Trump’s Tariffs.
 
QUARTZ: Atlantic Media’s Quartz sale is as quirky and quartzy as the site itself. Quartz sale doesn’t give digital media players much to cheer about.
 
STUDENT MEDIA: Student journalist investigates lack of sexual misconduct records for teachers. In California, journalists lean on student reporters for education coverage.
 
TRONC: Buyers are circling Tronc after split with flagship L.A. Times.
 
TWITTER: Twitter Ramps Up Fight Against Abuse and Malicious Bots. Twitter launches Ad Transparency Center, where you can see ads bought by any account.
 
WIKIPEDIA: Digital literacy project sets an ambitious goal: Wikipedia pages for 1,000 local newspapers.
 
 
YOUTUBE: ‘It’s so frustrating’: YouTube’s top creators have gripes but few better options.
 
 
Upcoming Events

LION ANNUAL CONFERENCE: LION's annual conference, the country's largest gathering of local independent online news organizations, will be held Oct. 11-13 at Columbia College, Chicago.
 
WEBINARS: INN will host a webinar on July 18 on Nonprofit Board Governance. Nonprofit news leaders won't want to miss this special executive virtual training around board roles and responsibilities, how they shift over a nonprofit’s life cycle and strategies to keep the board composition in alignment with the organization’s needs and much more.
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