LION hires Matt DeRienzo as first full-time executive director
LION Publishers has hired Matt DeRienzo as the organization's first full-time executive director.
The hire, made possible by a grant from the Knight Foundation, will enable LION Publishers to expand training and mentorship of local independent online news publishers and idea-stage local news businesses across the country.
"Hiring Matt is a banner headline for LION," said Dylan Smith, the chairman of LION's Board of Directors and the editor and publisher of TucsonSentinel.com. "As a mostly volunteer-based organization, we've been able to accomplish a great deal on behalf of local independent news publishers since our 2012 founding. With Matt DeRienzo now pushing us ahead on a full-time basis, we'll have the capacity to support even more publishers who are creating the change needed to rebuild local news."
DeRienzo, a veteran reporter, editor, publisher and media executive, has assisted LION in a part-time, interim role over the past two years.
Journalism world mourns passing of Steve Buttry
Journalists around the world mourned the death of longtime online news evangelist, teacher, trainer, mentor, editor and reporter Steve Buttry last week.
Steve was a significant supporter of LION and local independent online news, and numerous publishers looked to him for advice and ideas as they launched and operated their sites.
A few of the remembrances that have been written in recent days:
Steve Buttry dies of pancreatic cancer at age 62.
Remembering Steve Buttry, teacher of journalists.
Remembering Steve Buttry, the man who would always take the meeting.
The Tao of Steve Buttry.
In memoriam: Steve Buttry - Teacher, journalist friend.
A public memorial for Steve Buttry has been set for 4 p.m. Saturday, April 8, in Minneapolis. A scholarship fund has been established in his memory at LSU, where he worked most recently as director of student media.
LION Podcast: Indie local news sustainability in Texas
 LION member Joe Hyde, publisher of San Angelo LIVE! in Texas, is featured in the third episode of LION Publishers' new podcast, hosted by LION board member and ARLNow.com Publisher Scott Brodbeck. Hyde addresses a variety of topics, from earning extra revenue from programmatic advertising to keeping your readers on your site longer. He also explained how he went from flying bombers for the Air Force, to starting a small ISP, to launching a LION site.
Our first episode featured an interview with Howard Owens of The Batavian in New York. Our second episode featured an interview with Kenny Kratzgau of Broadstreet Ads, whose company serves advertising for many local independent online news publishers.
Keep up with future LION podcasts by subscribing. Check it out here or sign up on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher.
News About Local Independent Online News Sites
30A: How 30A’s multiple revenue streams elevate the local site to new heights.
CHARLOTTE AGENDA: A digital news reader’s bill of rights, by Charlotte Agenda's Andrew Dunn.
DENVERITE: Denverite editor on digital startups and the future of local news.
PRO PUBLICA: After seven years, a veteran of Chicago journalism, Louise Kiernan is getting back in the game with Pro Publica's expansion into Illinois.
Tools and Tips: Advertising and Revenue
AD BLOCKING: Ad blocking is now a chronic but manageable condition.
AFFILIATE REVENUE: Think The Wirecutter invented affiliate revenue? Meet the mom who’s been doing it since 2010.
CROWDFUNDING: A Birmingham weekly is turning to crowdfunding for survival and growth. How a small news site successfully ran Croatia's first media crowdfunding campaign.
ENGAGEMENT: How media startups can monetize their social capital.
EVENTS: Journalism live: How news events foster engagement and expand revenue. A guidebook from the Local News Lab.
FACEBOOK: Mark Zuckerberg takes on fake news, the importance of the news industry and the rise of filter bubbles in new manifesto. What Facebook owes to journalism. Should Facebook subsidize journalism? How Mark Zuckerberg could really fix journalism. Facebook and Google funding journalism: A solution, or a hail Mary pass? Journalism must compete with Facebook, not surrender to it. Facebook is trying to smooth over relationships with the media. Platforms and publishers: No sign of retreat. What publishers admire about the Google-Facebook duopoly.
Channel 4 News editor: Facebook is paying us a ‘minuscule’ amount for our 2 billion video views. Facebook swipes at LinkedIn by letting brands post job openings on Pages. Facebook isn’t going after LinkedIn—it’s chasing a much, much bigger jobs market. Inside Facebook’s recent product pitch to publishers. Facebook is starting to put ads in the middle of its videos. Facebook wants longer videos, but takes away key view metric.
FUNDERS: A good time to do good through the news business. How can foundations meet information needs? New lab seeks answers.
LEGAL ADS: Yes, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wants to retaliate against journalists, but legal ad revenue fight exposes newspaper industry's hypocrisy.
MOBILE: Study reveals publishers unprepared for mobile growth. Google AMP is now half of Swiss publisher Blick’s mobile traffic. After apps won Round 1, how will we monetize the future of mobile? Mobile ad requests with location data on the rise.
NATIVE ADVERTISING: Australia adopts new disclosure requirements for native advertising.
NEWSLETTERS: Supported by paid newsletters, Poder360 digs into Brazil’s power structures. Four ways to monetize your email newsletter. How newsletter metrics can turn into revenue.
PROGRAMMATIC: The mystery of ad-buyer blacklists. Advertising boycott of Breitbart appears to be growing. ‘It wasn’t even a question’: The simple calculation for pulling advertising off Breitbart. Milo and journalism’s business model.
SEARCH: How does Google determine the authority of local entities?
SUBSCRIPTIONS: The fatal flaw in subscription models. How Facebook and Google could disrupt the subscription model for news.
TRAFFIC: The death of the click.
Tools and Tips: Journalism and Technology
DATA: What makes a winning data story? The dangers of fake news spreading to data visualization.
DIVERSITY: Four steps newsrooms are taking to boost diversity. The Ida B. Wells Society wants to build a better pipeline to connect news orgs with journalists of color.
ENGAGEMENT: How building trust with news consumers is like dating. Gather will offer a platform to explore questions around community engagement. Low-cost journalism project reveals community power structure. Dear journalists: Stop leaving your communities high and dry. Journalism driven by stakeholders: Nine good questions with the Stakeholder Media Project.
METRICS: The metrics that should matter vs. the metrics that actually matter to publishers. What to do when an analytics report looks wrong.
MOBILE: The New York Times is experimenting with mobile-specific headlines.
OBAMACARE: Zombie ‘death panels’ myth in Florida should rally reporters against Obamacare misinformation.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Pew survey: Readers less likely to recall source when they find news via social media. An analysis of individuals’ online news habits over the course of one week. Tool for journalists: Trends24, for monitoring popular topics on Twitter.
STORY COMMENTS: This tool from Google parent Alphabet tries to tackle “toxic” comments through machine learning.
VIDEO: With help from Google and YouTube, McClatchy is trying to figure out the next big thing in video.
Cost, distribution, localization: Where European publishers struggle with video.
Industry News
BUBBLES: We avoid news we don't like. Some Trump-era evidence. BuzzFeed tries to break readers out of their social-media bubbles. The recent explosion of right-wing news sites.
CRAIG'S LIST: Craig Newmark, journalism’s new Six Million Dollar Man.
FAKE NEWS: Misinformation ecosystem: Breakdown of the types of fake content, creators' motivations and how it's disseminated. Here’s what non-fake news looks like. Fact-checking fake news reveals how hard it is to kill pervasive ‘nasty weed’ online. If newspapers won't check viral stories, who will listen to them about fake news? How a Houston newspaper became the victim of a fake news scheme. Dear news media: We need depth and context. How Wikipedia is cultivating an army of fact checkers to battle fake news. The new civics course in U.S. schools: How to spot fake news. Why facts don’t change our minds.
GOOGLE: Google killing off Google+, but it won’t be gone for good.
LAYOFFS: FT said to cut 3% of editorial staff as print declines.
LEAKS: Anonymous leaks gain new prominence in Trump-era journalism. The New York Times effort to encourage secure anonymous leaks is generating 50 to 100 tips a day. USA Today is courting whistleblowers with secure website. Gizmodo Facebook ads target potential Trump leakers. Could reporters be hunted down if Trump goes after leakers?
MILLENNIALS: Study: Younger readers got more election news from national newspapers than local ones.
NEW YORK TIMES: How is The New York Times really doing?
New York Times fans have sponsored 209,000 student subscriptions.
PRINT: Local newspaper companies emphasize diversified revenue to survive.
PUBLIC BROADCASTING: PBS-commissioned survey finds 73 percent of voters oppose eliminating federal funding for public TV. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is on a White House hit list for elimination. TV broadcasters get another shot at leveraging channels into cash with spectrum auction. Vermont PBS gains $56 million from sale in spectrum auction. Spectrum auction nets nearly $35M for two Pennsylvania stations. Howard University decides it won’t sell its public TV station in the FCC spectrum auction. WBIN-TV sells broadcasting rights for millions, lays off staff. WGBH allegedly dismisses reporter after discovering views on vaccines.
RADIO: Community radio upholds beauty, power of the small.
TRONC Tronc cuts expenses as newspaper revenue falls. Layoffs hit Tronc’s San Diego Union-Tribune.
TRUMP: It’s been a month since Trump took office. What lessons have journalists learned? In Trump’s anti-press rhetoric, a dark echo from the past. On free press, Supreme Court pick at odds with Trump. The real threat of Trump’s press bashing. CPJ’s Joel Simon on the press freedom crisis in the United States. What you need to know about the enemies of the American people the president warned you about. Trump and the press: A murder-suicide pact. How to cover pols who lie, and why facts don’t always change minds: Updates from the fake-news world. Restoring media trust starts with personal ties. Newspapers aim to ride 'Trump Bump' to reach readers, advertisers.
TWITTER: Twitter tries curbing harassment by limiting the reach of abusive users.
VERMONT: This Vermont newspaper couldn’t give itself away in an essay contest. But it did find a buyer.
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.) |