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News, information and much more for independent online news publishers. 
Facebook frustration, foundation funding and more: LION offers free monthly webinar series for members
 
LION is pleased to announce the start of a new monthly webinar series, free for its members, on topics of interest to local independent online news publishers. Save these dates!

Friday, April 3, 1-2:30 p.m. EST: "What Happened to My Facebook Reach?" Lisa Yanick-Jonaitis, community engagement editor at The Morning Sun in Michigan, will talk about Facebook's ever-changing adjustments to the "organic reach" of posts and how to develop a "voice" in your Facebook presence that will drive more referral traffic and engagement with your site.

Thursday, May 7, 1-2:30 p.m. EST: "Foundation Funding and Underwriting." Molly de Aguiar of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and Paul Bass of the New Haven Independent will talk about how to find and apply for grant funding through foundations that support media projects, and also some best practices for obtaining underwriting support from local sources.

Wednesday, June 3, 1-2:30 p.m. EST: "Benefit Corporations." James Woulfe, Director of Advocacy and External Affairs, Social Enterprise Trust Inc., will lead LION members through an intriguing alternative to traditional nonprofit and for-profit corporate structures that is becoming available under some state laws.

RSVP for any that interest you at mattderienzo@lionpublishers.com and stay tuned for more information. Suggestions for future webinar topics are also appreciated!

Member Spotlight: The Prairie Village Post
 
Focus more on business development early on, and be patient. That's some of the advice that LION member Jay Senter, co-publisher of the Prairie Village Post in Kansas, has to offer in this Q&A from LION's website.



News is important to millennials, but good luck getting them to pay
 
On the heels of Pew's major study of how people consume local news, the American Press Institute has released research on how millennials consume and engage with media.

Nieman Lab sums it up: "Millennials say keeping up with the news is important to them - but good luck trying to get them to pay for it.

Columbia Journalism Review also highlighted some key takeaways.

And Josh Stearns urges journalists to "make news that matters" if they want millennials to pay attention.

'31 Days of Mission Local' promotes membership drive
 
LION member Mission Local in San Francisco is highlighting its contributions to the community during a drive to sign up members with "31 Days of Mission Local." The campaign is both a reminder of the importance of independent local news publishers and a nice model for other sites hoping to increase their membership ranks or show advertisers what they do.

Jamaica Plain News has Google juice
 
Some good news from LION member Jamaica Plain News in Massachusetts. Its articles are being indexed by Google News now and have moved to the top in ranking for its community.

Billy Penn's 'full-stack credibility'
 
Here's another interesting take on LION member Jim Brady's local site in Philadelphia, from Jim himself.

It prompted NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen to praise what he calls "full stack credibility," integrity and transparency not just in journalism, but how you count page views and handle advertising.

And in case you missed it, here's Ken Doctor's analysis of the Billy Penn project.

Vermont indie is beating the dailies

Street Fight tells the story of a local independent online news publisher in northern Vermont who, two years in, is beating two competing daily newspapers and a weekly.

Look up past LION newsletters

Was there a link from a few weeks ago you had meant to check out, but didn't? You can now access all past LION newsletters at www.lionpublishers.com/newsletters. That's also where you can send colleagues and friends who might be interested in signing up to receive them.


Tools and Tips: Advertising and Revenue

Two interesting "big picture" looks at local independent online publishing and revenue this week. Jeff Jarvis addresses "the myth of mass media and the relationship strategy" in the latest chapter of his book, "Geeks Bearing Gifts," that he's released for free on Medium.

And Bill Densmore, writing for the Reynolds Journalism Institute, takes an extensive look at strategies for both advertising and reader revenue and what it will take to build sustainable business models.

DIGITAL SPENDING: Big advertisers continue to shift spending to digital, and print continues to decline.

EMAIL MARKETING: Why email marketing is still a vital tool for small businesses.

SMALL BUSINESS VS. BIG DIGITAL: Street Fight has a piece suggesting that Facebook's message to small businesses is essentially: We're changing and you have to change with us. Meanwhile, the CEO of Reach Local says that digital advertising companies have a "very poor reputation" among small businesses.

MOBILE: Smartphones have overtaken PCs for looking up information about local businesses.

VIDEO: The online video love triangle: consumers, advertisers and Google. YouTube is one of the most popular search engines in the country. What does that mean for your site and your advertisers?


Tools and Tips: Journalism

If you weren't able to attend the NICAR conference in Atlanta recently, IRE has a great roundup on its website of various presentations and tip sheets that were part of the schedule.

BUSINESS REPORTING: The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism is a great source in general for free advice and training on business reporting. Here's a helpful discussion on how to write better stories about small business owners.

CRIME REPORTING: A Pew study finds racial and ethnic divides in how people pay attention to news about crime.

CROWDSOURCING: A thoughtful case for doing more to protect the identity of victims when journalists use material from eyewitnesses posting on social media.

DATA: Here's a piece on using data storytelling to engage your audience. And an example from Detroit of the power of data visualizations.

INSTAGRAM: Five ways newsrooms can make the most of Instagram.

INTERVIEWING: Steve Buttry has some great advice on effective interviewing from some veteran journalists.

METRICS: Chartbeat's grand vision for driving change in the news industry by changing how we measure success.

MOBILE: Frederic Filloux argues that the news media should abandon native mobile apps.

PHOTOJOURNALISM: Here's an interesting piece on how the storytelling qualities of photojournalism are being degraded. And from Steve Buttry, the case for updated photojournalism ethics rules.

SEARCH: Two potentially contradictory moves from Google. It plans to move company press releases and statements about a topic to the top of its search rankings. And there is also talk of a "truth algorithm" that would downplay links spreading false information. Here's why that has some people terrified. And for some time, Google has been building features and giving preference to sites that are mobile-friendly. Here's what you need to know about some of those changes.

SOCIAL MEDIA SEARCH: The managing editor of Reported.ly talks about the tools they use to find information about breaking news stories from eyewitnesses via social media.

STORY COMMENTS: A business case for keeping online story comment sections.

VIDEO: Five tips for making video on mobile devices a success.

WORKERS COMP: Columbia Journalism Review sees opportunity for local journalists to expand on Pro Publica's national database reporting on the workers compensation system.


Industry News

DFM: The country's second-largest newspaper chain (see next item for some cheery news about the largest), Digital First Media, is close to selling to another hedge fund that believes it can get a return on investment with more local newsroom cuts.

GANNETT: As the company laid off and furloughed local journalists across the country, Gannett's CEO got a raise last year - from $7.9 million to $12.4 million.

'LOCAL' TV: An interesting Nieman Lab piece on how "local TV" in New Jersey isn't really local at all, as the state is split between markets focused on New York City and focused on Philadelphia.

NEWSPAPERS I: A study finds they are now rated the most "least essential" major source of information compared to TV, radio and the web.

NEWSPAPERS II: The sharp decline in single-copy newspaper sales is largely a self-inflicted wound.

NONPROFITS ALIGN: In Illinois, an alliance among nonprofit news organizations and public media.

YOUTUBE: On YouTube's 10th anniversary, competitors crash the party.


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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