News Match raises $4.8 million for nonprofit news organizations
The News Match effort spearheaded by the Knight Foundation, Democracy Fund and a group of other funders to match donations to nonprofit news organizations in the last part of 2017 ended up raising $4.8 million.
"There is no doubt that NewsMatch helped strengthen journalism in America over the last three months, and supported the growth of charitable giving to newsrooms. Together, the 100+ local and national participants received nearly 320,000 more donations, from 77,000 more donors in 2017, compared to 2016."
Local journalism was a huge focus of the effort, and numerous sites run by LION members benefited.
"Study after study after study has shown that as trust has plummeted across many parts of the media, local news has consistently been rated as more trusted," writes Josh Stearns of the Democracy Fund. "There are many reasons for this, including: Local news is viewed as more proximate, more relevant, more accountable, and more motivated by a shared sense of concern for the community. Local journalists are our neighbors."
As a 'vulture capitalist' buys Boston Herald, more cuts expected
Digital First Media, the hedge fund-owned chain known for relentless newsroom cuts, has submitted the winning $12 million bid to purchase the Boston Herald.
It comes as DFM's Bay Area News Group is hammered by more layoffs.
For the Herald, it almost certainly means significantly more newsroom cuts.
Nieman Lab's Joshua Benton puts it in perspective in a piece for the Boston Globe: "Ownership matters. A local owner who cares about the quality of news is better than a distant one who does, and both are better than one whose only concern is the bottom line."
Boston media critic Dan Kennedy says, "The one good-news story about Digital First involves the Berkshire Eagle — and that’s only because the chain sold the paper to local business leaders a couple of years ago."
Related: "The Boston Herald Gave Me a Shot. Now Will Someone Give the Tabloid One?"
In Sacramento, an online alt-weekly rises as print daily declines
VOICES: River City has emerged as an alt-weekly-style local independent online news site in Sacramento as the McClatchy-owned daily has cut back on local arts and other coverage, and the local alt-weekly has become more mainstream to fill the gaps left by the daily.
LION member Dave Kempa, its founder, explains this week in a Q&A for the LION website.
"I’d been thinking about launching V:RC for a couple of years due, in part, to the region’s flagging media landscape. I wasn’t seeing any web-friendly outlets out there giving local folks a chance to speak truth to power. Given that we’re the capital of left-leaning California, that felt like a damn shame."
News About Local Independent Online News
FAKE LOCAL NEWS: Welcome to Our New Local Media Hellscape: Where Political Sites Masquerade as Local News to Take Down Opponents. Here are the tools that could be used to create the fake news of the future.
PRO PUBLICA: Judge Dismisses Libel Suit Involving ProPublica Article.
SPANISH-LANGUAGE HELP: SembraMedia launches Spanish-language online school for media entrepreneurship.
Tools and Tips: Advertising and Revenue
AD BLOCKING: Google Chrome’s built-in ad blocker goes live. Here’s how it will work for users (and affect publishers). How Chrome ad blocking is already changing the web.
AD TECH: Publishers Continue to Explore Next-Gen Advertising to Support Digital Ventures. Thoughtful neuromarketing helps better target ads. Unilever marketing boss Keith Weed threatens to pull advertising from Facebook, Google and other digital platforms, citing fake news, among other concerns. YouTube Revamped Its Ad System. AT&T Still Hasn’t Returned. Do Big Advertisers Even Matter to the Platforms?
BLOCKCHAIN: Mining cryptocurrencies and blockchain tech to save journalism. Media group Salon: Let us use your computer to mine crypto.
ELECTION ADS: The Federal Election Commission said in December that big political ads on Facebook need disclaimers. But many candidates and groups don’t seem to be paying attention.
FOUNDATIONS: Updated Journalism and Media Grantmaking guide offers insights for funders new to the field.
NEWSLETTERS: Seven Tips to Get Better Newsletter Metrics.
OUTBRAIN: Outbrain is launching a product allowing publishers to recommend content on each other’s platforms.
PODCASTING: In an era of video, podcasts struggle to break through on social media. What a California newspaper is learning as it experiments with podcasting. The Guardian’s new podcast player for the web tries to make listening a little more interactive (but not interruptive). The Los Angeles Times shares story behind hit podcast “Dirty John.”
SMALL BUSINESS: Record Number of U.S. Small-Business Owners Say It’s a Good Time to Expand.
SPONSORED CONTENT: Facebook’s new branded-content guidelines will force some publishers to abandon a business model. If a Pharmaceutical Company Publishes a Magazine, Is it Journalism?
SUBSCRIPTIONS: Value of journalism, not giveaways, lure long-term subscribers. $2.31/week: That’s about what you’ll pay for a digital newspaper subscription these days. Facebook works it out with Apple to test news paywalls on iOS. How The Wall Street Journal’s Facebook strategy helped double social subscriptions. How Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet reached 250,000 digital subscribers. European publishers look to digital subscriptions to reduce platform dependency. The Perils of Paid Content.
Tools and Tips: Journalism and Technology
ARCHIVES: When an online news outlet goes out of business, its archives can disappear as well. The new battle over journalism’s digital legacy.
BURNOUT: It’s been an exhausting news cycle, for readers as well as those of us in the business.
DATA: Big data is for machines: how to use small data sets for impactful stories.
ENGAGEMENT: Why ‘Dialogue Journalism’ Is Having a Moment.
LONG FORM: In the era of online news, longform journalism shows its value.
METRICS: How a Mexican Publisher Used a Facebook Page, Data to Help Launch an English Site.
PAGE LOAD: Consumers abandon long, slow-loading content.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Photojournalism professor blasts Poynter guide to finding free images to illustrate stories. Poynter: We wrote about free photo sites. Many journalists were outraged. Now what?
RESEARCH: Digging in stark times: News researchers lead on big stories.
SCIENCE: So you want to be a science journalist? Connecting reporters with experts, Sciline wants to improve the quality of today’s science reporting.
SEXUAL ABUSE: How to Teach Reporting on Sexual Abuse.
TRAUMA: How graphic is too graphic when covering Florida high school shooting?
VIDEO: What journalists need to know about interviewing for video.
Industry News
AI: With its new Olympics texting experiment, the Times is saying goodbye to SMS, hello to personalization.
APPLE: Inside Apple’s Courtship of News Publishers. ‘Apple News as a product is living in the past,’ according to Flipboard’s CEO.
BLOGGING: Last blog standing, “last guy dancing:” How Jason Kottke is thinking about kottke.org at 20.
BUZZFEED: BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti loves BuzzFeed News and loves that it’s part of BuzzFeed.
FACEBOOK: Outlets aim for engagement as Facebook feeds less news to users. Facebook wants News Feed to create more ‘meaningful social interactions.’ It’s still trying to figure out what that means. How Facebook Is Changing the Way It Reports Organic Reach for Page Posts. Likes vs comments on Facebook: What’s the difference? Facebook isn’t restricting your News Feed to 26 friends, no matter what a viral hoax claims. BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti says Facebook should share revenue as well as traffic. Facebook Ad Targeting is Incredible—and Scary.
Inside the Two Years that Shook Facebook—and the World. Facebook lost around 2.8 million U.S. users under 25 last year. 2018 won’t be much better. But it's not stopping ad agencies from spending. Media Executives Talked About Facebook Regulation In Private Meeting. Facebook’s Campbell Brown: “This is not about us trying to make everybody happy.” Facebook's new slogan: 'If you think we're not good for your business, leave.' The Algo-pocalypse: Journalism in the digital dystopia.
FAKE NEWS: He Predicted The 2016 Fake News Crisis. Now He's Worried About An Information Apocalypse. Devin Nunes creates his own alternative news site. Will truth win out? Rob Porter’s departure holds a key to effective journalism in the Trump era.
FORBES: Forbes Will Pay All of Its Contributors, but Purge the Worst.
GOOGLE: Google’s New AMP Stories Bring Snapchat-Like Content to Mobile Web. Google takes AMP beyond basic posts with its new story format. Google bringing AMP to gmail. How Google is using its search clout to steer publishers to use AMP.
HARASSMENT: The cost of reporting while female: The work of a journalist is to be accessible, discerning, and persistent. For a woman, this also makes her a target.
HEARST: Chronicle Publisher Jeffrey M. Johnson named chief of Hearst Newspapers.
KANSAS: A Kansas journalist wrote local news for "Bonnie's Blog" right up until her death last week at age 102.
LOS ANGELES: What a billionaire can do for a paper (Hint: It’s not always good). Dr. Soon-Shiong and His New ‘Patient,’ the L.A. Times: Will His Rx Be ‘Local’?
NET NEUTRALITY: Internet giants back Senate effort to reinstate net neutrality rules.
OWNERSHIP: The American media landscape, like the rest of the country, is being reshaped by the whims of the ultra-rich.
POLITIFACT: PolitiFact moves its headquarters to The Poynter Institute.
PRESS FREEDOM: It's been one dangerous year for journalists around the globe. The time is right for the Journalist Protection Act. But we need a federal shield law. County Lawyers Demand Research, Notes From San Diego Journalist Who Investigated Jail Deaths. Judge orders Las Vegas newspaper to destroy autopsy report. Cyber Attacks Sideline Independent Media in Azerbaijan, Philippines. Once a beacon of press freedom in the region, Australia’s proposed law threatens to silence journalists.
PRINT: New York Times CEO: Print journalism has maybe another 10 years.
PUBLIC MEDIA: PBS CEO Paula Kerger Protests Trump's Public Media Cuts.
SINCLAIR: F.C.C. Watchdog Looks Into Changes That Benefited Sinclair. Sinclair Broadcast Group solicits its news directors for its political fundraising efforts.
SNAPCHAT: Snap brings its heat map feature out of the app. Will any news publishers want to use it? Snap Opens Its API to All Brands, Agencies, and Tech Firms.
TRONC: Tronc to funnel all newspaper production through Chicago.
TV: Local TV news gets a $2.6 million boost from the Knight Foundation. TV station buys $1 million in medical debt forgiveness for viewers.
TWITTER: Twitter Has an Astroturfing Tool and They Won't Tell Us Who's Using It. Twitter has lost $2 billion since going public. Facebook has made $34 billion.
UK: Up to 49 editorial job eliminations expected as Trinity Mirror rolls out new 'Live' online publishing model.
WORDPRESS: For one-time NPR and NYT digital chief, a new adventure: WordPress.
YOUTUBE: YouTube will remove ads and downgrade discoverability of channels posting offensive videos. Should YouTube police its top stars’ videos?
Upcoming Events
AD SALES CRM WEBINAR: LION will host a webinar on customer-relations management software for local advertising sales at 1 p.m. Feb. 20.
AD RATE BASICS WEBINAR: LION will host a webinar on how to determine advertising rates and packages at 1 p.m. March 20.
YOUTUBE FOR PUBLISHERS WEBINAR: LION will host a webinar on YouTube for local news publishers at 1 p.m. April 24.
READER REVENUE SUMMIT: LION and the Center for Cooperative Media will host a day-long summit on Reader Revenue April 6 at Montclair State University in New Jersey.
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. |