VT Digger offers a blueprint for sustainable local online news
 Few local independent online news organizations have been as successful in building a sustainable business model and developing an engaged and loyal audience as the nonprofit VT Digger in Vermont.
"VT Digger is the little nonprofit that could," writes Nieman Lab. "The online news outlet serving the second least-populous state in the U.S. is turning nine this summer, and now has 19 full-time staff, an annual budget over $1.5 million, and close to 300,000 average monthly visitors (almost half the population of the entire state of Vermont). It publishes eight to 12 stories each day, and is trying everything under the sun to grow its audience and its revenue streams: email newsletters, podcasting, its own mobile app, Instant Articles experimentation, a bill tracker, pushes into obituaries, job postings."
Commissioned by the Institute for Nonprofit News, Tim Griggs has written a comprehensive case study on VT Digger that includes tons of benchmarking data, advice and ideas for other local independent online news publishers.
Related: Flush with spectrum-sale dollars, a Pennsylvania PBS station is doubling down on a different kind of local news. What a 2004 experiment in hyperlocal news can tell us about community voices today.
As local news decentralizes, 'everyone's an entrepreneur'
In Editor & Publisher magazine this month, LION Executive Director Matt DeRienzo writes: The future—and spottily, the present—lies in “authentically local” journalism, steered by people who live in the communities they are covering. The fix for local news will bubble up from the grassroots, with individual communities having to take responsibility for their own information needs."
Richland Source raises $70,000 for local solutions journalism
'If you need evidence of how much a city might value local journalism that looks forward, outward, and upward in its storytelling, look no further than Mansfield, Ohio," writes local independent news site Richland Source. "In a little more than a month, nearly two dozen organizations have partnered with our newsroom to support solutions-oriented independent journalism to the tune of nearly $70,000."
Richland Source, whose publisher, Jay Allred, serves on LION's board of directors, is a for-profit news site that is finding success in getting businesses and individuals to donate money toward its public service journalism.
In the past, the site has taken a solutions journalism approach to writing about the local infant mortality rate, and flooding issues. This new funding will support a reporting project on how Rust Belt cities such as Mansfield reinvent themselves and a series on elder care.
Research: Ads next to quality content are more effective
Ad tech's unbundling of advertising and news is at the root of publishers' struggle with digital advertising. But new research shows ads "in trustworthy environments" are becoming significantly more effective, offering hope for the case for selling advertising that's adjacent to quality local news content instead of just any random website that a programmatic engine might serve up.
News About Local Independent Online News Sites
CALIFORNIA: Local Independent Online News Site ‘By The Bay’ Dives Deep to Explain Local Topics and Elections.
CHARLOTTESVILLE: Giles Morris has been named as the second executive director of Charlottesville Tomorrow, taking over for found director Brian Wheeler, who left earlier this year.
GEORGIA: LION member Larry Felton Johnson's college graduation at age 66 goes viral. He publishes local independent online news site Cobb Courier in Georgia.
NATIVE NEWS: Indian Country Today is relaunching after shutting down last year, and hopes to raise $100K.
NEWS DESERTS: How one publisher is trying to solve America’s local news desert problem.
REPORT FOR AMERICA: Report for America places reporters at local independent online news sites Mississippi Today and Billy Penn.
Tools and Tips: Advertising and Revenue
AD SPEND: Digital Ad Market Soars To $88 Billion, Facebook And Google Contribute 90% Of Growth. The duopoly still dominates, but it’s facing its limits.
AD TECH: What does GDPR mean for journalists? The extremist approach to GDPR: Some US publishers consider blocking European visitors. European news sites are among the worst offenders when it comes to third-party cookies and content. Operating a botnet is expensive and risky. But it’s all worth it if you’re making $20 million a month from click fraud. Hearst Papers Test Pay-Per-Article Model, 'Hand-Selected' Ads. Ad tech vendors are pitching themselves to publishers as subscription saviors.
E-COMMERCE: Gizmodo Media Group is rolling out a new commerce site, The Inventory.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Most successful entrepreneurs are older than you think.
FUNDRAISING: In a tough ad climate, small publishers are finding success in small donations. Is your online donation form turning off donors?
MEDIUM: ‘We had no idea that it was coming’: Medium pulls the rug from under publications.
MEMBERSHIP: Podcast network Radiotopia is expanding its member-paid benefits.
NEWSLETTER: What Gmail’s Redesign Means for Email Marketers. New startups want to help you make money off of emails. Why The New York Times likes short-run newsletters.
PLATFORMS: The platform patrons: How Facebook and Google became two of the biggest funders of journalism in the world. Is 2018 the year when publishers push back against the platforms? Adam Mosseri on Facebook’s complicated relationship with the media.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: Publishers try to use ad annoyance as a lure to subscribers. New research indicates tight meters have won the pay model war for news websites. Publishers hunting for subscribers enter the weeds of segmentation. In the pivot to paid, publishers fear the churn spiral. More paywalls going up as news publishers face shrinking share of ad revenue and try to fight back against ad-blockers. Online tests at tronc show readers respond to offer + journalism. Is funnel even the right concept for building audiences? Older listeners are as likely to pay to avoid ads as they are to stop listening altogether. The Guardian asks: Can journalism be sold like a pair of sneakers? Bloomberg Media’s Justin Smith says new paywall is coming ‘at a time of strength.’ Globe and Mail campaign boosts subscriptions, influences public policy.
VIDEO: Magazine publishers with video ambitions see YouTube as safer bet than Facebook. With Facebook Live views falling, BuzzFeed looks to Twitch. App for journalists: Google Photos, for editing social videos on the go.
Tools and Tips: Journalism and Technology
ARCHIVES: Digital journalism’s disappearing public record, and what to do about it.
COLLABORATION: “Attitudes about newsroom collaboration are improving, but it can feel like an uphill push sometimes.” How competing news outlets teamed up to investigate education in North Carolina.
DATA: Why many published data analyses have so little real value.
ELECTIONS: Rethinking reporting on polls in time for midterm elections.
ENGAGEMENT: Engagement journalism comes of age. Three things you should know before starting a Facebook group. Motherly Q&A: How digital publishers are starting real communities. Four things HBR has learned by experimenting with audience engagement. There Is No Magic Bullet For Moderating A Social Media Platform. Face It, You Just Don’t Care About the News Anymore: So what does that mean for democracy?
FOIA: City Councilman Goes to Bat for Journalists on Information Requests.
INSTAGRAM: How To: Optimize Your Newsroom’s Instagram.
LOCALIZING STORIES: The Center for Cooperative Media launches newsletter to help you localize national news stories.
MOBILE: You Call That Breaking News? When to send that push notification. And here's some advice on integrating push notifications into newsroom duties. With Rover, David Arkin Takes a Mobile-First, Enjoyable Approach to Local News.
OPIOIDS: How the Palm Beach Post unearthed an opioid conspiracy with roots in Florida.
PHOTOGRAPHY: The importance of light when you're taking photos with your smartphone.
REPORTING: An ode to reporter’s notebooks.
RURAL NEWS: Covering rural America: What reporters get wrong and how to get it right.
SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM: A solutions journalism approach reframes economic injustice in America’s poorest big city.
WORDPRESS: WordPress poses another GDPR compliance headache for publishers.
Industry News
AMAZON: Amazon Tests Ad Tool That Rivals Google, Criteo.
APPLE: Should publishers be wary of Apple News?
CANADA: Torstar plans further 'transformation' amid tough print advertising market.
DE CORRESPONDENT: De Correspondent gets cash injection from Omidyar Network for global launch.
DFM: The Rapid, Devastating Decline of the Denver Post. The Gutting of The Denver Post Is a Death Knell for Local News. This Is How a Newspaper Dies: It’s with a spasm of profits. No, the Digital First approach to newspaper ownership is not defensible. Philly's Digital First papers face harsh cuts, potential 'lights-out scenario.' Fired Boulder Daily Camera editor sought local owners for DFM paper. Love, Money and the Death of My Hometown Newspaper. "Digital First Media secured the winning bid for the Boston Herald. In the days and weeks that followed, it was clear that the far-off cries from our sister paper in Denver had newfound meaning on the East Coast." In an era of disinvestment, how should local news push back?
DIVERSITY: With systemwide coverage review, public radio can reveal and address its racial inequities. News stories in Europe are predominantly by and about men. Even photograph sizes are unequal. A reporter realizes: "I’m Not Quoting Enough Women." Four questions to ask yourself to make your stories more gender-sensitive.
ESPN: ESPN’s final public editor on the ‘unfortunate’ decision to eliminate the position. The end of ESPN’s public editor position completes a disappointing decline in relevancy that could have been avoided.
FACEBOOK: The backlash that never happened: New data shows people actually increased their Facebook usage after the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The left turns up the heat to break up Facebook. Will Facebook's New Ad-Transparency Tools Protect Democracy? A New Facebook Feature Shows Which Pro-Trump Facebook Pages Are Run From Overseas. We read every one of the 3,517 Facebook ads bought by Russians. Their dominant strategy: Sowing racial discord. Facebook admits hundreds of apps vacuumed up user data. Facebook is banning undocumented immigrants from buying political ads. Facebook lets advertisers target users based on sensitive interests. "Facebook’s idea that it “builds communities” overlooks the fact that white nationalists are also a community." Facebook's new transparency report includes data on takedowns of "bad content," including hate speech.
Shady Marketplaces Selling Fake Facebook Profiles Operate In Plain Sight. When a stranger takes your face: Facebook’s failed crackdown on fake accounts. Facebook has disabled almost 1.3 billion fake accounts over the past six months.
Facebook tells Australian regulator that news makes up just 5% of content shared, and downplays its collection and use of people’s data. Backlash after Facebook says it plans to lump news stories in with political ads.
FAKE NEWS: Newspapers are Fighting Harder Than Ever Against the Spread of Misinformation. The war on fake news could be won with the help of behavioral science. Can signing a “pro-truth pledge” actually change people’s behavior online? This program made people better at identifying disinformation. (They still weren’t great at knowing what to trust.) Reporting in a Machine Reality: Deepfakes, misinformation, and what journalists can do about them. You see it, you buy it: Just being exposed to fake news makes you more likely to believe it. Why bullshit hurts democracy more than lies. A DC Think Tank Uses Fake Twitter Accounts And A Shady Expert To Reach The NSA, FBI, And White House. Here’s why fighting fake news is harder on WhatsApp than on Facebook. The 'hire a crowd' business operates openly and makes journalism even more difficult.
GANNETT: Gannett is acquiring search marketing and advertising company WordStream for $130 million in cash.
GATEHOUSE: Gatehouse says it's "saving" newspapers with efficiencies of scale. 😂
GOOGLE: Google to Hold Talks With Publishers Over Their GDPR Concerns. Google offers an unusually clear view of how it manages user data ahead of GDPR. ‘No one is safe’: The media industry scrambles to understand Google’s latest GDPR update. BBC News Is Completely Dominating "News" Results Right Now And Google Is Trying To Fix It. The new AI-powered Google News app is now available on iOS. Google bans ads for bail bonds services.
LAS VEGAS: Las Vegas paper puts 'elated' editorial by owner's wife on page one on deadly day in Israel.
NET NEUTRALITY: Senate Approves Overturning FCC's Net Neutrality Repeal.
NEXT DOOR: How Nextdoor Addressed Racial Profiling on Its Platform.
PITTSBURGH: ‘I refused’: Fired Pittsburgh City Paper editor claims efforts to suppress coverage.
PODCASTING: Supreme Court declines to hear “podcasting patent” case, handing win to EFF.
PRESS FREEDOM: Keeping a free and fair press is one of the defining political issues of our age. Stormy Daniels’s lawyer is a media star. So why is he threatening journalists? Amid declining press freedom worldwide, Canada and Ecuador offer signs of hope.
PRINT: “PRINT” Act Introduced to Protect Publishers, Printers from Tariffs.
PRIVACY: Privacy concerns about data collection may lead to dumbing down smart devices. Software developed by a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp to help journalists verify content on social media is also being used to monitor the videos and images viewed by reporters who use the tool.
RADIO: Amazon Echo helps push digital radio audience past FM.
SALT LAKE: Reacting to plunging revenues, Salt Lake Tribune lays off a third of its newsroom, cuts back print offerings.
SINCLAIR: In this town, you can flip the channel all you want — the news is often the same. Sinclair may buy Chicago’s WPWR from Fox. Wicked Problem: Sinclair Broadcasting and the high price of innovation. It could still be weeks before a Justice Department decision on the Sinclair-Tribune local TV acquisition.
SPORTS: Congratulations, sports media: You just got a big business-model subsidy from the Supreme Court.
STUDENT MEDIA: SMU Just Lost Its Independent Student Newspaper. Is Your College Next?
TRONC: Why Wall Street keeps giving Tronc a little love. McCormick Media extends deadline to pay $209M for Tronc shares.
TRUMP: What John Edwards Should Teach the Media About Covering Trump. It’s A Good Time To Be A Reporter Covering Trump If You Like Money And Going On TV. The rise of the pro-Trump media machine. Dear Conservative Media: Do Some More Damn Reporting.
TV: What is innovation in local TV news? Andrew Heyward’s new mission is to find out. TV viewers have been disappearing, but TV ad spending keeps chugging along. For the First Time, Consumers Are More Likely to View Ads Online Than on TV.
TWITTER: Twitter Says It Will Start Hiding Tweets That ‘Negatively Impact’ the Service.
WIKIPEDIA: Wikipedia: What Journalists Need to Know About One of the World’s Largest Websites. Nine community-led projects receive Wikimedia rapid grants to inspire new readers.
YOUTUBE: How YouTube's "Super Chat" System Is Pushing Video Creators Toward More Extreme Content. Google is breaking up its premium YouTube Red service into two new offerings: a YouTube Music streaming service, available either for free with ads or for $9.99 per month, and a YouTube Premium for original video content, costing $11.99 per month.
Upcoming Events
INN DAYS: The Institute for Nonprofit News will hold its annual INN Days summit June 13-14 at the Investigative Reporters & Editors' annual conference in Orlando.
LION AT IRE: LION will hold a day-long session on revenue, journalism, engagement and audience development issues relating to local independent online news sites June 15 during Investigative Reporters & Editors' annual conference in Orlando.
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. |