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News, information and much more for independent online news publishers. 
Nonprofit newsrooms will get $28,000 match on year-end donations

News Match 2017 was launched this week, and is described as "the largest grassroots fundraising campaign to support nonprofit and investigative news organizations."

It's a $3 million fund established by the Democracy Fund, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, in which 100 news organizations - many of them local - will be eligible to receive matching funds of up to $28,000 on individual donations of up to $1,000 before Dec. 31.

The program also set up a "one-stop platform," newsmatch.org, for donating, including the ability to donate to more than one site at a time.

Related: The News Integrity Initiative gives $1.8 million to 10 projects focused on increasing trust in news.
 

24 reasons to attend the 2017 LION Summit in Chicago Oct. 26-28

On the fence about joining us in Chicago for the country's largest gathering of local independent online news publishers? You should come if ... 1. You run an online local news site. 2. You are thinking of launching a local news site. 3. You are concerned about the future of local news. 4. You’ve wrestled with the for-profit vs. nonprofit question. 5. You need some one-on-one advice. 6. Health care is an important topic to your readers. 7. You’re trying to figure out mobile. 8. You’d like to make money from podcasting. 9. You’d like to make money from email newsletters. 10. You have questions about news site design. 11. You’re concerned about trust in news in the age of Trump. 12. You’d like more out of your relationship with Facebook. 13. You need sales training or advice. 14. You want to launch a membership program. 15. You are considering a paywall. 16. You’re tired of leaving stories at “this is horrible.” 17. You want to know how foundations are supporting local news. 18. You need training on Google tools. 19. You know you should be on Instagram and Snapchat but don’t know where to start. 20. You are worried about getting sued. 21. You’d like to get average citizens involved in local journalism. 22. You don’t know how to reach millennials. 23. You need to do a better job monetizing local sports coverage. 24. You need a reason to enjoy Chicago.


How vulture capitalists are destroying local newsrooms

If you missed Julie Reynolds' extensive look at how a hedge fund that specializes in distressed industries purposely hastened the demise of local news organizations across the country after its purchase of Digital First Media, it's a must read and important in understanding the plight of local journalism today.

Dan Kennedy, who wrote a book about the emergence of local online news sites in markets where legacy newspapers had cut back on coverage, offered his own take: "How to get rich plundering newspapers."

Related: Newspapers might face extinction, but not local news, thanks to emergence of local independent online news orgs.


LION member spotlight: Cynthia Prairie of The Chester Telegraph

"...newspapers in the nearest cities – 30-plus miles away – were cutting back on their coverage, leaving only two free weeklies that cut and pasted press releases but did not do much staff-generated news," LION member Cynthia Prairie says about why she founded the Chester Telegraph, a local independent online news site in Vermont. "I saw this 'news desert' as an opportunity ..."

Read more about how she turned a local online journalism startup into the "paper of record" for her community in a Q&A on the LION site.


Scope of disinformation problem gets bigger; fixes a challenge

Every day, a new bombshell about the extent of disinformation campaigns before and since the 2016 election are revealed, and although many people are working on both human and technological solutions, it feels like we are a very long way from getting our arms around this problem.

Just this week we saw new controversy emerge as algorithms served up intentionally false stories in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting. "Google and Facebook, the world’s most powerful information gatekeepers, neglected their duties in Las Vegas." Again. Google and Facebook deflect responsibility onto algorithms, as if they don't control their own code.

And we learned more about the extent of Russian influence in the 2016 election, including that battleground states were targeted, that YouTube and Gmail were used as tools, that Facebook's ad team assisted with targeting, that the Russians used sophisticated targeting used by brands, and that Facebook had fought to remain exempt from disclosure rules that apply to traditional political ads.

The big platforms are taking some action. Facebook is hiring another 1,000 people to review and remove ads. YouTube is changing its search algorithms after misinformation was surfaced during the Las Vegas shooting. Facebook is experimenting with a publisher info button on links. Outside groups are working on technological fixes and educating newsrooms about fact checking and promoting news literacy to readers.

If none of that works, maybe Pope Francis can fix it.

Related: Authority and trust will only return if reporters share some of the messy sausage-making process with the audience. The press, branded the 'enemy' by Trump, increasingly trusted by the public, according to Reuters/Ipsos poll.


News About Local Independent Online News Sites

ANALYTICS: Help RJI fellow Rebekah Monson build tools to better understand engagement data and improve revenue strategies for small news organizations.

ARIZONA: Arizona Department of Education forcibly removes reporter asking to inspect records.

CHICAGO: City Bureau and ProPublica Illinois partner on public meeting data.

LOCAL NEWS CUTS: Tension between Trump and the media? That’s nothing compared to journalism’s worst crisis.

NEW JERSEY: The Center for Cooperative Media launches a 3-month pilot to get local news sites legal help.

NICHE: The Shorenstein Center will figure out best practices for single-subject news sites, with $683,000 from the Knight Foundation.

PROPUBLICA: ProPublica hopes to apply its Pulitzer-winning formula to local news with new reporting project.

RESOURCE GUIDE: Trove of free resources for local online news publishers unveiled.


Tools and Tips: Advertising and Revenue

ADVERTISING: Bowing to the Inevitable, Advertisers Embrace Advocate Role.

AMP: Dynamic Ads, Scrolling Animations, Video Analytics Among Google AMP Updates.

GOFUNDME: San Diego Union-Tribune Partners with GoFundMe to Allow Readers to Donate to Stories.

HTTPS: The Impending HTTPstrophe — And What it Means for Local Businesses.

INSTANT ARTICLES: French publisher Liberation now gets half of mobile ad revenue from Facebook Instant Articles.

MEMBERSHIP: What your site can learn from 100 news organizations with robust membership programs. This Singapore-based startup tests Southeast Asia’s appetite for a member-funded journalism service. One month in, The Atlantic’s membership program is in ‘the thousands.’

MOBILE: Mobile To Take 80% Of Search Budgets By 2021. Google To Roll Out Mobile-First Index In Phases.

NATIVE ADVERTISING: The Blurring Line Between Editorial and Native Ads at the New York Times.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: Facebook subscriptions: 'Tokenism' or a real test? Google unveils tools to increase subscriptions for publishers. Google ends its first-click-free policy as it looks please publishers with new subscription tools. ‘Stratechery as a service’: Substack aims to streamline the creation of independent subscription news sites.

TRANSPARENCY: Measurement, transparency and AI dominate conversation among advertising executives.

VIDEO: Pivot to pennies: Facebook’s key video ad program isn’t delivering much money to publishers. ‘We’ve learned a playbook’: How The Verge used Facebook video to grow Circuit Breaker.


Tools and Tips: Journalism and Technology

AI: Three reasons now is the time for media to embrace AI.

COLLABORATION: Here are 6 different kinds of collaborative journalism and the good and bad things about each.

DATA: Holding the powerful accountable, using data. Two fundamentals that define good data journalism. The rise of a network of women data journalists in Nigeria. It’s time for New Mexico to get serious about open data.

DDoS: With its denial-of-service guide, the EFF wants to help small news organizations keep their sites online.

ENGAGEMENT: "Our newspaper was irrelevant to Peoria's South Side. Here's how we changed that." Gather, a platform for journalists working on community engagement, launches.

GUN VIOLENCE: Journalists should avoid simple explanations after mass shootings. 'Lone wolf' or 'terrorist'? How bias can shape news coverage. A defensive right-leaning media strains to explain Las Vegas massacre.

LIVE COVERAGE: Building Better Story Formats for Live Coverage. Social video giant NowThis gets a “Newsroom,” working out its real-time reporting in public.

MAPS: Social media maps lead audiences out of echo chamber.

PHOTOGRAPHY: The Photographer Who Captured Baltimore in Protest Is Putting Cameras in the Hands of Local Youth. New stock photos aim to help journalists dispel domestic abuse myths.

PUERTO RICO: The Media Really Has Neglected Puerto Rico. After Maria, Puerto Rican journalists defy collapse of communications and personal losses to continue reporting.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Some publishers give Facebook and Google visitors a worse user experience.

STRESS: Practicing mindfulness may help journalists better withstand the unrelenting stresses of the job. Terrell J. Starr on treating journalists as human beings.

TWITTER: How to use Tweetdeck and advanced search to make Twitter useful again.

VIRTUAL REALITY: ‘Choose your own adventure’: VR journalism gives audience control.


Industry News

AMAZON: Uh-oh, Google, Amazon is dominating server-to-server bidding.

APPLE: Why Apple should buy Sony.

ENVIRONMENT: New site Earther aims for ‘brutally honest’ environmental news.

FACEBOOK: What Happens If Facebook Gets Serious About Local? Facebook loses attention as publishers shift focus to other platforms. Does Even Mark Zuckerberg Know What Facebook Is? Rupert Murdoch Is The Media’s Unlikely Hero In The War Against Facebook And Google. Facebook accused of inflating its reach among young adults.

GOOGLE: Google’s New Ad Rotation Settings and What They Mean.

INSTAGRAM: 80% of Instagram Users Voluntarily Connect With a Brand on the Platform.

PRESS FREEDOM: No jail time for blogger who refused court order to identify sources. When a journalist is arrested covering a protest, what should the news outlet do? What if the First Amendment were as untouchable as the Second?

PRINT: Newquest closes free Banbury Cake newspaper after 40 years in print.

SNAPCHAT: eMarketer cuts Snapchat's projected revenue for 2017 by $128 million.

ST. LOUIS: The most difficult place in America to practice journalism.

TRONC: Los Angeles Times Newsroom, Challenging Tronc, Goes Public With Union Push.

TRUMP: Pew’s analysis of early Trump coverage: plenty of polarization, and a focus on personality over policy. Here's how Breitbart and Milo smuggled Nazi and white nationalist ideas into the mainstream.

TWITTER: Twitter proved its priorities are screwed up with just 280 characters.


UPCOMING EVENTS

ASNE CONFERENCE: The American Society of News Editors and Associated Press Media Editors joint conference will be held Oct. 8-10 in Washington, D.C.

LION SUMMIT - CHICAGO: Register now! LION Publishers' annual conference will be held Oct. 26-28 in Chicago.

LION WEBINARS: Upcoming LION webinars are free for members and just $15 for non-members.
* A PAYWALL MODEL FOR LOCAL ONLINE NEWS: Jay Senter, publisher of the Shawnee Mission Post in Kansas, and Mark Henderson, publisher of the Worcester Sun in Massachusetts, will discuss their experiences with and best practices for paid subscription/paywall business models from 2 to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14.
* FACEBOOK LIVE IN LOCAL NEWS COVERAGE: Charlotte-Anne Lucas of NOWCastSA will offer advice and discuss best practices on the technical requirements of livestreaming video on Facebook, building an audience for livestreams, and choosing the right topics and events to cover with live video from 2 to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12.


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.)
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