Daily News cuts put spotlight on local news, optimism about indies
A year after purchasing the New York Daily News, Tronc laid off half of its newsroom this week, leaving a few dozen people to cover New York City and prompting calls for urgent attention to the plight of local journalism. Cuts like this get a lot of attention when it happens close to home for national media (i.e., New York, LA), but of course the same thing has been happening across the country for a while now. About a third of large U.S. newspapers have suffered layoffs in the past year.
Tronc's initial spin was that the company was Orwellian -- that the company is cutting its way to ‘meaningful journalism.’ And those meaningful cuts will be coming to other Tronc papers soon. But then a Tronc exec told remaining staff at New York Daily News that there wasn't much of a strategy behind it. And the new editor asked for 30 days to chart new course.
The cuts prompted talk of New York City becoming 'local news desert.' LION member Liena Zagare offers a view from Brooklyn.
But attention also started to shift from the nonstop cuts that big corporate newspaper chains have made to local newsrooms to the grassroots efforts that are emerging to replace what's been lost.
The corporate media era is ending for local news, and local independent online news outlets are starting to help fill that void, local news publishing executives say. Axios and the Associated Press both cited the growth of LION, which now has more than 225 members in 45 states, as evidence.
Related: Did the Fall of Local News Bring Us Authoritarianism in Washington? Why we need local journalism: Look around at how vulnerable we are right now. Who suffers when local news disappears.
Early bird rate available now for LION's annual conference
The world's largest gathering of local independent online news organizations will return to Chicago this fall, and right now you can take advantage of a discounted early bird rate for the 2018 LION Summit Oct. 11-13.
This year's conference will feature an opening day boot camp for idea-stage local news entrepreneurs and fledgling local independent online news publishers, and then two full days packed with an array of speakers, panel discussions and networking opportunities devoted to revenue ideas and best practices, community engagement and sustainability.
News About Local Independent Online News Sites
CALIFORNIA: Rethinking Local Journalism: Expanded local independent online news site Long Beach Post hopes to crack sustainable model.
CHALKBEAT: Chalkbeat CEO Elizabeth Green Knows a Good Story When She Sees It.
CHICAGO: Chance The Rapper Bought Chicagoist And Announced It In Newly Released Song.
COLORADO: The Colorado Sun pits Civil-backed startup against The Denver Post.
CONNECTICUT: Remembering Marcia Chambers, a barrier-breaking New York Times reporter who spent the past decade building local independent online news site the Branford Eagle and as a founding member of CT Mirror.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Why this select list of local news providers includes only one daily newspaper. The “fearless entrepreneur” is a myth: why you don’t have to take risks to build a successful business. The bought-out: What journalists sell when they take an exit package.
INFORMATION INEQUALITY: Poor Information: How Economics Affects the Information Lives of Low-Income Individuals.
OHIO: She started a newspaper that helps Ohio's inmates rebuild their lives.
SEATTLE: Lessons on going online-only from SeattlePI.
STUDENT MEDIA: As local newsrooms shrink, college journalists fill in the gaps.
VERMONT: Vermont Public Media Outlets Make Their Own News through Collaboration.
AD TECH: Be Wary Of Ad-Tech Stories That Are Too Good To Be True. Post-GDPR impact: Programmatic remains strong in the U.S. The Line Between Cool and Creepy: How Much Personalization is Too Much? Two years after the ANA’s report, a cloud still hangs over media transparency. BuzzFeed ditches native, goes all programmatic with BuzzFeed News. The story of Sleeping Giants, a Twitter account that convinced hundreds of advertisers to stop supporting Breitbart, and in the process, raised awareness of the dark side of programmatic advertising and how brands can end up supporting extremist or offensive sites. Experts say ICO’s fine to Facebook signals seriousness of its GDPR enforcement. ‘It’s all incredibly confusing’: Publishers complain GDPR consent signals are ignored by ad buyers.
AGENCY SERVICES: Local publishers consider agency services in search for growth.
BLOCKCHAIN: Big Advertisers Embrace Blockchain to Root Out Digital Spending Waste. Startup Thinks Blockchain Can Help Fix the Media’s Business Woes. Want to support journalism with cryptocurrency on Civil? First you must pass this really hard quiz.
E-COMMERCE: ‘Reporting is a struggle’: To grow commerce revenue, publishers have spend time, money to manage the data. https://digiday.com/media/reporting-struggle-grow-commerce-revenue-publishers-spend-time-money-manage-data/
MICROPAYMENTS: Digital kiosks struggling to keep European publishers on board.
NEWSLETTERS: Turning engaged readers into super-engaged readers: Advice for creating a successful newsletter strategy. Editorial newsletters are gaining attention in the media industry as a growing channel to reach audiences, drive registrations and eventually, subscribers.
PODCASTING: The Boston Globe and WBUR experimented with a daily sports podcast. Here’s what they learned. Why Fortune 100 companies are launching their own podcasts. From Podcasts to Social Audio: 7 Innovations in Audio Storytelling.
SEARCH: Advertisers Spending More on Search and Amazon, While Social Click-Through Rates Drop.
SPONSORED CONTENT: Candidates Say ‘Pay To Play’ Is Unfair For Newspaper Voter’s Guide.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: Three reasons why journalism paywalls still don’t work. A podcast has found opportunity with a donors-only Facebook group. Quick Tips for Building Audience and Loyalty. At The Guardian, reader revenue tops $130 million. Five things Local Media Association learned in its report on the opportunity with digital subscriptions. How the Star Tribune got to 55,000 digital subscribers. Tips to move from advertisements to paid subscriptions.
AUDIENCE: How has your newsroom reached new audiences? How local news outlets can build an online audience: Winning strategies from national, single subject outlets.
CENSUS: News Counts is a collaborative project to protect the 2020 Census (and help journalists get the best stories out of it).
CMS: How the blog broke the Web.
COLLABORATION: Going forward: How ethnic and mainstream media can collaborate in changing communities.
DATA: Meet the man who fought a dozen FOI battles to prove that access to data doesn’t cause crime.
DRONES: Drone Storytelling: How to get started. A tussle over airspace. Could news drones be collateral damage? A new proposed law would turn drone journalism into a swarm of lawsuits and make it easy to sue over news photography.
ENGAGEMENT: Online Communities Can Grow Too Quickly. How do journalists report on communities that exist entirely online? How a public radio station used ‘deep listening’ events to take on Sacramento’s housing crisis. Constructive journalism: A cure for reader disengagement? Six ways to engage your online audience and turn visitors into customers.
FACT CHECKING: Fact checking beyond the Truth-O-Meter. Screengrabs could be a mixed bag when it comes to accuracy.
FOIA: Sixth Circuit sends clear message on tough standard for sealing judicial records. Vermont Gov. Scott now 'unblocking' users on social media.
INSTAGRAM: 'It's not just an audience, it's a community': How The Economist is engaging with young people on Instagram.
MOBILE: Use of mobile devices for news continues to grow, outpacing desktops and laptops. Should You Worry About Your SEO and Google’s Mobile-First Index?
PHOTOGRAPHY: A news station aired a photo of a stabbing victim holding what looks like a gun. Here's why that's problematic.
SCIENCE: How To Be A Savvy Consumer Of Science News.
SOCIAL MEDIA: The gender gap in engagement across social platforms.
STORY FORMATS: Beyond 800 words — part 2: prototyping formats for news and Generation Z. Twelve prototypes, eight weeks, and lots of tapping: What’s worked (and hasn’t) in the BBC’s quest for new storytelling formats.
TECH: We need a new model for tech journalism.
TOOLS: More than two dozen resources journalists can use for mentoring, sourcing, invoicing and more.
TRAUMA: A Capital Gazette Reporter Prepares to Cover the Trial of the Suspected Killer of His Colleagues.
TRUST: When people talk about ‘fake news,’ they are almost never thinking of local news. Neutral feelings about local news present opportunity to build trust. When a link to a news story shows the source of the story, some people end up trusting it less. And showing readers community-rated trust metrics doesn’t seem to help them trust the media more. Three-quarters of Republicans trust Trump over the media.
VETERANS: Why Quality Journalism Matters When We Talk About Honoring Veterans.
VIDEO: IGTV: Instagram’s New Video App and YouTube’s New Competitor.
AUTOMATION: Are news-writing robots the new face of journalism?
BUZZFEED: The investigations and reporting of BuzzFeed News — *not* BuzzFeed — are now at their own BuzzFeedNews.com.
CALIFORNIA: At East Bay Express, racism charges prompt resignations and a reckoning.
CMS: Vox Media to Begin Licensing Publishing Technology Chorus.
DIVERSITY: Twenty two percent of Latino journalists say they are considering leaving the journalism profession, national survey shows.
FACEBOOK: Fact-checkers have debunked this fake news site 80 times. It's still publishing on Facebook. Facebook will take down posts that could cause “real physical harm,” but Holocaust denials (and Pizzagate?) remain OK. After years of 'crisis actor' smears, Sandy Hook conspiracy targets ask Facebook for 'seat at the table.' Facebook protects far-right activists even after rule breaches. Undercover Facebook moderator was instructed not to remove fringe groups or hate speech. Publishing Executives Argue Facebook Is Overly Deferential to Conservatives. Facebook Won’t Stop Dangerous Anti-Vaccine Hoaxes From Spreading. Departing Facebook Security Officer's Memo: "We Need To Be Willing To Pick Sides."
‘To sit down with them is valuable’: With $3 million in grants and advice, Facebook finds favor from local newspapers. Diply feels viral chill: Facebook’s algorithm change leads to plummeting traffic and layoffs. Alabama newspaper group finds success with Facebook-fueled offshoot. How football site Goal has weathered Facebook’s changes.
FAKE NEWS: American Conservatives Played A Secret Role In The Macedonian Fake News Boom Ahead Of 2016. Meet the next misinformation format: Fake audio messages. Politicians are using fake news schemes to get elected. False news spreads online faster, farther, and deeper than truth does — but it can be contained. Here’s how. What research says about how bad information spreads online. How a far-right conspiracy theory went from 4chan to T-shirts. Tracking Disinformation by Reading Metadata. Fight Fake News on Social Media with These Simple, but Effective Suggestions. Does fact checking have a women problem? Why Do People Share Fake News? On WhatsApp, fake news is fast — and can be fatal. How neglected archives lead to propaganda. The guerrilla Wikipedia editors who combat conspiracy theories. How One of the Internet’s Biggest History Forums Deals With Holocaust Deniers.
GOOGLE: Google Fined $5.1 Billion by EU for Monopolizing Mobile Search via Android Practices. Does Google Really Need a Social Network to Succeed at Local? On a big story like the Helsinki Trump/Putin summit, Google News’ algorithm isn’t up to the task. Google’s Richard Gingras: Platforms didn’t destroy journalism’s business model. Google’s Digital News Innovation Fund selects a new round of projects to fund.
GUARDIAN: Digital revenues overtake print for first time at Guardian group as it nearly halves losses on track to break even next year.
HARASSMENT: Sexual harassment is rampant in the world of photojournalism.
INSTAGRAM: Facebook makes moves on Instagram’s users. Ad spend grows 177%.
IOWA: Power loss but not powerless: How a daily in Iowa is coping with and covering a tornado.
MAINE: Owner of Portland Press Herald, 5 other Maine dailies to buy two more weekly newspapers.
PINTEREST: Pinterest nears $1 billion in ad sales and valuation rises as it looks to go public in mid-2019.
PRESS FREEDOM: Trump and trickle-down press persecution.A Homeland Security photography alert is ‘a seed of fear.’ More questions than answers from DOJ letter about journalist surveillance. What a new SCOTUS could mean for freedom of the press. Brett Kavanaugh's mixed record on press freedom. Judge lifts controversial order requiring the L.A. Times to alter article about ex-Glendale cop. Vietnam suspends local news website on accusation of false news. Security measures at our paper may seem extraordinary. They shouldn’t. One deleted column does not a war on free speech make. ‘We are fighting for information about war’: Pentagon curbs media access.
PRINT: Newsprint tariffs are a Black Swan event that could speed up the death of U.S. newspapers. They've prompted a Colorado newspaper to drop two days in print. Congress steps up efforts to reverse them. Maine senators testify against them. Data, technology and digital readers are shaping how the printed newspaper looks today. The billionaire who bought the LA Times: 'Hipsters will want paper soon.'
PUBLIC RELATIONS: “Great question!” Why media training isn’t about creating brand zombies.
RADIO: AM/FM radio holds strong for American listeners. In South Africa, community radio stations — lifelines for local news in rural areas — can get a boost with Volume.
SINCLAIR: FCC chairman has 'serious concerns' about Sinclair/Tribune merger and sends it to likely doom. FCC blasts Sinclair ‘misrepresentation’ in Tribune deal. With WGN back in, Sinclair revises Tribune deal again. Sinclair is launching a streaming TV service that could compete with Fox. Pai stands by Sinclair decision in face of Trump's outrage.
SNAPCHAT: Snapchat is launching a news partnerships initiative.
TRUMP: After a stunning news conference, there’s a newly crucial job for the American press. With Trump in the White House, local candidates who sound like him hit the campaign trail, presenting a challenge for news outlets.
TV: Cox might sell local TV stations. On a technicality, court upholds FCC rule that favors companies that own lots of local TV stations.
TWITTER: MIT Research: How to Get More Twitter Followers. Twitter’s crackdown on fake and automated accounts could backfire.
UNIONS: More secure jobs, bigger paychecks: The reasons for unionizing haven’t changed much in the last 80 years.
VERMONT: In Vermont, an unlikely ombudsman spurs review of domestic violence coverage. After devastating fire, Vermont town rallies around 165-year-old weekly newspaper.
WIKIPEDIA: What journalists should know about Wikipedia – a primer.
YELP: California's Supreme Court Ruled Yelp Doesn't Have to Take Down Negative Reviews. What Does That Mean for Your Business?
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