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News, information and much more for independent online news publishers. 
The indie news challenge: Monetizing highly engaged local audiences

"The audience is there, intensely grateful for and reliant upon the work of these local news sites. But how do you hit your stride connecting local advertisers to those readers and also develop reader revenue programs?"

Street Fight looks back at LION Publishers' Chicago conference and the challenges and opportunities faced by local independent online news publishers.


Digital gains on broadcast in competition for political advertising

"Digital advertising is poised to challenge the long dominance of local broadcast in sucking up campaign dollars."

One concern that ad buyers are waking up to is the highly inefficient system of TV, where millions of dollars are being spent advertising to voters not in the congressional district or state the campaign is targeting.

"An August Borrell Associates study estimates that digital political ad spending in the 2015-2016 cycle will pass $1 billion (of a total $16.5 billion).  Borrell also forecasts that digital will account for nearly all of the growth in political ad spending over the four following years and rise to a 26 percent share in 2020, inching close to broadcast’s 37.4 percent."

More from Rick Edmonds at Poynter.


New report outlines best practices for crowdsourcing

LION Advisory Board member Jan Schaffer has co-authored a new report for the Tow Center on best practices for crowdsourced journalism.


Audience engagement's vital role in community journalism

How participatory journalism turns news consumers into collaborators. And a lesson from the University of Missouri and other college campuses: Build trust so media ‘safe spaces’ aren’t necessary.

Related: The New York Times is using Paris email updates to explore a new method of interaction with readers. Why a nonprofit news outlet gave away $10,000 in a lottery. And the Financial Times goes "audience first" and looks at metrics beyond page views.


News About Local Independent News Sites

INNOVATION GRANT: The deadline to apply for an Institute for Nonprofit News' innovation grant is Dec. 1.

MORE INDEPENDENCE?: How can we create media democracy?

START-UP STUDY: Publishing for peanuts: A report on "Innovation and the Journalism Start-Up."

NEW JERSEY: Journalism needs community support, and communities need support of local journalists. Dialogue in New Jersey.

UK: UK hyperlocal sites collaborate on election coverage.


Tools and Tips: Advertising and Revenue

AD BLOCKING: The Guardian thinks customized ads can stem ad blocking. Yahoo Mail is blocking ad-block users from accessing their email. And Goodblock, the ad-blocker for good samaritans, enters beta.

AD TECH: Advertising is not a science. It never will be.

BOT FRAUD: Newly discovered botnet siphoning billions from digital advertising.

DONATIONS: Tipsy, a simple Chrome extension, bets on readers who want to pay a little for the content they consume.

ETHNIC MEDIA: Ethnic media and community: four lessons for philanthropy.

PAYWALLS: Can you get readers to pay a dollar a day for digital news?

PLATFORMS: Best practices for newsrooms setting up social distribution partnerships.

SITE SPEED: Why Google and gang don’t like your Web site.

SPONSORED CONTENT: Why native digital content is not a temporary fashion.

VIDEO: Facebook advertisers are adapting to the fast pace of videos.


Tools and Tips: Journalism and Technology

AUDIENCE: Does your news media company really know what “audience” means?

DATA: New WordPress plug-in Catamount aims to connect data sets and stories. How Reuters is using automation to analyze its polling data. Advice for creating memorable data visualizations. Finally, "Shut up about the y-axis. It shouldn’t always start at zero."

EFFICIENCY: ‘Save string’ and nine other things to do when your work habits are disorganized.

ETHICS: You can now search through more than 400 media ethics codes.

IMPACT: How can journalists effectively track and measure the impact of their work online and in the real world?

METRICS: Google Analytics adds calculated metrics.

MOBILE: Here’s how the Guardian Mobile Innovation Lab wants to experiment with news on phones. And why cards are dominating mobile design.

PODCASTING: Podcasting in 2015 feels a lot like blogging circa 2004: exciting, evolving, and trouble for incumbents.

PRIVACY: How The Intercept is balancing useful analytics with reader privacy. Why journalists need to stand up for reader privacy.

PR PITCHES: Companies target journalists with ads on Facebook.

RANKING DEATH: Is there a hierarchy of the importance of death in the news business? If we don't see Beirut news, is Facebook to blame?

SITE SPEED: Tips for optimizing photos for fast web load times.

SOCIAL MEDIA: When disaster strikes, where do we turn? Facebook and Twitter, of course. User-generated content expertise can no longer be a niche newsroom skill.

STORY COMMENTS: I was afraid of Slate commenters. So I became one. And the New York Times will use an algorithm to moderate many of its comments.

TAGGING: Everything is miscellaneous: why publishing needs tagging.

TRAUMA: In the aftermath of tragedy, lay the groundwork for restorative narrative.

VERIFICATION: The verification process: Great reminders about the principal tool of journalism. And in the realm of verification, context is king.

VIDEO: Witness launches ethical guidelines for using video in human rights reporting. And how can Periscope's latest updates help reporters with newsgathering?

VIRTUAL REALITY: We need to keep the 'reality' in virtual reality. NPR's news chief on maintaining editorial standards. And the New York Times' public editor on the "tricky terrain of virtual reality."

VISUALIZATION: Do visual stories make people care? And mapping the intersection of two cultures: interactive documentary and digital journalism.


Industry News

AGING NPR: NPR is graying, and public radio is worried about it.

APP SEARCH: Search engine app-timization: Google puts app content in mobile results.

CNN SUSPENSION: Why CNN was wrong to suspend a reporter for a tweet.

EARLY BLOGGING: How one blog helped spark The New York Times’ digital evolution.

FACEBOOK: Inside Mark Zuckerberg's bold plan for the future of Facebook.

FAIR USE: Onlinecensorship.org tracks content takedowns by Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.

GOOGLE ADS: This developer has found that Google app ads cost a third of Facebook's. Facebook or Google? Singular’s dashboard shows mobile app ad bang for buck.

GOOGLE PLUS: Google+ gets major redesign with big focus on Communities and Collections. Three reasons why Google is bringing Google+ back to life.

LOCAL TV: Media General rejects Nexstar's bid but open to talks for higher price for network of local TV stations.

MILLENNIALS: Can Edtech turn post-millennials into news junkies? Newsela’s trying.

NEWSPAPER EXODUS: Virginia's journalist of the year leaves newspaper after leadership changes and deep staff cuts.

POLLING: Iowa’s Ann Selzer on what journalists need to know about polling.

SNAPCHAT: What Snapchat’s evolution means for storytellers.

VIDEO GAME LESSONS: Here's what media companies can learn from the video game industry.

WOMEN LEADERS: Poynter and ONA announce second Leadership Academy for Women in Digital Media.


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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