How mentorship is helping local online news sites reach sustainability

Local publishers from Wisconsin, Michigan and New Orleans shared early lessons from a new program that uses mentorship to help independent online news sites build advertising support in their communities Friday at a LION Publishers summit at the Investigative Reporters & Editors conference in Orlando.

LION will hold indie publishers summit at Investigative Reporters & Editors conference

LION Publishers will hold a day-long summit at the Investigative Reporters & Editors conference in Orlando Friday, June 15, covering issues, opportunities, ideas and advice for local independent online news organizations and entrepreneurs who are considering starting their own local news site.

LION is accepting applications for investigative reporting grants

Last week’s news that The Denver Post would cut one-third of its already shrunken newsroom was a stark reminder of the plight of legacy newspapers and local accountability journalism.

Local independent online news organizations are emerging all over the country to fill the gaps, but two big questions loom: Can they implement a sustainable business model? And can small local news operations do the same kind of investigative and accountability journalism — work critical to democracy — that newspapers are abandoning?

10 local publishers chosen for local advertising mentorship program

Ten independent online news publishers from across the country have been chosen to participate in a yearlong program that will offer assistance in building advertising support for local journalism, LION Publishers announced Thursday.

LION will offer investigative local news reporting grants

LION Publishers will offer mini-grants to members to support local investigative reporting projects with the support of the Ethics & Excellence in Journalism Foundation. LION will receive a $25,000 grant from the foundation to assist members with building capacity for accountability journalism, it was announced Friday.

Reader Revenue Summit planned for April 6 in New Jersey

As news organizations across the U.S. continue to experiment with altered business models and new streams of revenue, it’s become clear that building reader revenue needs to be part of nearly everyone’s strategy.

To help news publishers think through different ways they could approach building a business with their audience, the Center for Cooperative Media and LION Publishers are teaming up to host a workshop on reader revenue, set for Friday, April 6, at Montclair State University.

Local news publishers talk to readers about big Facebook News Feed change

Local independent online news publishers are reaching out to readers in the wake of Facebook’s decision to “remove news from its News Feed,” warning them that they might no longer see breaking news and accountability journalism on crucial matters in their community. Many are using it as an impetus to sign readers up for direct notification of local stories via email newsletter.