LION’s membership criteria are different. Here’s what we changed and why

What does it mean to be a local news publisher in 2024 and beyond? Who qualifies as a publisher – a podcast? A video project? An email newsletter?

There are countless ways to contribute to building or maintaining thriving local news ecosystems. At LION Publishers, our focus is on supporting publishers building digital businesses that are covering specific audiences, either in a geographic area or a community with a shared identity. 

One of my top priorities after joining LION in January of this year was to update and bring greater transparency to how we manage our membership program. In order to determine who is eligible to be a member of LION, we evaluate applicants’ news sites, newsletters, and other news products using our membership criteria. These criteria also play a key role in our efforts to advocate for independent publishers, as well as informing how we refine products, services, and programs.

Because the nature of publishing changes regularly, those criteria and our evaluation tactics will also need to evolve. As a result, we recently updated our membership criteria and want to share what this means for current and future members.

How we use our membership criteria

We know publishers that apply to join LION are looking for different things – from being part of a community of supportive entrepreneurs to a recognition of legitimacy through membership in a professional organization. Some potential members are interested in participating in training and resources we develop, including our Sustainability Awards, and others are looking for discounts on products and services through member benefits, discounted rates on Canva, complimentary membership in the Local Media Consortium, and access to digital security tools through Cloudflare’s Project Galileo.

It’s important for our team and the LION community that members know we’re upholding standards for all members. This is one reason why we review potential members through an application process. 

There are many things in the criteria that did not change substantially this year (except adding “news product” in some places), including requirements that:

• Readers can see who owns/publishes the site 
• Members have editorial policies, corrections policies, and/or how to contact staff
• Consistent bylines 
• Transparency about funding sources 
• Sponsored content and editorials are clearly labeled 
• Independent ownership

LION’s membership criteria are not intended to be an exhaustive checklist. We recognize that there is ongoing discussion about journalism values, standards, and practices. 

We wrote our criteria to be as specific as possible, but oftentimes, we are weighing how close a site is overall to meeting the values behind the criteria, like transparency, accountability, and focus on a particular community. For example, some of our members could do a better job labeling community announcements or press releases from local government offices. When reviewing applications or renewing members, our team will not reject a site that occasionally does not byline a community announcement. But we will not accept new members or allow renewals from sites that only have bylines like “staff” or “staff report” for all stories. 

Another requirement in our membership criteria is that readers can find out who owns the site (the publisher) and who writes for them. In this case, we look at ‘About’ pages on websites, descriptions in newsletters, or other places where it is easy for the average reader to discover who is behind the news site. This is a strict requirement, and we do ask that either potential members or renewing members add these elements before moving forward with joining or renewing with LION. 

Our thinking about transparency in the criteria is informed by the journalism experience of LION staff and other leaders in the field of journalism. For example, the team at Trusting News has incredible knowledge about best practices for building trust from working with newsrooms across the United States. One of their recommendations in the Trust Kit Make Your Ethics Public is to “write public-facing policies in language the public will understand.” We agree with that recommendation and see evidence that this is working for many of our members who are building strong support from readers, funders, and other stakeholders by being transparent about how they approach their reporting.

The LION membership team is currently gathering examples from members who already have excellent ‘About’ pages, clear editorial policies, and ongoing engagement with their audience. We think those examples could be informative and inspiring for current and future members.

What changed this year

In the first half of 2024, I worked with staff and LION’s membership committee to review some trends in membership and refine the membership criteria. Here are the key revisions and additions:

1. Members must now have an active news site or news product

Simply put, publishers need to publish.

LION previously led boot camps for early-stage entrepreneurs. As other leaders have emerged in the news ecosystem, like the GNI Startups Lab and Tiny News Collective, we shifted our focus to members that are building or maintaining a business. This shift is also outlined in LION’s Five-Year Strategic Growth Plan. 

This year, it made sense to update our criteria to require potential members to have already launched their publications. We also now review upcoming renewing members to ensure that their news product (website, newsletter, podcast, etc.) is still active in order to renew their membership. 

We understand that launching a site takes time, and aspiring publishers are welcome to get in touch with us at any point in the process and apply to join the News Entrepreneur Community on Slack, where we are bringing together publishers, aspiring entrepreneurs, and other industry leaders that are committed to local news.

2. Active publishing: At least one original story published per month on average for the past three months

LION is dedicated to the sustainability of the digital news ecosystem. Part of that sustainability, for a local publisher, is that to grow a business, they have to publish regularly. 

LION members have a range of publishing schedules, from several times a day to a few times a month for sites that focus on longer form or investigative reporting. The LION membership committee provided excellent guidance that led to the new requirement of one original story on average per month for the past three months. Aggregation, including republishing from other news sites, is allowed but not considered original reporting. 

For potential new members, this means that we are looking for at least three months of active publishing for new publications. 

For current members, we are reviewing publications up for renewal and reaching out if they have not met this criteria for regular publishing in the past three months. We understand that many solopreneurs and small businesses struggle when a crisis hits and find themselves pausing publishing. Our team can offer some flexibility and the overall goal is to continue to build a community of publishers that are actively engaged in growing their news product or website. If a site does not publish for a year, it will be removed from membership, and the publisher will be asked to apply again in the future if they restart publishing.

3. More transparency: Disclose affiliations that might impact perceptions about the independence of your journalism

In addition to the existing criteria, LION staff will now be looking for evidence that potential members disclose political affiliation and the use of AI tools. Here’s what we added to the membership criteria this year: 

• Transparency about political affiliation and when owners hold political office but also when leadership of your news site are in positions on boards, committees, and other groups that hold power in your community
• Transparency about the use of AI tools in reporting 

In the next year, we will engage in conversations with potential or renewing members that do not meet this criteria. Our goal is to help find ways to support greater transparency that will build trust with audiences. 

To be clear, LION is not banning AI tools or sites that may be owned by someone who holds political office. We intentionally added these transparency requirements to the criteria. Our expectation is that publishers will be transparent with their audience and also with us. If we find out later that a member has concealed information, including political affiliation, the case will be reviewed as a Code of Conduct violation, and the publisher could be removed from LION membership.

4. Removal of the criteria of “single issue coverage” for a national audience

LION has been listening to publishers and leaders in the field in recent years as we considered how to balance our history of working with publishers serving local communities with news sites and products that aim to cover a community with a clear shared identity that may not be in the same geographic area. This could include sites with a focus on diaspora communities, immigrant communities, disability communities, sites covering women’s issues, or LGBTQIA+ publications. 

The LION membership criteria have always required that national sites cover stories with “a local lens.” Our team is now looking for evidence that national sites that maintain local bureaus have formal partnerships with local outlets or regularly publish stories with a local focus. 

A site that only covers national news for a general national audience would not qualify for LION membership. 

We know there are many excellent independent national publishers that are also looking for a shared community, and we value their work. Publishers seeking national and international audiences for their work have a different set of challenges than those constrained by geography, and for LION to stay focused on our mission, we must ensure that we maintain a focus that allows us to support and advocate for members with shared challenges and opportunities. Our focus on local also honors the original values of LION.

What’s next

A core value of LION is being iterative. As the membership director at LION, I will continue to listen to feedback from our team, current and potential members, and industry partners. The LION membership criteria will now be reviewed annually by the membership team and the membership committee of the LION board. 

Our goal is to ensure that the criteria remain inclusive and allow a diverse group of independent publishers to be eligible for membership while maintaining high standards for ethics, transparency, and accountability for all members. 

If you have feedback about the updated criteria, feel free to email membership@lionpublishers.com.