🌱 Apply for our new Sustainability 360 program
For many independent news leaders, finding time to think beyond the day-to-day work of running a news business is difficult. And yet, it is essential to take a step back and strategically plan for organizational growth.
We hear you, and we see you.
That’s why we’re delighted to introduce our Sustainability 360 program, an initiative designed to make the independent news industry more accessible for LION members.
In this eight-month pilot, LION will provide six participants with access to:
- Experts who can provide strategic and tactical advice
- Subsidized business tools and services, like human resources or bookkeeping, and consultants who can increase a team’s capacity
- Conversations with other publishers working on similar challenges
We’ll also offer our knowledge to navigate existing resources, key stakeholders, and influencers. Most importantly, we want to provide the right combination of these connections in a way that cuts through, instead of adds to, the noise.
The program’s ultimate goal is to help this cohort move to the “Growing” stage of LION’s Independent News Maturity Model.
– Elaine Díaz, LION’s associate director of coaching
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2024 Summit: Takeaways and testimonials
It’s been two weeks since the 2024 Independent News Sustainability Summit, and we’re still buzzing after our three days together in Chicago.
If you couldn’t join us this year (or just want to relive the experience), read our top three takeaways.
One of the benefits of publisher members is they’ve also recapped their experiences in Chicago; check out some of the social media posts they’ve shared, like this one from Urbaanite’s Ashley Currie, this one from The Green Line’s Anita Li, or this one from CivicLex’s Richard Young. INN also wrote a great recap, The Lansing Journal’s Melanie Jongsma created a video, and Nieman Lab’s article dives into one session’s emphasis on building trust.
We look forward to hosting another independent news conference next year. Stay tuned for details on where we’re going, when, and who’s joining us.
Supporting LION’s work
At the LION Publishers third-quarter in-person board meeting, which was held just before the Summit, our board of directors had a robust discussion about additional avenues for funding LION’s work; the settlement between Google and the state of California — a public-private partnership that is creating a new fund for local journalism — and LION’s role therein; balancing member representation on LION’s board alongside qualities like legal expertise, familiarity with nonprofit finance and operations, and experience with product development; and, finally, the board brainstormed and made meaningful commitments to enhance their fundraising to support LION’s important work.
12 resources for independent publishers
1. Spot fakes with ease. Attend the Center for Community Media’s virtual training on identifying fake AI-generated images and videos. (TODAY at noon ET)
2. Shine a light on your state’s press freedom. Reporters Without Borders is conducting a study on press freedom and seeking input from media experts in MI, PA, NV, OH, FL, and AZ. If you’re a working journalist, media lawyer, academic, etc., from one of these states, complete this survey. (Deadline: Sept. 22)
3. Apply for the National Press Foundation’s Annual Journalism Awards, which cover everything from editorial cartoons to journalism on aging and include prizes ranging from $2.5K to $10K. (Apply by Sept. 30)
4. Master newsroom automation. Discover how to boost productivity, save time, and streamline workflows during the Center for Cooperative Media’s three-part Zapier workshop. (Begins on Oct. 7)
5. Get travel support. The Neal Peirce Foundation, which supports journalism on city solutions, is offering travel grants of up to $1,500 to cover under-told stories about ways to make cities and their metro regions work better. (Apply by Oct. 7)
6. Streamline content creation. LION members can now access discounted AI-powered tools from Nota to reformat and optimize content across text, audio, and video formats.
7. Find better balance. This Harvard Business Review article shares six strategies for overcoming toxic workaholic tendencies.
8. Access free content. The Google News Initiative is providing local newsrooms free access to Storyful’s verified video newswire, which includes nearly 150K cleared and public videos and accompanying articles that you can publish to your owned channels.
9. Design engaging and AI-resistant quizzes. Check out these tips from LION member AfroLA’s Dana Amihere and Zoli Csernatony.
10. Develop a mobile app. This toolkit by The Lenfest Institute breaks down the ins and outs of devising a mobile app strategy.
11. Keep audiences around. Sign up for Blue Engine Collaborative’s newsletter, The Boost, which is currently running a five-part series on digital subscriber and member retention.
12. Facilitate better brainstorming. These tips from LION member The Markup’s Sisi Wei prioritize making effective brainstorming meetings accessible to all participants.
What we’re reading
‘The joy of journalism.’ A new study draws on the experiences of 20 journalists to better understand why they stay in the profession. Spoiler: Journalism sparks joy. (Nieman Lab)
Not fit to print. How one local newsroom responded after receiving content from a political candidate that was riddled with “myths and falsehoods.” (Poynter)
A penny for your thoughts. How local opinion journalism could evolve and expand with the infusion of philanthropic dollars. One major change? Less political endorsements and lobbying. (American Press Institute)
AI and audience trust. Fresh from its Summit on AI, Ethics & Journalism, Poynter has put forth nine ethical AI product development principles that put readers first. (Poynter)
LIONs in the news
As the independent news industry matures, we’re seeing more examples of thoughtful succession planning at all levels of leadership (we even dedicated an entire session to this at the 2024 Summit).
This week, we’re shining the spotlight on Resolve Philly’s co-founder, Jean Friedman-Rudovsky, who recently announced that she’s started to plan her departure from the organization.
In this note, she shares a bit about her personal journey, the impressive impact Resolve Philly has had over the past six years, and the importance of selecting the right time and team to help ease such a big transition.
In other LION member news:
⭐ The Mississippi Free Press has received a $150,000 unrestricted grant from the Ford Foundation.
⭐ This Is Reno received top awards in the Nevada Press Association’s “Better Newspaper” contest, including first place for investigations by an urban publication for its 10-part investigative series on Reno City Council member spending.
⭐ Outlier Media’s former executive director, Candice Fortman, is featured in this Local News Matters podcast episode, “Reinventing local journalism with community at its core.”
⭐ The Texas Tribune is launching a network of local community newsrooms, starting with one in Waco.
⭐ Wisconsin Watch has merged with another local newsroom, the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, to maximize their collective reach.
How to reach us
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