On August 7th, the Alliance joined a brief in Sawyer v. Virginia, filed in the Virginia Court of Appeals. The case concerns a series of public records requests by nonprofit watchdog American Oversight (“AO”), submitted to the Virginia Office of the Governor, seeking information about a “Tip Line” set up by the Youngkin administration to end the use of what it termed “inherently divisive concepts” in state education. The requests were made under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, Va. Code Ann. § 3700, et seq. (“VFOIA”), which creates a broad presumption in favor of unimpeded public access to government records. The Governor’s office withheld several hundred pages of records claiming they were exempt from disclosure under the VFOIA’s “working papers exemption”. AO narrowed the scope of its requests to ensure they do not fall within the scope of that exemption, but the Governor’s office continued to withhold the records. AO filed suit in Arlington County Circuit Court and the court ruled in AO’s favor, ordering the Governor’s office to disclose responsive records. The Governor’s office is appealing that decision, arguing an overly broad interpretation of the exemption that would result in essentially any record or communication merely passing through the office to be exempt from disclosure. The brief, filed by RCFP, urges the Court of Appeals to uphold the Circuit Court’s ruling and argues that the Governor’s interpretation would fly in the face of the intent of the VFOIA. Public access to government records is not only vital to the work of journalists but is also essential to democracy in allowing oversight of the actions of government agencies. Read more.

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Women in Logistics and Delivery Services (WILDS) announced it will present the second annual Megan J. Brennan Award for Excellence to Tammy Whitcomb Hull, Inspector General, United States Postal Service, at a meeting to be held on February 2, 2023. The Alliance belongs to WILDS and works with closely with the USPS Office of Inspector General on postal issues. WILDS is a nonprofit organization created to promote women’s leadership in the postal, delivery and logistics industries and to address the challenges women and minorities regularly face in these industries.

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Guest: Eric Barnes, The Daily Memphian

What are some of the things to consider when starting a local newspaper? How can you be nonprofit and still operate like a for-profit newspaper? How did you attract subscribers in a competitive market? What went better than you expected and what didn’t go as well? What have you learned about finding the best revenue mix? What should someone thinking about starting a local newspaper know before they get started?

In this episode of News Take, News/Media Alliance President & CEO David Chavern talks with Eric Barnes, CEO of The Daily Memphian (Tennessee), about his experience over the last four years launching a nonprofit local newspaper. Eric takes us from the very initial discussions and fundraising steps, to deciding whether to publish a print edition or be a purely a digital news publication, to how they decided what to charge for subscriptions and how they structure their organization to allow them to employ 40 newsroom staff (Hint: It’s not on pure philanthropy!) He shares everything, from how they took cues from the community to chart a practical course for advertising, fundraising, and reporting; to why they don’t do sponsored content and scaled back on podcasts; to how they found a balance that is working for them. This must-listen primer on launching a nonprofit digital news publication is full of practical tips and takeaways for anyone wanting to run a news publishing business!

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Speaker bios

Eric Barnes

Eric is CEO of The Daily Memphian, an online daily news source in Memphis that launched in September 2018. For ten years, Eric has hosted “Behind the Headlines” on Memphis’ PBS station, a weekly news show focused on local government, business and the community. Since 2019, he has also hosted “The Sidebar,” a podcast on The Daily Memphian and radio show on local radio station WYXR, that focuses on arts, culture and everything in between. Eric is also publisher of a group of community newspapers in Tennessee, and a former president and current board member of the Tennessee Press Association. He is currently president of the American Court & Commercial Newspapers and is on the board of the Local Media Association. He is a novelist and a published short story writer, and has a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s from Connecticut College.

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The post News Take Episode 112: Lessons in Practicality from The Daily Memphian: “A Lot of People Don’t Know We’re a Nonprofit” appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

Guest: Rand Fishkin, SparkToro

“My position is, How do we help marketers find the sources of influence that their audience pays attention to outside of these big ecosystems? Because we think that’s not only good for the advertiser, it’s good for the publisher, too. If you’ve built a great audience, you should have people coming to you who want to reach that audience, you shouldn’t have to participate in Google’s extremely low payout advertising network or FB’s or put all your content on TikTok for free. Those mechanisms for driving revenue, we think are fundamentally biased and unfair.”

– Rand Fishkin, SparkToro

What can publishers do to get out from under the dominant tech platforms that control the digital advertising space? How have other industries pushed back on Google’s scraping of their data and coming between them and their audience? How can publishers take back control of our audience data so that we’re not having to go through Google, Facebook and the other tech platforms to reach our own audience?

In this episode of News Take, News/Media Alliance President & CEO David Chavern is joined by Rand Fishkin, cofounder and CEO of audience research software firm SparkToro, for a fascinating conversation about the big tech platforms, their algorithms, and how the Internet has evolved from a once equitable environment that was mutually beneficial, to now favoring only a handful of giant tech platforms today. Rand paints a picture of the digital marketing landscape businesses must navigate today, highlighting concerns with tech platforms’ walled gardens in which they intentionally try to keep you from leaving. He shares SparkToro’s research on “zero click searches” that has gained attention from marketers worldwide on how few web searches now result in a click through to the original content. And he explains how his company helps marketers understand their audience’s behaviors and preferences without having to rely on Google and Facebook, and the importance of taking back ownership of your audience relationships and data.

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Speaker bios

Rand Fishkin is cofounder and CEO of SparkToro, a software company that provides unique audience research and insights, aggregated from tens of millions of verifiable public social and web profiles, to make channels outside Facebook and Google accessible to everyone. Rand started SparkToro in 2018 with Casey Henry. Prior to that, he was CEO of Moz, where he raised two rounds of funding, led three acquisitions, and a rebrand. From 2007 to 2014, he grew the company to over 130 employees, more than $30 million in revenue, and web traffic to over 30 million visitors a year. He’s dedicated his professional life to helping people do better marketing through his writing, videos, speaking, and his book, Lost and Founder. Rand previously co-contributed to two other books: Art of SEO, and Inbound Marketing & SEO. He’s been profiled in the Seattle Times, featured in Puget Sound Business Journal’s 40 Under 40, named to BusinessWeek’s 30 Under 30, written about in Newsweek, The Next Web, the Inc 500, and hundreds of other publications.

Additional Resources

In 2020, Two Thirds of Google Searches Ended Without a Click (Sparktoro)

White Paper: How Google Abuses Its Position as a Market Dominant Platform to Strong-Arm News Publishers and Hurt Journalism (News/Media Alliance – features SparkToro’s zero click research)

Watch the next episode: Lessons in Practicality from The Daily Memphian: “A Lot of People Don’t Know We’re a Nonprofit” 

Watch the previous episode: Update on News Deserts and Local News Trends

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Send your suggestions for future News Take guests to Alliance VP, Research & Insights Rebecca Frank at rebecca@newsmediaalliance.org.

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The post News Take Episode 111: Outsmarting Google and Facebook: Helping Publishers Grow Their Audience Outside the Dominant Platforms appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

Guests: Penny Muse Abernathy and Tim Franklin, the Medill Journalism School Local News Initiative at Northwestern University

“In this vast country, newspapers have historically been the prime, if not the sole source, for most small and mid-size independent communities. So, if you lose a newspaper, you’re losing the person who shows up to cover the school board meeting, the person who shows up to cover the county commissioner or even the zoning policy changes that can be quite controversial and affect the long-term quality of life of a community. The good news is I think there are a lot of things that are going on that can stem that, that range from policy solutions to new funding opportunities to new business development.“

– Penny Muse Abernathy, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University

“What comes behind a news desert? We know that Facebook Groups emerge in these communities. … But as we know even as well-intentioned as those good people can be, that’s not the same as vetted, reported local news and local journalism. As so what happens is you have the, in some cases, unintentional spread of misinformation in those communities, and especially at a time when our democracy is already facing challenges, and at a time when we’re coming out of a pandemic, we know the need for accurate, credible, reliable news and information.”

– Tim Franklin, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University

What is the state of local news today? What’s changed, where are there still concerns? What makes a community vulnerable to becoming a news desert? What does the future hold for the print newspaper? What are the most powerful opportunities for policy to help local news grow and thrive? What are some examples of positive outcomes and how can other news publishers emulate their success?

News/Media Alliance President & CEO David Chavern talks with the authors of now well-known research throughout the industry on the phenomenon known as news deserts, Penny Muse Abernathy and Tim Franklin of the Medill School of Journalism’s Local News Initiative at Northwestern University. In this thought-provoking conversation, Abernathy and Franklin share the findings from their latest update to The State of Local News report, released this summer. The previous edition of the report by Abernathy, released by the University of North Carolina Hussman School of Journalism and Media in 2020, revealed startling trends on the prevalence of news deserts, finding one-quarter of U.S. newspapers have closed since 2005. But there are reasons to be optimistic, and Abernathy and Franklin provide their thoughts on how the trend could yet be reversed. The two journalists-turned-academicians discuss innovations in digital publishing, as well as the introduction of non-advertising focused revenue models, including subscriptions and membership models, nonprofit organization structures, and other revenue models, that they say could offer a path for publishers who are living in areas that are vulnerable to becoming a news desert, as well as those who want to start a newspaper in a news desert.

Listen or download the audio file to listen offline:

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Speaker bios

Penny Muse Abernathy is a visiting professor at the Medill School. While at Medill, Abernathy is collaborating with the school’s Local News Initiative and Spiegel Research Center on local news-related projects, research and teaching. Abernathy is a former senior business executive with The New York Times, Harvard Business Review and Wall Street Journal, and was the Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics at the University of North Carolina from 2008 to 2020. Her research focuses on the implications of the digital revolution for news organizations, the information needs of communities and the emergence of news deserts in the United States.

Tim Franklin is Senior Associate Dean, Professor and John M. Mutz Chair in Local News at the Medill School , where he is leading the Local News Initiative, a research-and-development project designed to bolster the sustainability of local news in America, and the Medill Metro Media Lab, a project funded by the Robert R. McCormick Foundation to strengthen the local news ecosystem and journalism education in the Chicago area. Franklin was appointed earlier this year by Governor J.B. Pritzker to serve on the Illinois Local Journalism Task Force, a bipartisan group studying the local news crisis in the state and recommending potential policy solutions. Before joining Medill in 2017, Franklin was President of The Poynter Institute, a leading international school for journalists and a media think tank.

Additional Resources

The State of Local News 2022 (Medill School of Journalism’s Local News Initiative, Northwestern University)

Watch the previous episode: The State of Advertising and Local News

Watch the next episode: Outsmarting Google and Facebook: Helping Publishers Grow Their Audience Outside the Dominant Platforms 

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Send your suggestions for future News Take guests to Alliance VP, Research & Insights Rebecca Frank at rebecca@newsmediaalliance.org.

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The post News Take Episode 110: Update on News Deserts and Local News Trends with Penny Muse Abernathy and Tim Franklin appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

What brought you to the news media industry and API?

I knew I wanted to be a journalist since I was in high school. I went to the University of Missouri to get my bachelor’s degree, and after I graduated, I started working for small local newsrooms in Virginia and South Carolina covering crime, government, health and environment. In 2008, when my newsroom and others were facing layoffs, I decided to expand my knowledge of digital journalism. I found Patch.com and started working there as a reporter/editor with various roles in management and training. I learned a lot about digital journalism, analytics and training, which were the skills that API needed when it was starting Metrics for News. There was something really appealing to me about building something from scratch.

What is Metrics for News and how is it different from other analytics platforms?

Metrics for News is software we created in 2014 when publishers started asking us how their editors could make more empirical decisions about what to cover and how. At first, we looked to their Google Analytics, but that wasn’t enough. It didn’t answer the key questions publishers ask themselves all the time, such as which beats drive engagement, how a given author can improve or how to attract more subscribers. So, we decided to create Metrics for News to help publishers better understand their audience and deepen their engagement, grow their subscribers, write better stories, etc.

Our platform is different from any other metrics app; it is a content strategy tool where publishers can analyze hundreds and thousands of stories over time to learn the qualities that drive engagement, as well as identify new trends that could benefit audience and subscriber growth.

In 2018, we went through a massive redesign. We talked to newsrooms to get their feedback and decided to change our original platform to something more user friendly that would help anyone in a newsroom, and not only the people who were already familiar with analytics. We wanted Metrics for News to better assist newsrooms as a whole, including reporters working to grow their skills in audience development and analytics.

What are you working on to help Metrics for News’ members?

I think the biggest project that I keep working on is helping publishers better understand their audiences and their needs through analytics. I’m working with API to make sure publishers are getting answers to the key questions and information they need. Day-to-day, our team is talking to newsrooms, training them on how to use this strategic data, and continuing to evolve our product to better support our partner newsrooms and the communities they serve.

What do you consider to be the biggest challenge facing the news media industry in 2019?

There are lots of challenges: the audience’s perspective about misinformation and disinformation is one of the biggest issues. We have folks at API who work on that challenge specifically. Another issue is the path to sustainability for local newsrooms. Our efforts in Metrics for News are one way to support newsrooms trying to better identify what drives people to subscribe as they move away from advertising models alone and toward ones heavily supported by reader revenue.

What is the most promising opportunity for news publishers in 2019?

I think it’s still an exciting time to be a journalist. I think one of the biggest opportunities for publishers this year is to keep getting better at understanding and listening to their audiences to learn how what they are producing is helping their audiences live their lives, connect them to their communities and satisfy their needs.

What are you most excited about in your role at API for the rest of this year?

I’m excited to keep working here. The people at API are all very smart and passionate about journalism, which makes it fun. I am also excited to keep improving the future of Metrics for News and spreading it across more newsrooms to help them improve their business.

The post 6 Answers with Liz Worthington, Director of Content Strategy at American Press Institute appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

What brought you to the news media industry and API?

I didn’t really have a background in journalism practices. I graduated with a Creative Writing degree and started working as a writer and editor for a professional association magazine. I wasn’t really passionate about the work I was doing there, so I found a job at the Newseum, where I took care of communications and marketing, as well as their newsletter. That position gave me the insights and passion in journalism to apply for a job at API.

What are you working on to help API’s membership?

The Need to Know newsletter, definitely. I spend most of the day searching for the best articles to send out to our members. They not only consist of news, but tips to help journalists perform better in their jobs. I have also included a Net Promoter survey in our newsletter, which helps me to get a better understanding of our readers’ satisfaction and possible ways to enhance their experience. So far, we’ve gotten good results, so I think we’re doing a good job at keeping them happy.

What do you consider to be the biggest challenge facing the news media industry in 2019?

The business model aspect of it, of course—especially now that we cannot fully rely on advertising revenue. Another challenge that we are facing is battling against the growing distrust and negative perception of the public against media. I think we are making a mistake by not working harder to address this issue.

What is the most promising opportunity for news publishers in 2019?

I think a lot of it depends on the publisher, but definitely implementing sustainable platforms like newsletters, subscription models, etc. I think that one of the most important things a publisher should consider right now is choosing a very particular audience to satisfy their needs for certain information.

What are you most excited about in your role at API for the rest of this year?

I am really looking forward to analyzing the readers’ feedback and coming up with new ways to re-design the newsletter to give it a fresher and more engaging look. I also want to come up with new, innovative ways to promote API in our communications. I think we’ve been missing a big opportunity in the Need to Know newsletter.

The post 5 Answers with Stephanie Castellano, Editorial Manager at American Press Institute appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

What brought you to the news media industry, especially American Press Institute?

I’m a journalism major. I graduated from UNC School of Journalism, and before this job I worked at another small nonprofit news organization called Education NC. When I was working there, I realized that I didn’t have enough education in technical knowledge, so I decided to work for a commercial web agency that had a very strict web developing process that taught me a lot. Once I felt comfortable with my skills, I decided to go back to the news industry. I wanted a position where I could be working with a lot of local newsrooms by helping them increase their success. Since many local news organizations do not have the budget to hire someone like me, I decided to reach out to nonprofit organizations and chose API.

What are you working on at API now?

I am mostly working day-to-day on technical issues for our Metric for News costumers and offering a lot of research documentation to help API achieve a better coverage about its website’s data points. Metrics for News is a web analytics platform that contextualizes web analytics specifically for news. It can import analytics from multiple systems and create data, so publishers can set journalism related goals, such as number of subscribers per article, user priorities, etc. It is a very straightforward program with many presets that help news media companies to easily use it.

What do you consider to be the biggest challenge facing the news media industry today?

Probably the fact that a lot of stable news organizations have different revenue models; they are nonprofit or have some robust subscription model. Local news organizations are often owned by financial institutions, so they don’t have the opportunity to publish opinion content. For local news organizations, that is a very important section because it is how journalists tell their community what they think about the news. The character of the news media organizations is kind of lost.

What is the most promising opportunity for publishers in 2019?

Understanding their audience – having a good grasp of who their audience is and what they need. You can publish content all day long, but if you don’t know how your audience interacts with it, then you are not going to know how to adjust to their needs.

What are you most excited about in your role at API?

I am excited to be able to bring Metrics for News to more news media organizations and to make the product even more accessible to the people who have it. It is an extremely valuable product that can actually help local news organizations be more successful and stable.

The post 5 Answers with Lindsay Carbonell, Success Engineer at American Press Institute appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

So, what’s a girl — I mean journalist — to do?

There are so many more options now for finding new voices to add to stories! From finding experts to locals affected by the news to activists and agitators, it’s never been easier to track down a slew of new names to feature.

SheSource.org

Run by the Women’s Media Center, SheSource helps journalists connect with women who are experts in a multitude of fields. And with women making up less than a quarter of sources quoted by such prominent outlets as The Atlantic, there is room for more female voices. There are more than 1,300 expert sources in the SheSource database. Each woman has demonstrated expertise on her subjects as well as shown that she has some experience working with the media. The database is searchable by area of expertise, and reporters have the option of reaching out to desired sources through the WMC or contacting the source directly. (Editor’s note: I’ve used SheSource numerous times and have always gotten timely, if not immediate responses going through WMC, from both the WMC contact and the sources themselves.) The WMC also sends out a weekly email with a roundup of five to 10 sources who are available to discuss the week’s biggest stories and upcoming news events.

Help A Reporter Out (HARO)

HARO helps connect writers to sources who want to tell their story or share their insights. The resource is free for journalists, but sources can pay to use the service and up their chances of getting media placement through keyword alerts and early access to reporters’ source requests. The site boasts more than 475,000 sources and says it has been used by more than 35,000 journalists and bloggers to connect to sources, so there’s a wide array of opportunities for both parties. (Editor’s note: I’ve never had luck with HARO when I’ve used it, but colleagues have had luck getting PR pitches from product requests through the site.)

Think Tanks

If there’s a subject or region, there’s a think tank that works on the topic. Everyone of course knows about RAND Corp., the Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations, but there are hundreds more think tanks across the country and around the world. The University of Pennsylvania library system keeps a list of worldwide think tanks available on its website for anyone to access, and it will give you a good idea of what’s out there and how to reach them. You can browse the list by location, areas of research or special achievements (such as top think tanks established in the past 18 months, or those who have done the best media outreach), or by political party affiliation.

Nonprofits

Like think tanks, there’s a nonprofit for everything. A simple web search will turn up hundreds of options, but you can use charity watchdog sites to find reputable nonprofits related to your topic. Groups like GuideStar, Charity Navigator and Charity Watch, as well as journalism group ProPublica, all rate charities based on their financials and the work they do, and you can use those rankings to find a reputable organization to reach out to for interviews.

Social Media

Everyone crowdsources online these days, but it can actually be helpful if you’re looking for local voices in an area you don’t live in or need to find an expert who may not be part of a think tank or another sourcing tool. Twitter has a reputation for being full of blowhards and Russian trolls, but if you’re willing to poke around the site, you can find sources for stories who you might not otherwise have access to — and who might not otherwise be able to get their voices heard. (Editor’s note: I’ve used Twitter to source a number of stories and have found dozens of sources, both expert and non, over the years. I even landed a few interviews through MySpace back in the day!) Facebook and LinkedIn are also useful in finding new voices to add to your stories. Facebook provides tips on how to use the site to find sources and story ideas using its many features, while LinkedIn is ideal for finding contacts for business-focused stories.

How are you sourcing stories? We’d love to know what resources you use to add new voices to your news! Let us know by emailing jennifer@newsmediaalliance.org or tweeting @EditrixJen. We would also love to hear from you about what other tools or tips or tricks of the trade you’re interested in learning more about in 2018, both on the business and journalism side.

The post How To: Find Diverse Sources appeared first on News/Media Alliance.