🗞️ Newsifying your niche

Local news brings communities together, underlines different perspectives, and sheds a guiding light on how policies impact your neighbors. If you want to build a publication with purpose, local journalism could always use more boots on the ground. This week's newsletter is about what it takes to create an independent news product, the tools you'll need to get it done, and how to research like a professional journalist. Let's go!

In this week's issue 📨

• Build a local news publication
• Essential tools for journalists
• The right way to research

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Breaking news

You may have heard of food deserts, but what about news deserts? A news desert represents a gap in local news reporting when a publisher closes in your community. We're seeing more of them than ever, but there's still hope. With great gaps come great opportunities, and if you're looking to jump into the blogging world, why not consider local journalism?

Let's break down what it takes to build an independent news publication to quench your community's thirst for neighborhood news.

Financial support

• Building an independent newsroom from the ground up requires many moving parts. That’s why your first step should be seeking financial and strategic support to lay a strong foundation. Having the right people and resources in your corner from day one is a must.
• There’s a lot of support out there that produces long-term benefits, like boot camps, workshops, grants, and fellowships. Some programs dedicated to strengthening the local news industry include Google News Initiative, LION Publishers, and Tiny News Collective.

Sustainable strategy

• Your news business needs to be sustainable if it's going to survive. In today's publishing world, the subscription revenue model has proven to be the go-to option. Still, you should consider multiple revenue streams like sponsorships and affiliate marketing to keep your funds flowing.
• Platforms like Ghost are perfect for independent news publishing. You can collect subscribers, send newsletters, publish premium content, and earn recurring revenue all in one place. With 0% payment fees, you keep 100% of the revenue your local publication generates.

Launch with less

• It's okay to start small and unpolished. Waiting to achieve perfection will cut into the valuable time it takes to publish content and build your audience. When it comes to independent publishing, sustainability isn't all about money; it's also about avoiding burnout.
• Research, planning, and capital are vital before you hit "publish" for the first time, but remember that your evolution will always be ongoing, so don't be afraid to dive right in. When you're ready to grow, journalism fellowships are a common method of acquiring additional funding and team support.

Your mission

• If you want your community to rally behind your work, it's essential to create a hearty About page that clearly states what you are here to do and why people should care. Your About page should impress new visitors while making your current subscribers feel good about who they've chosen to follow.
• Use your About page to introduce yourself, state your values, and summarize what you offer the community. Establishing who you are in a transparent way will instantly generate trust in your reporting and help increase word-of-mouth marketing around your publication.

Growth channels

• Most businesses only have a few marketing channels that drive the vast majority of their growth. As a small news publication, it’s crucial to figure out what works and where you should focus your energy. You may only have a tiny net to cast, but you can still catch some big fish.
• Consider asking your subscriber base for assistance using email campaigns and donation buttons. Be specific and transparent, and reiterate your value to the community. Don't forget to actually participate in your community to elevate your publication even further.

Interesting stories & ideas 📚

• Best friends and fake news – NiemanLab
• Protecting what you love to do – The Creative Independent
• Keeping up with Gen Z – Digital Native
• Conversion-boosting customer experiences – HubSpot
• I tried to vape the internet – 404 Media

Credible resources

Starting a local news publication can feel heavy. You've visualized the big picture and are ready to make a positive dent in your community, but you may not always have the time and energy to create the change you want to see. Luckily, we live in the age of automation, so why not harness the awesome power of digital tools to help keep you and your journalists afloat?

Faisal Kalim, business journalist at Media Makers Meet, has compiled a list of top digital tools for journalists to lighten the news load.

#1 TinEye uses image identification technology to help news organizations spot photos that have been digitally tampered with.

#2 Google Dataset Search is a search engine from Google that helps journalists locate freely available online data.

#3 IntelTechniques can be used to background a source, search through social media posts, and even track someone down.

#4 Crowdtangle is a social media monitoring platform that helps journalists track the performance of their content.

#5 Toby organizes your workspace when you're writing and researching multiple stories and subjects simultaneously.

#6 Hemingway shows you how readable your writing is by highlighting common errors while suggesting ways to tighten things up and strengthen the copy.

#7 Hunter.io can search for email addresses attached to a specific domain, such as a company or government agency, to help you reach the right people.

#8 Otter transcribes audio files into searchable and hyperlinked transcripts. You can conduct a phone interview and have the transcript ready in minutes.

Find what clicks

As a journalist, researching isn't just about gathering information. You have to worry about topic complexity, the scope of your articles, deadlines, and your budget. Performing the proper research is more than just "Googling it." It requires strategy, accurate sources, balance, and credibility. So, how do you ensure you're researching in the right way to achieve accurate results?

Alison Hill, journalist for Writer's Digest, shows us how to research topics like a journalist so that you can produce the most valuable news content.

‣ Start online and read a lot to decide how to tackle your story, just don't get distracted and fall down any rabbit holes. Make notes as you go, and keep a record of the websites you’ve used in case you need to provide sources.

‣ Don't limit yourself to online reading while you research. Remember public libraries? They still exist, believe it or not, and they're a researcher's utopia! Libraries also give you access to underutilized newspaper archives.

‣ Have a phone conversation before an interview so all your questions are ready beforehand. These pre-chats can provide additional sources and make who you're interviewing much more comfortable.

‣ Go out there and talk to people to get to the heart of your story. Chat with the locals, absorb the atmosphere, and be part of the action. You can't write about your community if you're not involved in it.

‣ Peruse social media to discover trends and brainstorm story ideas. Just keep in mind that social media doesn't always accurately represent reality or necessarily the public's viewpoints, so filter wisely.

‣ Gather your own data to make your reporting unique and powerful. Consider some “person on the street” interviews with a camera or voice recorder to get different people’s profound opinions and use the results in your story.

‣ Attend events to flex your networking muscles. Just one in-person meeting or reception can get you exclusive interviews and inside scoops. Start with researching any nonprofits or activist groups in your community.

‣ Know your rights and remember that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) allows members of the public (you, the journalist) the right to request access to records from any federal agency.

Curator's pick ✍️

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