Reading list
Curated resources and articles to help you create more impactful relationships with your community
How we built Reveal’s reporting networks
Since August 2018, Reveal News, from the Centre of Investigative Reporting, has been developing a set of tools to help local journalists reach and report on major stories where they live. Here they explain how they manage 840 members and what they've learnt
Posted by Ben on 28 November 2019
Read moreLeadership in a time of turmoil - SRCCON:LEAD
This keynote Stacy-Marie Ishmael gave at a 2019 SRCCON gathering is a real eye-opener in terms of what leadership is, and should be, in journalism.
Posted by Ben on 25 November 2019
Read moreLocal news is more trusted than national news – but that could change
A new Knight Foundation study found that the public finds local journalists trusted and unbiased, but it's vulnerable to the same perceptions of bias that threatens confidence in the national media.
Posted by Ben on 31 October 2019
Read moreHow three news organisations are rebooting audience engagement to fight online toxicity and political attacks
The final report of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism's Journalism Innovation Project looks at how three news organisations are fostering deeper and narrower audience engagement as a way of dealing with press freedom and platform challenges
Posted by Ben on 28 October 2019
Read moreLearning to Listen: Building a culture of engagement in newsrooms
This report looks at the results of grants made by the Community Listening and Engagement Fund (CLEF) to support the adoption of community listening tools (such as Hearken and GroundSource) in US news organisations.
Posted by Ben on 18 October 2019
Read moreHow Decât o Revistă organized an all-team pop-up newsroom in Transylvania
Decât o Revista (one of the Accelerator grantees) moved its entire newsroom some to a town in Transylvania for a week-long pop-up newsroom. Here two editors explain what they did
Posted by Ben on 16 October 2019
Read moreValue instead of Volume
This Q&A between Astrid Csuraji, a German trainer who was involved with ‘Who owns Lüneburg?’, and CUNY professor Jeff Jarvis, is fascinating on how journalists struggle to listen
Posted by Ben on 4 October 2019
Read moreA Roadmap for Equitable Inclusion
Heather Bryant has created a brilliant framework to help journalists develop and maintain inclusive, equitable relationships between them and the communities they are serving
Posted by Ben on 2 October 2019
Read more102 story ideas to serve your community
If you’re stuck for inspiration about how to report on poverty and hardship, Heather Bryant has listed over 100 ideas (plus handy links to data sources) to help you write stories that the community will appreciate and benefit from
Posted by Ben on 20 September 2019
Read moreThe importance of product thinking for news
A successful reader revenue model isn’t just about good journalism but the whole product experience. Mary-Katharine from Twipe explains why product thinking is key
Posted by Ben on 9 September 2019
Read moreHow KPCC and LAist adapted the public radio fundraising strategy for a digitally native audience
This BetterNews report shows that engaging with and fundraising to a digital-first audience doesn’t mean you have to reinvent the wheel or put your content behind a paywall
Posted by Ben on 6 September 2019
Read moreCo-Creating Media within Communities, across Disciplines and with Algorithms
This MIT Work in Progress piece of research is a high-level and fascinating read on the potential for co-creation
Posted by Ben on 6 September 2019
Read moreWant to make your journalism more memberful?
This Membership Puzzle Project report looks at a range of proven practices in membership-driven newsrooms, including revenue-generating routines
Posted by Ben on 6 September 2019
Read more5 Case Studies to Inspire Your Retention Strategy
Twipe’s list of best practice, including longer contracts and habit-driving digital products, are worth your time whether you’re thinking about moving to subscription/membership or not
Posted by Ben on 6 September 2019
Read moreA Year Ago We Pressed Play On Membership
The Daily Maverick's publisher and CEO runs through what he's learnt in the 12 months since launching membership
Posted by Ben on 6 September 2019
Read moreSmall is beautiful
Another Shorenstein Center report looking at how new digital business models must create value through connections, rather than just content.
Posted by Ben on 6 September 2019
Read moreHow today’s news publishers can use data, best practices, and test-and-learn tactics to build better pay-meters
This Shorenstein Center report looks at how publishers can use certain tactics to increase and retain digital subscriptions
Posted by Ben on 6 September 2019
Read more6 impact tools for every type of funder and media maker
Media Impact Forum has a whole database of tools but this pared-down list is a great place to begin
Posted by Ben on 6 September 2019
Read moreRevenue roles in local news: Case studies from exemplary civic news organisations
This American Journalism Project report found that the art of 'mission-driven entrepreneurship' is a key trait of those working in US civic news organisations
Posted by Ben on 6 September 2019
Read moreSmart investments in paid lead acquisition to grow membership (or, spending money to make money)
The Chicago-based civic media lab worked with its community to come up with its engagement guidelines, which help define their work and shape people's entry points into what they do
Posted by Ben on 6 September 2019
Read moreThe Local Fix's List of News and Journalism Resources
The excellent folks at Democracy Fund have compiled a list of over 100 sites they use to produce their brilliant weekly newsletter, Local Fix, and made it public.
Posted by Ben on 6 September 2019
Read moreSpaceship Media Dialogue Journalism Toolkit
Spaceship Media's 7-step ‘dialogue journalism’ method aims to convene and moderate conversations between people on opposite sides of polarising social and political issues
Posted by Ben on 15 July 2019
Read moreThe Audience in the Mind’s Eye: How Journalists Imagine Their Readers
James G Robinson's for for Columbia Journalism Review, is a reminder that the institutional audience archetypes dominate journalist's perception of the audience
Posted by Ben on 14 July 2019
Read moreWith stories of Atlantic City, local news organisations are inviting community leaders into the reporting process
Joseph Lichterman at Solution Set looks at how community leaders put story ideas from their networks forward to local editors to improve the cover in Atlantic City
Posted by Ben on 12 July 2019
Read moreDon’t Just Engage, Equip
Darryl Holliday, one of the four founders of City Bureau, gives a speech at the 2019 Collaborative Journalism Summit in Philadelphia in which he calls for a reimagination of local journalism based on providing access and opportunities for public participation and production
Posted by Ben on 11 July 2019
Read moreRedistributing power in communities through involved journalism
P. Kim Bui, audience innovation director at The Arizona Republic, looks at the complex and shifting power dynamics in this Membership Puzzle Project report
Posted by Ben on 10 July 2019
Read moreIntroducing City Bureau’s Community Engagement Guidelines
The Chicago-based civic media lab worked with its community to come up with its engagement guidelines, which help define their work and shape people's entry points into what they do
Posted by Ben on 5 July 2019
Read moreHow We Know Journalism is Good for Democracy
Josh Stearns, from Democracy Fund, has created and recently updated a useful list of papers that look at what happens when a community loses local news
Posted by Ben on 4 July 2019
Read moreFinding solutions to local issues: how SoJo stories saved a French regional publisher from collapse
A case study about how a French newspaper followed the money and grew its newsroom through solutions journalism
Posted by Madalina on 26 April 2019
Read moreBuilding Engagement: A Report on Supporting the Practice of Relational Journalism
This report contains learnings from Finding Common Ground, an initiative to support engaged journalism projects from the US and Europe. It presents the Reflective Practice Guide, a useful framework for journalists and organisations committed to having meaningful and collaborative conversations with their communities
Posted by Madalina on 18 April 2019
Read moreShould journalists be more emotionally literate?
c, a researcher in journalism at the University of Teesside, makes the point that greater emotional literacy could help journalists connect with communities in new ways, which could have benefits from both trust and commercial standpoints
Posted by Ben on 15 April 2019
Read moreWhen local newspapers shrink, fewer people bother to run for mayor
This Nieman Lab article digs into an academic paper which suggests that weakened newspapers hurt communities by reducing the number of candidates that voters can choose from
Posted by Madalina on 15 April 2019
Read moreWhat media can learn from other member-driven movements
Emily Goligoski, Research Director at Membership Puzzle Project, offers five recommendations taken from interviews with people working in membership-driven organisations
Posted by Ben on 15 April 2019
Read moreIntroducing News Inside, the print publication for people in prisons and jails
Meeting Lawrence Bartley, a man who was released from jail last year after 27 years, led to The Marshall Project launching a publication, with him as producer, for his ‘information-poor former community’. The first edition is circulating in 30 facilities in 19 states in the US
Posted by Ben on 4 April 2019
Read moreCan Report for America build trust in local news? A view from two communities
This Tow Center study looks at the impact of Report for America, a local news capacity-building initiative in two US communities where residents have long complained of stigmatizing news coverage. It provides a fascinating insight into how news consumers in those communities perceive news coverage from their local outlets
Posted by Madalina on 30 March 2019
Read moreWhy I’m joining The Correspondent as Managing Editor
Eliza Anyangwe doesn’t claim to have all the answers in her announcement as managing editor of The Correspondent but many of the points she touches on – power structures, ‘elite-capture’, defining success – give hope that the Amsterdam-based news organisation can break new ground
Posted by Ben on 30 March 2019
Read moreCan Local News Websites Shift From Annoying Their Readers to Serving Them?
The Local News Initiative, based out of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, look at how display advertising is dominant and making it difficult for journalism to come to the fore
Posted by Ben on 30 March 2019
Read moreTwipe's guide to building a long-term relationship with your readers
Steering clear of trials and experimenting with welcome phone calls, handwritten notes and visiting readers in their kitchen - they’re all ways news organisations are trying to build long-term relationships with readers
Posted by Ben on 21 March 2019
Read moreHow I Learned to Let Communities Guide Our Local Reporting Projects
Beena Raghavendran, a reporter on the ProPublica Local Reporting Network, does a great job of explaining her approach (listening) and the tools she uses (many)
Posted by Ben on 7 March 2019
Read morePush journalism vs. pull journalism
Phillip Smith, founder of the Journalism Entrepreneurship Bootcamp and former JSK Stanford fellow, describes coins the term ‘pull journalism’, a combination of engaged journalism approaches and concepts from the customer development field.
Posted by Madalina on 7 March 2019
Read moreDiversifying audience should be mission-critical for newsrooms. Here’s how you can work toward that goal
Hearken engagement consultants Summer Fields and Stephanie Synder provide some methods and examples for doing so, including in-person outreach, partnerships and events, partnering on online engagement initiatives, and empowering the community to participate directly in reporting
Posted by Madalina on 25 February 2019
Read moreProve it with prototyping: How to test your ideas and focus your innovation
James Gordon, who works at Futures Lab at the Reynolds Journalism Institute, discusses this while taking us through how he built a @TweetsToText bot, a very simple tool for politics journalists and sports reporters who provide press conference/ in-game commentary, only to have to type it all out again
Posted by Ben on 21 February 2019
Read moreHow Le Monde site tweaks helped increase subscriptions by 20 percent in 2018
Le Monde is seeing the fruits of its labor after focusing on driving reader revenue for the last two years.
Posted by Ben on 8 February 2019
Read moreJournalism needs an audience to survive, but isn’t sure how to earn its loyalty
Jacob L Nelson, Assistant Professor of digital audience engagement, Arizona State University, argues that journalism’s growing focus on the news audience has not been accompanied by a growing consensus about who these audiences comprise and what they want from news.
Posted by Ben on 8 February 2019
Read moreNine good examples of subscription pages by news organisations
API's Reader Revenue Toolkit look at the keys to an effective subscription offer page
Posted by Ben on 8 February 2019
Read moreBuilding Habit—Not Page Views—Matters Most For Keeping Subscribers, Data Analysis Finds
Medill Study Identifies ‘Paradigm Shift’ in How Local News Serves Readers
Posted by Ben on 8 February 2019
Read moreIntroducing the Audience Explorer analytics dashboard for small and medium-size news publishers
The dashboard is based around 10 custom reports you can use to drive engaged readership
Posted by Ben on 8 February 2019
Read moreProve it with prototyping: how to test your ideas and focus your innovation
James Gordon, who works at Futures Lab at the Reynolds Journalism Institute, explains how he prototyped a Twitter bot to help sports reporters file copy faster
Posted by Ben on 8 February 2019
Read moreWhy newsrooms should put the needs of their communities first
Kim Bode, community and product operations manager at News Deeply and adjunct professor at the New York University, makes the case for community-centered journalism
Posted by Ben on 8 February 2019
Read moreConnecting the dots: Engaged journalism, trust, revenue, and civic engagement
Lindsay Green-Barber of Impact Architects has published new research looking at best practices for building trust, generating revenue and fostering civic engagement
Posted by Madalina on 8 February 2019
Read moreA 201 guide for taking your newsletters to the next level — growing the lists, making money, and more
A guide to elevating your newsletter to the next level by sharing best practices, examining what’s working, what’s not, and what’s next
Posted by Madalina on 8 February 2019
Read moreA Guide to Community-Based News Engagement
A toolkit to help journalists already working with your community and those who want to move in that direction
Posted by Ben on 8 February 2019
Read moreWhy ProPublica Illinois takes reader questions about its journalism
ProPublica Illinois started the Q&A to help its readers better understand how journalism functions and to be more transparent in its work
Posted by Madalina on 8 February 2019
Read moreFour things journalists can do to rebuild trust with the public
Two US academics summarise the four things news organisations can put into place to help them repeatedly earn trust with their community
Posted by Kathryn on 5 November 2018
Read moreAssessing community information needs: a Twitter thread
A useful Twitter soliciting examples of how news organisations conduct information needs assessments to find out where their communities get their news
Posted by Madalina on 5 November 2018
Read moreCoping, not coding - social infrastructure in an algorithmic world
Rachel Coldicutt, CEO of UK technology think tank Dot Everyone, uses this three-part essay to at the way technological innovation has provided plenty of fresh opportunities but isn't always catering for user's needs.
Posted by Ben on 5 November 2018
Read moreHere’s how you can put membership into practice
Rob Wijnberg, founder of De Correspondent, explains why news isn't at the heart of what they do and how the role of a correspondent differs greatly from at other organisations.
Posted by Madalina on 5 November 2018
Read moreThe Local reaches 7,000 members 12 months after launching reader revenue
The Swedish-based organisation is starting to learn what its readers convert to membership for
Posted by Ben on 5 November 2018
Read moreWhat two Danish researchers found in a yearlong quest for journalism innovation
Two Danish academics went to on a worldwide tour to 54 newsrooms in nine countries to find organisations taking their journalism in a more engaging, cooperative and community-oriented direction
Posted by Ben on 5 November 2018
Read moreWhat do points make? Answer: Loyal readers
RussMedia has created its own currency to incentivise its readers to come back to the site
Posted by Ben on 5 November 2018
Read moreTime to step away from the ‘bright, shiny things’?
Focusing on long-term strategies for content and audiences are the key, according to this Reuters Institute report
Posted by Madalina on 5 November 2018
Read moreA local French site reaching new audiences through events
Rue89 Strasbourg, a local news site founded in 2012 that focuses Strasbourg in France, organises five types of events to deepen its relationship with readers and subscribers.
Posted by Madalina on 5 November 2018
Read moreHow Junkee Media engages a ‘more politically aware, engaged and frustrated’ audience
The Australian millennial site is making ground with younger, politically aware readers
Posted by Kathryn on 5 November 2018
Read moreBusiness Models for Local News: A Field Scan
The Shorenstein Center on Media worked with Harvard Kennedy School and the Lenfest Institute for Journalism to work out how best to support people working in communities across the US to find new business models and facilitate change
Posted by Ben on 5 November 2018
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