News

The 13-member LION Board of Directors expands the group’s outreach, programs, and infrastructure after a weekend retreat in Dallas. The strategic-planning session came at a time when concerned citizens nationwide are worried about the state of local news. LION believes the future is bright, and the organization is devoted to leading the way in creating and nurturing local independent online newsrooms.

The American Society of News Editors is partnering with the Local Independent Online News Publishers to expand its recently improved Legal Hotline service. Under this partnership, members of LION will gain free access to the new ASNE Legal Hotline Facebook group, through which they can run their legal questions by ASNE Legal Counsel Kevin Goldberg and interact with other news leaders about legal issues in a timely manner.

Local publishers from Wisconsin, Michigan and New Orleans shared early lessons from a new program that uses mentorship to help independent online news sites build advertising support in their communities Friday at a LION Publishers summit at the Investigative Reporters & Editors conference in Orlando.

The Local Independent Online News Publishers organization this week awarded $25,000 to 18 of its member newsrooms to report investigative and enterprise stories important to their communities, and to sharpen their skills for more such stories.

LION Publishers will hold a day-long summit at the Investigative Reporters & Editors conference in Orlando Friday, June 15, covering issues, opportunities, ideas and advice for local independent online news organizations and entrepreneurs who are considering starting their own local news site.

Last week’s news that The Denver Post would cut one-third of its already shrunken newsroom was a stark reminder of the plight of legacy newspapers and local accountability journalism.

Local independent online news organizations are emerging all over the country to fill the gaps, but two big questions loom: Can they implement a sustainable business model? And can small local news operations do the same kind of investigative and accountability journalism — work critical to democracy — that newspapers are abandoning?

Ten independent online news publishers from across the country have been chosen to participate in a yearlong program that will offer assistance in building advertising support for local journalism, LION Publishers announced Thursday.

LION Publishers will offer mini-grants to members to support local investigative reporting projects with the support of the Ethics & Excellence in Journalism Foundation. LION will receive a $25,000 grant from the foundation to assist members with building capacity for accountability journalism, it was announced Friday.

As news organizations across the U.S. continue to experiment with altered business models and new streams of revenue, it’s become clear that building reader revenue needs to be part of nearly everyone’s strategy.

To help news publishers think through different ways they could approach building a business with their audience, the Center for Cooperative Media and LION Publishers are teaming up to host a workshop on reader revenue, set for Friday, April 6, at Montclair State University.

Local independent online news publishers are reaching out to readers in the wake of Facebook’s decision to “remove news from its News Feed,” warning them that they might no longer see breaking news and accountability journalism on crucial matters in their community. Many are using it as an impetus to sign readers up for direct notification of local stories via email newsletter.

LION Publishers is accepting applications from members for a new mentorship program that will help local independent online news publishers establish local advertising as a sustainable revenue source.