Stay up to date on LION’s offerings and connect with other independent news entrepreneurs:

• Join the News Entrepreneur Community: It’s a Slack group for anyone who is interested in journalism entrepreneurship, and there are also some members-only channels. Anyone from your team can join the Community and all the members-only channels. Request access here, and we’ll be sure to add you to the members-only channels as well.
• Read our weekly newsletter: It’s for anyone working or interested in independent news. We curate the best, most relevant opportunities and recent news articles that might be of interest to our members.
• Promote your work: In our weekly newsletter’s Kudos section, we highlight LION member achievements. Done something noteworthy? Email [email protected] and we’ll share it there.
• Stay in the loop on LION’s offerings: We’ll send you quarterly members-only email updates with a rundown of what LION’s been up to the past quarter and a reminder of opportunities and membership benefits you can take advantage of.

 

Hear from your peers and industry experts, and tell us what you’d like to learn:

• We regularly host LION Lessons featuring other LION members and topic-area experts who share insights into running independent news businesses. Watch our past LION Lessons, like Mastering the Art of Grant Writing and Building a Reader Services Platform, and keep an eye on our communications channels for upcoming sessions.

 

Get help with your social media:

• Receive a free social media audit by Meena Thiruvengadam, consultant for the Center for Cooperative Media. You will receive personalized, actionable recommendations, including a digital report delivered at the conclusion of your session with individualized suggestions to help you maximize your impact as a publisher. Request a social media audit
• File a support ticket with LION if you’re having specific problems with your Facebook page or account, including getting Facebook verification, access to the Media Partner Support Portal, CrowdTangle and more.

 

Get legal help:

• Lawyers for Reporters offers pro bono legal services to LION members on issues relating to media law, insurance, corporate transactions, employment, real estate, tax and non-profit governance. Media law assistance includes pre-publication review, copyright and trademark clearance, licensing, and news-gathering advice. Email them, and let them know you’re a LION member, at [email protected].

 

Receive a complimentary membership to the Local Media Consortium:

• For 2021, the Local Media Consortium is offering a complimentary membership to LION members who have under 200,000 in monthly uniques. Membership perks include: partnerships with service providers (except the ad manager partnership); access to member resources and past and upcoming webinars; quarterly update meetings; and strategic initiatives including the Branded Content Project and The Matchup. If you are interested, schedule time with LMC’s Allye Ratledge.

 

Apply for our LION Awards:

• We’ll host our third annual 2021 LION Awards in October. Submissions are open and due by mid-August. In the meantime, check out our 2020 winners.

The team behind LION and how to get in touch with us

LION Publishers was founded in 2012, after a year of organizing by a grassroots group of local news publishers. It was primarily run by a volunteer board until 2019 when we received a Knight Foundation grant to hire and grow a team dedicated to serving its members. Learn more about the folks on our team, our board of directors and our 2021 Advisory Council.

We also recently updated our organizational values, which you can read about here. In 2020, our first year with a full-time team, we achieved a lot that we’re proud of –– you can read about it in our annual report. But we know there is much more work to do to help support independent news entrepreneurs like you. We are always open to suggestions and feedback about how to make LION a valuable organization for you. When you email [email protected], you’ll reach our entire team.

Finally, meet your LION membership programming manager

Cassie Balfour is your main point of contact at LION, and your biggest advocate. She will provide you with support and resources, promote your work, and share insights about your news business with the rest of the team, so it can help shape LION's broader strategy. Feel free to reach out to her at cassandra@lionpublishers.com.

If you have more questions about your membership, please hit reply and we’ll get back to you ASAP.