LION Summit: Travel stipends available to members
A limited number of stipends are available for members of LION Publishers to help fund travel and hotel arrangements for the 2018 LION Summit. Apply now!
LION members will have access to ASNE Legal Hotline
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.
How mentorship is helping local online news sites reach sustainability
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.
LION awards investigative reporting micro-grants to 18 publishers
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 will hold indie publishers summit at Investigative Reporters & Editors conference
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.
LION is accepting applications for investigative reporting grants
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?
10 local publishers chosen for local advertising mentorship program
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 will offer investigative local news reporting grants
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.
LION member spotlight: VOICES: River City
A Q&A with LION member Dave Kempa, publisher of local independent online news site VOICES: River City in Sacramento.
Reader Revenue Summit planned for April 6 in New Jersey
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.
LION member spotlight: The Swellesley Report
A Q&A with Bob Brown, publisher of The Swellesley Report in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Local news publishers talk to readers about big Facebook News Feed change
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 launches RAMP local advertising mentorships
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.
Over the course of the year, thanks to support from the Democracy Fund, Local Independent Online News Publishers will provide mentorship and financial support to 10 members in building a market-specific local advertising program.
As part of the pilot Revenue from Advertising Mentorship Program, participants will receive funding to partially support their planning and implementation of new revenue streams.
Depending on the need and opportunity in each community, this could include help in growing revenue from display advertising, sponsored content and newsletter advertising. Publishers relying on other revenue sources who have no current local advertising support are also eligible to apply, and the program would help them build one from scratch. LION is committed to having the participants in RAMP be diverse in race, gender, publication size, geographic location, and for-profit vs. nonprofit tax status.
Apply by February 2!
LION member spotlight: East Cobb News
A Q&A with LION member Wendy Parker, publisher of East Cobb News in Georgia.
LION member spotlight: The Worcester Sun
A Q&A with Mark Henderson, publisher of the Worcester Sun in Massachusetts.