{"id":215500,"date":"2021-11-01T15:58:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T19:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/?p=215500"},"modified":"2021-11-11T15:59:00","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T19:59:00","slug":"more-journalism-founders-are-building-their-businesses-by-putting-community-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/more-journalism-founders-are-building-their-businesses-by-putting-community-first\/","title":{"rendered":"More journalism founders are building their businesses by putting community first"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post was first published<\/a> by Gather<\/a>, a project + platform to support community-minded journalists and other engagement professionals\u00a0led by the University of Oregon’s Agora Journalism Center<\/a>, the gathering place for innovation in communication and civic engagement.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journalism organizations across the country are placing a renewed emphasis on community-centered journalism<\/strong>, and we\u2019ve seen how that approach can\u00a0increase public participation<\/a>,\u00a0help build trust<\/a>\u00a0and even lead to\u00a0more community dialogue<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what does it look like when community engagement and relationship-building aren\u2019t incorporated into an already-existing model, but are built into a journalism organization from the very start?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Director of Teaching & Learning at LION Publishers<\/a>, I\u2019ve had a front row seat to this remarkable shift, and have seen a significant increase in digital news startups that are launching explicitly with a community-first approach. I see it in the makeup of our membership \u2014 376 independent journalism organizations and growing! \u2014 and through programs and partnerships like our GNI Startups Boot Camp<\/a> and the Tiny News Collective<\/a>, which help news businesses launch sustainability so they can serve their communities for many years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These founders are serious<\/em> about centering their communities, and are approaching engaged and relational journalism as foundational to what they do. Here\u2019s what we\u2019re seeing across the journalism startups landscape:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New journalism organizations are practicing deep listening before they produce a single story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cif you build it, they will come\u201d mentality is increasingly irrelevant in an environment of information saturation, so journalism startups are learning how best to meet their community\u2019s needs \u2014 before they even launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, most founders have a notion of what their readers want when they decide to launch a news business. But at LION, we advocate treating that inkling as a hypothesis to be tested rather than a foregone conclusion. We\u2019re seeing founders embarking on listening tours and audience interviews from the jump, taking full advantage of the openness and agility that come with a startup mindset. They\u2019re seeking a rigorous understanding of their community\u2019s information needs, and adjusting their offerings in real time to meet them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One example is Megan Raposa, founder of Sioux Falls Simplified<\/a> in South Dakota. Raposa started with the hypothesis that readers would want digestible local news that was easy to understand. She tested that hypothesis by conducting exhaustive one-on-one interviews with readers, which uncovered several key insights. The first was that they were much more interested in K-12 reporting than early childhood news. The second was their hunger for journalism focused on city government and community trends. The third, however, was a bit of a wild card for Raposa. It turns out they really wanted to know more about the local nonprofits in her coverage area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t expect to hear that, but I was like, \u2018OK, cool, people like knowing what these groups are doing in the community,\u201d Raposa said. \u201cI can do more of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many are launching specifically with the goal of serving underserved or marginalized communities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Too many communities have been underserved, sometimes even actively harmed, when journalism outlets cover them without context or nuance \u2014 if they cover them at all. A growing number of news entrepreneurs are responding by launching news organizations with a singular mission: to serve communities that don\u2019t often see themselves and their lives reflected in the news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the case for fully 91% of the organizations in our second GNI Startups Boot Camp<\/a>, an eight-week program that provides news entrepreneurs with training and coaching to successfully launch their publications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are just a few examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n