{"id":217082,"date":"2023-01-19T05:45:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T09:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/newsletter\/archive-2\/why-dollars-alone-wont-save-local-news-2\/"},"modified":"2023-01-19T13:51:10","modified_gmt":"2023-01-19T17:51:10","slug":"why-im-launching-my-own-news-business","status":"publish","type":"newsletterglue","link":"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/newsletter\/archive-2\/why-im-launching-my-own-news-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I\u2019m launching my own news business in 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Photo by Andy Hermawan<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
Thursday, 19 Jan 2023<\/div>
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Reading time:<\/div>
9 mins<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
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\u201cIf it\u2019s broke, don\u2019t fix it. Build something new instead.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since joining LION\u2019s staff two years ago, I\u2019ve encouraged journalists who are fed up with the bloodletting<\/a>, cost-cutting<\/a>, video-pivoting<\/a>, and slogan-slinging<\/a> in corporate media to give up on reforming those broken institutions and launch their own news businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I\u2019m ready to follow that advice myself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next month I\u2019ll be leaving my full-time role (and amazing colleagues) at LION to pursue a pair of entrepreneurial ventures, including a niche local news business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll continue to write this newsletter as a contractor for the next few months, so I\u2019ll be able to share what I\u2019m messing up, getting right, and learning along the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for now I want to explain why I\u2019ve chosen this path \u2013 and why one of my first steps will be joining LION as a member<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, why launch a news business in 2023 when economists are predicting a recession and media layoffs are deepening?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, it\u2019s pretty simple: I\u2019ve spent the last two years learning and writing about<\/a> LION members who are launching products, taking risks, and overcoming economic headwinds to build and grow their businesses, and I\u2019ve been inspired by their success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A development-focused news site<\/a> in Boise. A neighborhood news nonprofit<\/a> with 19,000 paying members in Chicago. Not one but<\/a> two<\/a> growing local news startups in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and another<\/a> two<\/a> in Memphis, Tennessee.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These businesses aren\u2019t the darlings of the venture capital world (which chose to pour millions into businesses that are now laying off reporters<\/a> or going under<\/a>.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, they\u2019re part of an emerging local news ecosystem where \u201cniche\u201d is a feature, not a bug, and a community\u2019s civic information health is supported by dozens of independent publications, not a single, floundering legacy newspaper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

VC investors will shudder at the thought of this more distributed future for local news and what it will mean for their \u201cunicorn\u201d ambitions, but their success is not our success, and their struggles needn\u2019t be our struggles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of independent publishers<\/a> are proving this decoupling to be true \u2013 which brings me back to LION and why I\u2019m so committed to becoming a member. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the future of local news to be independent, we need more people to take the leap and launch their own independent news business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for that to happen at scale, the industry not only needs more individual success stories; it needs a better shared understanding of what it takes to build a sustainable local news business<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My colleagues at LION are doing incredible work to piece together and spread that shared understanding, and I see membership as a way to both benefit from their expertise and contribute to it along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if you haven\u2019t <\/strong>become a LION member<\/strong><\/a> yet, I hope you\u2019ll join me<\/strong>. And to all the current LION members, thank you so much for all your insights and inspiration<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve given me the courage to get started, and I\u2019ll do everything I can to pay that forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Ben DeJarnette, LION communications manager<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was this email forwarded to you? <\/em><\/strong>Sign up here<\/em><\/strong><\/a>!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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12 opportunities for independent publishers<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

1. Earn revenue from elections coverage. <\/strong>Ballotpedia is piloting a new program to help publishers level up their voter guide and build a strategy to monetize it. Learn more and apply\u00bb<\/a> <\/strong>(Sponsored)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Enter your best investigative journalism<\/strong> in the Bingham & Taylor Awards competition<\/a> for an opportunity to win a $20,000 cash prize. (Deadline: Tomorrow) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Get funding for an investigative reporting project. <\/strong>The Fund for Investigative Journalism will award grants up to $10,000<\/a> to cover the expenses of stories that break new ground and uncover wrongdoing in the public or private sectors. (Deadline: January 30) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Take a research sabbatical. <\/strong>Apply for a JSK Fellowship<\/a> (Deadline: January 25) or Nieman Fellowship<\/a> (Deadline: January 31). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Earn more revenue from philanthropy. <\/strong>Register for the virtual 2023 Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit<\/a>. (January 31\u2013February 1). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Create a resource for journalists and newsrooms.<\/strong> The RJI Fellowship<\/a> is an eight-month program that offers fellows funding and support to build a resource that\u2019s free, accessible and open-source. (Deadline: February 3)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Launch or grow a news product. <\/strong>The Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program<\/a> will help participants build, grow and monetize a niche newsletter, site or podcast in 100 days. (Deadline: February 3)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Bring your small business tax questions<\/strong> to this AMA webinar<\/a> with a licensed tax professional. (February 9)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Get funding to launch a nonprofit newsroom. <\/strong>The American Journalism Project\u2019s Local News Incubator<\/a> will offer four founders 18 months of support and $400,000 in seed funding. (Deadline: February 15) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Join a leadership program for BIPOC journalists. <\/strong>The <\/strong>Leadership Academy for Diversity in Media<\/a> is a one-week, in-person program at Poynter\u2019s campus in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Deadline: February 17)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. Protect your business with liability insurance<\/strong>. The Institute for Nonprofit News explains why media liability insurance is so important<\/a> for independent publishers and how to get coverage through its preferred provider as an INN or LION member. (U.S.-based LION members can also apply for liability insurance through LION\u2019s preferred provider program<\/a> with InSource. Hooray for options!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. Get better at measuring your impact <\/strong>with help from this free impact tracking tool<\/a> created by Impact Architects and this audience impact tracking guide<\/a> from the Solutions Journalism Network. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What we\u2019re reading<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Million dollar creator. <\/strong>How a YouTuber earned a combined $4.6 million last year from 12 revenue streams. (Simon Owens\u2019s Media Newsletter<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boom and bust<\/strong>. Why the number of newly launched podcasts has dropped 80 percent since 2020. (The Verge<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herd mentality. <\/strong>Why all the supposedly innovative national news startups end up looking and sounding exactly the same. (DAME<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bot knots.<\/strong> Why differentiation \u2013 not optimization \u2013 will be the key to success for media businesses in an AI world. (The Rebooting<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newsletter resolutions<\/strong>. How to take your email newsletter to the next level in 2023. (Inbox Collective<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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LIONs in the news<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Kansas City Defender<\/strong> proved to be more credible than the local police department again this month when it shared reports of missing Black women in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, that the police initially called \u201ccompletely unfounded<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Less than two weeks later, a missing woman appeared after escaping her kidnapper, who is accused of detaining, raping and assaulting her for more than a month.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capital B talked with The Kansas City Defender founder Ryan Sorrell about reporting the story, trusting community members, and forcing a reckoning among local journalists. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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