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News Guest

News Guest

By LION Publishers

Practical advice about how to build a stronger, more sustainable news business
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The future of local watchdog journalism ft. Dean Baquet and Evan Smith

News GuestJun 16, 2023

00:00
01:18:35
The future of local watchdog journalism ft. Dean Baquet and Evan Smith

The future of local watchdog journalism ft. Dean Baquet and Evan Smith

We're excited to bring you another special News Guest episode this month featuring former New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet and The Texas Tribune co-founder Evan Smith, who spoke at last year's Independent News Sustainability Summit about the future of local watchdog journalism — and how national newsrooms like the Times can support it.

P.S. Our next in-person event is only a few months away! The Southeast News Sustainability Meetup in Durham, North Carolina this October will bring together publishers from across the Southeast United States, and it will also host the 2023 LION Local Journalism Awards Ceremony

Jun 16, 202301:18:35
Reimagine newsroom culture and build more sustainable workplaces ft. Angilee Shah and Sisi Wei
Jun 09, 202353:08
Make time for revenue work in 2023 ft. Kyle Constable and Lizzy Hazeltine
Jan 03, 202328:10
Prevent burnout as a news business leader ft. Ryan Belmore and Naseem S. Miller

Prevent burnout as a news business leader ft. Ryan Belmore and Naseem S. Miller

When you’re a leader at an independent news organization, it’s easy to feel like you need to wear all the hats – or that you can’t take a day off because your audience and advertisers depend on you. 

In this episode, you’ll hear advice about how to identify burnout in yourself and your team — and what to do about it – from two experienced news leaders:

Other resources:

⚒️ Lead a “work redesign” in your newsroom. This American Press Institute guide shares advice for how to prevent burnout among newsroom managers.

🏖️ Figure out how to take a real break. When LION members turn the lights off for a month or longer to catch their breath, they almost never regret it. Last year, we talked with Gabe Schneider and Janelle Salanga about their decision to stop publishing new content for the summer as they prepared for a new phase of growth.

❌ Decide what you’re going to stop doing. You can learn more about the “stop-doing list” and other strategies for preventing burnout by reading this slide deck from the Independent News Sustainability Summit, as well as this thread on Twitter.

🎓 Take a course on addressing and avoiding burnout (for LION members only). This self-guided News Entrepreneur Academy course is led by Sushil Cheema, a journalist turned executive coach specializing in burnout and self-care, professional development, interpersonal relationships and communication.

News Guest is hosted by Candice Fortman and produced and edited by Jenna Spinelle, with editorial support from Ben DeJarnette. 

Dec 06, 202229:45
Measure and market your impact ft. Angie Cirone and Anjanette Delgado
Nov 09, 202227:55
How to be a better manager ft. Wendi C. Thomas and Samantha Ragland

How to be a better manager ft. Wendi C. Thomas and Samantha Ragland

A formal education may prepare us well for a lot of things, but being a manager often isn’t one of them. In this News Guest episode, you’ll hear from two people who have been on both sides of newsroom management about how independent news publishers can be better managers.

  • Samantha Ragland is vice president of journalism programs at the American Press Institute and has coached newsroom leaders across the country.
  • Wendi C. Thomas is the founder and publisher of MLK50, a LION member newsroom in Memphis that focuses on the intersection of poverty, power and policy.

Related reading:

Related resources:

Oct 04, 202227:01
Planning for revenue growth ft. Tom Lappas and Simon Owens

Planning for revenue growth ft. Tom Lappas and Simon Owens

There are more revenue options than ever available to local independent publishers, from selling ads to launching a membership program to holding events to publishing sponsored content. Of course, having more options also means having to make more decisions — and creating more opportunities for a revenue stream to fail. In this episode, our host Candice Fortman talks with LION member Tom Lappas and news business expert Simon Owens about how publishers can determine the right revenue sources for their business and avoid learning the hard way that a monetization strategy wasn’t a good fit.

Tom Lappas is founder and publisher of the Henrico Citizen in central Virginia, and Simon Owens is a longtime journalist, marketer, and PR professional who hosts The Business of Content podcast and publishes Simon Owens’s Tech and Media Newsletter on Substack.

Related resources:

  • The Independent News Sustainability Summit in Austin this October will feature sessions on planning for growth, assessing revenue opportunities, launching advertising and sponsorships, growing advertising and sponsorships, optimizing your audience funnel and other revenue topics.
  • The News Entrepreneur Academy includes a lesson on Launching a New Revenue Stream, and later this month we plan to add a new Evaluating Growth Opportunities course that will provide frameworks for identifying different revenue opportunities and deciding whether an idea is worth pursuing.
  • The LION-GNI Sustainability Audits and Funding program offers personalized business advice and up to $6,000 of funding to help independent publishers build more sustainable businesses. The deadline to apply for the next round of audits is Oct. 10.
  • Sign up for the LION newsletter for more insights, tips and resources to help independent news publishers plan for revenue growth. 

News Guest is a production of LION Publishers, the only professional association solely focused on helping publishers build and grow more sustainable independent news business in the U.S. and Canada. This episode is hosted produced and edited by Jenna Spinelle, with editorial support from Ben DeJarnette

Sep 06, 202227:52
Know (and grow) your audience ft. Anita Li and Rebekah Monson
Aug 02, 202229:48
Trailer: News Guest Season 2

Trailer: News Guest Season 2

It's almost time for Season 2 of News Guest! Candice Fortman from Outlier Media is back to host a series of conversations about some of the most important topics for local news publishers and people who follow the industry. We'll be talking about audience development, revenue, demonstrating impact, preventing burnout and so much more. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and look out for a new episode on the first Tuesday of every month. 

Jul 28, 202201:19
Part II: What news founders wish they’d known about launching a media business

Part II: What news founders wish they’d known about launching a media business

In Part I of this conversation, we talked with Santa Cruz Local founder Kara Meyberg Guzman about finding a sustainable workload and with Gettysburg Connection founder Chuck Stangor about building and managing a tech stack.

In this month’s episode, we hear from three more independent news publishers about their advice for first-time founders:

  • Don’t wait to file your IRS paperwork. If you plan to operate your business as a nonprofit, Shasta Scout founder Annelise Pierce warns that it can take a long time to get official 501(c)3 status – and you might need to find a fiscal sponsor in the meantime.
  • Start thinking about revenue early. RevLab director Emily Dresslar says founders should build a revenue strategy right out of the gate and even consider trying to get sponsors or advertisers on board before launch.
  • Embrace learning on the job. To close out the episode (and Season 1 of News Guest!), we turned the tables on our host Candice Fortman and asked what she’s learned since becoming executive director of Outlier Media three years ago. Her biggest lesson: There’s no way to prepare for leading a news organization for the first time. You just have to learn on the job.

Related reading:

This episode of News Guest is sponsored by Stacker, the newswire that independent publishers trust for data-driven stories, graphics, and analysis – all at no cost. Request a demo»

Apr 12, 202220:54
Part I: What news founders wish they'd known about launching a media business

Part I: What news founders wish they'd known about launching a media business

Getting an independent local news business off the ground is no small feat, and figuring out how to keep it going can be even harder. So we asked publishers: What do you wish you'd known about launching a news business before you started?

In this episode of News Guest, we talk with two LION members about their perspectives on that question and the lessons they’ve learned the hard way:

  • To build a sustainable news business, set a sustainable workload: Santa Cruz Local founder Kara Meyberg Guzman explains how she found herself working 80 hours a week as a news founder – and how she and her team made a plan to fix that.
  • Beware the plug-ins: Gettysburg Connection founder Chuck Stangor talks about building a website on WordPress and learning how to manage all the plug-ins that have become part of his “tech stack.”

Related resources:

Mar 09, 202225:07
How to make "solutions journalism" part of your revenue strategy

How to make "solutions journalism" part of your revenue strategy

Research shows that solutions journalism can combat news fatigue, build trust with readers, and deliver more impact than reporting focused on problems alone. But can solutions journalism move the needle on revenue?

In this episode of News Guest, you’ll hear two perspectives on that question – first, from Flint Beat founder Jiquanda Johnson in an interview with our host Candice Fortman, and then from Alec Saelens, who’s the Newsroom Revenue Manager at the Solutions Journalism Network.

Related Resources:

  • Read the Solutions Journalism Network's Revenue Playbook.
  • If you're a LION member, sign up for a one-hour workshop with SJN’s Alec Saelens to learn about practical steps you can take to attract sponsorships, grants, reader revenue and other funding to support your solutions journalism and strengthen your business.


Jan 19, 202234:06
7 ideas to make your news business more sustainable in 2022

7 ideas to make your news business more sustainable in 2022

Our hypothesis at LION is that the path to sustainability for independent news businesses starts with a strong foundation of operational resilience, financial health, and journalistic impact. But what do these three pillars look like in practice?

In our latest episode of News Guest, we explore seven ideas to improve news business sustainability that were first shared at the 2021 LION Local Journalism Awards, including ideas for organizing your team, engaging your audience, and streamlining your workflows.

Related reading:

This episode is sponsored by Broadstreet Ads, in recognition of LION’s Local Journalism Awards and the continued dedication and excellence of LION members across North America.

Dec 22, 202127:58
How to pitch your journalism to local funders and build stronger biz relationships

How to pitch your journalism to local funders and build stronger biz relationships

Fall means peak fundraising season for many news organizations — and our three guests today are full of advice about how to build relationships with potential funders, especially those without a long history of supporting journalism.

Kimberly Griffin is the publisher and director of revenue for Mississippi Free Press; Kimberly Spencer is the senior director of development and donor relations at Chalkbeat, which reports on education across America; and Robert Chappell is the associate publisher for Madison365, a local news site that serves communities of color in Madison, Wisconsin.

Bonus for LION members: Join us on Tuesday, November 30 for a LION Lesson that will help you build or refine an end-of-year fundraising campaign. If you’re starting from scratch, we’ll give you advice on how to develop a lightweight membership or donation campaign that you can launch before the holidays. If you’re already deep in the weeds, we’ll help you get peer feedback on your campaign messaging or tactics.

RSVP here for the LION Lesson, and let us know in the registration form what support you’re looking for so that we can cater the breakout groups to your needs.

Related Reading:

Nov 17, 202123:44
How Scalawag’s events are widening its membership funnel and leading to its next phase of growth

How Scalawag’s events are widening its membership funnel and leading to its next phase of growth

Scalawag has learned that in-person and virtual events can be a powerful “top of funnel” marketing tool for membership by helping introduce its brand to the kind of progressive, diverse, engaged Southerners who are most likely to become paying supporters.

In this episode, Scalawag executive director Cierra Hinton and audience growth and engagement manager Sarah Glen share what they’ve learned about hosting great events as community-building and revenue-growth strategies that will pave the way for their next phase of growth.

Related reading:

Oct 20, 202129:12
How El Tímpano unlocked a new revenue stream by serving “hard-to-reach” communities

How El Tímpano unlocked a new revenue stream by serving “hard-to-reach” communities

Reader revenue often gets talked up as the future of local news, but what about the people who can’t afford to pay? In this episode of News Guest, Candice talks with El Tímpano founder Madeleine Bair about meeting information needs in low-income communities — and how her nonprofit newsroom unlocked a new revenue stream by doing exactly that.

Aug 23, 202126:32
How The 19th* learned from early mistakes and revised its growth plan

How The 19th* learned from early mistakes and revised its growth plan

The 19th* is celebrating its first birthday this month, and there’s a lot to celebrate, from a $12 million fundraising haul to its nearly 11,000 paying members. 

But co-founder and publisher Amanda Zamora says the high-flying independent news startup has also made a few mistakes along the way, especially when it comes to planning for and managing growth.

In this episode of News Guest, our host Candice Fortman talks with Amanda about the idea behind The 19th* and the challenge of launching it during a pandemic, as well as what she'd do differently if she could start again.

Aug 03, 202130:24
How The Objective is trying to scale up by slowing down

How The Objective is trying to scale up by slowing down

An all-volunteer passion project grows into a full-fledged news operation, with staff to manage, contractors to pay, and a business to run.

Gabe Schneider and The Objective team have spent the last 12 months charging full speed ahead at this transition, but now they’re about to try something different: slowing down.

In this episode of News Guest, our host Candice Fortman talks with Gabe and his colleague Janelle Salanga about why they’ve decided to take a break from publishing at The Objective this summer, and how they plan to use this pause to set themselves up for success.

Jul 07, 202121:31
How RANGE built a newsletter audience from scratch — and converted 9 percent of readers to paying members

How RANGE built a newsletter audience from scratch — and converted 9 percent of readers to paying members

Last summer, Luke Baumgarten was one of 24 aspiring news entrepreneurs selected to participate in the inaugural Startups Boot Camp, a partnership between LION and the Google News Initiative. Today, he’s the publisher of RANGE, a solutions-focused local news organization with nearly 1,000 newsletter readers and 100 paying members.

In this episode of News Guest, Outlier Media executive director Candice Fortman talks with Luke about his first six months as an independent news founder, plus the creative growth tactics he used to build his audience from scratch.

Jun 07, 202123:15
How Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service built a racially diverse team that reflects the community it serves

How Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service built a racially diverse team that reflects the community it serves

Many news organizations across the country have *talked* about diversifying their teams and prioritizing equity and inclusion, especially in the wake of last year's Black Lives Matter protests.

The Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service has actually done it. Nearly 70 percent of MNNS's paid staff identify as people of color, including its top editor Ron Smith — and it's not by accident.

In this episode of News Guest, our host Candice Fortman talks with Ron about the approaches to recruitment, hiring, and training that have helped Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service build one of the most racially diverse news teams in the country, and what the rest of us can learn from it. 

May 04, 202118:57
How Block Club Chicago turned a viral story into a $100,000 campaign

How Block Club Chicago turned a viral story into a $100,000 campaign

Gator Watch officially began on July 9, 2019, when the nonprofit newsroom Block Club Chicago broke the news of a rare alligator sighting in west Chicago.

30 stories and 4,000 T-shirts later, Gator Watch went down not only as a viral content series, but also as one of Block Club’s most successful fundraising campaigns ever, bringing in more than $100,000 in merchandise sales alone.

In this episode, Candice talks with Stephanie Lulay and Maple Walker Lloyd about the story behind Gator Watch, and how Block Club Chicago’s broader merch strategy is creating a new source of revenue.

Apr 05, 202116:22