Work with your community to elect the right person for the job
Jennifer Brandel, CEO of Hearken, argues that newsrooms should think about elections as a hiring process for a job — with the electorate as the hiring committee. She writes that a good hiring process involves understanding the important qualities needed for the job, as well as the hierarchy, performance benchmarks and compensation of the role.
But very few newsroom guides provide that kind of basic information. She encourages news outlets to eschew editorial board endorsements and instead create community committees and bring them together to create a job description and make recommendations. It’s also a great opportunity for community engagement.
On the national stage, the status of presidential debates is front and center. A group of major news organizations issued an unusual joint statement this week, calling on President Biden and former president Donald Trump to commit to televised debates, saying there is “simply no substitute for the candidates debating with each other, and before the American people, their visions for the future of our nation,” The New York Times reported. In the Columbia Journalism Review, Cameron Joseph writes that strategists think it’s likely that there will be no debates this year — and that it would be hard to revive them in future years.
News In Focus
Headlines, resources and events aligned with API’s four areas of focus.
Civic Discourse & Democracy
+ Democracy dies behind paywalls: The case for making journalism free — at least during the 2024 election (The Atlantic)
Most news consumers avoid paywalls and seek out free news instead — and the information they find there tends to be less reliable and well-sourced. Richard Stengel argues that the stakes of the 2024 election are too high, and that publications should suspend their paywalls for all their elections related coverage.
+ When Facebook blocks news, studies show the political risks that follow (Reuters)
In Canada, where Meta blocks news sharing on Facebook rather than comply with laws to pay publishers, right-wing meme pages thrive. Studies are showing that users are more likely to engage with unreliable sources in lieu of news content on the site.
+ Join us tomorrow: Elections 2024: Developing products for voters and local audiences
Table Stakes alumni are invited to join a set of virtual lightning talks from three news organizations who created news products to help their audiences make more informed decisions about local elections. Journalists from LAist, Enlace Latino NC and Spotlight PA will share their learnings and how they’ve navigated the 2024 election year so far. The webinar is tomorrow at 1 p.m. EDT — register here.
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Culture & Inclusion
+ Join us: Trauma-informed leadership for post-pandemic news leaders
At its core, trauma-informed leadership recognizes and respects human experiences. Post-pandemic news organizations require us to re-order our skillset, moving “soft” skills to the top. While the soft skills of leadership are hard, API believes these skills will help retain critical perspectives and pivotal voices. In this workshop — led by Sam Ragland, API’s vice president of journalism programs — we’ll invite caring, coaching and connecting to the table. Join us Wednesday, May 1 for this free session.
+ PressPad, an attempt to bring some class diversity to posh British journalism, is shutting down (Nieman Lab)
The PressPad project sought to help provide accommodations and mentorship to aspiring journalists who otherwise lacked the resources to do the short, unpaid internships in London that could jumpstart a career. But economic constraints have forced the project to shut down.
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Community Engagement & Trust
+ Trust Tip: Add transparency on air in these 4 ways
With the fast-paced environment of news and tight deadlines, it might be hard to imagine how to fit transparency language in. In television news, transparency elements can be added in an anchor or reporter intro or tag, during cross-talk or a Q&A, or in original video content produced for social media.
+ How ‘user needs’ double reader engagement and increase subscription rates (DPA)
DRIVE, a data initiative focused on growing digital in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, found that when they adopted an editorial model focused on user needs, they saw a 75% increase in conversions and double the amount of reader engagement. The strategy, detailed in a white paper, focused on moving newsrooms away from “pure news” to stories that are “inspiring, insightful, explanatory and entertaining.”
+ New from API: American Press Institute awards $30,000 in grants to six news organizations as part of a live events training program
The American Press Institute awarded grants to six local news organizations participating in the live events sprint program for Table Stakes Local News Transformation Program alumni. The grants will help participating organizations host events that cultivate productive community engagement, build community trust, and strengthen their revenue and resilience.
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Revenue & Resilience
+ Major South African news site ‘shuts down’ for a day to alert readers to ‘crisis in journalism’ (Press Gazette)
South African news site The Daily Maverick shut down for 24 hours on Monday to highlight the need for support for journalism. A message on the website read: “Without journalism, our democracy and economy will break down. Journalism helped save South Africa. Now we need your help.” The landing page also included links for businesses and individuals to become paying members to the site.
+ Falls Church News-Press planning paywall to save print legacy amid financial struggles (ARLnow)
Virginia’s Falls Church News-Press plans to add a paywall to its site as part of a change to its business model. The News-Press, which was founded in 1991, will also begin piloting a program to deliver the paper via mail rather than having a dedicated route. The owner has also petitioned the local government to resume purchasing ads in the paper.
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What else you need to know
🙋 Former DCist staffers are starting a new outlet — and looking for suggestions for its name
🌍 How cheap, outsourced labor in Africa is shaping AI English (The Guardian)
🎒 LION’s 2024 community ambassadors are launching peer learning groups. Here’s how you can sign up. (LION Publishers)
🗳️ OAN and Smartmatic settle 2020 election defamation case (CNN)
📰 Strategic buyers breathe new life into struggling media outlets (Axios)
🤖 UNC has created the Local News Audience Assistant, a custom GPT that connects journalists to resources published by support organizations on audience best practices.
