St. Louis merger: Lessons for news organizations considering deeper partnerships

Almost exactly one year ago, St. Louis Public Radio and The St. Louis Beacon began serious conversations about how they could best work together.

Pierre Omidyar's investigative journalism project: Lessons for community news

A few weeks ago, eBay founder and media philanthropist Pierre Omidyar pledged $250 million to fund an investigative reporting venture. Also, Glenn Greenwald (the journalist who broke the Edward Snowden story) is leaving The Guardian to help Omidyar with the launch. And this week, NYU journalism professor and community media expert Jay Rosen announced he'll be joining the team as well.

Omidyar has a track record in regional/community news. In 2012 he founded Honolulu Civil Beat, which this year won an Online Journalism Award. What might community and nonprofit news projects learn from his latest media venture? (Which, according to Rosen, with the working title "NewCo.") Recently media analyst Frédéric Filloux raised some key points to consider.

Groundsource: Simpler mobile engagement for any cell phone

Cell phones can be a powerful tool for generating discussion and gathering information in your community. However, the catch has been actually reaching people via their cell phones. So far, affordable tools for text alerts, interactive texting, and other mobile channels have been just a bit too cumbersome or limited for most community engagement projects. Groundsource, a new mobile platform due to launch next spring, could make this easier.

Code for America Fellows launch tools to inventory abandoned buildings

Civic Insight and LocalData are bookends for making information about the built environment of a place accessible to the public and easy to use. The major difference is one start-up collects data from inside the municipal bureaucracy and the other collects it from the outside, from the sidewalks of neighborhoods.  

Nonprofit news: Audience research, engagement strategies drive revenue momentum

A new Knight Foundation report examining 18 nonprofit news orgqnizations provides new insight into a growing segment of the local news ecosystem

Nonprofit news organizations and foundation supporters benefit from evolving dialog

More conversation about what works, what doesn't and what risks are worth taking helps bring clarity for local news start ups and funders as well.

3 powerful mobile engagement strategies you might have overlooked

Mobile devices are a great tool for engaging and informing your community, since people are on their phones all the time. And they're doing lots of different things on their phones! Which is why your mobile strategy should take advantage of the myriad capabilities of mobile devices.

Teaching media entrepreneurship: What works, and what gets in the way

Entrepreneurship is turning out to be a key skill for having a successful journalism career -- and indeed, for building the future of journalism. In the last few years, some U.S. journalism schools have begun adding courses and projects designed to impart the skills and mindset for entrepreneurship. What's working, and what still needs to be done? A recent scholarly article outlines some successes, obstacles, and opportunities.

Local online news startups: Profits, progress and persistent challenges

My new survey of independent online community news startups provides some encouragement - a third of the organizations say they are profitable - as well as insights into the challenges of journalists learning to operate a business.

Proposed federal shield law could protect local newsgatherers, too

Most states have shield laws which protect journalists who want to keep their sources, notes, or recordings confidential -- but those laws don't help when the feds come knocking. A proposed bill currently before Congress would also protect reporters from federal requests to hand over their sources. This could even help people who gather and publish community news.