Welcome to the Local Fix. Each week we look at key debates in journalism sustainability and community engagement through the lens of local news. But first, we always begin with one good idea…

One Good Idea: Focus on Collaboration, Community Tips and Obsessively Local Stories 
Bay Area hyperlocal news organization Hoodline sees partnerships and networks as a key part of the future of local news. Those are the same values that we are pursuing in our journalism sustainability work in New Jersey, so we are watching Hoodline with interest. NiemanLab reports, “Hoodline hopes to use partnerships to reach a larger audience while amplifying the work of other hyperlocal outlets.” Read more at Nieman Lab and visit the Hoodline site.  

Podcasts Go Local – Building Networks for Success

In Current’s “The Pub” podcast Robin Amer, who just won WNYC’s Podcast Accelerator, talked about the challenges and opportunities of local podcasts. Her new podcast is called The City and she describes it as David Simon’s The Wire but true. Her plan is to dive deep into the stories of one city each season. Below are a few other examples of local podcast experiments. It is notable that in two of the examples below, collaborative networks — like a geographically-based Radiotopia — are being developed to help local podcasters share resources and attract advertisers.  

• Small is beautiful: Local podcast networks latest hope – by Ricardo Bilton 
• The Chicago Podcast Cooperative wants to let independent audio thrive in the Windy City – by Justin Ellis
• Three hyperlocal sites in NJ are experimenting with very different podcasts, from celebrity interviews to local news briefings. Check out these clips from MorristownGreen, Brick City Live and New Brunswick Today.

From Membership to Ads to Events – Revenue Starts With People

Jay Lauf, the Publisher of Quartz, argues that if we are going to fix the economics of digital media we need to begin by thinking about how we serve the audience. He writes: “Advertisers are so fixated on blasting through the noise and publishers are so desperate to monetize that they haven’t noticed just how bad this whole experience has become for the people who matter most — their audiences.” A few weeks earlier at ONA Joy Robins, SVP of Global Revenue and Strategy for Quartz made a similar point.  

• For more on that ONA session, which included the Texas Tribune and Voice of San Diego, read Damaris Colhoun on “Three ways news outlets are making money”  
• And if you want to get fired-up and learn a ton in 8 minutes, listen to the Texas Tribune’s Evan Smith lay out how they are making nearly $1.5 million in events this year.  
• How The New York Times plans to double digital revenue by 2020 – by Benjamin Mullin 
• Video: Raju Narisetti on turning context into digital dollars 

Millennials Aren’t Outsiders – Listen to the Young People in Your Newsroom

The American Press Institute released a new report today on “The best practices for reaching a Millennial audience.” Over the last week there has been a good discussion about how newsrooms need to stop thinking of Millennials as an “us vs. them” dichotomy. On Facebook last week Tayla Buney of WAMU confronted this head on, writing, “WE ARE HERE! We are working for you – tirelessly! – and we are so passionate about this work and excited about the future. And, yes, we’re obviously already won over, but we have ideas for how you can reach our friends who aren’t. And insights into how the industry can keep our attention and retain our talent.” Below are a few pieces that look at the powerful role young journalists are already playing, and why we should be listening more closely to them.  

• 5 reasons to pay attention to the young people in your newsroom – by Kristen Hare
• Millennials in public media want to be heard – by Melody Kramer 
• Is this 8-year-old’s newspaper better than yours? – by Joe Pompeo 
• That public radio documentary you just listened to was made by high school students -by Melody Kramer 

In Their Words, In Our Words – Lessons from Covering The Refugee Crisis

The refugee crisis in Europe has led to some creative storytelling from large and small news organizations. At their best, these efforts help us not only understand the social and political context of the crisis, but also build empathy and give people ways to take action. 

• How three newsrooms covered the refugee crisis on Snapchat and Periscope as ‘a day-by-day documentary’ – by Caroline Scott
• Refugees take over Danish daily newspaper for a day – by Pernille Baerendtsen  
• From Syria to Europe: Storyful’s Joe Galvin and Derek Bowler look at the journeys taken by Syrian refugees, as seen through eyewitness content. – by First Draft News
• Surveying The New York Times’s refugee crisis coverage – by Jorge Caraballo Cordovez
• Chicas Poderosas in partnership with Univision and Fusion Networks launched the 19 Million Project “to explore how Europe’s pressing refugee crisis came to be, and what can be done to fix it.”  

Have a good weekend,

Molly and Josh 
@MollydeAguiar
@jcstearns

The Local Fix is a project of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation’s Local News Lab, where we are exploring creative experiments in journalism sustainability.