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: Get the Picture
Wired Magazine has a nice profile of a small local paper in Southern Indiana where they put an emphasis on photography and began winning awards. I think there is something powerful about how photography can hold a mirror up to your community in ways that help tell new stories. Taking a more visual approach to their print magazine has paid off, and there are lessons here for all-digital newsrooms too.

Tips for Reporting on Hurricanes and Storms

Hurricane Matthew is bearing down on the Florida coast as I type and my thoughts are with the families, communities and journalists in the path of the storm. Poynter did a round-up of the front pages from newspapers across Florida. I hope everyone stays safe and am grateful for the reporters working hard to ensure their communities have all the information they need. These sorts of events are a powerful reminder of the life and death role of local media. Below are a few good resources for covering hurricanes and their aftermath. 

• The best reporting on hurricanes and their aftermaths – ProPublica 
• Tips from the Association of Health Care Journalists on covering hurricanes – AHCJ    
• Covering hurricanes and tropical storms: Key resources for journalists – Journalist Resource Center 

Are We Biased Against the Audience

Have the norms of journalism and the culture of newsrooms contributed to a negative view of the people we are meant to serve? A series of recent posts outline the case that we need to reset our view of our audience if we are to reimagine journalism for the digital age where our communities are increasingly more a central part of the work we do (and how we pay for it). The authors below don’t level this as a critique of journalists so much as a call for more open discussion about how we can shift our process and our perspective about how we serve and collaborate with our audience. 

• Fear, Loathing, Resistance, Relief: Images of the users in the mind of the American press – Jay Rosen 
• The culture of journalism breeds disdain for the people we’re meant to be serving, i.e., the audience – Jenn Brandel 
• Scary user feedback that’s actually “really super good” – Desert Digital Media 

The Role of SuperFans in Sustaining Journalism

In 2006 Jakob Nielsen introduced the idea that in social and participatory communities “90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action.” This has become known as the 90:9:1 rule. This raises a question about how newsrooms can engage their most passionate fans, and create meaningful ways to serve them. In her Nieman Foundation report on alternative membership models for news, Melody Kramer suggested that most newsrooms don’t take full advantage of their community’s passions and skills. The three profiles below explore how a few newsrooms are thinking creatively about their SuperFans. 

• Why Honolulu Civil Beat now has a 72-year-old intern – Poynter 
• Slate, now 20 years old, reflects on the value of taking the long view and not chasing digital media trends – NiemanLab
• Chasing subscriptions over scale, The Athletic wants to turn local sports fandom into a sustainable business – NiemanLab

Have a good weekend,
Josh

The Local Fix is a project of the Democracy Fund’s Public Square Program, which invests in innovations and institutions that are reinventing local media and expanding the public square. Disclosure: Some projects mentioned in this newsletter may be funded by Democracy Fund, you can find a full list of the organizations we support on our website.