Welcome to the Local Fix. I’m excited to welcome Teresa Gorman to the Local Fix team. Gorman joined Democracy Fund this month as part of our team working on supporting local news collaboration, engagement and sustainability. You can follow her and send tips our way on Twitter at @gteresa.

(By the way, we need your help with something. Scroll down to the bottom of the email for more. 👇 )

But first, we always begin with one good idea…

One Good Idea: Eight Promising Business Models for Email Newsletters
Andrew Jack, the head of curated content at the Financial Times, offers a good snapshot of different ways to make money on email newsletters. With links to specific examples, Jack outlines how you can think about newsletters as news products that help you circumvent platforms and deliver your journalism direct to your community. But the model is not without its challenges. Complex software, laws and digital best practices all intersect to make newsletter as much an art as a science. 
 

A Post-Election Boost for Newsrooms

Across the media spectrum, newsrooms are reporting a bump in subscriptions and donations in the wake of the election. While journalists unpack what went right and what went wrong in campaign coverage and political reporting, there is clearly a sense amongst many people that we need a strong press in the years ahead. Newsrooms should see this investment not as a mandate to continue along with business as usual, but as a challenge being issued by our readers and a nation that is looking for public interest reporting. To meet that challenge and to build trust and cultivate this relationship between newsrooms and communities, we need to embody the best practices of a free and cantankerous press, engage readers meaningfully and meet the needs of our diverse communities. 

• After Trump’s Win, News Organizations See a Bump in Subscriptions and Donations – Joseph Lighterman 
• In The Week Since the Election, the New York Times has Netted 41,000 New Subscribers – Michael Calderone and Daniel Marans  
• President-Elect Trump: Already Very Good for Nonprofit News Outlets – Erik Wemple 

Simple Steps to Expand Your Digital Security

In the Washington Post Margaret Sullivan writes “First Amendment rights are not just for journalists but for everyone — they are so core to our democracy.” Her piece outlines how journalists in America can – by doing their highest and best work – help defend and protect the First Amendment. The articles below highlight other ways newsrooms are responding to the election to protect their work, their sources and their rights. 
Our First Amendment Test is Here. We Can’t Afford to Flunk It. – Margaret Sullivan 
Security Compromises in Journalism – Martin Shelton 
Eight Steps Reporters Should Take Before Trump Assumes Office – Dana Priest 
Digital Security and Source Protection For Journalists – Susan McGregor 

 

Who Fake News Really Hurts

Fake news — a mix of misinformation, rumor and purposefully false stories — has been in the spotlight since the election. As an indication of the scope of the problem, an investigation by BuzzFeed found that fake news outpaced real news on Facebook in the months leading up to the election. Eli Pariser, author of the Filter Bubble, told the Verge he worries about how the flood of fake news erodes people’s trust in all media. Even President Obama weighed in on the issue, warning that fake news hurts democracy.  How to respond to fake news is a hugely complex question that we’ll need to continue grappling with together. 

• Viral Fake Election News Outperformed Real News On Facebook In Final Months Of The US Election – Craig Silverman 
• Who Fake News Harms: An Open Letter to Mark Zuckerberg – Adam Schweigert 
• Fake-News Fury Forces Google and Facebook to Change Policy – Ken Doctor 
• How Teens In The Balkans Are Duping Trump Supporters With Fake News – Craig Silverman and Lawrence Alexander  

👉 Help us out: Who are you thankful for?

As Thanksgiving approaches we are curious, who are you thankful for? Send us a link and a few sentences about someone in journalism you are grateful for and we’ll share it back out next week. Help us shine a light on the great people working in local news. 

Best,
Josh and Teresa

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.