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: Color Inside the Lines
What do you get when you rethink your newsroom swag? At Iowa Public Radio, they came up with a coloring book made by, and for, a local audience. IPR asked listeners to send in drawings for a coloring book as part of a week-long radio series, and received hundreds of submissions. They’re now offering the final version as a gift during their membership drive. It shows what you can do when you think full circle between stories, engagement, and membership. If you like this idea, also be sure to check out the earthquake investigation that California Watch turned into a coloring book for kids. 

Talk Back to Me

Before your newsroom decides to get rid of comment sections you might want to look at some new data from FiveThirtyEight. Most people say they comment to “correct an error” or “add to the discussion.” Those could be valuable interactions. Steve Waldman offers a few ideas about how to reclaim comments at the Columbia Journalism Review. And on Medium, Ernst-Jan Pfauth the co-founder of De Correspondent argues that at a time when people already feel disconnected from news organizations we shouldn’t make it harder to reach us. “Talking to your audience isn’t extra work, it is your work,” he writes. 

• We asked 8,500 internet commenters why they do what they do – FiveThirtyEight 
• How user comments got ruined—and what to do about it – Columbia Journalism Review 
• Let’s give reader comments another chance — and for real, this time – Medium 
• “Sanpete from Utah,” a regular commenter on NPR.org, on why he spent so much time in the comments – Current 
   

Four Different Models for Building a News Business

There is no one business model for journalism, but that means it is incumbent on us to understanding the choices different kinds of news organizations make as they try to reshape their business. Below are four examples of very different newsrooms who are trying to find their way towards a model that works for them and their readers. There may not be a roadmap to sustainability but we can learn to navigate better and still reach our destination. 

• The Information’s Jessica Lessin on building her business, putting subscribers first and the future of media – Poynter 
• Stat launches a $299/year subscription with original content, events, and a private Slack group – NiemanLab  
• The Tulsa Frontier is ditching its pricey paywall and becoming a nonprofit as it attempts to grow – NiemanLab 
• Two articles on the Minneapolis Star Tribunes business model and success (one, two) – Poynter 
   

The Year of Longform 

This month The Economist launched a publication on Medium for longform stories. They are curating their best longform reporting from the past as well as producing original pieces for Medium and promising “behind-the-scenes glimpses into the process of how our correspondents work.” There have in fact been three separate studies this year that show a strong demand for longform stories, even on small screens. The reports below offer useful background and a number of concrete pieces of advice on new ways of producing longform journalism.  

• Report: How to engage readers with digital longform journalism – American Press Institute 
• Five takeaways from the new Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute study on how millennials read longform stories on mobile – Storybench 
• Longform reading shows signs of life in our mobile news world – Pew Research Center 

Have a good weekend
Josh and Teresa
@jcstearns, @gteresa

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.