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: $5 Million for New Jersey Communities and Local News
This week, New Jersey approved a state budget that dedicates $5 million to the Civic Information Consortium, a new nonprofit that will “revive, strengthen and transform media in NJ.” (Full disclosure: the Local Fix has deep roots in New Jersey’s local news and information scene and Democracy Fund Voice supported some of Free Press Action’s work to get this bill passed.) It is an exciting model that proves there are many ways to address our local news crisis. It didn’t happen overnight — it took a coalition of activists, journalists, communities, and funders years to bring this vision for more local news support into reality. But now there’s a new path and model of collaboration and action to learn from. Stay tuned for more as the work gets off the ground.

Blockchain and Journalism

As newsrooms driven by blockchain technology continue to crop up, we are just scratching the surface of what it all means. We’ve seen blockchain making headlines, listened to a few podcasts about cryptocurrency, learned about the strange and wonderful world of CryptoKitties, and even heard blockchain heralded as the savior of journalism. So…what the heck is a blockchain? And how is it supposed to save us all? Simply put, a blockchain is asupposedly un-hackable public ledger that can track everything from financial transactions to documents. Most people know it for tracking cryptocurrency (like Bitcoin), but now places like Civil are putting it to use for journalism. Advocates say using blockchain technology for journalism eliminates the middleman, removing corporate influence and directly connecting journalists and the public. Sounds like a dream, right? But not so fast. Dissenters caution that blockchain is difficult to use and understand, threatening its widespread adoption. Others argue that, like any technology, it can be used for both good and bad purposes and doesn’t guarantee integrity. We’re still getting our heads around it all, but here are some resources we’ve found useful as we learn more about blockchain.

• How veteran journalists in Colorado are using the blockchain to build a news start-up  – Washington Post
• Blockchain is not only crappy technology but a bad vision for the future  – Kai Stinchcombe
• The Civil-izing Process – The Baffler
• Civil promises that you don’t have to care about blockchain to care about what it’s doing (also, its first newsrooms just launched) – NiemanLab
• Blockchain is useful for a lot more than just Bitcoin – The Conversation
• Mining cryptocurrencies and blockchain tech to save journalism – Poynter
• Bitcoin Commercial: What Is It and How Does It Work? – Late Night with Seth Myers
• Blockchain Expert Explains One Concept in 5 Levels of Difficulty – WIRED

Coping and Self-Care in Newsrooms

We’ve found ourselves revisiting some of our favorite resources for supporting self-care, mental health, and wellness in the workplace this week. The constant onslaught of news, stress, and traumatic events can be overwhelming. For women, people of color, and other marginalized communities, the stress is even worse as many worry about their family, friends, and their own safety. As we all know, turning off the news isn’t a permanent solution, especially for those in the news business. From addressing vicarious trauma to online harassment to burnout, there are many levels and angles the below resources address. But they share a few tips in common: Talk to someone. Take a break. Managers should be a role model for self-care. And most of all, “it is ok to not feel ok,” as Hannah Wise writes. You’re not alone. Do you have other resources you find useful for mental health and wellbeing? Hit reply and send them our way or tweet to @thelocalnewslab. 

• Caring for community – and yourself  – ONA Local, with a H/T to the Gather newsletter
• Surviving the News Business– Source
• Tips on handling constant stress and news from a former CIA analyst – Cindy Otis
• Women in public-facing journalism jobs are exhausted by harassment – The Cohort
• Guide Offers Dialogue and Guidance on Vicarious Trauma – First Draft
• Managering in Terrible Times – Lara Hogan

Research Roundup: Read the Comments

In the latest installment of Research Roundup on the Local News Lab, Jessica Mahone summarizes research on how online comments can influence how people assess the credibility of news content and how online commenters view the role of journalists in online discussions. In addition to linking to related research at the Center for Media Engagement and The Coral Project, Mahone shares some interesting takeaways from two recent papers, including:

• Comments from experts increased the credibility of news articles to some participants of a survey of 196 people.
• The positivity or negativity of comments did not influence how credible readers rated the article, no matter their position on the issue they were reading about.
• How frequently someone consumes news affected the influence of expert comments on credibility assessments of the news article in the survey.

Have a good weekend,Josh, Teresa and Rachel@jcstearns, @gteresa, @rachelannwegner P.S. Thanks to our colleague Tammy Patrick for sharing a photo of some of our Local News Lab postcards in the wild at Poynter. Do you have a postcard in your cubicle? Send us a photo! Want a postcard? Reply to let us know and we’ll send one your way. 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.