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: Zoltar Speaks
The year is winding down, and you know what that means – time to plan. If you need a little inspiration as you look to 2018, spend a few minutes scanning through NiemanLab’s 2018 Prediction series.  A theme through many of the posts is the need to focus on the public’s needs as attention becomes even more fractured and overwhelmed. Kristen Muller calls it “the year of the voter.” Molly de Aguiar says “good journalism won’t be enough.” And Ariana Tobin says it’s time to ask the question “is this really worth a reader’s time?”

🎁  Did you know you can give the Local Fix as a gift? Just forward it to someone you think will love it. tinyletter.com/localfix Easiest present ever.🎁

Platform, Payments, and Patreons

The crowd payment system, Patreon, announced changes to how it would be charging fees for creators and supporters last week and the blow back was swift. The debate shines a spotlight on the complications of building a membership model on a third party platform. The Patreon debate came just a few weeks after Kickstarter launched its own new subscriber product which allows people to back a project over time rather than a one-time donation. And this week Facebook announced it was going to stop paying publishers to make videos for its news feed. At the start of this program Facebook set aside $50 million a year to pay 140 publishers. There were almost no local newsrooms as part of this program, but by incentivizing an industry to “pivot to video” the trickle down effects were felt by newsrooms large and small. All these changes and tensions related to building a business model around third party platforms were laid out in a letter from BuzzFeed Founder and CEO Jonah Peretti, in which he lays out how BuzzFeed is seeking to create a diverse set of revenue streams that leverage different platforms but don’t depend on them. The chart and logic he lays out is useful for others who are thinking about their own business models. 

• Facebook plans to stop paying publishers to make news feed videos – DigiDay 
• Why content crowdfunder Patreon is halting its hated fee change – TechCrunch 
• 9 Boxes: Building out our multi-revenue model – BuzzFeed 
• Kickstarter’s new product, Drip, lets people charge subscriptions for ongoing projects – NiemanLab 

Hire Me, Choose Me 

Last week we linked to our own job description for an intern to join the Local Fix team. This week, we wanted to share some of the best reading and advice we’ve read lately on making hiring processes suck less. Below, Hearken gives a copyable hiring process, Rachel Schallom outlines what to avoid (post those job postings people!), and Poynter suggests ditching cover letters.

• ‘Cover letters are awful.’ Here’s another way to hire. – Poynter
• How to copy our great hiring process, step by step – Hearken 
• Open Letter to Newsroom Hiring Managers: Let’s build a hiring process that leads to a stronger newsroom and less misery – Source 
• 5 ways to make your journalism job descriptions better – Poynter 

Research Roundup: Data and Charts and Numbers, Oh My!

In our latest research roundup, we share insights for newsrooms from two pieces of research about data reporting and visualization. Some interesting takeaways include that audiences spend more time reading misleading infographics than they do other graphics, and they are more likely to remember the information from misleading graphics. Plus, those working in political reporting say that overemphasis of pre-election forecasts has decreased trust not only in public opinion research but also in journalism that draws on it. More tips and resources related to the research are at the Local News Lab.

• Advances in survey research make reporting polls a challenge for newsrooms, research shows – Local News Lab
• Is there something that you want to learn more about from local news related-research? Email us at localnewslab@democracyfund.org

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.