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: Collaboration x 1000
Fresh off of Electionland, ProPublica is launching “Documenting Hate,” a new large-scale collaboration that will bring in local and national news organizations, schools, and civil-rights groups to create a database of reported bias incidents and hate crimes. ProPublica and other organizations, including the NY Time’s “This Week in Hate” project, saw a need – the lack of reliable nationwide data on hate crimes in the U.S. – and quickly evolved a past collaboration model to answer it. It will be a collaboration to watch as it continues. 

Sign me up: new (and old) takes on membership in news

💰  What’s old is new again. The membership and subscription models of newspapers and public broadcasters are getting a fresh look as the advertising market continues to erode for publishers. In its just released 2020 report the New York Times wrote, “We are, in the simplest terms, a subscription-first business. Our focus on subscribers sets us apart in crucial ways from many other media organizations. We are not trying to maximize clicks and sell low-margin advertising against them. We are not trying to win a pageviews arms race.” Here is how a few other newsrooms are building their business around support from their community:

• Business news site Quartz is getting ready to launch a subscription business – Recode 
• Slate’s paying membership jumps 46 percent after the election – Digiday 
• Voice of San Diego is spearheading a team to help other smaller news outlets build membership programs – NiemanLab 
• Boston Globe Media Partners’ Stat launches a $299-a-year membership program – Digiday 
• Philadelphia’s WXPN reaches membership milestone. – Current 

Don’t You (Forget About TV)*

📺  In a recent Pew study, fifty-four percent of voters said that television was their main source for election news. And in a previous study, Pew noted that the majority of modern news consumer still turn to TV for news. Experimentation with new models and storytelling on local TV is happening everywhere, from South Dakota to Denver. Here are just a few examples that have cropped up recently:

• Television, not the web, was the main news source for both Trump and Clinton voters, says Pew – NiemanLab
• A TV station taps viewers to help ‘truth-test’ the news – Columbia Journalism Review  
• Local breaking news comes to investigations-focused Colorado public TV, via The Weather Channel – NiemanLab 
• South Dakota Public Broadcasting launched an online portal and app to livestream state government and high-school sports.  – Current 
• TV stations fight ‘sea of sameness’ with experimental local news – Columbia Journalism Review 

Time to partner, not parachute

🙌🏾  This week local Fix co-editor Josh Stearns wrote about why national media should be developing powerful new partnerships with smaller local stations in 2017. Across the country collaborations are helping rebuild the investigative capacity of newsrooms, injecting a dose of innovation into reporting and helping more diverse stories reach a broader audience. 

• Satellite Reporting: Parachute Reporting’s pernicious cousin – Heather Bryant 
• NPR stations nationwide are working together to spot trends in state governments – NiemanLab 
• How a new reporting collaborative is building a newsroom that crosses state lines – Columbia Journalism Review 

*Did you get that reference? If not here is a hint. 🎶

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.