"What’s working to generate revenue and sustain journalism collaborations, beyond philanthropy? To answer this question, the Center for Cooperative Media, The Lenfest Institute for Journalism and the Solutions Journalism Network conducted a survey, interviewed collaborative project managers, funde
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rs and ecosystem support staff from around the country, and ultimately identified eight innovative examples of collaborative revenue experiments in progress to share with you. These experiments range from new reader revenue streams to newsletter sponsorships, monetizing events and sharing back-office services." (About this report)
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"The aim of this article is to show to what extent alternative audio media can be built online, not only by amateurs but also as a combination of the energy and involvement of professional journalists and the community of listeners who are ready to support them [...] The podcast Raport o stanie swia
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ta and two Internet radio stations, Radio Nowy Swiat and Radio 357 from Poland, which are analysed in this article, were born in an act of protest against the negative changes in public service broadcasting, which became a propaganda tool. They are financed by listeners via the crowdfunding platform Patronite and do not broadcast advertising. A framework for analysing their functioning is devised using, in particular, theories of the public sphere and of alternative media. The study is based on content analysis of the call-in broadcasts disseminated for the first anniversary of the stations, Radio Nowy Swiat (April 16 and July 9, 2022) and Radio 357 (January 5, 2022). Pre-structured interviews with the patrons of Raport o stanie swiata are also used. Websites and social media accounts of these initiatives, as well as press coverage and data gathered by the National Broadcasting Council in relation to Polish Radio, are analysed as well. The research found that all three initiatives Raport o stanie swiata, Radio Nowy Swiat and Radio 357, despite being started by professionals, share some of the characteristics of alternative media and can significantly change the model of audio production, financing and consumption routines in Poland." (Abstract)
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"Richard J. Tofel, the former president and founding general manager of ProPublica, offers actionable strategies to help nonprofit newsrooms and news entrepreneurs build sustainable organizations. Drawing on his years of experience in managing and running a nonprofit newsroom, Tofel shares how to: d
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raft a strong mission statement; create a business plan, devise a fundraising strategy; build a board; sustain organizational structure; and much more." (Back cover)
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"How much money do you need to start? Other than identifying a mission and an editorial vision, this is probably the most important question a would-be nonprofit news entrepreneur should ask at the outset. If you don’t ask it, you’re making the most basic error in starting a business. Moreover,
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to answer this question, you need a comprehensive initial expense budget, charting how much you’ll spend on everything from salaries to freelance to office space (if any) to benefits to photos to publishing tools to marketing and beyond. In my view, it’s a mistake to begin operations without at least 18 months of spending on hand, and two years is even better. This is hard, and quite likely daunting."
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"The Solutions Journalism Revenue Project (SJRP), which ran between February 2020 and February 2021, aimed to explore how a diverse range of newsrooms could leverage solutions journalism to generate revenue. Among the questions the project sought to answer were: Can reporting on responses to social
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problems help newsrooms attract financial backers and contribute to their economic sustainability? Is there a business case that supports this journalistic practice? Over the yearlong project, we gathered both quantitative and qualitative evidence indicating that producing solutions journalism can help news organizations bring in revenue. We are particularly heartened by this outcome given the extraordinary challenges faced by newsrooms across the industry this past year, including COVID-19 and urgent news issues, such as the movement for racial justice and the presidential election, that demanded significant attention from already stretched newsroom staff. Our partner newsrooms’ dedication to experimenting with and keeping the focus on solutions journalism is testimony to its value in advancing their revenue objectives and larger goals of serving communities with a different approach to producing information that is in the public interest. The takeaways below reflect results from SJN’s work, both with the 12 U.S.-based newsrooms that formed the yearlong SJRP cohort and with numerous other newsrooms we’ve worked with outside the cohort where data and insights are relevant to this report." (Introduction, page 1)
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"This report is meant to share the experiences and lessons of local media practitioners globally, and to build a community for networking and support. It’s about telling their story in their own voice – and helping all involved learn from one another. By talking to both new digital start-ups and
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traditional media in transition, this report identifies how media builders in different circumstances understand and meet the challenges they face. Comparing and contrasting experiences from different parts of the world provides both lessons that can be copied as well as warnings about the need to understand how different regional and national conditions impact success. From there, the report draws practical recommendations for news media leaders, for media support organizations, and for the IPI global network." (Introduction, page 4)
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"The Startup Guide is our attempt to curate the information and tools we think are essential to launch an independent newsroom and leading a successful enterprise well beyond startup. The areas of focus include business planning, audience development, revenue generation and nonprofit management. All
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to support those who want to start a sustainable nonprofit news organization." (https://inn.org/research/guides/startup-guide)
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"Whereas the earlier ZACRAS manuals already covered issues of social and organisational sustainability, this manual addresses the issue of financial sustainability. These three aspects: social, organisational and financial sustainability e are described and explained in the following chapter. This f
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inancial sustainability framework manual consists of a set of really practical tools, for preparing the work stepebyestep. The manual can be used as a guide and tool in a radio station seminar, where the board and management sit down and develop the tools step by step. It can be further used as a support when you explain your financial situation and life to the broader group of community volunteer broadcasters, or to your members in an annual general assembly, or when breaking down in a discussion with a potential partner, how you work strategically and systematically with partnerships. Every community radio is a mirror of the community to which it belongs – and as every community is special and different, reflecting its history, composition and choices, so is every community radio. It is therefore not possible to present one, generic financial sustainability framework for use by all. But it is possible to present a set of questions that all community radio stations should be asking themselves in order to achieve financial sustainability. The answers will be different – special – and will be your own, special, framework for your own, special, financial sustainability strategy and framework." (Introduction)
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"In the context of the ongoing financial crisis in U.S. professional journalism, philanthropic foundation-supported nonprofits are increasingly proposed as a solution to the under-provision of civic-oriented news production. Drawing on an analysis of the social composition of boards of directors and
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interviews with foundation officials and nonprofit journalists, this article examines both the civic contributions and limitations of foundation-supported nonprofit news organizations. Foundations are shown to place many nonprofits in a Catch-22 because of competing demands to achieve both economic “sustainability” and civic “impact,” ultimately creating pressures to reproduce dominant commercial media news practices or orient news primarily for small, elite audiences. Further, media organizations dependent on foundation project-based funding risk being captured by foundation agendas and thus less able to investigate the issues they deem most important. Reforms encouraging more long-term, no-strings-attached funding by foundations, along with development of small donor and public funding, could help nonprofits overcome their current limitations." (Abstract)
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"Nonprofit news organizations offer the potential to become part of the bedrock of a strong local news and information ecosystem. The field of nonprofit news, as illustrated by the 20 organizations profiled in this study, has continued to scale its impact and inch closer toward more sustainable busi
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ness models. But progress has been uneven and for the majority of organizations in the study, sustainability is just a premise on the distant horizon." (Conclusion)
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"A new news disseminator has emerged to revitalize the profession of information gathering – the non-profit news organization. Adopting a framework of community trust, this article begins a scholarly response to the questions: Who are these non-profit journalists and what do they aim to accomplish
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? A rhetorical analysis of nearly 50 mission statements and ethnographic work on two case studies revealed a commitment to rebuilding public trust, to reclaiming community journalism, to re-emphasizing the “ordinary” citizen, and to pioneering collaborative news work by means of digital technologies. Our analysis demonstrated that many of these organizations, in considering news as a public good, work to re-conceptualize the industry for citizens, but depend upon a level of funding that might not be viable in the long term. However, this research posits that little in the way of true community trust can be achieved until these organizations discover a sustainable business model." (Abstract)
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"This book offers a methodology for the classification and comparison of broadcasting systems, both for positive and normative analyses. It is based on the assumption that the revenue structures of broadcasters determine the incentives for the broadcasters' staffs, and that these incentives in tur
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n determine the broadcasters' program outputs (content, journalistic and artistic style, target audiences etc.) and its private and public effects." (Publisher description)
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"From all that has come before it should be all too clear that starting up and developing a small independent community newspaper takes considerable tenacity. There is a general perception in this sector that the value of these publications often goes unacknowledged. Shirley Govender of the Southern
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and Soweto News summarises how many of independents in this research appear to feel: “No one takes you seriously as an independent publisher…[we] feel that disadvantage is running through our veins.” In every single newspaper’s case study at least one person says they are in the industry for the love of it. Most are stoic regarding challenges they face. Some are more independent than others. Many form good and often interesting symbiotic partnerships to share resources and people-power. Some report on contentious issues, most do not. The majority use their newspapers in ways that work towards building a better life for themselves and the communities they serve. But few have the time and know-how to access and engage with media development agencies. And fewer still have the time and expertise to represent the voice of small community publications in the battle against unfair competition, inequitable practices and marginalisation." (Conclusion, page 114)
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"Das Buch gibt einen Einblick in die Arbeit Offener Kanäle in Deutschland. Es gibt Basisinformationen über die Organisation der Sender und informiert über bereits realisierte Projekte. Die Offenen Kanäle spielen demnach besonders in den Bereichen medienpädagogische Arbeit, politische Bildung un
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d soziale Integration eine wichtige Rolle in Deutschland." (commbox)
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