Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media

🗣️ "For the most part, what we’ve heard from the nonprofits is that the January 1 bump is really going to be the one where they have to make some changes." The second round of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulations take effect on January 1, 2025, bringing potential changes to newsroom staffing, budget planning and employee classifications. The regulations impact for-profit and nonprofit organizations alike, and local news outlets could be impacted, especially if salaried, exempt employees are making under the new salary threshold of $58,665 per year. In this Q&A, North Carolina Center for Nonprofits Vice President for Public Policy and Advocacy David Heinen breaks down key changes in FLSA regulations, including: 🗞️ How these updates might impact local journalism orgs 🪜 Steps newsrooms can take to comply and adapt 🗳️ How the upcoming election could impact implementation ❓ Are you a newsroom manager or publisher who is adjusting to this change? Where are you struggling and how could you use support? If you’d like to chat, email us at cislm at unc dot edu. #FairLaborStandardsAct #LocalNews #Newspapers

Spending time with these smart student journalists was definitely the highlight of my October. (Also I am grateful for any opportunity to spend time with Marisa Porto, MBA and Kali-Ahset Amen, PhD)

How are student news organizations at some #HBCUs working on sustainability? This story explains it. Great to work with Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media's Erica Perel on this business training. Thanks to UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media student Kathryn DeHart for the story.

🗣️ "When we think about how communities are impacted by the news, we also need to think about the ways that stories are told and who is telling them." In our latest Q&A, CISLM Student Employee Sachi Akmal sat down with Chelsea Reynolds, Director of the Center for Culture & Inclusion in Media at the Arizona State University California Center, to discuss her work and the organization's focus on fostering inclusive storytelling and supporting local journalists. In this interview, Chelsea shares: ➡️ How the Center will address gaps in representation in the media ➡️ The relationship between social media and traditional reporting ➡️ Recommendations for local journalists in thinking about representation in their own reporting ➕ This Q&A is part of our series highlighting leaders from our Local News Support Database. Explore the list of organizations working to build a collaborative, robust and comprehensive media ecosystem: https://lnkd.in/e9qbmpMB Learn how the Center is empowering local newsrooms to better serve their communities. 📚 #LocalNews #Inclusion #MediaRepresentation

The latest State of Local News Project report from the Medill Local News Initiative reveals the decline of local news outlets, in some cases, is higher than expected. Here are four standout findings: 📉 Employment decline: From 2022 to 2023, newsroom jobs – mostly reporters and editors – decreased by almost 2,000 positions while newspaper employment overall shrank by more than 7,000 jobs, compared to the few hundred lost in the previous year. There are now fewer than 100,000 people employed in the newspaper publishing industry overall, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 🖌️ Content sharing is on the rise, leading to a lack of diversity in stories: The study researchers reviewed 500 outlets from the five largest newspaper chain owners and found that, on average, 1/3 of home-page content originates from an outside source, such as an adjacent metro publication or a national wire service. 🔢 By the numbers: In this report, researchers tracked 638 stand-alone digital sites, 740 network digital sites, 694 ethnic media outlets and 225 public broadcasters that carry local news. These additional sources follow similar patterns in how they grow and shrink from year to year. 📊 There's a rise in ownership changes, and most are small in scope: In this update, researchers tracked 258 papers that changed ownership across 75 separate transactions with 59 unique buyers. Those numbers are up significantly from last year when 180 papers were bought as part of 55 transactions. #LocalNews #Media #Research

A big congratulations to all 205 Press Forward grantees, including 8 of our UNC Knight Foundation Table Stakes newsrooms! The newsrooms each received grants for $100,000 for two years of general operating support.  The funding call specified the grants would be focused on addressing the long-standing inequalities in journalistic coverage of underserved communities. The newsrooms, members of the second, third,  fifth and sixth UNC Table Stakes cohorts, include: 🔹 Atlanta Civic Circle 🔹 Border Belt Independent 🔹 Carolina Public Press 🔹 Charlottesville Tomorrow 🔹 Down in the County 🔹 Henrico Citizen/T3 Media, LLC 🔹 North Carolina Health News 🔹 QCity Metro These excellent news orgs are in great company: 205 newsrooms across the U.S. received $20 million total from the first round of grants. According to Nieman Journalism Lab, 59% of grantees are for-profits while 40% are nonprofits; 40% are led by Black, Indigenous, or other leaders of color; 25% serve rural communities. #PressForward #TableStakes #localnews

📰 Generative AI is already in local newsrooms, even as the world debates the best way to use this emerging technology. CISLM Research Director Jessica Mahone recently moderated a panel on how news orgs can harness this technology to enhance coverage while maintaining community trust and engagement. By Sachi Akmal, four tips newsrooms can use: ➕ Enhancing Local Reporting: AI can assist in gathering data and uncovering stories that otherwise go untold. 🔦 Transparency is key: It’s crucial to ensure transparency and uphold journalistic integrity while using AI tools. 👥 Audiences differ, so should your considerations for AI policy: Some audiences are more tech-savvy and comfortable with AI while other audiences may have greater stigmas about its use. ✨ Journalists need to be taught AI literacy: Journalists must adapt and learn about AI to effectively integrate it into their workflow. #LocalJournalism #AI #Innovation

🚨Journalism and media friends in my world – Are you freelancing and able to help news orgs out in WNC (could be virtual / in person) in the next few weeks? There are going to be critical needs to keep information flowing and communities informed, and to give folks there a break, especially as the election nears. I’m part of a group trying to meet needs, and we’re making a list. Comment, DM, or email me at courtneyjmitchell@gmail.com. Thank you. ❤️

Great day spent discussing strategic planning with #HBCU student journalists at the Indaba Student Press and Innovation Conference sponsored by Howard University's Center for Journalism and Democracy. Thanks to center director Dr. Kali-Ahset Amen, PhD for inviting us. Always happy to partner with my colleague Erica Perel, director of Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media at UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, to help student journalists develop goals for the next year and beyond!

After a week of feeling hopeless at the devastation of Hurricane Helene, I was so fortunate today to facilitate a workshop with 10 teams of student journalists from HBCUs on strategic planning and goal-setting, in collaboration with the Center for Journalism & Democracy at Howard University, and with my excellent UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media colleague Marisa Porto, MBA. The students really took to the frameworks we shared with them, and came up with meaningful SMART goals! Thanks to Kali-Ahset Amen, PhD and Leslie-Anne Frank for the opportunity.