Food for thought

Spotlight: NC-Illinois family news merger

1. How did this come up?
   
   I learned about The Daily News and The Daily Record through our IT company that is within an hour of these papers.
    
2. How did you all approach the deal?
   
   We thought we could turn their paper around and make it profitable to keep it in the family for years to come. [The Lewis family has published The Daily News of Robinson since 1919. The Lewises purchased the Lawrenceville Daily Record from the Armstrong family in 1967.]
   
   In just a few days there, we found a [substantial amount of money] that we could put back in their pockets. If they can sustain their advertising and keep expenses down, then they’ll be good for years to come.
    
3. What concerns did you have about expanding so far physically out of your current markets? 
   
   I had initial concerns of the geographic location, but they didn’t last long. The key for us doing what we are is making sure you have solid executive leaders in your organization, which we do. Technology in today’s world also lends a hand in working remotely.
    
4. Do you think this is the start of more expansions, geographically, like this?
   
   It’s too early to say, but I am open for discussions when and should they arise.
   
   I’m passionate about what we do. I looked at this situation and after spending some time with them last year, I saw another Bart, another Morgan up here and trying to make it work on their own. They just don’t have the resources or really the ideas to make it happen.
   
   So either we come in and help them or they shut their doors. And I didn’t want that to happen. So I was willing to take that step of faith to come out here and do it. I didn’t want to see them close their doors. I didn’t want that to happen.
   
   There is a lot of potential for us as a management company to step in and help other newspaper companies to step their games up and become more efficient while still focusing on local journalism. ... There's a bunch of people who need that but they're just unsure who to turn to and what they need. And I’m visiting other people in the same boat while I’m here.
    
5. How are you vetting opportunities like this and what might work?
   
   I spent time talking with the owner to determine what we think is the better option for them. In this particular case creating a management agreement was the better option. I always start by sitting down with the owner and trying to figure out what do they want to achieve: keep it open or sell it to someone else. We start there and figure out what we can do to help them.
    
6. What do you say to folks that say local news isn’t a good business model?
   
   Everything evolves and so do newspapers. I am of the belief our newspapers aren’t just newspapers anymore and instead are more media companies. This means we must grow digital before we die [this is Restoration’s challenge statement for Table Stakes].
   
   Does that mean we abandon print?  No, it means we pack our toolbox with all the necessary tools to reach as many perspective readers as possible, whether that be through print or digital.
    
7. How are you positioning yourselves against other corporate consolidated shops at this time where so many are consolidating (especially the Aldens of the world)? 
   
   Restoration NewsMedia is comprised of two independent owners that is focused on the local aspect of journalism. We maintain this philosophy with all of our partners, vendors, employees and contractors.
    
8. What’s next in Illinois? And back home?
   
   We’re here for another two weeks and then we’ll come back for a week. And then go back for another three weeks. We’ve been neck deep in everything here, and we kind of know our direction, now we're putting the timeline down.
   
   As for back home, we wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing if we didn’t have the right people in the right positions (particularly Shana Hoover on advertising, Rich Brest in circulation, and Corey Friedman on editorial, who all are members of the Table Stakes Team). They are the ones we are relying on to lead the operations back home in North Carolina and they’re more than capable: they are strong leaders in their fields and we consider them experts.
   
   They also will be lending a hand here, and just because I’m gone doesn’t mean I’m not still involved. I’m still regularly meeting with folks and joining calls.

Let's talk revenue

1. What worked/didn’t work with end-of-year giving campaigns? Did you meet your NewsMatch goal?
   
   We believe that the program as it is formed is very useful since they deliver everything ready: email content, notices, etc. On this occasion, although a little late, we shared material in Spanish that was very useful, in our case.
   
   We can say that we met our goal this year. The effect was super positive because this allows us income for operating expenses, which for small media like ours is very important since we do not have much access to them.
    
2. How do you seek individual giving, generally? What campaigns and tactics do you use? 
   
   We began in September 2018 and started operating in January 2019. We are still strengthening our operation and we have not implemented a plan for this type of donation. We are hoping to hire someone to help us. This is something we plan to implement in 2020 if everything sells well with the income we expect.
    
3. What has surprised you about your recent results? INN, among others, reports that individual giving is WAY up and is now 39% of nonprofit members' revenue. Has that been true for you?
   
   For us not yet. By 2020, 8% of our budget comes from NewsMatch and the remaining 90% of scholarship funds. We are very new and this was our first participation in this program. We still have a lot to learn and implement.
    
4. Do you anticipate that individual giving numbers will go up or do you fear something similar to subscription fatigue? How are you planning for either end of that spectrum of scenarios? 
   
   I think, for the Latino community, this is something totally new. The Spanish-language media in the state are free, the news on the web is free, mostly. We believe the numbers will improve, but it will be in the hands of a focus plan, donor identification, subscribers and education on the importance of supporting independent media. It must be a workforce not only at the end of the year with NewsMatch but throughout the year.
   
   If we receive the necessary funds, we will hire a person to handle this only.
    
5. How are you standing out as the number of organizations asking for support increases?
   
   We stand out for producing community journalism, public service journalism, in Spanish that not only informs but educates the Latinx community of North Carolina, especially in the eastern region. Journalism that seeks to reach and visualize the less favored community, Latinos.
   
   We are the first nonprofit news organization in Spanish in North Carolina that focuses on politics, immigration, and community issues. No one does what we do in the state. Our work is totally digital: we publish our information through the website www.enlacelatinonc.org, we have our newsletter La Tortilla, we have a solid and faithful network of followers on social networks that, especially on Facebook, we are exploring through the WhatsApp mobile network and soon we will launch our podcast, in addition to offering other products and services, such as our intelligence unit, where we offer communication workshops, on the electoral process, we organize press conferences, help with contacts, etc. We write in-depth and humanly. stories. We are working on extensive research and starting to produce journalism of solutions. In addition, we collaborate with other media and organizations. We cannot do all this work alone.
    
6. What has been the single most effective tactic/channel for your giving to date?
   
   Emails and personal contact that comes after sending emails.

To-do list

1. This week, registration is set to open for the 2020 Collaborative Journalism Summit May 14-15 in Charlotte, which is a must-attend for anyone working in what should be a default for everyone in 2020: collaborative journalism (in every meaning of that term). Last year’s event sold out, so organizers advise folks to grab tickets right away. They also say: We're also finalizing speakers, so if you haven't pitched a session yet, do so ASAP through this form.
    
2. Applications are open for a NC-based recipient of the Ida B. Wells Fellowship, which promotes diversity in journalism by helping to create a pipeline of investigative reporters of color who bring diverse backgrounds, experiences, and interests to their work. The fellowship offers a one-year, $16,000 award and editorial support to help reporters complete their first substantial work of investigative reporting. For the first time, the fund is accepting applications for a Southern Ida B. Wells Fellow, who is based in, and will report from North or South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, Texas or Mississippi. The Southern fellow's work must appear in an outlet serving this region. More information and apply here.
    
3. The North Carolina Open Government Coalition at Elon University announced that Sunshine Day 2020 will be held Monday, March 9 at North Carolina A&T State University. Events will begin at 9:30 a.m. Go here for more information.
    
4. The News Literacy Project and The E.W. Scripps Company are joining forces for National News Literacy Week, which they’ll observe next week (Jan. 27–31). This initiative will raise awareness of news literacy as a fundamental life skill through a national public awareness campaign, and every day the groups will post tools to help educators, students and the general public become more news-literate.
   
   Are you participating in the week? Or doing interest projects to advance news literacy? Please let me know, I’m always interested! I’d like to promote news literacy 52 weeks a year ...
    
5. On Feb. 20, QCityMetro will host a community discussion with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Zucchino, the author of the new book on the 1898 Wilmington massacre. Register here.

Some "good reads"

1. OK, really fascinating story published this week by Jordan Green, senior editor at The Triad City-Beat, which covers Winston-Salem, High Point, and Greensboro. This was an untold story to me and it may be for you, too. The headline tees it up better than I could: The lost boys of Ukraine: How the war abroad beckoned American white supremacists
   
   It’s a follow-up of sorts to a story Green published in IndyWeek in November about a Pitt County resident-turned-alleged-murderer named Craig Lang, who became a volunteer “Ukranian freedom fighter.” And in the latest story, Green found and profiled several other volunteer fighters/far-right extremists who also hail from North Carolina.
   
   Green told me he received a tip that launched his reporting from veteran journalist Nate Thayer, and the court documents for the Craig Lang and other criminal cases had been filed at that time. So "there was plenty of information to dig through."
   
   He said Thayer also shared social media profiles for American volunteers, which he dug through to find his sources. "The social world of foreign fighters from the United States and western Europe in Ukraine is small, and most of these guys know each other. I was surprised to find that many of them were eager to tell their story, including the commander of a Georgian-led foreign legion that many of the volunteers joined. While far-right extremism is a sensitive subject, the volunteers are all in some sense processing the trauma of war, and are often happy to find a journalist that wants to listen."
   
   Green said he has been reporting on extremism for three years, and has spent hours looking at the leaked chats of U.S. neo-Nazis. In doing so, he noticed that many of them were fascinated with the war in Ukraine. Other outlets have previously made the connection between U.S.-based neo-Nazi groups like Rise Above Movement and the Ukrainian ultranationalists, but they were only roughly sketched, "so I knew this was a big story. The primary reason Nate gave me the lead is because I’m based in North Carolina and he could see a lot of connections to this state. It was clear from the outset that there was a North Carolina connection because Craig Lang grew up in the Greenville area."
   
   Sourcing was difficult, but Green said one of the bigger issues for him in reporting these stories was about “platforming” white supremacy and extremism. How he approached it, though, is a great example of how to report with empathy:
   
   "I find it surprisingly easy to build a rapport with sources whose beliefs I find to be repugnant. The harder challenge is deprogramming myself after the interview, and reminding myself that much of what I’ve heard should not be normalized. But I do empathize with them as human beings who have been traumatized by violence. War is addictive, just as conflict reporting is addictive. I’m familiar with the adrenaline rush at a protest when bottles start flying or protesters square off against police in riot gear. It brings everything into focus in the moment, but there’s a psychological toll. I do hope that they’re able to reintegrate into society and heal. It’s hard to de-program yourself from war and extremist ideology. When you add criminal activity, then it becomes even more difficult to come home, literally and figuratively.
   
   "After I interview sources with troubling views, I weed out a lot of the disinformation and propaganda from their statements. But I might have to use a part of it to show that they are an adherent to a problematic ideology. In that case, I try to present information to correct the record (for example, if a neo-Nazi were to say that the Holocaust never happened.)"
   
   Please check out Green's impressive stories, which he told me he is in discussion with a national outlet about potentially republishing. 
    
2. Carolina Public Press pulled off a survey that will be an ongoing source for story ideas during the federal impeachment proceedings and the upcoming March primary elections. At the least. Specifically, CPP reached out to nearly 80 North Carolina candidates for the U.S. House and Senate to ask them how they would have voted or discuss how they did vote on impeachment, or in the case of the Senate, how they will vote. They broke down the responses by seat.
    
3. The CPP team also did something that news orgs don’t do enough: they took advantage of their archives and spotlighted past content that still matters today. On Monday, to commemorate Martin Luther King Day, CPP republished an article they first published Jan. 14, 2016, titled: “Tracking MLK: FBI records reveal surveillance, threats during WNC visits.” CPP dug into declassified FBI files surrounding two King visits to the western part of the state in 1964 and 1965. Jon Elliston writes: “The records show that even as the bureau’s leadership, including and especially Director J. Edgar Hoover, was striving to snuff out King’s influence, the FBI recorded and responded to other threats against him.” Interesting stuff and just as interesting today as when first published.
    
4. Headlines should create a curiosity gap and attract readers of all stripes and relationships with the publication. It’s complicated to do them well (especially in a way that is distinct for email vs. social vs. search). And people often overthink them (or worse … under-think them). Here’s a really good one from The (Raleigh) News & Observer: Wake could put enrollment caps on 21 schools in 2020. See who’s on the list. And then the best part? The article lists all of the schools. Clearly. The opposite of click bait. Tells you exactly what you’ll find there and delivers it to you. The kind of clear, impactful journalism you’d subscribe to, amirite?
    
5. Here’s another one, out of Wilmington, that grabs you and tells you exactly what it will deliver. When UNC-Wilmington fired its men’s basketball coach, many likely wondered: how much is it gonna cost the school? Enter The Star-News to ask and answer: How much money does UNCW own CB McGrath?
    
6. OK, I’m in the target demographic for this story, having a kindergartener, but I’m captivated by this ongoing saga with the state’s new K-3 reading assessment tool. And I think that word is deserved. The N&O and EdNC, among others, has been covering this story blow-by-fascinating-blow (and through a lot of legal procedure). How to break it all down? It’s tough. But EdNC, a nonprofit covering education news where I used to work, had a great infographic last week that did a good job at distilling down all the things that have happened in this story to date.
    
7. Here's some good ol’ fashioned reporting: According to WBTV’s David Hodges: Just a month before the Charlotte City Council was briefed about Carolina Panthers’ owner David Tepper's bid for an MLS team, top staff at the Panthers made donations to the campaigns of several elected officials, including Mayor Vi Lyles. (The story lists all of the contributions made.)
    
8. Melanie has covered it before and I'll be keeping a close watch, but Kristen Hare from Poynter did a great write-up on the new North Carolina News Collaborative, the working group between the editors at the state's biggest newspapers (owned by Gannett, Gatehouse, McClatchy and BH Media Group). Check it out here.

   “Our egos were the biggest thing getting in the way of us doing this in the past,” said Robyn Tomlin, the executive editor of the News & Observer and Durham Herald-Sun and McClatchy’s Southeast Regional Editor.

   Hare writes: "Egos might seem like a luxury nowadays."

9. Finally, congrats to Joe Bruno and WSOC-TV in Charlotte for being one of the 16 winners of the 2020 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards for journalistic excellence. WSOC won for its “Something Suspicious in District 9” reporting, which Columbia described as follows: Dogged, shoe-leather reporting in North Carolina’s 2018 Congressional elections led to a powerful, ongoing fraud investigation that sparked widespread national attention and criminal charges.