10 predictions of note for local news in 2019

Dive into these ideas for raising quality, impact and service

Nieman Lab's annual list of predictions for journalism spilled out over the holidays and into the new year. They're a feast for thought, with dozens of essays exploring how news will or should change for journalists, organizations and the public.

Out of dozens of predictions from journalists, scholars and innovators, here are 10 that seem highly relevant for local news in North Carolina (including two from local predictors):

Local news needs local conversations to survive, on why subscription drives alone won't save local news, from ProPublica's Celeste LeCompte.
Local news wakes up and starts collaborating, on the need for local outlets to begin reaping the rewards of increased impact and resources being seen through national collaborations, from Stefanie Murray of the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University.
Tonight at 11: News, sports and climate change, on television meteorologists' role in reporting on climate change, from Frank Mungeam at Arizona State’s Cronkite School of Journalism.
From trying to cover it all to covering what matters, current Nieman Fellow Steve Myers of The Lens in New Orleans suggests newspapers take lessons from nonprofit startups and restructure coverage for highest impact.
We consider who's behind the camera, from Vox visuals editor Kainaz Amaria, breaks down the "abysmal" representation of women and people of color in photojournalism, part of a larger issue for journalism that also is evident in North Carolina.
You can't raise prices forever, (that is, newspaper print subscription prices) from John Garrett of Community Impact Newspaper in Texas, envisions a rise in local independent news online and a reward for publishers who recognize audience needs and prioritize accordingly.
Local news goes minimalist, from Rachel Davis Mersey at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, argues that local news organizations need to bear down on "differentiated, high-quality content" to build business models (everyone has pets and "viral" stories, but do those provide value to drive reader revenue?)
Another year fighting Trump's falsehoods, Duke University's Bill Adair, PolitiFact founder, Knight Chair and head of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy, looks ahead at how fact-checking will expand with more alliances, more fact-checks on TV and in other ways.
Local news fails — in a good way, on the tangible value of experimentation and learning, from Kristen Muller, chief content officer at KPCC/ Southern California Public Radio.
Podcasts keep getting better, from John Biewen of the Center for Documentary Studies and host/producer of the Scene on Radio podcast, explores audio storytelling's emergence and notes that people do want substance: "Our attention spans are quite intact, ready and willing."

NC Local's new year

Welcome back, and please join in

This newsletter launched in late April 2018 with a modest push to about 100 people and has grown severalfold since. As a new year launches, here's a little more about NC Local, me and how you fit in:

* About the author: I'm Melanie Sill, an adopted North Carolinian who came from Hawaii to UNC-Chapel Hill a few decades back for journalism school. I spent 25 years at The News & Observer, the last five as executive editor, before moving to California to become editor of The Sacramento Bee and, later, vice president of content at Southern California Public Radio/ KPCC in Pasadena. I moved back to North Carolina in 2017 with my husband, a Guilford County native, and now work as an independent editor and consultant on public-interest journalism. In North Carolina, I'm senior news consultant for a foundation called Democracy Fund and the collaborative N.C. Local News Lab Fund launched in 2018 and housed at the N.C. Community Foundation.

* The newsletter's purpose: My work in North Carolina has built on a 2017 report from Fiona Morgan for Democracy Fund in aiming to support many different kinds of organizations and people around the state working to build a future for high-quality local news and information. As I spoke with people, many said they were too busy to keep up with news trends and even to seek resources that might be available — training, funding or connections with others. I found myself telling person X about person Y's work. A couple of people suggested some kind of regular email. Eventually, I thought I'd try a newsletter as a service for people who care about the future of public-service news and information in North Carolina.

* What NC Local is, and isn't: NC Local aims to be an information exchange and resource, highlighting and amplifying ways people and organizations around North Carolina are advancing high-quality news and information on local, regional and statewide civic affairs. I keep an eye on the national journalism landscape and call out resources, funding opportunities, training opportunities and ideas that are useful to people working in North Carolina. I also like to highlight the strong connection to place and people that animates local journalism, through the Local View and Local Voice alternating features (and warmly welcome suggestions and photos from you, dear readers.) What I don't do is media gossip.

* About you: NC Local is, most of all, about and for people who share a passion for North Carolina's long traditions of strong local journalism and the enormous challenges we face in sustaining independent, high-quality news that serves local communities . I rely on your emails, tweets, tips, suggestions, feedback and ideas. I'm also a resource you can tap anytime for information or ideas. The newsletter is set up for replies, so that's an easy way to reach me; directly, melanie@localnewslab.org. I'd also greatly appreciate your help in building the newsletter's reach by inviting others to sign up here.

Happy New Year.

Storylines

N&O's longrunning "Tar Heel" feature gets an update

* The News & Observer's "Tar Heel of the Week" feature will become "Tar Heel of the Month" and support the annual "Tar Heel of the Year" recognition that has become the newspaper's signature recognition of individual leadership. The N&O announced the changes in late December and invited readers to begin nominating people for recognition.

Dan Barkin, retired N&O managing editor, has done some research on the weekly feature. He tells me the first Tar Heel of the Week was Greene County businessman Clarence Hardy, profiled on Jan. 15, 1950. Over the decades, the Tar Heel feature recognized CEOs and neighborhood leaders, people with humble origins and the state's most powerful office-holders, artists and scholars and so many others who made a difference. In 1997, The N&O launched "Tar Heel of the Year," which this year recognized the Rev. William Barber.

Robyn Tomlin, N&O executive editor and McClatchy Carolinas regional editor, said the paper "decided that 2019 was time for a refresh" for the Tar Heel. "The weekly feature was a nice weekly 'good news' anchor, but we decided to try something new and do fewer, deeper/better profiles."

Worth reading

Columnist calls out NCGA moves to reduce public access

Since so few news organizations have Raleigh reporters, many may not be aware that the legislative leadership and their administrator have decided to push the press room to "the farthest possible corner of the building's basement," as The Insider's Collin Campbell reported in his column Jan. 7. But it's worse than that: Campbell put the move in the larger context of changes that make the Legislative Building less welcoming to members of the public in a variety of ways.
"In today’s era of anti-media rhetoric, it’s hard not to see the move as another potshot at the press. And at a legislature where action happens with minimal public notice, it will make it harder for reporters to keep close tabs on lawmakers," Campbell wrote. Might be time to call your legislator and let the public know what's happening in the building where their business is conducted.

Bulletin board

Money for metrics; $5,000 science journalism prize; contests

The American Press Institute will offer subsidies for 10 newsrooms to use its Metrics for News software and services to measure digital audience behavior and build strategy around it. Deadline is Jan. 18 to apply for funds to cover half of the costs of the services for one year. The subsidies are funded by a grant from the Knight Foundation; learn more and apply here.
Journalists who produced strong science coverage on topics of local or state interest have till Jan. 31 to submit entries for the Victor K. McElheny Award, which comes with a $5,000 prize. The award is part of the Knight Science Journalism program at MIT. Entries are open to all media (podcasters, print, broadcaster, bloggers) Learn more on how to enter here.
Catch up with dozens more contest deadlines, which concentrate in the first part of the year, with this Poynter list originally posted in November.

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The Local View: Whiteville

RIP to the News Reporter's Jim High

Jim High, who served as publisher of The News Reporter for 61 years and an active civic leader throughout his tenure, enjoyed a pre-Christmas lunch with the staff on Dec. 7 and sat with a copy of the paper for this photograph. High, 85, died Jan. 2 and was remembered around the state, including in this News Reporter obituary. Services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Whiteville United Methodist Church. Visitation will follow in the church fellowship hall. (News Reporter photo)