Eric Ortiz’s Post

I'm glad to see Alice Dreger reporting out some apparent issues with the Medill Local News Map, which aims to "provide a detailed look at the state of local news today." Obviously, a lot of good work has been done through this project, but as Alice has found, publications serving people of color continue to be undercounted. And that's not OK. There is an obvious thru line between decreased visibility and decreased opportunity. Publishers of color are doing incredibly important work -- with less resources and support than their mainstream counterparts. Problems like these could be avoided if researchers initiated consistent relationships with associations like the National Association of Hispanic Publishers and the National Newspaper Publisher Association, who are serving the very publishers they struggle to recognize. We can do better -- and publishers deserve better. Either we need accurate and robustly-maintained maps and databases that include ALL local news publishers working to serve their communities, or we need to talk about why projects like these continue to be funded.

Medill's local news map needs work & investment, for the health of local news--as I've been saying--can no longer be measured according to the status of legacy newspapers but instead the larger Black, Latino, community, digital, & startup news & information ecosystem. See my paper on California's news and information ecosystem to see why the health of hedge-fund-owned newspapers is increasingly irrelevant and what matters more is news and long-standing community news: https://lnkd.in/e9Ba-jSn https://lnkd.in/dqig-4y2

There are a scant few bright spots in the Medill Local News Initiative's new 2024 State of Local News report. Here's one: the number of new, standalone local news digital-only websites grew by 81 to 630, a five-year record increase. Still, more than half of the nation's counties have one or zero local news sources. The East Coast is more parched than the West. Where do you get your local news?

We re-pitched a 4-month-old survey and landed links from USAToday, NY Post, UNILad, Madmoizelle, KTLA, Yahoo, and MSN. The same journalists that ignored our pitch then covered us now. Here's why 👇 In December, we summarized our survey results with a few key takeaways and emailed the release, landing placements from Elle, CW33, and Suburban. This time, we published a full write-up on the results on our client site with clear narratives and custom images. We emailed the same journalists with this revamped approach, and scored many more placements. Key Takeaways: - An evergreen survey made re-pitching the asset easy - Some prefer covering a story presented with polish vs a simple release - Timing matters - December is a distracting time for many, while March has few

With agencies, brands and industry org's investing in "back to news" types of initiatives, here's a bit about how NewsBreak is supporting (and helping to build better) local news ecosystems.

Attention everyone working to rebuild local media: Public Media Company just received a significant grant from the Knight Foundation to help address the crisis in local news. The new initiative will provide data on your community’s local news ecosystem, the status of local public and community media, as well as local demographic and funding insights. It also will include "practical information on how local media organizations can and are addressing local inequities, including examples, case studies, guides, and more individualized support from Public Media Company staff." https://lnkd.in/ejPKYuMe

We've seen this headline far too many times.   Minnesota has lost 34% of our newspapers since 2005 and analysts project this trend to continue, per Axios Twin Cities (And we have it easy compared to other states!).   Social media and the internet have fundamentally shifted how news is consumed and monetized, so we need to fundamentally rethink our approach to local news to engage younger readers and ensure they have access to authoritative and trustworthy information.   Read my latest opinion piece in the Southwest Connector to learn more (and follow the Southwest Connector on Ambit!) https://lnkd.in/gSjj5jev? #ShopLocal #ReadLocal #VoteLocal

In part II of Jom’s first-ever voter sentiment survey, we asked our 1,000 respondents if they approved of Lee Hsien Loong’s performance as prime minister; their confidence in Lawrence Wong’s ability to lead the country; how likeable 14 members of Parliament are; and whether a politician’s personal life (e.g. extramarital affairs) should affect their suitability for office. In the interest of openness, we are also sharing the raw and weighted data our survey partner, Milieu, sent us. You can access it here: bit.ly/jomdata24. Play with it; tell us what we’ve missed. Projects like these are possible only because we are not beholden to any party, corporation or organisation. We believe the best way to fund deep, meaningful journalism is through our community of readers. This ensures we are accountable primarily to them. If you like our approach, and our work, do subscribe to Jom here: jom.media/membership. Photos by Canva, Facebook, and Wikipedia

Can you help me out with this survey? I appreciate it!!!! #survey #startup #phillystartup #politicalAction #grassroots #organizing #civicEngagement

Three highlights from a weekend spend discussing "The Role of the Fourth Estate in Democracies" at the Ditchley Foundation. * The problem is not the public – people are interested in the world around them, they use media to explore it, make sense of it, and navigate it, and engage with content and information they find useful and relevant. * Transitions are hard for news media, but also demonstrably possible – leaders from a range of very, very different kinds of publishers were very clear they think believe much of the current industry is at best in managed decline, but also that they see a range of sustainable paths forward for the business of news. * Part of that is the useful discipline of having to reach your audience - several participants spoke in different ways about how the shift from direct discovery through channels dominated by news publishers to distributed discovery through platforms while in many ways very challenging has also forced a new, healthy, humility on journalism and the news media by making clear they can never take the public and people’s attention for granted. All contributions are confidential but under the Ditchley rules we can draw on the substance of it as long as we do not disclose who said what - I was glad that this year's discussions were much more respectful of the public and more cautiously optimistic about the future of (parts of) the news industry than many such discussions I have been part of over the years https://lnkd.in/etKQAWV5