Fewer digital news outlets are launching

Hello! Here’s what’s in this week’s issue:

→ Report: Fewer digital news outlets launched last year

→ New Podcast: Michael Shapiro talks about the Hyperlocal News Network

→ Ideas for a people-centric sustainable future for journalism

→ Local newsstand forges on in Chicago

→ Will audiences pay for ad-free local news?

📰 Report: Fewer digital news outlets launched last year

A new report suggests that digital news outlet launches have been slowing since 2022. The report comes from Global Project Oasis, a Google News Initiative backed research project.

The report analyzed over 3,000 outlets from 68 countries across Latin America, North America, and Europe and cited political conflicts and economic challenges as core challenges.

The report also suggested that the findings may not offer a complete picture, writing “but it also may be due to the fact that many of the media in the directory started informally, which can make them hard to identify in the first year or two of operation.”

🎧 New Podcast: Michael Shapiro talks about the Hyperlocal News Network

This week on the Small Press, Big Ideas podcast, I spoke with TAPinto founder and CEO Michael Shapiro about his latest venture, the Hyperlocal News Network.

HNN offers the same technology stack and back office support as TAPinto, but allows local news publishers the ability to keep their own branding and only pay for the features they choose in an à la carte fashion.

Listen to the full episode on your podcast app of choice, or read more and listen on my website.

To listen to the first episode that I recorded with Michael about the story of founding TAPinto, go back and listen to episode one of the podcast!

📺 Ideas for a people-centric sustainable future for journalism

Check out this panel discussion featuring Mattia Peretti, Aldana Vales, Sannuta Raghu, and Annika Ruoranen on innovative approaches to redefine journalism’s mission, expand its horizons, and enhance user experience:

📰 Local newsstand forges on in Chicago

Local newsstands are are a relic of the past in our digital era… or so we thought?

Read about a physical newsstand owned by local Chicago resident Joe Angelastri and how it’s still operating in 2024 thanks to support from the local community in this article from the Evanston RoundTable.

📰 Will audiences pay for ad-free local news?

Local news providers across the country may be taking a page from streaming services and other media companies by offering an ad-free experience for a higher price point.

Although the concept is still new and experimental in most cases, a growing number of players in the industry such as Lee Enterprises, McClatchy, and independents like The Boston Globe are experimenting with offering an ad free experience to readers.

Here’s a story on a similar experiment from a few years back.