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

→ Open AI funds Lenfest program with $10 million

→ Press Forward awards $20 million to 205 local news outlets

→ Influencer collaborations with local media

→ Poynter offers ethics training for public media station managers

→ AI Community Journalism Lab to benefit rural markets

🤖 Open AI funds Lenfest program with $10 million

Open AI and Microsoft will provide $10 million in funding to a new Lenfest Institute AI program.

In the new Lenfest Institute AI Collaborative and Fellowship Program, five organizations will receive a grant to hire a two-year AI fellow to pursue projects that focus largely on improving business sustainability and implementing AI technologies within their organizations.

💰 Press Forward awards $20 million to 205 local news outlets

Press Forward will double the number of local news organizations to receive funding from what was originally expected, citing a large amount of high quality responses to its open call.

The initiative has selected 205 newsrooms out of 931 proposals from newsrooms with annual budgets of less than $1 million. Most of the organizations will receive $100,000 in general operating support. Read more here.

👍 Influencer collaborations with local media

A new program will pair local influencers with media companies to share their nonpartisan journalism on the elections.

The program is being run by the American Press Institute as a part of the Knight Election Hub, and will provide grants to “experiment with influencer collaborations and storytelling that prioritize giving their communities the information they need to make informed voting decisions”. Read more here.

📻 Poynter offers ethics training for public media station managers

The Poynter Institute will offer a new six month fellowship aimed at strengthening the leadership and editorial excellence of public media station managers.

The program is a partnership with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and will work with executives of public stations with local newsrooms on skills like greenlighting innovation, developing effective partnerships, managing budgets, enforcing editorial firewalls, and more.

📰 AI Community Journalism Lab to benefit rural markets

Local Media Foundation has launched an AI Community Journalism Lab focused on rural and underserved markets. The lab will be led by consultant John M. Humenik and funded with $150,000 from the Walton Family Foundation.

The program will run experiments on creating newsroom efficiencies using artificial intelligence, as well as research into community perceptions of AI use in journalism.

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Small Press, Big Ideas

A podcast about the business of local news

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Advertiser Alignment and The Power of Storytelling

On this week’s episode of Small Press, Big Ideas I had a great conversation with Richard E. Brown, Chief Growth & Innovation Officer at Wisconsin Watch.

In our conversation Richard shares insights on the evolving landscape of local journalism, the importance of storytelling, and the need for news organizations to align with advertisers that share their mission.

He discusses his career journey, the significance of building relationships within the community, and strategies for improving retention and reducing churn for local publishers.

Read the full post and listen to the episode here.