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July 27, 2022, 12:51 p.m.
LINK: inn.org  ➚   |   Posted by: Laura Hazard Owen   |   July 27, 2022

Local news sites have accounted for 55% of all U.S. nonprofit news sites launched since 2017, and last year, 65% of launches were local, according to the new annual report from the Institute for Nonprofit News.

By 2024, INN projects, local news sites — rather than national or global sites like ProPublica and The Intercept — will make up the bulk of nonprofit news sites.

Most survey respondents appear to have weathered the pandemic. Looking at a smaller cohort of 92 outlets, INN found that two-thirds of them increased their total annual revenue between 2018 and 2021. Foundation funding remains the largest funding source for most outlets surveyed.

Earned revenue remains a “volatile” revenue stream, meanwhile, especially for local nonprofit sites: “Median earned revenue for local outlets dropped in 2020 and again in 2021 to just under $29,000 per outlet, lower by nearly a third than the pre-Covid level.”

And local news nonprofits are increasingly launching in the Southeast and the West, the researchers found: “The number of local startups doubled in these regions compared to the previous two-year period.”

You can read the full report here.

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Journalists fight digital decay
“Physical deterioration, outdated formats, publications disappearing, and the relentless advance of technology leave archives vulnerable.”
A generation of journalists moves on
“Instead of rewarding these things with fair pay, job security and moral support, journalism as an industry exploits their love of the craft.”
Prediction markets go mainstream
“If all of this sounds like a libertarian fever dream, I hear you. But as these markets rise, legacy media will continue to slide into irrelevance.”