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The media becomes an activist for democracy
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Oct. 3, 2017, 11:36 a.m.
Reporting & Production

Trying to launch a podcast and wondering what listener metrics to really focus on? Trying to create the best email newsletter to suit the pace of your newsroom? Trying to get creative with article formats but have limited resources?

Better News, which launched Tuesday, offers another good collection of free guidelines to publishers trying to stay afloat in the digital — and largely mobile — news industry. The guides were developed by the American Press Institute as part of the Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative, and is funded by the Knight Foundation. (Disclosure: Knight also supports Nieman Lab.)

The hub is a “living resource,” and will include media case studies published by other organizations as well as its own original guides:

The Better News site includes best practices and case studies curated from many sources around the web and publishing, as well as new and original content. That original content includes the stories and experiences of news publishing outlets that have been part of the Table Stakes project.

A key component of Better News is that the site is a “living resource” that will feature fresh and new insights and case studies over time, as publishers confront new challenges in a rapidly shifting media environment. It launches today with collections on subjects including newsletters, podcasting, story forms, live events, diversity, and newsroom analytics, and will be adding more areas of expertise in the near future.

“Better News not only compiles in one place proven best practices for transforming publishing, it is organized for people to find exactly the problems they are working on and to add new case studies as they come along,” Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute, said in a statement. “Built by a diverse and talented team, Better News is a genuinely unique resource that will keep getting better.”

Get started here.

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The media becomes an activist for democracy
“We cannot be neutral about this, by definition. A free press that doesn’t agitate for democracy is an oxymoron.”
Embracing influencers as allies
“News organizations will increasingly rely on digital creators not just as amplifiers but as integral partners in storytelling.”
Action over analysis
“We’ve overindexed on problem articulation, to the point of problem admiring. The risk is that we are analyzing ourselves into inaction and irrelevance.”