Youth and journalism go way back. Not long ago, many kids’ first job was with a newspaper, delivering papers around their community. The next generation saw news as a profitable opportunity. Could we return to those days? Schools, especially middle school and younger, present an opportunity to engage young readers and build loyal audiences and customers.  more

Most sales gurus agree that about 98% of all sales are not made on the first call. Sometimes the customer says “no.” That’s when the selling starts. If you can turn a no into a yes, you make the sale. There are a lot of reasons prospective advertisers say no. more

In this column for Editor & Publisher magazine, Michael Bugeja, a distinguished professor of journalism at Iowa State University, writes: "Journalists must stop worrying about impartiality when dealing with outright racist, sexist or autocratic comments and posts. And it is time to stop using the cliché 'dog whistle' and then searching for a source to interpret it.” more

After the Los Angeles Times layoffs were announced, respected author and professor Jeff Jarvis declared, “It may finally be time to give up on old journalism and its legacy industry.” In this column, Steven Waldman, chair of the Rebuild Local News Coalition and co-founder of Report for America, says he disagrees that "it’s time to dispense with 'legacy' or 'old' media." Furthermore, Waldman believes even generalizing about “old media” is absurd. more

Today is a cynical time, and trust is challenging for all media. But what if you could rebuild the trust in the community toward your newspaper, including all the diverse parts of the community that most media didn’t care enough about in the past? Here are five steps that will begin to get you there. more

Solving the news desert crisis will require dismantling the silos between academia and industry and creating a working group immediately dedicated to creating real solutions, a team of journalism professors recently concluded.  The team recently offered an online “News Desert U2: Solutions” conference that brought together local news experts from around the world to brainstorm practical solutions for what academia can do to help the news desert crisis. more

When building digital newsrooms, we are all pioneers, no matter how much experience we've had over these past decades. And even after COVID drove the trend to home office and shared desks, as digital continues to evolve, there are no easy answers, roadmaps or owner’s manual. Sometimes, however, the answers reveal themselves in an “aha” moment. more

The place to begin solving the crisis engulfing American journalism is from the bottom of the pit that we’re in. Look up, and there’s light. But first, we have to look down and around. At our feet are the lifeless remains of more than 2,500 news outlets that existed 20 years ago, and the ghosts of tens of thousands of jobs. The void left behind in so many communities has been filled by misinformation and polarized discourse, and our social fabric is torn. more

Dear U.S. media, why aren’t you giving this disaster the attention it deserves? A city of 1 million people in our neighboring country has been hit with a catastrophe unlike any other seen there before. Hundreds of thousands of our neighbors have no water to drink or food. Their homes and belongings have been lost. They are desperate. more

When the death of the New York Times sports department finally came this week, it sent shockwaves through an industry so regularly traumatized that it should be shock-proof by now. But still, it was thoroughly sad, with an unapologetically cruel end, killed from within by people meant to care about news and journalists. more

Journalists who know their audience’s interests can serve them better. In determining who reads their education reporting, journalists interviewed for this article say they place more faith in their gut instincts — talking to people in the community — over digital tools. This mirrors an earlier study of education reporters in New York. more

Frank Blethen, publisher of The Seattle Times, says: "Our democracy and its cornerstone — the trusted local independent newspaper — are in crisis. There is no question that the revival of local, independent newspaper stewardship is critical to shoring up the wobbly legs of our democracy." Here is his list of priorities for saving local, independent newspapers and democracy. more

Fresh out of Drake University with a news-editorial journalism degree, I returned home to Chicago in May 1984, unsure of what kind of career I could have as an open lesbian. My stepfather worked at the Chicago Tribune, and my mom was at the Chicago Defender. They both knew gay journalists, but none were openly so. more

There were 25 organized troll campaigns targeting women reporters in the first half of 2020, according to Ms. Magazine. Additionally, the magazine cited 267 attacks and threats, with many mentioning women’s appearance and sexuality, including death and rape warnings. Here are three steps supervisors should be taking to better protect women journalists. more

A new study — "Who’s At The PrimeTime Table" — reveals that Black women — especially older Black women — are sorely underrepresented as hosts, contributors and experts during the coveted primetime hours at the three major cable news networks. more

To say that the relationship between publishers and technology giants has intensified in the last few days, weeks or months is putting it lightly. Regardless of the way forward, the trends, developments and products pouring out of Silicon Valley should have publishers’ undivided attention, says Edward Roussel, Innovation Officer at Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal. more

With Alden Global Capital’s recent acquisition of the Tribune Publishing newspaper chain, the country has reached a troubling milestone: half of the daily newspaper circulation in America is now owned by hedge funds. This is a real threat to democracy because hedge funds and private equity firms have a track record of cutting the reporting staff of local newsrooms to increase profits. more

In 2009, the former editor-in-chief at Thomson Reuters David Schlesinger described journalism as one of the great self-declared professions. He wrote, “I am a journalist because I said I was one more than two decades ago and have spent the years since working on my abilities..." more

Recently, my name popped up on Google Alerts, a rare event these days. The reason was that Editor & Publisher columnist John Newby had been kind enough to recall my observation made 15 years ago, “How do you acquire a small local newspaper? Buy a large one and wait five years.” It was funny once, but some of us don’t have memories as good as John’s. more

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette journalist Alexis Johnson was barred from protest coverage after joking about a Kenny Chesney concert on Twitter. She tweeted: “Horrifying scenes and aftermath from selfish LOOTERS who don’t care about this city!!!!! .... oh wait sorry. No, these are pictures from a Kenny Chesney concert tailgate. Whoops.” more