A new grant-supported project tracks LGBTQ media projects across the country.
According to News Is Out, the LGBTQ+ Media Mapping Project “offers the first in-depth look at the scope, impact and urgent needs of local LGBTQ+ media across the United States. The report shows how these vital outlets, from one-person operations to established multimedia platforms, face shrinking advertising revenue, little foundation support and growing external threats, even as their audiences surge.”
The project was created in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, the Local Media Foundation, News Is Out and the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.
What strikes me in looking at the map is how few local LGBTQ media outlets are in operation — just 107, including 80 that responded to the survey used to create the map and 27 that did not. The database comprises both projects that cover a city or region and those that are statewide in focus. According to the accompanying report, some 1.5 million LGBTQ folks live in one of 18 states where there is no original LGBTQ news.
The report’s executive summary says that the LGBTQ media are struggling to survive at a time when their community is under assault, with some writers and sources asking that their names be removed from articles. The report also says of the media projects that were included in the database:
While they may have few similarities, there are several common denominators: Most are in need of additional resources to better cover their communities, and most are facing strong headwinds as advertising and sponsors reverse course, pulling back from diverse marketing efforts. We also found very few LGBTQ+ media receive any significant foundation support in a time of increased focus on philanthropy in journalism.
Boston is represented by the venerable Bay Windows newspaper, founded in 1984, and Boston Spirit, which is listed as a statewide magazine but whose website features coverage from across New England.
Although New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas and several other cities have more than one LGBTQ media organization, the national leader is Chicago, with six locally focused outlets in the city and two more in the nearby suburbs. Especially notable is that the city outlets include a 6-year-old radio station, E3 Radio. Each entry includes a link to the outlet’s website as well as information on its audience and whether its ownership is majority LGBTQ.
Kansas prisons ban news
The state of Kansas has banned print newspapers from its prisons, according to independent media columnist Bo Sacks, who writes of this outrageous action:
At its core, this ban is not about contraband or staff efficiency, it is about whether society accepts cutting off entire groups of people from independent journalism. Kansas has chosen isolation over information. For publishers, this is a wake-up call: if the right to read can be stripped so casually in one state, it can be stripped elsewhere.
According to Sacks, the state houses about 9,000 inmates in 20 facilities. Anna Kaminski, reporting for the Kansas Reflector, writes that a prison system spokesman cited “safety and well-being” as the reason for the ban, claiming that it was enacted “to protect residents and employees from dangerous contraband.” Seriously? Perhaps rolled-up newspapers pack more of a wallop than I had realized.
The spokesman added that the policy doesn’t apply to digital newspapers, but, as Sacks observes, “Most Kansas inmates have limited or no meaningful internet access.” He adds that a similar policy is likely to be rolled out in red states like Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas.
“Newspapers have always been a lifeline, not just for subscribers but for democracy itself,” Sacks writes. “If we let that line be severed behind bars, we risk normalizing the idea that news is optional, disposable, or subject to convenience.”
Local news on your phone
There’s a lot to ponder in a newly published survey of about 1,100 people in the Chicago area, but I want to zero in on one finding in particular: 67% frequently use their smartphone to access local news, with television trailing at 53%. Not surprisingly, smartphone use is even higher among younger respondents.
The findings were reported by the Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University.
Local television aside, I’ve found that mobile tends to be an afterthought among those who have launched digital news outlets. Founders tend to be older. They’re often experienced journalists who’ve retired or who have spent quite a few years at their legacy news organization and are fed up.
I have to say that I’m guilty myself, paying little attention to how attractive or fast Media Nation is (or isn’t) on mobile devices. I picture readers using their laptops or iPads, and that really isn’t the way most people consume news.
Local news publishers already have a lot to deal with, but they can’t overlook the need to offer their audience a top-notch mobile experience.
The envelope, please
For those of us who follow the hyperlocal news scene in the Greater Boston area, it seemed like the folks behind the Swampscott Tides took their time in actually launching the site. It was worth the wait: The Institute for Nonprofit News this week recognized the nonprofit Tides as its Startup of the Year Award winner. Co-founder and president Anne Driscoll, a veteran journalist, told INN that “the community not only wants but will support a dedicated, independent source of local news.”
Laura Frank, executive director of the Colorado News Collaborative, is the winner of the INN Service to Nonprofit News Award. Frank gets a mention in our book, “What Works in Community News,” telling us that her organization helps “news organizations from the [Colorado] Sun to places like the weekly newspaper in Eads, Colorado, where a single person is the editor and the publisher and the reporter. All platforms, television, radio, newspaper, digital — we help them do stories they couldn’t do alone.”
Meanwhile, LION (Local Independent Online News) Publishers has recognized several projects that are either featured in our book or on our podcast (or both). Santa Cruz Local received two awards for Business of the Year and Public Service. Cardinal News, which covers southwest Virginia, won a Business of the Year award as well.
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