News

AIP delegates are using their journalism and reporting skills, and learning new techniques swiftly as they imbed with local Ohio publishers. 

Here are some updates from various members of the team as of June 1.

Simon Manda:

“At the Columbus Crew vs Colorado Rapids soccer match at the new Lower.com stadium. Sold out game – 20 000 seats.”

“Learning about the backend consolidation of daily stories plus preparation of the daily newsletter from the Editor-in-Chief. News sharing across the country is a good practice and takeaway from this non-profit organisation’s operations.”

Shirley Govender: 

“Chris and I met with Audrey Longstreth, Director of Client Coaching and Strategy, just now. We were joined by sales exec Hailey and marketing’s Zuri. We were briefed on the full cycle of the advertising process, their product offerings, rate sheets, and the software used throughout the process.

“Brittany Schock, Engagement and Solutions Editor gave us a detailed overview of SOJO (Solutions Journalism) this afternoon. It involves rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems. She’s an award-winning SOJO specialist who’s headed several projects with considerable success. It’s a possible revenue stream with tons of hard work. Offers great reader value.”

Chris Mcinga: 

“Thanks, partner Shirley Govender for the report. Apart from the social meeting we had with the councillor, community pastors, funders of the media and the founding member (the one who gave us the car to rent for the week) colleagues from Richland Source and their significant others, we had a blast on Wednesday night. The stats reference our chat to the commercial wing of the entity and kind of a snapshot of the traffic they pull… NOTE this is America. I have made small prompts where you can look to see the significance.

“Shirley and I were invited to a social event at the CEO’s house where we were introduced to the founder and funder of the Richland Source news and its entities. The leadership team of the company also joined us. We rubbed shoulders with local councillors, local pastors, educators, wealth managers and Lion Publisher fundraisers. We started at 6 pm and ended at 10 pm, but it felt like one hour. Time went by so quickly that I hardly had time to enjoy the delicious food they prepared for us. This event was a lovely end to an informative Wednesday where we cornered Jay (the Editor) to talk about his AI initiative.

“Today (Thursday) we had a heavy leadership session and workshops defining our value propositions. Another valuable session was around how we frame a fundraising narrative and the steps to remember when engaging potential funders and in some cases convincing readers to support your media.”

Anetta Mangxaba

Anetta Mangxaba filed from Celinas, where she has been attending events and monitoring how the Daily Standard is pulled together.

Mbali Dhlomo

“Good day 👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼 Peter and I were at the Commissioners’ Office this morning. Sat through their weekly meeting from 09:30 to 11:30. Then we went to another brief meeting with our host Debra where she was handed these 2 historic booklets, which are a collection of front pages of the Columbus Dispatch dating back from 1870!”

Dunisani Ntsanwisi and Andile Nomabhunga:

Dunisani Ntsanwisi and Andile Nomabhunga are based at Yellow Springs and filed these pictures and words: “Will be on the front page tomorrow, don’t miss it!”

Slindile Khanyile:

Slindile Khanyile who is also in Columbus, sat down with a published author just to chat about book publishing in the US because her company back in South Africa is about to enter that space as a company. 

Slindile also met a South African selling from a food truck.

“Today we went out for lunch at Columbus Commons and we ate from Fetty’s street food, it is a truck run by a Capetonian. He arrived in the US in 2015. So Damian (the food truck owner) made Biltong for me and I also bought potato samosas from him. It was really lovely to have some SA flavour. I interviewed him and I will write a story for Columbus Underground. I offered to arrange some interviews for him at home, it is a feel-good story. But, also sobering for those considering emigration.

All members of AIP will return to Athens on Friday, June 2 and Saturday, June 3 when they’ll join Kate Skinner who is arriving to take over managing the team from Des Latham.

For most South Africans, the concept of Memorial Day is somewhat artificial. Not for the Americans, who use this day on 29 May to both commemorate their fallen heroes and to welcome the summer after a long frozen winter.

There are floats and marches galore, and it was in this maelstrom of Memorial Day that the delegates were deposited. 

On Saturday 27 May, host and now chauffeur, Jatin Srivastava, picked up delegates for the drive to Columbus and Mansfield. Slindile Khanyile, Mahmood Sanglay and Simon Manda were assigned to Columbus, and Chris Mcinga and Nirmala Govender to Mansfield. 

Meanwhile, Bill Reader, joined by Des Latham, drove Mbali Dhlomo and Peter Luhanga to Logan and Anetta Mangxaba won the long trip award to Celina.

But the three-hour journey paid off for Mangxaba, as she found that she was to join a paper alongside one of the more scenic lakes in Ohio. 

Dunisani Ntsanwisi and Andile Nomabhunga were picked up on Memorial Day and spent three hours watching the unusual rural scenery as Bill Reader took the back roads to Yellow Springs. 

The small town has a vibrant paper and is also known as the place where comedian Dave Chappelle grew up. 

Here are the thoughts of some of the delegates after a few days with their hosts in Ohio

Slindile Khanyile was upbeat after her first 24 hours with her hosts. 

“Hi, guys. I spent my first day at Columbus Underground today. We spoke about the overall business strategy, their history, how they have evolved over the last two decades and how they are navigating the current challenges.

“They felt it is best to chat about all the business stuff today (their team is on holiday) because they wanted to speak freely, especially about revenue matters. They have built an incredible business, especially their events unit. They also sell merchandise. We went out for lunch and took a walk around the Scioto River. Downtown here is really amazing and cool, though I think in a few years, they will lose the character that makes it downtown because there is a lot of construction work. 

“Apparently, a lot of the office buildings are being converted into residential apartments because there is no demand for office space since COVID-19. Columbus Underground also has good relationships with universities, restaurants and arts centres, which they leverage very well.”

Simon Manda was also getting into the swing of things with a few updates which started flowing in. He headed off on the State House tour on 30 May and reported that:

“Columbus is the capital of Ohio with 33 senators and they all have offices here and currently doing the budget for the state. We will be joining the budget prep tomorrow. This Senate Building has a long history and heritage from the Greek-Roman Empire architectural influences to the fact that President Lincoln lay in state in this building after his assassination. Our tour guide is a former teacher and has been doing this job voluntarily for the past 26 years! He’s 80 years old!”

Meanwhile, Chris Mcinga has been posting regular updates proving that this trip has been both productive and informative so far. 

“Today we spent time with the Editorial team after helping close a $22500 campaign partnership with the local bank. The campaign is built around school sports. The bank is incentivising schools to submit their top athlete.

“Monthly, they will write a review on the top athlete when selected. The school gets a $1000 sponsorship to the sports department. The student-athlete gets exposure, the bank gets marketing, Richland Source Newspaper gets school kids their parents and their friends checking the news site each month to see who won… and obviously they get the news organisation gets the advertising spend.

“We also spent time with the Leadership (Management Team) CEO Jay who is super excited about us being here and also we are happy being here too. Tomorrow we will discuss how they work with AI and also we will spend time with the Ad Executives to discuss commercial products.”

Nirmala Govender, alias Shirley, broke into the big time when her host decided to use a photo she shot for the home page of the website! 

“This pic I took earlier today in Mansfield was selected by Larry Phillips, Richland Source’s Editor, as lead for the Memorial Day coverage. There were about 12 of my pics used in total. It was good to experience this depth of patriotism that locals displayed. It was moving to hear the war veterans speak of their experiences. Tomorrow it’s back to work as the full team will be available to talk Chris and I through their business and newsroom operations.”

Anetta Mangxaba has also been extremely busy, spending time shadowing the graphic design team at The Daily Standard in Celina.

Mbali Dhlomo and Peter Luhanga were also out on the Memorial Day beat and posted some images. They prepared and sent pages for our publications at their host’s offices. 

“Once done, we had a chat about our respective businesses and the similarities in the manner we do things. Then she invited us for supper and we had this amazing Italian soup that she made, with bread and dessert. She invited her family and friends over.

“Then we sat on the verandah and we chatted about various topics. And Peter was taken for a drive in a black Mustang! So we have made friends and family here. They are asking us whether we will come back again.”

Growing commercial pressures are resulting in increasing numbers of publishers turning to nonprofit models to ensure they are able to serve their communities.

The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) supports more than 400 independent news organisations to “develop revenue and business models to support strong reporting, collaborate on editorial and business innovation, share services and advance the diverse leaders who are forging a new future for news”.

INN aims to expand its members’ reach and impact in informing communities, holding the powerful accountable and strengthening democracy.

Executive director Sue Cross told us that about 40 percent of INN members are local and the other 60 percent are working in “verticals” which focus on specific issues across geographic areas, such as environment and health.

INN has developed freely-available guides that would be useful for AIP member publishers seeking to use nonprofit models. Although they are developed for the US, there are many that would be worth exploring.

Topics include “Launch a nonprofit outlet from scratch”, “Convert to a nonprofit, and “Create and grow earned revenue”.

Individual giving and reader revenue are growing. INN is noticing that younger people won’t subscribe but they will donate and that people are increasingly willing to donate to local news.

Collaborative or matched funding is increasingly common, whereby philanthropists match individual donations, for example doubling all donations up to $1000.

Lisa Snowden of the Baltimore Beat shared how she started the paper when a previous local paper stopped publishing. She noticed other newsrooms with similar problems were turning to nonprofit models. 

Baltimore Beat started with small-dollar donations (the “Patreon” model) and this still forms the bulk of their funding.

20,000 copies of the newspaper are distributed freely across the city, unlike previous free papers which used to be only available in the white part of the city. 

The Baltimore Beat has successfully captured the attention of its local audience while addressing social issues such as police brutality and racial segregation.

An example of their focus on supporting their community is their Beat Boxes which are used to distribute the newspapers but also for people to share food, medicines and other essential supplies.

Tim Marema explained how the Daily Yonder focuses on providing news, commentary, and analysis for rural America. 

“We felt rural issues and communities were not adequately reflected in dominant media. Our idea was that we could help those outlets understand rural America better.”

He highlighted the importance of understanding the unique challenges faced by rural communities and ensuring their voices are represented. 

Daily Yonder reaches its target audience through its website, radio programs, and partnerships with publishers who republish its content freely.

Their funding model is primarily philanthropy from foundations.

“Relatively few foundations want to fund journalism per se. Many more want to fund areas of interest so our primary method is to approach funders interested in areas we work in and explain how our work relates to their areas of their concern”.

They also encourage individual donations and sell merchandise.

Simon Manda, founder of ThisAbility presented on the importance of sharing content, forming partnerships, and providing training opportunities. 

By focusing on the underrepresented demographic of people with disabilities, ThisAbility aims to increase understanding and inclusivity in the media landscape. 

Manda emphasises the need for corporates to recognize the significance of disability and foster greater awareness through their support.

Do take the time to watch this 5-minute video on ThisAbility.

Boutique media group Likhanyile has publishing, corporate communications and tutoring divisions.

Slindile Khanyile explained how their journalism is funded by their other business activities but at the same time creates awareness of their brand and brings in business.

Umbele, their Zulu-medium online business publication, uses text and audio to tell stories about SMMEs, agriculture, personal finance, technology and labour to emerging entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, low-income earners and consumers.

Since Umbele’s inception (September 2020) to date, they have profiled 150 emerging farmers and 375 SMMEs across South Africa.

They distribute our content via their website www.umbele.co.za, mobile app Ayoba, Ilanga newspaper and VumaFM, a regional dual-language commercial radio station in KwaZulu-Natal.

“We do not have a conversation with anyone who wants us to give up copyright,” Slindile told us.

“I take my hat off for Shirley Govender,” Phumudzo Makharamedzha commented on Facebook below the link to Govender’s presentation on Xenor Projects at the EW Scripps School of Journalism.

“This accomplished publisher was my mentor when I started my professional journalism career fresh from university way back in 1997. Keep up the great work Madam. You are definitely an outstanding human being and indeed an irreplaceable asset in our community print media sector.”

In the lead-up to the trip to Ohio, AIP chair Mbali Dhlomo requested that the programme give each of the South African delegates an opportunity to introduce their business.

And so it came to pass that two publishers stepped forward in the hour after lunch each day. In this report on the fourth day of the AIP trip to Ohio, we’re putting the South African publishers’ presentations first.

Govender’s presentation of the history of her three newspapers was a clear, detailed and honest presentation of the challenges the 31-year-old business has faced, the innovative solutions they found and some ideas of new routes they are considering exploring.

“This US trip has come when it is really needed and I am so thankful to be here,” she said.

“Everything is about the greater good. I was born for this. I don’t know how to do anything else. I don’t think I’ll ever retire, they’ll be about to switch the machines off and I’ll still be editing something.”

Peter Luhanga’s presentation on Iliso LaBantu Newspaper centred on his theme of always “doing the right thing” through groundbreaking grassroots journalism.

Luhanga shared his expansive vision, which starts “In this age of algorithms and AI reinforcing media feedback loops, we believe print is one of the best ways to break down the echo chamber constructed around readers of news and counter the phenomenon of misinformation distributed by unethical platforms.”

As a practical example, Luhanga showed his heartrending report on “A day in the life of a municipal sewerage worker”.

Luhanga also showed delegates a video where he was interviewed for telling the story of then-18-year-old Siyamthanda Mtyeku who lived in a one-room shack with four others – and got 7 distinctions in matric.

Luhanga reflected on the fact that 100% of their current revenue comes from advertising and they need to create sustainability models.

“If our committed advertorial clients who have been supporting us for the past eight years pull the plug, we would need to fold but would never die.”

The Budget and the LION

That is exactly the need that LION Publishers aims to fill, with the acronym standing for  Local Independent Online News. 

Earlier in the day, Chris Krewson had inspired delegates with his story of how LION Publishers offers teaching, resources and a supportive community for independent entrepreneurs who are working to build sustainable businesses.

LION Publishers supports more than 425 independent news sites in the U.S. and Canada. 

“Our members get access to expert- and peer-led training, coaching and funding opportunities, a vibrant community of fellow founders, discounts to our conferences and other events, and the chance to be nationally recognized for their work. We also offer a discounted membership for aspiring entrepreneurs.”

LION Publishers has established a News Entrepreneur Academy which offers courses on a variety of topics on revenue generation, operations and journalistic impact.

LION’s Sustainability Audits and Funding program offers “a comprehensive process for LION members to identify and respond constructively to roadblocks to sustainability within their organisations”.

Krewson believes we are not facing a crisis in journalism but “a crisis in the business of journalism”. In fact, he asserts, there’s more journalism than ever before in history.

Some of the solutions Krewson’s crew have tried include a Facebook-funded two-year program where revenue-generating employees were inserted into about a dozen newsrooms across the United States. 

“About a third were successful, and two-thirds did just ok, these are high-risk businesses,” he said. 

The organisation has a number of initiatives which are based on a membership model, communicating using SLACK. 

“We use a funnel logic when it comes to revenue and action, and deploy this in our own systems,” Krewson pointed out. 

“We have 4500 who get our newsletter, then there are 1800 on our SLACK group and we convert that to 450 paid-up members.” 

Benefits include free access to CANVA Plus for publishers, access to media lawyers and a concept called the Tiny News Collective.

Later after lunch, Professor Bill Reader told the gathering that despite the fact that he doesn’t like to use the “unique” because it is overused, in the case of The Budget, he says he is willing to make an exception “because it is truly unique”.

“It is a fascinating example of community journalism that is in one way tied to a specific place and in another way tied to a specific culture,” Reader said. 

Milo Miller is the publisher of The Budget, which is the largest newspaper serving the Amish and Mennonites worldwide. 

The Sugarcreek Ohio-based weekly newspaper has a Local and a National edition.

The Budget story began in 1890 when printer John C. Miller realised that Sugarcreek needed its own newspaper. Now the little town is known as “The little Switzerland of Ohio” and for its oddities like the World’s Largest Cuckoo clock. 

A reader who has moved west wrote back and told him what was happening in his new Amish community and John Miller put the letter in The Budget. By the end of the year he had 35 “scribes” in 15 states writing letters to him.   

Currently, the 52-page national edition has 1 100 “scribes” from Amish and Mennonite communities in 40 states in the US and beyond. The scribes go through a rigorous application process that includes church oversight and background checks. 

Letters are sent in by post, fax or email and are reviewed by a copyeditor who has been working on the paper for 40 years. They are then typeset and proofread. The newspapers’ printers do the printing and deliver the newspapers for posting to subscribers and retail outlets. 

Many readers regard the letters as if they were sent by friends and family.

“They don’t want violence, they don’t want sex, they don’t want politics and we put our audience first.”

Although Milo Miller and his team are not Amish, their mantra is “It’s their newspaper, we are just privileged to publish it for them”.

The Budget is one of the few newspapers whose print subscriptions are growing, he says. It is also one of the few newspaper businesses that has closed down its website.

In about 2007, The Budget set up a local news website and in 2016 decided to expand it into a national site. They noticed their circulation numbers started going down and heard from some readers that they didn’t want The Budget online at all, so on 31 December 2018 they pulled the plug on the digital edition. Circulation gradually started creeping back up and now there are over 20 000 subscribers to the national edition, of which 9000 are in Ohio.

Although The Budget company does well with advertising, it has diversified by acquiring and starting a number of other publications, including an Amish business directory, “The Diary of the Old Order Churches” and the programme preview for the “Horse Progress Days”, an annual event. They also sell harmonicas through their database of 98,000 subscribers.

While it is a mouthpiece for the Amish way of life, the business of journalism is taken very seriously. 

“There are no sweetheart deals, the rate card is always in use and everybody sees the same rate card,” said Miller. 

“it’s the right thing to do – if you offer a deal how much do you value your own newspaper?”

Print is not the driver any more – you have got to have other products

Day three of the AIP trip to Ohio was full of inspiring and challenging examples of news companies that diversified in order to ensure their growth and sustainability.

Publisher and Editor Levi Rickert of Native News Onlne is a tribal citizen of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. 

Native News Online is a digital-only news site that focuses on Rickert’s mission of improving the lives of Indigenous people.

“The word we use is Impact, Rickert said, “we want to say we are making a difference, not just being victims.”

For nine years, Rickert said, he spent 90% of his effort on editorial and 10% on business. After getting a business partner and putting a team in place they increased donations from approximately $3,200 to over $140,000 a year. 

“When you think you’ve asked enough, keep asking,” he was told by an advisor on how to use FaceBook Advertising

During the Covid pandemic, they realised we could also get grant money. For example, they have had sponsorships of content on topics close to the hearts of their readers and advertisers, such as opioid abuse, and live streams of the Tribal Economic Summit.

“The terrible story we decided to cover extensively was about how Native American children were removed from their families.

“Every single Native American in the US today is still impacted by the attempt to destroy the fabric of Native American families. It’s 100 or so pages, paused and circled the page with the note that the government tried to destroy the culture, to me it’s very important particularly what Native Americans experienced.

Native American children were stolen and put into boarding schools where they were beaten with “Jesus ropes” 

In a poignant moment, Ricket apologised for leaving before question time because Wednesday was the day on which was called to receive his Indian name.

Next up was Kevin Adelstein of the Cleveland Jewish News, which started out with one weekly newspaper. Their revenue streams now include paid subscriptions, events, custom and bespoke magazine and newspaper publishing, and a series of lifestyle magazines.

“We pride ourselves on our independence. We are non-partisan, we have never endorsed political candidates. We provide a platform for a diverse group of voices to be expressed through our pages. When we have both sides of the aisle complaining we’re doing something right.”

They see themselves as much more than a Jewish newspaper company. “We’ve diversified our revenue streams because of the vulnerability of newspapers.”

 We will not sell our database but will sell access to the database, Adelstein says, adding: “We will take your message and send it out to our subscribers.”

They also have an event division, producing community events with speakers and tribute events with, for example, well-known actors.

In addition, they have a magazine publishing division which publishes magazines for city councils, who control the content but they manage every aspect of the process including selling advertising, creating the content and delivering the magazines. 

In 1996, when David Woronoff and his four partners bought The Pilot, it consisted of a twice-weekly print newspaper. They quickly realised that it would not be enough to sustain the business. (See The Pilot presentation here.)

“The story is about innovation, diversification, entrepreneurship and thinking outside of the box,” said The Pilot’s John Nagy.

Their first different product was a telephone directory. 

The business now consists of five main revenue streams, of which the biggest is magazines (which in the past year contributed 53% of revenue), The Pilot (26%), The Country Bookshop (12%, Phone books (4%) and First Flight digital marketing and media services agency (5%), which includes managing websites, public relations, social media delivery and digital video production.

Nagy says the most important department in the business is advertising sales because “advertising makes possible the free press”.

“Nothing we do can be done without bringing in the revenue.” Second is accounting, because they pay the bills. And then “the newspaper’s duty is to print the paper and to raise hell”.

Nagy emphasised that the newspaper is not the driver any more. “You have got to have other products. If all we did was stay as a newspaper print product the chances of success are few, given the economic headwinds”. 

South African publishers Mbali Dhlomo of Genuine Magazine and Intuthuko Newspapers (presentation here) and Mahmood Sanglay of Muslim Views (presentation here) then presented their publications’ stories and strategies.

In the decades since Dhlomo launched Genuine Magazine, she has had many successes, won many awards and introduced many innovations.

And yet, as she says, because is not hands-on and is able to do every part of the process, she has been able to keep the business alive.

The biggest challenges they have faced are the inability to attract suitably-qualified staff, the shortage of funds to grow the business and the shortage of advertising revenue which is the main source of funding for the business.

Dhlomo warned about getting lazy when getting grant funding and failing to plan for the time when the grant is no longer available. “Work as if there is no grant.” 

She also shared some of the key lessons she has learned along the way. 

“This is a proper business, and it must be run as such,” was top of the list. She also urged publishers to plan ahead, to be hands-on but delegate and assist their team to finish the job. act with honesty and integrity, focus on your goals, and collaborate with other publishers. 

Mahmood Sanglay stressed the importance of knowing your mission statement by heart.

“Muslim Views is an independent media organisation using contemporary media to provide information, comment and analysis and to advocate universal values and social justice.”

Muslim Views is implementing major strategic changes including starting an email newsletter and converting to a nonprofit company.

“It’s better to give up our shareholdings and earn something to make the newspaper sustainable as opposed to owning 100% of zero. Being a private company only has merit if it is making a profit.” 

Watch the recording of Day 3 here.

The ample air conditioning at Ohio University’s Scripps School of Journalism helped cool a few passionate debates about, among other things, how to run surveys,  the ethics of fundraising and whether regional or national advertising co-operatives are viable.  

Andy Alexander, former Washington Post Ombudsman and experienced journalist was first up in the presentation fridge. Now semi-retired and living in rural Virginia, Alexander chairs the Foothills Forum, a new type of community-supported journalism organisation aiming to improve the quality of news in the Rappahannock area, across Virginia, and around the United States. 

Drawing on his experience of raising money to run the Forum, Alexander advised three main approaches for those publishers seeking funding. 

Firstly, play the long game. 

“You don’t just say give me the money, you have to play along, find out what the funder is doing, and mould your approach towards what their interest is,” he advised. 

Secondly, go to the people who have the money. 

“In every community, there are people who have money, so start there,” he advised. “There are people who will surprise you, some people do have discretionary income, and part of fund-raising is you have to find them.”

Thirdly he said that non-profit news organisations need to change their narrative. Do not approach these possible funders and say “Please support journalism”. 

“Tell them you’re here to support the community, and that they can help in this process,” he advised. 

“You go into this job knowing that people won’t love you,” he said, “but I’ve noticed in recent years that there’s been a shift from journalists to an assault on journalism which worries me because I think that people don’t understand what independent journalism is”. 

Don’t refer to yourself as “the media”, Alexander advises, rather remind them that you are their “trusted local source of information”.

Many small local newspapers go back more than a century and remain the primary source of news of rural communities, who have watched with alarm as their local newspapers vanished.

The good news is that the audience is growing for news startups, although it’s hard to sustain them. This is why Alexander has concentrated his energies on non-profit news and why he teamed up with other concerned parties to launch the Foothills Forum. 

The Forum, which raises funds for local news organisations, is managed by an extremely diverse board. 

“There are fifteen people on the Forum’s board,” said Alexander. “Some are way out there conservative, some are progressives and some are liberals.” But they are not allowed to talk politics at meetings, and he would shut any board member down who attempted to bring political discussions into the meeting. 

Alexander lives in a county called Rappahannock which has a 146-year-old newspaper called the Rappahannock News. After arriving in the county, he got involved in relaunching the paper after a new owner purchased the title and began meeting locals to talk about the publication.

The Foothills Forum set out to help run a survey aimed at finding out what the people of Rappahannock wanted from their paper. While the survey cost $40 000, Alexander stressed that this was money well spent. They discovered that the residents were very interested in accessing broadband, while the editor had thought they would be more focused on issues such as water quality or what to do with outsiders moving into the county. 

“Almost everybody said they loved the paper, but there’s not much in it,” he said with a chuckle. 

The full details of the survey are available on the FootHills Forum website.

Alexander stressed the importance of hosting what he called “Ginger Groups” which was a form of focused research gathering. While most organisations will not be able to afford the steep costs associated with a survey, there are a host of other techniques to gather information from readers. 

“We host a fourth estate Friday,” said Alexander. On the first Saturday of every month, the editor and staff head off to a local coffee shop to meet any reader who wants to ask questions about stories, and the process of journalism. 

“It doesn’t cost anything, people show, we sit in a quiet corner and talk,” he said. 

“In many cases, it’s the first time they’ve interacted with a journalist.” 

Other ideas include holding neighbourhood meetings where a reader invites their friends to their home to meet the editors and staff. 

“It’s a low-tech retail-oriented way of having a conversation with someone,” said Alexander. Other ideas include an Ideas Forum, where a local topic can be selected for discussion which leads to a host of story ideas.

The late Spring weather in Ohio has seen temperatures rising up to 28ºC, providing a welcome opportunity for delegates to escape from the rather frigid conference room for a sunny lunch break. 

After lunch, it was time for another pair of South African publishers to share their stories.

MeD8 Media’s Christopher Siyabulela Mcinga, a consummate storyteller and highly-entrepreneurial publisher, shared his journey from growing up as a little boy in an Eastern Cape town called Graaff-Reinet, through managing local newspapers for Caxton to running his own publishing business and supporting other publishers to achieve their goals. 

MeD8 is now the publisher of Student Living and Ntu News, as well as providing digital-publishing services to a number of other publishers.

Mcinga ended his presentation with a pic of his son, sharing with the delegates his goal of making sure that his son and others like him are safe in the future, which is why MeD8 Media focuses not only on profits but also on purpose.

In 2008, Dunisani Ntsanwisi started Nthavela as a monthly publication which circulates in the mainly rural areas of the north-eastern Limpopo province where most residents are Xitsonga speakers.

Nthavela stands for the creative partnerships it has entered into. For example, they are aiming to work with the University of Pretoria to develop new natural language processing tools and methods for South African languages.

They have also signed a trade-exchange agreement with SABC radio station Munghana Lonene, which broadcasts in Xitsonga. 

Ntsanwisi’s presentation was followed by a passionate debate about the viability of regional and national cooperatives. The AIP delegates vowed to follow up the Ohio trip with a renewed effort to work together in generating revenue for independent publishers. 

Bill Reader pointed out that AIP’s publishers collectively have the largest journalism workforce in South Africa. 

Watch recordings from Day 2 here and here.

“Your product is not news, your product is connectivity.”

Prof Bill Reader kicked off the first week of the AIP trip to Ohio emphasising to the South African publishers that “an effective community journalism operation holds its community together with reliability, caring (‘tough love’), and trust.

Prof Reader’s presentation showed how community journalism was the foundation of American journalism. “A community arrived as a real place when it got its own newspaper.” News was collected from main centres, the larger cities, then local commentary was added. What was interesting is that most of the owners were printers first, not journalists and produced newspapers on the side. 

By the mid-18th Century, most publishers produced patriotic papers, taking the point of view of the people, while some were loyalists who followed the King of England. Soon however newspapers in America began to follow ideologies and cultures. 

“Wherever a town sprang up, there was a printer, and a newspaper, as the country expanded to the west, the land was cleared by slaves, built by poor immigrants, stolen from first people and news media moved with frontier,” said Reader.

By the mid-1800s, nearly every small town and frontier territory had at least one weekly newspaper, he reported. Then in 1844, the invention of the telegraph led to the Associated Press being set up by New York City newspapers so they could share the costs of getting news about the U.S. invasion of Mexico. The wire service expanded to link news media across the nation, bringing neutral and simple facts with a national slant so that the competing newspapers could use the copy. 

This was the beginning of the idea of neutrality where different views had to be catered for by facts and objectivity became a business decision. 

But “detached” journalism in the U.S. led to a “disconnect’ between publishers and audiences.

“From the late 1980s, many in the U.S. media business vowed to ‘reconnect’ news

media with their audiences. This resulted in initiatives such as civic journalism, citizen journalism, and solutions journalism”.

To be sustainable, and to thrive, community journalism models need to have “multiple delivery modes (based on audience preferences), diversified product/service offerings, and flexible (‘opportunistic’) work streams”.  

Prof Reader explained how rural and far-flung communities are facing a news drought because publishers are based in the larger towns and journalists working for these operations are seldom seen in the remote areas. 

“It helps to know that we’re not alone,” said Xenor’s Shirley Govender, observing that so many of the challenges faced by South African publishers are exactly the same as those confronting US publishers. We have a great deal to learn from each other.

It was pointed out by Professor Reader that effective community journalism (CJ) holds people together, it is built on caring and an ethic involving trust. But he also warned that  CJ can include tough love, where the reports can reveal negative things about the area.

“By 2015, 85% of newspapers in the U.S. were community papers which is 60% of total print circulation and even after COVID-19 the community papers are still the dominant part of the publishing sector, and yet everyone focuses on the national papers,” he said. 

“There is a local news crisis in the U.S., and flagging advertising and subscriptions are major drivers, especially in economics-strapped communities.”

A recent newspaper analysis led by University of Kansas researcher Teri Finneman revealed that there is a significant divide between what publishers and community members thought about revenue sources. For example, publishers preferred traditional advertising and paid subscriptions for both print and online, whereas readers said they would pay for events, print subscriptions, e-newsletters and even memberships.

The lunch break saw a minor South African invasion of the local KFC franchise, as AIP publishers compared the size and juiciness of local portions.

After lunch, AIP member publishers Andile Nomabhunga (The Informer) and Anetta Magxaba (Dizindaba) shared how deeply their relationship with their communities run, and the creative strategies they have used to balance their business needs and their community service.

Nomabhunga explained how he had decided to launch a new Digital Television project that was beginning to pay off. Magxaba said she and her partner had developed a strategy when it came to selling advertising, focusing on the isiXhosa language. 

“We tell the advertisers, it’s your choice to advertise in your language, but now you have to do it in Xhosa,” she explained. 

But the reality of working as a publisher in South Africa has seen her newspaper move from a spacious office to her home as economic headwinds and costs ramped up. There have been surprising silver linings, however. 

“The pandemic was our best year ever in the history of the newspaper,” she said.

“We made close to a million rand mostly on government ads, that’s why we went back to a weekly.”

Prof Mark Turner’s presentation engaged the visitors in a deep, wide-ranging and animated discussion about community journalism business models.

He asked a simple question. Is Journalism a business, a public service, a mix of the two, or something else entirely. 

His presentation clearly mapped out the different business models being used by US community media. He challenged participants to debate whether they are primarily businesses or if they exist to serve the community.

“We should not be apologetic about the fact that we are running businesses,” the South African publishers insisted. We can’t serve our communities unless we can pay the bills.

Prof Turner suggested that “we care about your community and this is why you should continue to support us,” is a message we could be giving potential advertisers and partners.

“I think you make money off your mission,” he said. “You just have to find the right streams.”

Most publishers agreed that publishing was a mix of public service and business, although Professor Read said he believed journalism itself was separate from business. The art and science of writing news should be done away from deciding whether it was an online, print or other form of business model. 

PS: Apologies to those who struggled with the live stream today. Technical glitches had the South African MacGyvers stretching their creativity to work out ways of getting the audio system working.

AIP_OU_program 2

Dear Members

Warm thanks to all of you who attended our AIP members’ meeting last Friday, 12 May to discuss our US publisher fellowship trip.

Our fellows are leaving this Friday 19th May to go to Ohio University – EW Scripps School of Journalism – for 3 weeks to learn about media sustainability issues and to spend time with US small publishers.

As discussed at the meeting we hope to share as much information as possible with fellow publishers back in SA and we would like you to follow all our activities on social media and via our AIP website.

Please do communicate with the AIP office if you want any further information. Please find the programme attached. Please see below for the link to the recording of our Friday meeting.

Zoom meeting Link: Click here
Passcode: V9X?aDC9