Hi, everyone!

I have been working on a collaborative journalism platform aimed at solution-driven news, and now that I have the beta version of the app published, I am trying to organize some user testing. Given the content of this community, I thought some here may be interested in the project. Below is a more detailed, albeit brief, summary of the platform. I would love feedback from anyone with real world experience in the field as I do not come from a journalism/media background.

Backroom is a platform built on a relatively simple premise: bringing people with diverse perspectives together to solve problems. The idea for Backroom came after listening to a radio debate on the student loan crisis, where two well-informed individuals presented their arguments eloquently. Yet, despite the clarity and respectfulness of the debate, no resolution was achieved, and no path forward was suggested. This experience underscores a common theme I see in media: while there is ample space for discussions, there is often a lack of concrete, actionable solutions. Backroom was conceived as a response to this gap. While social media platforms like X , Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Discord, etc. offer spaces for people to express their thoughts and share stories, they typically do not facilitate the creation of real, impactful solutions. Backroom, on the other hand, is designed to not only provide a platform for conversations and storytelling but also to equip users with the tools to develop and implement solutions to the problems they discuss.

Using the Backroom platform, users join a Room about a topic they are interested in, add fellow users, and then discuss the topic/problem in detail. Then, AI analyzes the conversation and proposes a specific solution based solely on that conversation. The hope is that Backroom will take us a step further in our media experience than current platforms by moving beyond debates and rants, toward meaningful and well-rounded solutions for our community.

I am looking for test users who would be willing to participate in one or two Rooms each. I anticipate a Room taking 1 to 2 active working hours total, but this could vary depending on the users and topic. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in feel free to drop me a comment or message. I would also love to just discuss the idea in generally, even if you don’t have the capacity to help with testing.

Hi all --

I want to introduce myself -- I'm half of a pair of former journalists who were worried about the state of the American news industry online, and decided to build a new platform just for news.

We know most Americans get at least some of their news from social media, even though they don't trust it. They probably shouldn't trust it -- on a lot of platforms real reporting competes for attention with flat out misinformation, hate speech, and spam. On other platforms, the algorithms are suppressing political news. And local news has never really thrived on any social platform.

Forth is our answer to the problem. It's a news feed for news; anyone can sign up, follow who or what they want, and build out their own feed -- but only verified journalists who agree to our (incredibly uncontroversial) editorial policy can post. We don't dictate what can or cannot be covered, as long as it is factually accurate, and not opinion-based.

We're growing, but want to expand the breadth of our coverage, especially local and in various verticals.

More info about contributing is here: https://journalists.forth.news

And our almost-manifesto: https://letsgo.forth.news

I'd love to hear your thoughts, and let's go Forth together!

https://www.forth.news

Hello everyone, I am doing my Master's thesis on how news media can label certain groups and how this can elicit emotions in order to ultimately influence readers. I would greatly appreciate it if you could take around 8 minutes to fill in this survey!

I'm a journalist, and just worked on this story with some statistics that honestly really surprised me!

In the UK, 89% of adults listen to the radio at least once per week, and that's been true since the 90s. The average radio listener tunes in for over 20 hours a week, and it's not just from driving - even before the pandemic, 60% of radio listening was in the home.

Do you think the media is underestimates just how much power radio has? Why do you think it's so enduring? Check out the piece and let me know what you think!

https://www.newstatesman.com/business/2022/04/in-with-the-old-how-radio-is-beating-streaming-at-its-own-game

https://preview.redd.it/hs7i1o3qswr81.png?width=1440&format=png&auto=webp&s=6aa0bf76c32a4581b8b422184119cb07f8082a2c

Hey, all. One of our photographers suggested using a third party platform for our photo galleries, since our CMS galleries suck. Apparently the one this photographer liked isn't around any more - does any here know of something similar for photo hosting and sales?

My town's local business magazine shut down due to COVID. I asked about buying it at the time, but ultimately things were too uncertain and I dropped it. I got back in touch on a whim last week, and the owner, a regional publisher/commercial printer, said they would consider selling it for a dollar if I used them for printing in the future.

So I have a zoom meeting with the owner tomorrow. What questions should I have ready? So far I plan to ask:

-What's the cost of a typical print run and mailing?
(The mag used a qualified free subscription model, where anyone with a business license could request a mail subscription. I believe they also used a few free pickup spots like the Chamber of Commerce lobby, SCORE Office, public library etc.)

-What's included in the sale?
(I'd be looking for website and domain, print templates/InDesign files, advertiser contact info and sales history.)

-What if I choose not to print at all?

Register today for the upcoming sessions available through the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association Foundation’s special diversity webinar series Leading Local: The Media’s Impact on Diversity, Inclusion and Equity.

Ten Steps to More Inclusive Reporting
June 18

Explore ten steps that you and your newsroom can take to produce more diverse, equitable and inclusive reporting.  This session features a Reynolds Journalism Institute Fellows project completed by Melba Newsome, RJI Fellows Class of 2020-21. Using research and findings from her fellowship, Newsome will outline the necessary steps and lead participants through an evaluation of published journalism for diversity and inclusive reporting. From common challenges to rethinking the whys and wheres of diverse sources to understanding and overcoming barriers, Newsome details what you can do to be more inclusive storytellers.

Learn More

Seeing the Whole Community: Diversity and Inclusivity through Design
August 12

Communities, readers and audiences want to see themselves reflected in your local news coverage. Not just through words and stories, but also through the visuals, photos, art and designs in your various print and digital products. Doing so requires you to look, listen and learn.

This session will help editors and reporters visually cover their whole community. Topics include visual inclusion, intention and diversity as well as making tough visual calls.

Learn More

Thanks to a grant from the Calkins Foundation, there is no cost for any members of press or news associations across the United States to join this training.

Ms. Mayhem is hosting a panel discussion for our one-year anniversary about the importance of Black representation in the newsroom. Our panelists will discuss how journalists can better cover Black stories and how news media’s representation of Black communities affects long-term interpretation of historical events.

This event isn’t just for journalists. Anyone who’s interested in racial equity is welcome and encouraged to attend.

We also want to send a huge shoutout to our sponsors—@badbettieproject and the Black Community Initiative of DU’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

In addition, 10% of ticket sales will be donated to u/nabjofficial.

Come join us on Tuesday! Tickets are available on our Facebook event page and website.

https://www.facebook.com/events/318403633049071

My hometown is pretty small, about 10,000 people. The local newspaper cut back considerably to one issue per week. So I've started my own local news site and have been paying a few writers out of pocket in addition to writing some articles myself.

The problem is it's not sustainable long term. I've already spent quite a bit on this. So I'm aiming to break even in order to keep it going.

My idea is to offer sponsorships to local businesses. I'd do an annual deal for $1,200 but will discount the first ones to $800. The question is what could I offer them in exchange for the sponsorship?

We get some traffic to our site. It's not a lot but for the area it's pretty good and it's mostly local. So right now I'm thinking putting their logos somewhere under a sponsored section on each page or article would be the main thing. We also have a few hundred Facebook followers and that will hopefully grow, so I'm open to ideas of how we might leverage the Facebook page.

I don't want to do anything that jeopardizes our journalistic integrity, but I'm open to additional ideas, maybe doing sponsored features on their businesses as well, which would be labeled as such. What do you think?

If I can get 6 to 10 sponsors, I think I'd be in a pretty good position to keep things going even though it might still cost me a bit it would at least be manageable.