The 10 most popular Better News articles and case studies of 2024

In 2024, the American Press Institute’s Better News featured lessons and successes from local news organizations building trust and engaging with their communities, increasing revenue and navigating workplace challenges. These pieces, written by and about alumni of the Table Stakes Local News Transformation Program, are accelerating the work of journalists and news organizations across the industry. The articles and case studies featured on this list are our top 10 most-viewed stories in 2024.

1. Plan your live journalism events with this workbook from the American Press Institute

This workbook brings together the knowledge of more than 20 experts and local news organizations that excel in the live events space. It was developed for the American Press Institute’s Live Events Sprint for alumni organizations of Table Stakes programs, and it has been modified to be a self-guided tool to help you plan your next live journalism event.

2. What Gen Z journalists want news leaders to know

Managing across generations and navigating those tensions was a common theme during conversations at the API Local News Summit on fostering belonging and collaboration in July 2024. Inspired by the challenges those news leaders at the summit face, and spurred by a desire for better collaboration and understanding across age cohorts, Better News freelancer Caitlin Dewey interviewed six Gen Z journalists to learn what they want news leaders to know about workplace culture, journalistic values, and well-being and mental health.

3. 4 ways to use the audience funnel to grow reader revenue

In this piece about developing a robust reader revenue strategy, Henrico Citizen owner and publisher Tom Lappas lays out how the Virginia news site used email newsletters, data on reader habits, direct appeals and reimagined coverage to generate $34,000 in reader revenue in a year, surpassing its $25,000 goal. Lappas also appeared on the Better News podcast to share additional insights.

4. Digital transformation: From launching a new website to true cultural change

Colorado Community Media’s new website allowed them to leave behind “antiquated infrastructure.” The relaunch of the 24 sites — 23 news brands in the Denver metro area plus Colorado Community Media — were brought under the same site structure for easier content sharing and digital optimization best practices, such as SEO, that didn’t exist when the original sites were launched. The digital transformation — shared by Amalie Nash of the National Trust for Local News, which owns Colorado Community Media — includes many key tactics for undertaking such a large project, including surveying the audience, overhauling workflows and experimenting with different platforms, such as newsletters. Colorado Community Media’s work was supported by a Beyond Print Convening grant from the American Press Institute.

5. 6 live journalism event ideas you can replicate in your community

The six local news organizations in API’s Live Events Sprint took unique paths toward bringing live journalism to their communities. Some focused on civic engagement and the upcoming election. Enlace Latino held listening sessions with government officials and Vermont Public hosted picnics where staff listened to community members’ questions and election and what policy issues are most important to them. Boise State Public Radio stayed serious with a series of panels on youth mental health. The Assembly NC hosted a breakfast and panel discussion to introduce its reporting team to the Greensboro community. Meanwhile, Blue Ridge Public Radio and Texas Metro News focused on fun with a series of trivia nights that highlighted local news stories and a celebration of women leaders in the community, respectively. Amy Zielinski, senior event producer for Vermont Public, also appeared on the Better News podcast to dive deeper into the broadcast organization’s strategy.

In a special episode, Better News podcast host Michael O’Connell and Jan Ross P. Sakian, API’s Table Stakes community manager, wrap up the final season of the podcast with a look back at key takeaways from the six seasons. Listen to the podcast here, or at the end of this aticle.

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6. Try these tactics to engage middle-funnel audiences

During an October 2024 virtual Q&A session for Table Stakes alumni, coach and reader revenue advocate Claudia Laws shared advice for how news organizations can connect with middle-funnel audiences. Her suggestions included developing funnel models for each platform your organization publishes on, maximizing newsletter lists and testing pain points along the user journey.

7. Grow your audience, repurpose content and increase brand awareness with city guides

Knox News was looking to turn newcomers into lifelong subscribers. Knoxpedia, a free digital guide about the area, repurposed the East Tennessee news organization’s vast archive and evergreen content to share information on area schools and resources for kids, housing, fun things to do and more. The team used strong SEO to make the guides easy to find, and then kept the mobile-friendly Q&A format brief, adding links to more in-depth related stories, many of them for subscribers only. A partnership with local group New2Knox increased the guide’s reach and Knox News’ audience, as shared in the case study by Joel Christopher, Robin Gibson, Areena Arora and Ryan Wilusz.

8. 4 ways to generate new digital revenue through email newsletters

The News-Reporter in Whiteville, N.C., built up its audience with “daily briefing” emails, and then leveraged that audience for additional advertising and subscription revenue. Rachel Smith and Justin Smith shared in their case study how their daily briefing email list went from 5,000 to almost 8,000 subscribers, how they increased their ad inventory with special newsletter sends outside that daily briefing and they introduced sponsored standalone emails as another revenue source.

9. How the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel focused on prioritizing with a “Stop Doing” list

First published in 2018, this piece features lasting and relevant advice for local news leaders. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel needed to address the capacity issues that hold so many organizations back. To get started, a team created a list of newsroom activities that didn’t contribute to its audience-centric strategy that it would stop doing. Creating a list and checking it regularly was key — it helped them remember their commitment, track progress and celebrate wins.

10. 5 tips to build local partnerships that give back to your community

The Kansas City Star wanted to spend more time talking to members of underrepresented communities and providing space for them to tell their own stories. Through the Star’s participation in API’s Mobilizing News Sprint, it developed “Voices of Kansas City,” a community conversation project. Hannah Wise and Mará Williams shared key takeaways from their work, including making the community editor the assigning editor, collaborating with community partners for both listening sessions and content distribution, and guarding against extractive behavior.