Last year, the Google Innovation Challenge distributed $5.8 million to 34 projects in 17 states. This round, Google is shifting the spotlight to projects that will build sustainable models for local media addressing diverse and underrepresented audiences.

“In 2020, queer media is hard to define. It’s been forced to adapt to smaller corporate budgets and changing corporate interests — or tough it out independently. There are fewer dedicated journalism platforms and job opportunities for young reporters. Instead, there’s content marketing aimed at LGBTQ audiences: Grindr’s Bloop and Netflix’s new queer vertical The Most.”

“To help our Times colleagues think like doxxers, we developed a formal program that consists of a series of repeatable steps that can be taken to clean up an online footprint.”

“Applicants’ recent social media posts were reviewed by campaign staff for racist or offensive content, or conflicting material, such as support for a different presidential candidate, organizers said. (The Bernie Sanders supporter was asked to remove posts, retweets and likes in support of the Sanders campaign.) Once approved, organizers completed training for various apps including Outvote, Hustle and ThruTalk and were encouraged to post on social media every day in support of Bloomberg.”

“If we were standing in line in the supermarket, and we saw a tabloid, people in my generation know what that means, but if we see something online, the traditional cues we’re used to are not present.”

The Republic acknowledged their 2016 endorsement of Hillary Clinton — “the first in our then 126-year history to recommend a Democrat for president” — angered a lot of readers.

Editor-in-chief/publisher Bruce Dold is out after 42 years at the Tribune. He’s being replaced by Colin McMahon, the chain’s chief content officer — a job he’ll keep, in effect eliminating a position. One of the paper’s two managing editors, 32-year Tribune veteran Peter Kendall, is also out and won’t be replaced. Tribune CEO Tim Knight was pushed out earlier this month.

Starting next week, all full-time staff will have their pay reduced by 10 percent and the reduction will last until June 5, 2020. Affected staffers will be given an extra five days of paid time off. “’Any observer will quickly see how challenging and volatile our industry has become,’ the note said. ‘We remain committed to the critical changes that will put the Tampa Bay Times back on a path of growth, and we are seeing some pockets of success, both in the industry and at the Times.'”

An early childhood education reporter at KPCC-LAist uses the “daily practice” of engagement to work her recently-redesigned beat. (A “super spreadsheet” is involved.)

“The group called the New York Police Department to ProPublica’s office in December 2018, according to the criminal complaint, claiming that there was a pipe bomb, a hostage and a dead body inside … Two months later, prosecutors say the group called police to [a ProPublica reporter’s] home in California, claiming that he was armed and had just killed his wife.”