NewsBeat

August 2019 NewsBeat 11 Malthouse said there's much more to learn on this topic. For example, one possible area of inquiry is whether acquiring digital subscribers at a deep discount might lead to an unacceptably high rate of churn. The churn question was also raised by Rosenstiel: "Another thing we've noticed in retention: people will work deals. … They may stop subscribing and wait for the next deal." Spiegel plans to publish detailed results of its "learning labs" data analysis in an academic journal at a later date. Meanwhile, Medill's Knight Lab is working with students to design new digital tools and products for local news, using Spiegel's data analysis to fortify its work. Northwestern's innovations will be developed in conjunction with another Northwestern entity, the Segal Design Institute at the McCormick School of Engineering. Last year, Knight Lab conducted its own qualitative research on local news audiences, with help from the Chicago office of the innovation consultancy Insitum. Fifty people across the country participated in an online diary study, and 18 others took part in hour-long, in-home interviews in the markets of the three "learning labs." The research subjects included people at various levels of news consumption as well as some who say they don't follow the news at all. The study found that people feel overwhelmed by media, and that results in a lack of engagement. They also learned that consumers think local news lacks convenience, and that they feel they have a "deteriorating relationship" with local news outlets. As part of the analysis, the study broke down local news consumers into four key "media mentalities": learners, connectors, achievers, and sharers. Learners stay informed in order to become more knowledgeable people. Connectors consume news to better equip them to contribute to their community. Achievers stay informed to help them make decisions for their success. And sharers want to stay engaged with others in order to make decisions about their social life. Each of these archetypes consumes media differently. For example, achievers— always in a hurry to get things done—might be more likely to scan headlines and move on. Of course, people may fall into different categories at different points in time. The research and development work of the Medill Local News Initiative is supported by approximately $1 million in grants and gifts. Three foundations are backing the project: the Lilly Endowment, the McCormick Foundation and The Indianapolis Foundation. Several individuals have provided significant gifts. They include John Mutz, a Medill alumnus, the former Lieutenant Governor of Indiana and President of PSI Energy, the state's largest utility company; Myrta Pulliam, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and philanthropist; and Mark Ferguson, a Medill alumnus and Partner at the Chicago law firm of Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott. Tim Franklin and Ed Malthouse will present their findings at NYPA's fall publishers' conference. Mark Jacob — A former Metro Editor at the Chicago Tribune and Sunday Editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, Jacob is chronicling the Local News Initiative's progress for the project's website. He is the co-author of six books on history and photography. — Reprinted from Local New Initiative Audrey Cooper, the San Francisco Chronicle's Editor in Chief, examines qualitative research on local news audiences, developed by Medill's Knight Lab with the help of the innovation consultancy Insitum.

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