How New Mexico Local Newsrooms Plan to Bounce Back from the Pandemic

Our 10 Revenue Initiative grantees plan to start memberships, events, merchandise and more this year

By every measure, the last year has been a struggle for local news outlets in the nation and here in New Mexico. Local businesses have had to close or temporarily shutter, leaving less money for advertising. In-person events have been cancelled or moved online. And the news cycle hasn’t slowed down a bit, with local elections, protests against police brutality, and the need for crucial coverage of the spread of COVID-19 and vaccine availability.

It’s been heartening to hear first-hand from local newsrooms in New Mexico how they’ve been resilient and withstood the challenges of the pandemic. Last year, I helped run the Local News Revenue Initiative for the New Mexico Local News Fund, and was amazed at the great ideas that came to fruition among those nine publishers. Taos News launched a 3-to-1 grant matching program that let local advertisers triple the power of their ad buys. The Las Cruces Bulletin published its first ever “Bulletin’s Best” contest, helping to grow its advertising and email list.

And this year, great ideas are percolating among our next class of Revenue Initiative grantees. The news outlets are a great mix of community newspapers, online nonprofits, community radio and even a Spanish language newspaper. The one thing they have in common is moxie, the will and desire to keep producing important, timely information for their communities. And the best news I heard in my initial calls with them was that the Santa Fe New Mexican has already hired back all the employees it had furloughed and was actually in hiring mode.

Here’s a rundown of the 10 newsrooms participating in the Revenue Initiative in 2021, and some plans they have for producing new or improved lines of revenue:

Camino Real Media (Spanish-language newspaper in Southern New Mexico):

• Create distribution partnerships with other community newspapers.
• Offer Spanish translation of stories from other news outlets.

Columbus NM News (online news startup)

• Begin selling advertisements to local businesses
• Developing a creative writing contest in partnership with the local library.

Downtown Albuquerque News (subscription email newsletter):

• Increase subscriptions with social media marketing campaigns.
• Hire a freelance writer to create content and give the founder flexibility.

Hidalgo County Herald (weekly newspaper in Lordsburg):

• Launch a new website to help boost subscriptions.
• Launch a live-streaming service covering local sports.

KTAL Radio (community radio in Las Cruces):

• Start a video live-stream of popular radio shows.
• Partner with New Mexico State University’s Center for Community Analysis to produce audio reports based on data points about Dona Ana County.

Questa Del Rio News (monthly newspaper in Questa):

• Create merchandise to sell at the Farmers Market along with subscriptions.
• Relaunch the website to offer digital advertisements and promote donations.

Santa Fe New Mexican (daily newspaper):

• Start a new Studio to create branded content and special issues.
• Produce hybrid in-person and online events.

Searchlight New Mexico (online nonprofit):

• Join the News Revenue Hub for support in creating a membership program.
• Launch a new tiered membership program to boost reader revenues.

Sierra County Sun (online nonprofit in Truth or Consequences):

• Community outreach effort through surveys and potential in-person gatherings.
• Hire an editorial intern to help with reporting.

The Independent (weekly newspaper in Edgewood):

• Start a new membership program.
• Publish a special magazine issue, “Wild Things,” devoted to animals.

We have also re-started our Zoom cohort meetings that we had last year, this time with publishers from the first and second round of grantees. We will be discussing topics of interest for them, bringing in experts and supporting them as they look to become sustainable businesses in the long term.

I will continue to update everyone on Medium on how the program is going, as the publishers’ priorities shift and pivot as we start to see the pandemic in the rear view mirror (eventually).

Mark Glaser is the Innovation Consultant for the New Mexico Local News Fund. He is also an Associate at Dot Connector Studio, and was the founder and executive editor of MediaShift.org.