Dan and Ellen talk with Chris Fitzsimon, publisher and CEO of The States Newsroom, the nation's largest nonprofit news organization covering state government. Chris is also the host of a new podcast called Stories from The States. Recent topics on his pod include the impact of Medicaid cuts, ICE detention, and redistricting.

Fitzsimon knows his way around state politics. From 2004 to 2017, he directed a team of seven journalists at the NC Policy Watch, which he founded. He also hosted a weekly radio show and wrote a syndicated column on North Carolina politics and government.

From 1991 to 1994, he was the spokesperson, speechwriter and policy adviser for the North Carolina speaker of the House. Before that, he was a television news reporter covering politics and government.

Dan has a Quick Take about The Salt Lake Tribune in Utah. In 2019, the Tribune became the first legacy daily newspaper to become a nonprofit. Unlike a few notable hybrids like The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Tampa Bay Times, which are for-profit papers owned by nonprofit foundations, the Salt Lake paper is a true nonprofit, just like your local public television or radio station. And the Tribune has been notably successful.

Ellen's Quick Take is on an investigation by SpotlightPA into the director of the Penn State Cancer Institute. The news outlet, which is a nonprofit that provides reporting to more than 90 outlets throughout Pennsylvania, uncovered damaging clinical practices and a toxic work environment. After the story ran last month, the director resigned.

Dan and Ellen talk with Todd Landfried, co-founder and CEO of N2 Media Holdings. As consumers cut the cord on cable TV, he hopes to develop a sustainable model for local news production. We know from our research here at What Works that local television news is still highly trusted. His mission: to reinvent local news for the streaming era.

Ellen is back and fully bionic after a short hiatus for knee replacement surgery.

Dan has a Quick Take about a finding in a recent report by LION Publishers that gets into how to think about raising money. LION, as most of our listeners know, stands for Local Independent Online News. Anyway, its latest sustainability report found that startup news organizations can't just hope that revenues are something that are going to materialize. Fundraising takes dedicated employees, as Dan will explain.

Ellen's Quick Take is on an alt-weekly in Seattle called The Stranger that has become an influential political force. This summer, 47 candidates for local office paid a call on the newsroom in order to seek an editorial endorsement. And they brought snacks!

Dan talks with Kade Krichko, the founder of Ori Magazine, a beautifully crafted premium print publication devoted to grassroots storytelling across the globe. Kade describes himself as a world wanderer with a knack for misadventure. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, ESPN, VICE, and Outside, among other publications. He admits to loving a good story, and writes, "If the tale has a pulse, I'm listening." Kade is a Northeastern University graduate, and a part-time lecturer in the School of Journalism. He created and taught a course in Sports, Media and Digital Storytelling.

Dan also checks in with longtime political journalist Jon Keller. Jon was recently laid off by WBZ-TV (Channel 4) after a 20-year career there. He was one of five staff members who lost their jobs as part of what appears to be a deep corporate purge by David Ellison, whose Skydance Media company bought Paramount earlier this fall. CBS is part of Paramount, and WBZ is part of CBS. Jon is not going away, fortunately, and is still writing for MASSterList and Boston Magazine. He has some sharp observations on the role of local TV news in covering state and city politics. (Ellen is recovering from knee replacement surgery but is producing behind the scenes. She'll return soon.)

Later on in the podcast, Dan has a Quick Take about the latest bad news from our tech overlords. The Columbia Journalism Review reports that the new AI-powered web browsers designed to replace Chrome and Safari are able to circumvent a news organization's digital paywall. Not always — it depends on the technology that was used to build the paywall. But at a time when publishers are already losing traffic because of AI, this is a direct assault on the business model for journalism in the digital age.