The partnership gives LMC members the resources they need to deliver impactful stories, further engaging readers and supplementing reporting with in-depth evergreen features.
NEW YORK, March 31, 2021 — Stacker and the Local Media Consortium (LMC) announce today a partnership that will help LMC members around the country gain free access to hundreds of original data-driven stories for their local coverage each month. As newspapers across the country face smaller budgets, providing readers with relevant feature coverage at both the local and national level has become increasingly difficult. Through this new partnership, Stacker and the LMC hope to provide a cost-effective solution to address these gaps.
Staffing cuts to newsrooms have contributed to a lapse in coverage across select markets and topics. The partnership between Stacker and the LMC provides a robust source of data-driven storytelling to local newsrooms that have been forced to deprioritize or limit certain stories.
Stacker now provides LMC members and their more than 5,000 outlets with engaging, research-driven features and localized data journalism, all at no cost. Stories from Stacker’s newsroom pair research with rich editorial insights to create data-driven stories that contextualize current events, helping to complement and bolster local coverage.
“Stacker provides a compelling and sustainable content solution to LMC members that are looking to elevate their local coverage with data-driven stories,” said Fran Wills, CEO of the LMC. “At a time when resources are limited but the demand for quality storytelling is high, Stacker equips local publications with the tools they need to engage and retain readers. We’re excited to leverage all that Stacker has to offer including its newswire, historical content library, and weekly story alerts.”
Stacker produces hundreds of stories each month, which LMC members can now access alongside a robust evergreen library, free of charge. To produce its stories, Stacker’s research team identifies newsworthy topics and trends that bring context to current events. That research is then transformed into data-driven lists, rankings and features. Additionally, Stacker partners with select companies to combine their industry expertise and unique storytelling process to create newsworthy, research-driven journalism.
LMC members can access Stacker’s daily newswire, as well as a full library of constantly updated evergreen features, including pieces like “Women who broke barriers from the year you were born” and “Most extreme temperatures in the history of every state.” LMC members join more than 2,000 news organizations utilizing Stacker coverage on a daily basis, including Hearst, Lee Enterprises and Tribune Newspapers.
“Stacker is on a mission to make data journalism engaging and accessible, and we’re proud to partner with the LMC to offer our stories to thousands of newsrooms across the country,” said Tommy Gamba, COO at Stacker. “Stacker’s newswire provides high-quality research features that will inform local communities and offer added coverage to resource-constrained newsrooms. Similar to AP or Reuters, we want to empower local media outlets by providing them with a cost-effective source of relevant, high-impact storytelling. Working with the LMC, we’re able to provide a scalable solution for members to access and republish all Stacker stories — free of charge.”
About Stacker
Stacker is a team of storytellers on a mission to produce and distribute data journalism to the world’s news organizations. Launched in 2017, Stacker’s newsroom combines data analysis with rich editorial context, drawing on authoritative sources and subject matter experts to deliver uniquely engaging storytelling. Stacker’s stories are read by millions of readers each month on Stacker.com and on publishing partner sites, including MSN, Tribune Publishing, Hearst Newspapers, Lee Enterprises and other members of the Local Media Consortium.
About The Local Media Consortium
The Local Media Consortium delivers economic value through strategic partnerships on behalf of nearly 90 local media companies in top markets across the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico, and includes more than 4,500 outlets. By harnessing the combined volume and scale of its members, the LMC reduces costs and increases revenue with technology and service providers like Google, Facebook, Monster, and others. The aggregated LMC audience footprint spans 200 million unique monthly visitors and its member companies serve more than 6 billion pageviews to consumers. More information is available at http://www.localmediaconsortium.com/.
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Media contacts:
Christina Gillham
cgillham@thatcherandco.com
Kristin Brocoff, 949-400-4899
kbrocoff@thatcherandco.com