Five noteworthy initiatives we saw in the media industry this month

Campaign to spotlight the vital role of journalism

Good journalism is indispensable, especially during big elections, wars and other crises. To remind the public about the vital role journalists play to keep us well-informed, Journalist’s Charity launched a new campaign that already won the support of national media. It is starting to appear in print with full pages promised in the Financial Times, and the NewsUK and DMGT titles, according to CEO James Brindle. You can help spread the word and sign up here if you want to help support this project.

Call to ask your newly elected local MP to support the media industry

This call comes from the brilliant folk behind the News Future Forum who recently published a must-read report about practical ways you can help ensure the future supply of trustworthy public interest news in the UK. The brain behind the project, Dr Francois Nel, wrote a letter to Lisa Nandy, the newly elected Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and another one to Maya Ellis, the newly-elected MP for Ribble Valley, asking them to actively support and participate in the News Futures Forum. Check the two letters out for inspiration and get writing.

New model for programmatic advertising

Another cool idea comes from Ping!, a community interest company set up to champion the independent and hyperlocal news sector. They joined forces with Content Ignite to create ads.ping, a new tool for independent publishers to grow revenue through programmatic advertising. In essence, ads.ping employs a single tag integration for easy onboarding and gives publishers complete control over the ad management process.

There are features like on-page monetisation, real-time insights, health and performance checks, trend analyses, geolocation ad management and forecasting, that independent publishers may have otherwise not been able to access alone. Check it out.

New course to improve media diet

There is a lot of talk about media literacy but what about the impact that thoughtless media consumption has on our mental health? One of the most prominent experts on healthy media diet, Jodie Jackson, has created a new course to help audiences make more conscious choices when consuming journalism - and that applies to journalists, too. The course is 3.5 hours long and it will teach you to "improve your mental health, empower your mindset and transform the quality of your life." Enroll here

Updated guide to solutions journalism

Constant stream of negativity leaves audiences feeling depressed and powerless, which is another reason why so many increasingly avoids news. Although you cannot avoid reporting on problems, you can do so in a way that helps your readers understand what is being done about them, rather than just feeling down. Examining solutions does not equal sugarcoating or doing someone PR though - explaining what works and what does not requires solid journalistic skills, integrity and ethics. Just what your readers expect from you. Download it here

A previous version of this article mentioned Adobe Podcast Studio, we moved it to our round-up of nine AI tools to try over summer

Free daily newsletter

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).