Local Independent Online News Publishers gets Facebook grant

LION, Local Independent Online News Publishers, has gotten a $100,000 grant from Facebook, Poynter reports. 

The organization announced the grant at its annual conference in Chicago, held on Oct. 11-13. The grant supports the group's efforts in aiding journalists "make the transition to running their own online news business and others who have stepped up to fill gaps in local journalism across the country," according to a press release.

On  Oct. 10, Facebook announced the second round of newsrooms that will be involved in its membership accelerator. The list includes some LION members.   

The accelerators’ participants were chosen by Facebook with input from the Lenfest Institute, the Local Media Consortium, the Local Media Association and the News Media Alliance for the subscription side, and the Institute for Nonprofit News, Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers and the News Revenue Hub for the membership one.

“We're very grateful for Facebook's support for local indie news, both in funding LION and supporting better communication between our members and their journalism team,” said Dylan Smith, chairman of LION’s board of directors and publisher of the nonprofit local online news site Tucson Sentinel, in a press release. 

LION has more than 225 members in 45 states, according to the press release.

News and Tech