N o v e m b e r
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2 0 2 0 @ C h i I n d y M e d i a S a v e C h i c a g o M e d i a . c o m ANNUAL REPORT 2020
Made with ABOUT CIMA
The Chicago Independent Media Alliance We asked for information about their business (CIMA) is a project of the Chicago Reader model, their coverage areas, what languages newspaper. CIMA was launched in the they speak, and whether they’d be interested in summer of 2019, soon after the Reader collaborative projects. Most responded that became newly independent. they would like to collaborate, and we have
already begun those partnerships. As the Reader navigates the final move to nonprofit 501(c)3 status in 2021, CIMA already has 66 members representing 82 We see a path forward where media can work media entities. together on both editorial and revenue, including joint projects on news and culture The Chicago Reader, founded in 1971, is topics, and on fundraising ventures. In fact, due the city’s largest free alternative to COVID-19, we did do a major emergency newspaper. It was the rst free weekly in fundraiser in May 2020. It raised $104,000 from the country, and is known for its award- individuals and $60,000 in matching funds winning cultural and investigative work, from foundations. Forty-three of our CIMA and for being a voice for those challenging members participated. institutional power and corrupt politicians.
In the summer of 2019, the Chicago Reader As a group, we are also advocating for more sent a survey to 103 independent media funding from foundations, more equity in the outlets in the Chicago area, ranging in size way government agencies spend money in and scope from small all-volunteer media, and for more corporate advertising nonprots to large independent through authentic community media. newspapers. Community, neighborhood, and ethnic media— We need partnerships and new whatever you want to call us—reach vital and important parts of this city long ignored by ideas, collaborations and mainstream media. But just as larger media support, to make sure these companies are struggling, so are community voices are not allowed to media. We need partnerships and new ideas, wither. " collaborations and support, to make sure these Tracy Baim, Co-Publisher, Chicago voices are not allowed to wither. Reader
Made with CIMA Partners 66 outlets reporting 82 media entities
1. AirGo Radio 2. Better Government Association 3. Black Youth Project 4. Block Club Chicago 5. Borderless Magazine 6. Bronzecomm 7. Bronzeville Life 8. Chalkbeat Chicago 9. Chicago Crusader 10.Chicago in Arabic 11.Chicago Monitor 12.Chicago Music Guide 13.Chicago Parent 14.Chicago Public Square 15.Chicago Reader 16.Chicago Sun-Times 17.CHIRP Radio 18.Cicero Independiente 19.Citizen Newspaper Group: Citizen Newspaper, Conversations with the Citizen podcast 20.City Bureau 21.Contratiempo 22.Current Magazine: South Side Current, West of the Ryan Current, The New West Side Current 23.Dziennik Związkowy - Polish Daily News 24.E3 Radio 25.Free Spirit Media 26.Gazette Chicago 27.Gozamos 28.GRAB Magazine 29.Growing Community Media: Austin Weekly News, Forest Park Review, Riverside- Brookfield Landmark, Wednesday Community Journal 30.Hi India
Made with 31. Hyde Park Herald 32. Injustice Watch 33. Inside Publications: Inside Booster, News-Star, Skyline 34. Invisible Institute 35. Juneteenth Productions 36. Kartemquin Films 37. KEY - This Week in Chicago 38. La Raza 39. Left Out Magazine 40. Loop North News 41. McKinley Park News 42. N’Digo 43. New City 44. North Lawndale Community News 45. OTV | Open Television 46. Public Media Institute: Lumpen Radio, Lumpen Magazine, Quarantine Times 47. Public Narrative 48. Rebellious Magazine for Women 49. Rivet 50. Sixty Inches from Center 51. Soapbox Productions & Organizing 52. South Side Weekly 53. StreetWise 54. Student Xpress Magazine 55. The Arab Daily News 56. The Beverly Review 57. The Chicago Reporter 58. The Daily Line 59. Third Coast Review 60.True Star Foundation & Media 61. Urban Gateways (Mildsauce.org) 62. Via Times Newsmagazine 63. Village Free Press 64. Vocalo Radio 65. Windy City Times 66. Win-TV
Made with Overview
Would you work with other local media on collaborative projects? Editorial 54 Advertising Sales 52 Grant Writing 45 s t r
o Health Insurance 24 f f E Joint Fundraising 50 e v i
t Joint Visibilty Campaign 57 a r
o Gov. Policy & Advocacy 36 b a l l Events Fundraising 48 o C Events Educational 57 Shared Services 31 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 Responses - Out of 66 responses, 1 did not respond - Outlets were able to choose more than one option. - Call out numbers represent how many of the 66 outlets individually chose that collaborative effort. - Shared services include accounting and human resources.
Would you be interested in the creation of a large media center with shared of ces, meeting rooms, shared back-end services, incubator space, etc.?
- Out of 66 responses, 1 did not respond No 31.34% - 46 said yes - 21 said no
Yes 68.66%
Made with Do you have a physical of ce?
No 31.82%
Yes 68.18%
- Out of 66 responses, 1 did not respond - 46 said yes - 21 said no What beats do you cover?
Armour Square University Village Criminal Justice Chicago Public Schools Bronzeville Theatre Entertainment Gender Bridgeport Social issues Black Economics West Loop Race Suburban South Loop Sports Polish-Americans Education Environment People Events Arts West side East Pilsen Chinatown South side Narrative Immigration Race feminism ChicagoNews Hispanic Religion Health Hyde Park Homelessness Politics Business West Haven LGTBQ Music Youth Tourism Culture Downtown Technology Lifestyle Local Community Indian-Americans North side Housing Neighborhoods Southwest side Multilingual Minority rights Near West Side Arab-Americans Heart of Chicago McKinely Park
Made with What are your categories of revenue? (Check all that apply) - Outlets were able to check all that applied. Advertising 42 Merchandise 20 - 42 chose advertising Events/Bene ts 30 - 36 chose donations Classes 8 - 31 chose grants - 30 chose events/benefits Memberships 13 - 23 chose subscriptions Subscriptions 23 - 20 chose merchandising Grants 31 - 13 chose memberships Donations 36 - 8 chose classes
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 - Out of 66 responses, 1 did not respond
Ownership 14.29%
Are you incorporated? - Out of 63 responses, 3 did not respond - 54 said yes - 9 said no
85.71% If incorporated, what is your ownership or nonpro t structure? 22
18 18
11 10
1 1 2
LLC L3C S-Corp C-Corp Nonpro t 501c4 501c3 Sole proprietorship
- 10 outlets did not respond Structure - Outlets were able to chose more than one answer - Numbers are exact results, not percentages
Made with Do you have multiple media products all owned/operated by the same parent company?
No 59.09%
Yes 40.91%
Out of 66 responses, 2 did not respond - 27 said yes Empl- o39 syaid nmo ent
Number of paid full time staff Number of paid part time staff? /full time equivalent? 0 0 6.06% 2.99% 1-5 2.99% 1-5 11.94% 6-10 25.37% 36.36% 10.45% 6-10
11-25
26-50
51+
57.58%
46.27%
Out of 66 responses, 1 did not respond Out of 66 responses, 2 did not respond - 18 said zero. - 23 said zero - 30 said 1-5 - 37 said 1-5 - 7 said 6-10 - 4 said 6-10 - 7 said 11-25 - 2 said 26-50 - 1 said 51 +
Made with Number of unpaid full time staff Number of paid freelancers per year? /full time equivalent? 0 7.69% 0 1.69% 3.08% 3.39% 1-5 1-5 10.77% 3.39% 6-10 20.00% 6-10 11-25 11-25 26-50 26-50 51+
37.29% 18.46% 40.00% 54.24%
Out of 66 responses, 7 did not respond Out of 66 responses, 1 did not respond - 32 said zero - 13 said zero - 22 said 1-5 - 26 said 1-5 - 2 said 6-10 - 11 said 6-10 - 2 said 11-25 - 7 said 11-25 - 1 said 26-50 - 2 said 26-50 - 5 said 51+ Number of unpaid freelancers per year? Do you offer health insurance to your full
0 1.61% time staff? 4.84% 1-5 4.84% Yes 46.03% 3.23% 6-10
11-25
26-50
51+
No 53.97% 27.42% 58.06%
Out of 66 responses, 4 did not respond Out of 66 responses, 3 did not respond - 36 said zero - 34 said no - 17 said 1-5 - 29 said yes - 3 said 11-25 - 3 said 26-50 - 1 said 51+
Made with Do you offer health insurance to your Does part or all of your staff belong to a union? part time staff? Yes 7.69% Yes 10.94%
No 89.06% No 92.31% Out of 66 responses, 2 did not respond Out of 66 responses, 1 did not respond - 57 said no - 60 said no - 5 said yes - 7 said yeDs emographics
Primary ethnic or niche communities reached?
General 26
African American 16
Latinx/Hispanic 11 s e i t i
n Asian 6 u m m
o Indigenous 2 C
LGTBQIA 4
Polish 1
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26
Out of 66 responses
Made with What languages do you produce in?
English 74.68% Spanish 20.25% Arabic 1.27% Cantonese 1.27% Polish 1.27% Hindi 1.27%
59 said English 16 said Spanish 1 Arabic 1 Cantonese 1 Polish 1 Hindi -Out of 66 responses -Outlets were able to choose more than one option
What geographic areas do you cover?
International 6.53% National 14.07% Regional Midwest 0.50% Chicago 31.16%
Illinois 14.07%
Cook County 17.59% Suburban Chicago 16.08%
-Out of 66 responses, 3 did not respond
Made with Distribution
12 What is your estimated reach in print?
10
8
6
4
2 1 0 12 8 6 2 2 0-5K 5K-15k 15k-25k 25k-50k 50k-100k 100k+ Frequency 35 did not respond
12 What is your media outlet frequency in print? 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 4 12 3 3 3 1 Daily Weekly BiWeekly Monthly Quarterly Yearly Frequency 40 did not respond
Made with What is the total list size of your e-mail newsletters? 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 4 12 5 9 8 2 6 <500 500-2.5K 2.6K-5K 6-10K 11K-50K 50K+ N/A Number of subscribers - 20 did not respond
9 If applicable, what is your email newsletter frequency?
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0 9 6 6 4 1 5 Daily Weekly BiWeekly Monthly Quarterly N/A Frequency - 35 did not respond
Made with What is your website monthly unique page views? 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 8 3 9 8 5 3 8 <5K 6K-10K 11K-50K 51K-100K 101K-500K 501K+ N/A Number of page views
- 22 did not respond
What is your website monthly unique visitors? 10
8
6
4
2
0 10 5 8 4 4 2 6 <5K 6K-10K 11K-50K 51K-100K 101K-500K 501K+ N/A Number of unique visitors
- 27 did not respond
Made with What is your average monthly attendance for events/workshops/classes?
16 s t e l
t 12 u O
f o
8 r e b
m 4 u
N 2 0 3 3 6 4 4 17 0 1-25 26-50 51-100 101-300 300+ N/A Attendance numbers
-39 responded, 25 did not respond -Attendance numbers collected before COVID-19 pandemic
Combined content consumers (outside of social media)
Print (all frequencies combined) 695,020
Email newsletters (all frequencies 480,578 combined)
Web monthly unique page views 6,112,294
0 1M 2M 3M 4M 5M 6M Consumers
Made with Social Media
What are your total social media followers on Facebook? s r <500 5 e w o
l 500-1K 2 l o f 1K-5k 13 k o o
b 5K-10K 8 e c
a 10K-50K 11 F
f o
50K-100K 4 r e
b 100K+ 2 m u
N 2 4 6 8 10 12 Number of Outlets
Out of 45 responses, 21 did not respond
What are your total social media followers on Twitter?
<500 6
s 500-1K 3 r e w o l
l 1K-5k 17 o f r e t
t 5K-10K 8 i w T f
o 10K-50K 10 r e b
m 50K-100K 0 u N 100K+ 2
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Out of 47 responses, 21 did not respond
Out of 37 res Made with What are your total social media followers on Instagram?
<500 6 s r 500-1K 6 e w o l l
o 1K-5k 17 f m a r
g 5K-10K 4 a t s n I
f 10K-50K 3 o r e b 50K-100K 1 m u N 100K+ 0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Out of 37 responses, 31 did not respond
Combined followers on social media
-Facebook: 1,787,606 -Twitter: 710,126 2019 - Instagram: 159,768
Combined total is 2,657,500.
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Made with ALAANA
If your organization has a board, what percentage of your board members have ALAANA (African, Latino, Asian, Arab, and Native American) status? 9 8
s 7 t e l
t 6 u O 5 f o
r 4 e b
m 3 u
N 2 1 0 0 5 5 4 0 8 9 2 0 1-25% 26-50% 51-75% 76-99% 100% N/A No board
Out of 66 responses, 33 did not respond
For 501c3s: Are you ALAANA quali ed?
Yes 41.38%
No 58.62%
Out of 29 responses, 39 did not respond. - 12 said yes - 17 said no
Made with What percentage of your editorial leadership has ALAANA status?
12
10 s t e l
t 8 u O
f o
6 r e b
m 4 u N 2 1 0 5 3 9 5 13 5 0 1-25% 26-50% 51-75% 76-99% 100% N/A 42 responded, 26 did not respond
What percentage of your business leadership has ALAANA status? 16
14
12 s t e l t 10 u O f o
8 r e b m 6 u N 4
2
0 7 4 6 3 0 16 5 0 1-25% 26-50% 51-75% 76-99% 100% N/A 42 responded, 26 did not respond
Made with In Summary
Just as Chicago thrives when its diverse On the surface, funding community journalism people, neighborhoods, and communities may not seem to achieve many nonprofits’ come together, Chicago media will continue goals of providing services to at-risk to thrive—and survive—when our diverse populations, supporting the arts, or media outlets join forces across our shared championing social justice causes. But dig a passion for the transformative power of little deeper, and you realize that you need journalism. journalists to uncover those peoples’ stories and what they need, to critique and review the Without journalism, including outlets that arts, and to hold those in power accountable authentically cover communities, we will on issues that make the city a better and more lose the watchdogs that keep corruption at just place. bay. It has been shown that corruption increases when local media die. We need Whether you fund the arts, homeless issues, journalists to watch the powerful, to speak criminal justice, education, the environment, with and for those not in power, and to social justice or something else, the work you amplify the stories—good and bad—that do depends, in no small part, on the work of make up the fabric of the city. journalists.
The reality, though, is that journalism as an Thank you for all you do for the city. We look industry cannot continue without help. The forward to continuing this conversation with old ways that we used to fund ourselves are you and including you on this journey toward no longer viable or available, and we need to strengthening Chicago’s community find a new way forward together. The journalism ecosystem, now and for Reader, and the Chicago Independent Media generations to come. Alliance, believe in our ability to navigate the path forward with two distinct and CONTACT: important components in our roadmap: Yazmin Dominguez, CIMA Coordinator nonprofit status and vigorous collaboration. [email protected]
More than ever before, our colleagues in Tracy Baim, Co-Publisher, Chicago Reader community media agree with us that [email protected] cooperation, alongside the editorial 773-387-2394 competition that has made our journalism landscape thrive, will cement a future for all Karen Hawkins, Co-Publisher, Chicago Reader of us. [email protected]
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