Local broadcasters and news organizations are experiencing traffic spikes as high as five times the daily average, according to the executive director of non-profit The Lenfest Institute for Journalism, Jim Friedlich. Demand for news and local news in particular has never been higher, yet advertising revenues are being crushed as the lifelines these outlets rely on – like restaurants, bars, sports, the travel industry, and other businesses wholly reliant on being out in public – are forced to close. Rather than resorting to knee-jerk job cuts, these companies should take greater responsibility for their advertising strategies. Now is the time to invest in advanced programmatic advertising platforms and next-generation audience targeting technologies to refine cross-campaign accuracy and efficiency, while making…