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Journalists should invest in journalism startups, particularly now

businessside.co

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Re: Journalists should invest in journalism startups, particularly now

#11

Post by Ekaros »

Decabytes wrote: post #8
tootie wrote: post #2

I don't see how investing will save the industry from decline. If there was more revenue to be had, the legacy players wouldn't be struggling so badly. Investors chasing profits are just going to build a better Buzzfeed, not a better NY Times. Unless someone can crack the nut of profiting off of serious journalism and making the average TikTok scroller or Joe Rogan listener exercise a little more skepticism and under…

There are definitely people on Substack who have been able to see success doing the whole "independent non biased news" schtick, but I'm not sure if it's possible to build a NYT level of business doing that. At the same time, maybe smaller independent news outfits that are run by at most a handful of people, that cover more local news might be able to make it work if they keep their expenses low.

I wonder are they truly selling "non-biased" news. Or is substack just platform that allows them to sell those who want to buy their specific bias. Not that it isn't the valid model in current online enviroment.

Re: Journalists should invest in journalism startups, particularly now

#12

Post by DANmode »

chaps wrote: post #9
DANmode wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To ensure the stability of the platform you are (seemingly) sacrificing being well-paid to stay on.

Why is the base assumption here that journalists be the ones to pay for this?

Stakeholder theory?

You (we?) are some of the minority of humans that value journalism. Unfortunately.

Re: Journalists should invest in journalism startups, particularly now

#13

Post by DANmode »

chaps wrote: post #9
DANmode wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To ensure the stability of the platform you are (seemingly) sacrificing being well-paid to stay on.

Why is the base assumption here that journalists be the ones to pay for this?

Said another way: you're already paying for it - at least subsidizing it - by being underpaid.

Wouldn't you like to be in control of it for your troubles?

Re: Journalists should invest in journalism startups, particularly now

#14

Post by confoundcofound »

Technology will advance such that basic "truths" will be verifiable, leaving journalists as nothing more than storytellers. We should be investing in companies that empower people with the verifiable information they need to arrive at their own conclusions.

Re: Journalists should invest in journalism startups, particularly now

#15

Post by throwaway049 »

Ekaros wrote: post #11
Decabytes wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are definitely people on Substack who have been able to see success doing the whole "independent non biased news" schtick, but I'm not sure if it's possible to build a NYT level of business doing that. At the same time, maybe smaller independent news outfits that are run by at most a handful of people, that cover more local news might be able to make it work if they keep their expenses low.

I wonder are they truly selling "non-biased" news. Or is substack just platform that allows them to sell those who want to buy their specific bias. Not that it isn't the valid model in current online enviroment.

Maybe 'not corporate-controlled' is the real offer when you subscribe to an individual journalist.

Re: Journalists should invest in journalism startups, particularly now

#16

Post by snowwrestler »

tony_cannistra wrote: post #3

Not sure if this guy has ever met a journalist. Where precisely are the journalists who are paid sufficiently well for their skill that they have liquidity to invest in startups? edit: alright turns out he's "former chief of staff at the Atlantic" but I still remain convinced he's decently out of touch with everyday journalists' financial situation.

You’re misunderstanding the idea.

Venture capitalists don’t invest their own money, they raise funds from other people and institutions, and make funding decisions on their behalf.

The idea here is that journalists have skills and domain knowledge that would help them make better than average decisions when it comes to media startups.

So: Raising and directing capital, not necessarily originating it.

Re: Journalists should invest in journalism startups, particularly now

#17

Post by chaps »

DANmode wrote: post #13
chaps wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is the base assumption here that journalists be the ones to pay for this?

Said another way: you're already paying for it - at least subsidizing it - by being underpaid. Wouldn't you like to be in control of it for your troubles?

...you're greatly missing the point that none of us have any money to invest.

Re: Journalists should invest in journalism startups, particularly now

#18

Post by all2 »

chaps wrote: post #4
tony_cannistra wrote: post #3

Not sure if this guy has ever met a journalist. Where precisely are the journalists who are paid sufficiently well for their skill that they have liquidity to invest in startups? edit: alright turns out he's "former chief of staff at the Atlantic" but I still remain convinced he's decently out of touch with everyday journalists' financial situation.

Yeah. I'm a freelance journalist and this is one of the worst journalism takes I've seen in a while. Paying bills is already hard enough as it is and I, like many others in this industry, don't even have health insurance: why in the fuck would any of us invest in a startup?

One of the companies I worked for was an ESOP [0]. Has there ever been anything like that in terms of journalistic publications?

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_Stock_Ownership_Plan

Re: Journalists should invest in journalism startups, particularly now

#19

Post by slg »

I think ambition often gets the better of most startups and that is especially true with journalism startups. People found companies with the hopes of it being worth billions and rarely try to make a company worth millions.

One great journalism startup that I think is a huge success is Defector. A bunch of journalists, mostly coworkers from a previous media outlet, joined together to create a new company as a worker owned co-op. It's never going to be a unicorn, but it employees a couple dozen people sustainably as they have been profitable every year of their existence. Most importantly, the company is run how the journalists want to run it. They don't chase page views or cover a topic specifically because some businessperson in corporate leadership wants them to cover it. I think we need more of that.

Re: Journalists should invest in journalism startups, particularly now

#20

Post by DANmode »

chaps wrote: post #17
DANmode wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Said another way: you're already paying for it - at least subsidizing it - by being underpaid. Wouldn't you like to be in control of it for your troubles?

...you're greatly missing the point that none of us have any money to invest.

That, I understand better than most here.

What did it really cost to start The Intercept, though? Salaries aside - or not.

What can be done with new tech that makes publishing cheaper than ever?

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