The Start-up Newsroom: Charting the Single-Subject Revolution

In this age of what's been called “Post-Industrial Journalism,” a new creative force is shaping the news landscape: it is the power of the startup publisher -- the creation of the startup newsroom -- forming a grassroots layer of digital news outlets in the digital arena. These startup newsrooms have turned a generation of individual journalists into new media entrepreneurs. They are often beat reporters who’ve decided to “go it alone” by building out their coverage into dedicated news operations – specialized newsrooms dedicated to a single topic or coverage area. In doing so they face a broad realm of opportunities, along with a steep set of challenges, fusing traditional journalistic practice with the skillset needed to run a successful startup. Over the past year, the Tow Fellows have interviewed over 65 experts in the field, ranging from single-subject practitioners to experts in business models to experts at legacy papers. In this research, they have been able to identify trends amongst this group as well as best practices for those who wish to start their own single-subject venture. Please join Tow Fellows Lara Setrakian and Kristin Nolan as they discuss their project and answer questions about this phenomenon in the journalism world.