Business models and start-ups
Articles about the effectiveness of donor and foundation-supported programmes to support the sustainability and viability of business models and start-ups.
The resources on this page are organised into the following sections:
BUSINESS MODELS
International Press Institute
A recap of the roundtable discussion co-organised with the GFMD at the IPI 2022 World Congress in September 2022.
Philanthropic organizations keen to support independent journalism have long used grant funding as a way to help news outlets keep the wolves from the door. But more and more, they’re looking to the world of “impact investment” for innovative ways to fund media as a public good.
National Trust for Local News
"With direction from the National Trust for Local News, KERA, the public media organization serving North Texas, is stepping forward as a community anchor for the Denton Record-Chronicle, the primary local newspaper for Denton County. Through this first-of-its-kind partnership, the century-old newspaper plans to become part of KERA, constructing a formidable ecosystem of local journalism."
Twipe Digital Publishing - MATTTHEW LYNES
"Over 200 media figures descended upon London at Press Gazette’s latest conference. A key topic of discussion was around the future of revenue generation. We present 5 lessons on revenue generation to take back to your teams."
NiemanLab- SARAH STONBELY
"Since 2017, journalists from eight newsrooms in five African countries have partnered with Code for Africa (CfA), a network of civic democracy and data journalism labs, to create sensors.Africa, a project that puts air quality sensors at schools, churches, and media houses in major cities across Africa to monitor pollution. Their goal was to collate data on the toxicity of the air and use that information to drive local reporting on the topic.
The project marks the first time that journalists and citizens have had information on how widespread pollution is in countries like Kenya and Tanzania, as well as hyperlocal data on where it is worst."
Wan Ifra- LARRY KILMAN
"In today’s media environment, when jobs are scarce, more journalists have to strike out on their own, but lack business skills to create their own digital news enterprises.
Without those skills, even the best-intentioned reporters and storytellers will likely fail to build sustainable enterprises from which to share their work."
Reuters- FOO YUN CHEE
"News publishers, among Google's fiercest critics, have long urged governments to ensure online platforms pay fair remuneration for their content. Australia last year made such payments mandatory while Canada introduced similar legislation last month."
NiemanLab- JOHN SULLIVAN
"One of the recent shifts in podcasting has been the introduction of paywalls and exclusive content. It has since become a standard feature of the medium."
World Association of News Publishers
Brazil: Fact-checking, a core skill of news media, emerges as a business strategy - WAN-IFRAWAN-IFRA"Fact-checking is in the DNA of professional standards and some media companies, like Agência Lupa in Brazil, have built an entire business on it, providing fact-checking services for numerous clients, and also teaching citizens to better scrutinize their news."
Knight Center- JÚLIO LUBIANCO
"An interesting movement is beginning to emerge, albeit belatedly, in Latin America: the creation of innovation laboratories, or media labs, in news outlets of the region. Inspired by a global trend, the labs are spaces, real or virtual, of interdisciplinary innovation, in which the aim is to develop innovative thinking, accelerate the application of technology, seek solutions to problems and make journalistic impact."
NiemanLab- JULIA CAGÉ
"Since one of the essential conditions of a functional democracy is a free press, this essay will explain how journalism is damaged when it is treated as a commodity and will discuss how democratizing work can help save our news media."
United Nations
"The business model of the news media is ‘broken’ and with it, our fundamental right to information is at risk, a new UNESCO report examining global trends in freedom of expression warns."
Global Investigative Journalism Network- ANYA SCHIFFRIN, HANNAH CLIFFORD, THEODORA DAME ADJIN-TATTEY, RYAN LEE, MATTHEW REYSIO-CRUZ
"Government support could be useful and we describe later in this report which options are being tried. 'We’re seeing a shift in emphasis away from looking at business models and towards interest in media as a public good that is supported by governments or donors,' said one donor."
NiemanLab - PAUL CHEUNG
Vox Europe - GIAN-PAOLO ACCARDO
Former readers' editor at the Guardian Chris Elliott shares the main findings from the Ethical Journalism Network's 'Building Trust in Journalism initiative' which aims to address the challenges that the media are facing in Central Eastern Europe.
Knight Foundation - MARK GLASER
Nieman Labs - SARAH SCIRE
“The public research project analyzed membership projects worldwide. They found successful communities were fixated on learning what their members value.”
Project syndicate - MICHAEL MIRNY (IREX)
"Local media outlets exhausted by pandemic-induced financial stresses may fall under the control of oligarchs or repressive governments that strip them of their independence. Six steps can help to prevent this outcome and put smaller news organizations on a sound long-term footing."
The Membership Puzzle Project- HEATHER BRYANT
"Many news organizations are shifting their business models from advertising to audience revenue...The model only works if they can appeal to and serve more audiences -- including audiences that have been historically excluded from positive interactions and mutually beneficial relationships with newsrooms. Many newsrooms are under-practiced at building quality relationships with audiences, especially those that have been poorly served due to race, gender, education, or income."
NiemanLab- PER WESTERGAARD, SOREN SCHULTZ JORGENSEN
"Our angle on the current state of journalism is this: The crisis of journalism and legacy news media is structural, and not just a matter of technological challenges or broken business models.”
BBC Media Action- JAMES DEANE
"In recent weeks I have argued there is a need to bring fresh energy, creativity and intensity to efforts to support independent media. But these alone will not be enough. There is a fundamental problem of resources so I propose the creation of a new International Fund for Free and Independent Media focused in particular on resource poor societies and those societies where media freedom is under most pressure. The fund would support independent journalism, independent media institutions focused on serving the public interest, and other media and social efforts designed to underpin informed and fact based public debate."
PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA
START UPS
Poynter- DAVE CANTOR
Agreements where a media company acquires another media site, such as it happened with the New York Times' purchase of The Athletic and Vox Media's purchase of Group Nine "can help producers, journalists and creators focus on their craft, instead of worrying about the business side of things or expending time and energy hiring a marketing staff."
What's New in Publishing
"For online publishers, establishing different digital distribution channels, monetizing them, and building an engaged audience are equally as important as creating high-quality content in the first place. For Bucharest-based Romania Insider, the challenge is no different, and the English-language publisher has struggled to achieve the balance between readership engagement, growth and profitability."
Reuters- BYRON KAYE, RENJU JOSE
"The Minderoo Foundation, owned by Andrew Forrest, chairman of iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group (FMG.AX), plans to help 18 small publishers by applying to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on their behalf so they can negotiate together without breaching competition laws."
Knight Foundation - MARK GLASER
DW Akademie- LOUISA WRIGHT
"The last few months have been particularly tough for journalism — many media organizations have lost traditional revenue streams, newsrooms have made major cuts to staff, and in some cases media have had to close down entirely."
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