CJR's Guide to Online News Startups

Results

Organizations filtered by 6-10 Business Staff.

Jan 4, 2011 10:35 PM
Bleacher Report

A sports news behemoth where fans do the writing, reporting, and search engine optimization
By Chris Benz
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — Since its launch in 2008 after two years of development and beta testing, Bleacher Report has become a major player in online sports media. A unique combination of social networking and sports reporting, the Web site attracts a rapidly growing audience of about sixteen million unique visitors a month, according to the company. It provides Web content to partners like The Los...
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Feb 7, 2012 12:22 PM
California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting

A health newswire for the California press
By Maura R. O'Connor
ALHAMBRA, CALIFORNIA — The California HealthCare Foundation's Center for Health Reporting aims to produce investigative journalism "without an agenda" and publish these stories in various print, broadcast, and web news outlets across the state. Acting as an independent news organization located at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, the center, founded in 2009, runs CenterforHealthReporting.org, where visitors can...
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Dec 30, 2010 02:09 PM
California Watch

A watchdog for the Golden State
By Colin Fleming
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA — In less than two years, California Watch has become a force in American journalism, distributing its content to over eighty different publications and operating with the biggest investigative team in the state. Launched in 2009 as a facet of the Center for Investigative Reporting, California Watch dedicates itself to "high-impact reporting" on health, education, ecology, politics, and public safety....
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Mar 24, 2011 11:55 AM
CapeCodTODAY.com

A hyperlocal (and entrepreneurial) news pioneer
By Dohini Patel
CAPE COD, MASSACHUSETTS — CapeCodToday, one of the first hyperlocal news websites in the nation, and reports on all things Cape Cod. Topics the site covers include politics, arts and culture, business, education, and sports. Walter Brooks, founder of CapeCodToday, is a veteran journalist with over half a century of experience. Prior to establishing the site, Brooks wrote for The Village Voice, the New...
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Jan 5, 2011 06:54 PM
Center For Investigative Reporting

Old-school investigative nonprofit takes to the web
By Colin Fleming
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA — In the world of American investigative nonprofits, the Center for Investigative Reporting is the oldest and one of the best recognized. Founded in 1977 by a small group of investigative reporters, CIR has grown considerably since, amassing numerous awards. It now employs a full-time staff of twenty and works with an annual budget of over $4 million. CIR has broken stories...
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Jan 3, 2011 04:31 PM
GigaOM

The site offers predictive technology coverage, and has itself been a leader in earning web revenue
By Sean Gandert
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — What started out as a personal blog that combined former Forbes and Business 2.0 reporter Om Malik's mutual interests in technology and opinionated blogging has become a full-fledged business. Despite running an editorial staff of twelve and working as a "jack of all trades" for the site's business and technology sides, Malik still personally writes on GigaOm nearly every day....
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Jan 5, 2011 01:35 PM
GlobalPost

A new news agency helping to fill the gaps in foreign reporting
By Dohini Patel
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — GlobalPost has breathed life back into the foreign news agency business. Philip Balboni and Charles Sennott, two ambitious and entrepreneurial international news journalists, founded the for-profit site in 2009. They say the site sets out to have a distinctive American voice and American style of storytelling while reporting on news from every corner of the world. GlobalPost has complete editorial...
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Mar 24, 2011 01:03 PM
Gothamist

A pioneer of the city blog format
By Armin Rosen
NEW YORK, NEW YORK — In an over-saturated New York media market, there are few news sources that can claim even a modest percentage of the city's attention. Gothamist's constantly updated coverage of offbeat, interesting, and generally important news stories in New York City lacks the ubiquity of, say, the front page of the New York Post, but it's getting there. The site's New...
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Jan 4, 2011 05:17 PM
Grist

Irreverent online environmental magazine offers in-depth reporting with "secret sauce"
By Brett Norman
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON — Grist is an irreverent online environmental magazine that aggressively courts young readers, ad dollars, and philanthropic backers. Launched in 1999, the publication could be considered an octogenarian in web years, but maintains the tenor of a cheerful young rebel. To celebrate the nonprofit's tenth anniversary, Grist founder and CEO Chip Giller announced a "Screw Earth Day!" campaign, saying "too many people...
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Jul 18, 2011 11:55 AM
paidContent

Covering the business of digital media since 2002
By Joel Meares
NEW YORK, NEW YORK — In 2008, when Guardian News & Media bought Rafat Ali's ContentNext Media, Ali wrote that the acquisition marked the "2.0 phase" of his company. It was an aptly webby phrase from the man who six years earlier founded ContentNext's flagship site, paidContent.org, with the aim of obsessively covering the economics of the then just-emerging world...
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Dec 29, 2010 04:40 PM
Pitchfork

The prolific online music reviewer/kingmaker
By Sean Gandert
CHICAGO, IL — Founded in 1995 as an Internet alternative to traditional music fanzines, Pitchfork has become a force within the music industry every bit as vital as Rolling Stone or Spin. While somewhat controversial due to its highly opinionated reviews, Pitchfork has a reputation for being able to spot new talent and bring them to a much wider audience. Bands such...
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Jan 5, 2011 06:26 PM
ProPublica

The web's best-known muckraker
By Colin Fleming
NEW YORK, NEW YORK — In the world of investigative nonprofit news organizations, ProPublica is a giant. Its staff of nineteen reporters has broken big stories on everything from the lax supervision of British Petroleum to the dangers of drilling for natural gas. Founded in 2007 by Paul Steiger, former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, and Stephen Engelberg, a former managing editor...
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May 31, 2011 11:48 AM
Street Fight

A news source for the burgeoning hyperlocal industry
By Arvin Temkar
BOULDER, COLORADO — A site named "Street Fight" has to deliver action, and the brand new site dedicated to covering the hyperlocal industry expects to do just that-- though it's probably not the kind of action a teenager who stumbles onto the site after a Google search would expect. Hyperlocal is becoming big business. While the term usually refers to local news, Street Fight...
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Dec 30, 2010 02:23 PM
TechCrunch

The tech startup news news startup
By Sean Gandert
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — From the very beginning, TechCrunch was part and parcel with Web 2.0. Founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, the site began as a personal technology blog but rapidly transitioned into a full-scale publication, drawing in millions of page views a month by the end of 2007. Unlike most of his peers, Arrington didn't come from a journalistic background, instead studying...
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Oct 27, 2011 02:56 PM
The Bay Citizen

Local civic journalism in the national spotlight
By Lauren Kirchner
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — [UPDATE: In May 2012, the Bay Citizen merged with the Center for Investigative Reporting, the oldest nonprofit investigative news organization in the United States and the parent of state-level investigative nonprofit California Watch. The merger allowed the organizations to expand their reporting resources, save money, and diversify their funding base. The merger brought together 75...
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Mar 31, 2011 11:40 AM
The Bold Italic

Gannett's bold move in consumer-oriented journalism
By Kathy Gilsinan
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — The Bold Italic is an experiment. Slickly designed but still in "beta," the Gannett-owned San Francisco website has an image-heavy layout, an alt-weekly feel, and a focus on helping its readers find new places to spend their free time. "It's not meant to replace anything" in the San Francisco print media, says Michael Maness, who, as Gannett's vice president of...
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Oct 26, 2011 11:36 PM
The Florida Current

Exhaustive statehouse reporting and research in the Sunshine State
By Paige Rentz
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — Florida statehouse politics has found a new home in The Florida Current, a news site that aims to provide concise, neutral, and accurate reporting on politics and policy in the Sunshine State. Originally billed as The Florida Tribune, the site began as an arm of LobbyTools, a Tallahasse-based legislation tracking and data curation service for...
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Mar 24, 2011 12:20 PM
The Lens

Investigative reporting on The Big Easy
By Brendan Buhler
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — Launched in January 2010, The Lens is an eight-person nonprofit investigative news website partnered with weekly papers and a local television station in New Orleans. The site aims to fill the gaps that are no longer being covered by New Orleans's cash-strapped traditional news operations. Right now, The Lens's goal is to produce big, investigative stories every two weeks, and...
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Sep 4, 2012 12:24 AM
The Outer Banks Voice

Online-only news for the North Carolina coastline
By Chase Scheinbaum
NAGS HEAD, NC — In August 2011, when Hurricane Irene menaced the Eastern seaboard, The Outer Banks Voice was less than a year old. Drawing its name from a 200-mile ribbon of North Carolina's coastline, the online-only news source fed frequent updates to residents of this vulnerable area during the storm. The coverage was local, but clicks came from far and wide--many from...
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Sep 21, 2011 11:39 AM
The Sacramento Press

An ad network helps pay the bills for local news
By Caitlin Kasunich
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA — Before October 2008, Ben Ilfeld and Geoff Samek, the founders of The Sacramento Press, had no journalism experience. In college, Ilfeld had studied economics and political science, while Samek had studied computer science. What the Sacramento natives did have in common, though, was a desire to develop a new website emphasizing reader discussion around local news and events. Before long,...
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