CJR's Guide to Online News Startups

Results

Organizations filtered by Arts and Culture.

Jun 13, 2011 04:27 PM
All Over Albany

Conversational news, events, and culture for the New York capital region
By Dylan DePice
ALBANY, NEW YORK — All Over Albany is a conversation starter. The Albany, N.Y.-based blog covers local news, events, and culture with a mission to provide its readers with fodder for a casual but informed exchange. Editors Mary Darcy and Greg Dahlmann created the site in 2008 after working together at WAMC Northeast Public Radio. At the time, they sensed that there was a...
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Aug 18, 2011 12:25 PM
Birthplace Magazine

News and reviews for the NYC hip hop scene
By Julia Pyper
NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Birthplace Magazine was created with a mission: to highlight the best of New York hip hop. The name comes from New York's status as the musical genre's hometown. Built on a solid foundation of ideas and expertise, the website has gained momentum, but now faces a number of marketing and editorial challenges before it can continue to expand....
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Feb 1, 2012 04:52 PM
CalCoast News

Investigations and other news for California's Central Coast
By Chasen Marshall
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA — With major newspapers cutting investigative departments around the country, including along the Central Coast of California, Karen Velie and Dan Blackburn were concerned that major stories would go uncovered. In late 2007, the pair of veteran newspaper reporters launched their own online outlet focused on just the type of journalism they felt was lacking--hard news and investigations. Initially, Velie...
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Jan 28, 2012 01:43 PM
CHARLIE Magazine

Perfecting the local online glossy in Charleston, South Carolina
By Chris Benz
CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA — "When you start something, what your role ends up being is quite different than what you imagined it to be," says Caroline Nuttall, founder of CHARLIE, a local culture magazine based in Charleston, South Carolina. Originally a publicist, Nuttall founded the website in 2009, and expanded it successfully to a niche market, profitability, and a part-time staff of...
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Mar 24, 2011 03:31 PM
Columbus Underground

Entertainment and events coverage with a civic bent
By Connor Boals
COLUMBUS, OHIO — Launched in 2001, Columbus Underground was founding editor Walker Evans's answer to a lack of online resources for Columbus's nightlife scene. A devoted fan of his city, Evans grew the site from a social calendar to a resource that helps the local community stay informed on just about everything Ohio's capital city has to offer. With 2.1 million visits and 8.5...
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Jun 30, 2011 12:51 PM
Hollywood Elsewhere

One man channeling a "daily stream-of-Hollywood-consciousness"
By Joel Meares
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA — The summer of 2011 is shaping up to be a pretty grim one for curmudgeonly film blogger Jeffrey Wells. Wells, who opines daily on film and the movie industry on his website Hollywood Elsewhere, hates the special effects-packed event flicks that Joe Popcorns, as he calls them, seem to love. And this summer has offered Joe P. more...
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Jan 5, 2011 04:06 PM
IGN

The web's definitive video game press
By Sean Gandert
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — IGN, which began in 1996 as just another video game site in a flood of similar sites with a similar voice, has become one of the behemoths of Internet journalism, with over 13 million unique visitors a month and a staff size rivaling that of many newspapers. Its success is a model for how a Web site can tap a...
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Jan 3, 2011 04:54 PM
indieWIRE

Independent film news for fans, filmmakers, and insiders
By Sean Gandert
NEW YORK, NEW YORK — IndieWIRE is a daily news site and online resource that covers all aspects of specialty and independent film. Founded in 1996, the site is known for its dogged coverage of film festivals around the world and its efforts to support the independent filmmaking community itself. The site's multifaceted approach to film coverage has earned it a following among fans...
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Jan 18, 2012 12:59 PM
NOLA Defender

Edgy arts and culture coverage for a cultural mecca
By Erik Shilling
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — After scraping by in New York City for several years as a freelance journalist and screenwriter, in early 2009 Ben Mintz was offered the chance to live in New Orleans for three months to work on a script. Like many before him, he was seduced by the storied city and decided to stay permanently. But Mintz still missed some of the...
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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 3, 2011 05:17 PM
PopMatters

Pop culture criticism with an academic bent
By Sean Gandert
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — Back when the Internet was still the sole purview of academics and nerds, journalist Sarah Zupko, then working in marketing at Tribune Media Services, founded a site catering to those specific audiences. That site was not in fact PopMatters, but it was a progenitor of sorts, providing web links for researchers studying pop culture. During the years that followed, Zupko's interests...
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Jan 3, 2011 06:03 PM
Slant

Omnivorous pop culture criticism
By Sean Gandert
WEEHAWKEN, NEW JERSEY — Founded in 2001 as an outlet for its editors' frustrations with their day jobs, Slant Magazine began humbly as a two-man online reviewing operation, with Ed Gonzalez writing about film and Sal Cinquemani writing about music. The two covered only a smattering of the biggest releases in each field, but as other writers began volunteering to work for the site,...
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Dec 12, 2011 12:09 PM
TBD

D.C. arts, culture, and events listings from a once-anointed champion of the local web
By Armin Rosen
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA — When Washington, DC-area website TBD launched in August of 2010, it was supposed to shake up the entire media landscape. A local news website with the backing of multiple local television stations and a major legacy media brand, it would combine new media aggregation and reporting methods with old media resources. Politico parent company Allbritton had committed five years of...
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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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Dec 14, 2011 02:12 PM
The Heavy Table

Food journalism and criticism for the upper Midwest
By Leah Binkovitz
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA — Food journalism is reaching a zenith of popularity and cool. Scores of people tune in to watch Anthony Bourdain search the world for something to eat. The New York Times's food critic leaves his post and readers across the country speculate over replacements. But the tide of foodie attention has also brought us endless comment chains on Yelp!, countless half-hearted blogs, and...
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Jun 30, 2011 11:50 AM
The Los Angeles Review of Books

A book review section for a post-print age
By Lauren Kirchner
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — Tom Lutz, nonfiction author and creative writing professor, offers a startling statistic about the book business on his new website: "twenty times as many titles are published each year than were in 1980, and we have one twentieth of the serious book reviews." The Los Angeles Review of Books, an online magazine launched by Lutz in April 2011, is his...
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Jun 1, 2011 12:33 PM
Theme Park Insider

News and reviews for theme park enthusiasts
By Alex Fekula
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA — Since Disneyland opened in 1955, Americans and pleasure-seekers the world over have flocked to the variety of theme parks that now occupy mega-park epicenters like Orlando, Florida. and Anaheim, California. With options ranging from Universal Studios to Disney World to Busch Gardens, the vacation planning process can at times seem daunting. Pasadena-based Theme Park Insider aims to take the edge off...
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Oct 26, 2011 06:13 PM
Washington Independent Review of Books

Serious-minded reviews of books across the literary spectrum
By Daniel Luzer
WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA — When newspapers across the country have to cut costs, their book sections inevitably end up on the chopping block. David O. Stewart, president of the Freedom to Write Fund, which is dedicated to education and public advocacy on behalf of writers, says that he and the other members of the Fund became concerned about shrinking book review sections and the...
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