CJR's Guide to Online News Startups
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Jan 5, 2011 04:38 PM
iWatch News (The Center for Public Integrity)
Twenty years' worth of investigative journalism for the public welfare
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WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA — The Center for Public Integrity celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2010 with a YouTube video detailing its many accomplishments. The organization has won more than forty national journalism awards, pursued more than seventy major investigative projects, published sixteen books, and, perhaps most significantly, has been cited in print and electronic media more than 15,000 times. Now, the... -
May 18, 2011 12:08 PM
Jersey City Independent
Eye-opening alternative news for a bedroom community on the Hudson
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JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY — Unfortunately, it's not difficult to imagine how a city of nearly a quarter-million residents could be wanting for local news coverage these days. When that city exists in the shadow of media-manic Manhattan, that fate becomes even more understandable. Such was the case for Jersey City, a bedroom community located along the Hudson riverfront bordering the Big Apple, until a couple... -
Mar 24, 2011 10:35 PM
Journal Watchdog
A print startup's bold online muckracking operation
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GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA — The purpose of Journal Watchdog, an online news site launched in January of 2009 and based in Greenville, South Carolina, couldn't be any clearer: on the site's "About Us" page, the words "We are a watchdog website" are emblazoned in bold, twenty-four-point font, with a link to a page containing salaries of various state employees positioned just a couple inches... -
Jan 19, 2012 03:19 PM
Leimert Park Beat
A hyperlocal news site and social network for a neighborhood in Los Angeles
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LEIMERT PARK, CALIFORNIA — Eddie North-Hager moved to Leimert Park, an 11,000-person neighborhood in Los Angeles, because it was the type of community in which he wanted to raise his family. And yet whenever he read anything about the area in the news, it seemed that he encountered endless versions of the same negative story. "If you would search for things about the neighborhood online,... -
Mar 11, 2011 03:51 PM
Lexington Commons
A voice for Lexington's nonprofit organizations
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LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY — The tagline on the Lexington Commons homepage defines the site as "The Voice of Lexington," which is quite appropriate, considering it is written entirely by volunteer citizens of the city and its surrounding suburbs. Because of this, all of the stories featured have a very personal feel. Much of the site's content deals with the local nonprofit sector--"Celebrating Nonprofit Organizations and Volunteers!",... -
Jan 5, 2011 07:50 PM
LiveScience
Science news at light speed
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK — LiveScience cranks out a high-volume mix of newsy and fun science curios in its efforts to chase after the fickle attentions of Internet wayfarers. Readers are voting approval with their clicks--an impressive three million-plus uniques per month--and the site, with a full-time editorial staff of five, has the relatively rare distinction of being profitable. As part of a... -
Nov 7, 2011 03:26 PM
LocallyGrownNews.com
A network of news sites devoted to local food coverage
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ELON, NORTH CAROLINA — Journalist Michelle Ferrier has been involved in creating online communities for over ten years, and was the editor of MytopiaCafe.com, a now-defunct hyperlocal news offering by the Daytona Beach News-Journal. Although MytopiaCafe gained a devoted following of 3,000 users, Ferrier argued in a 2009 piece for Poynter that the site was doomed from the beginning. In retrospect, Ferrier felt... -
Jul 13, 2011 12:54 PM
LymeLine
Hyperlocal news for two small Connecticut towns
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OLD LYME, CONNECTICUT — Founded in 2003 by veteran publisher Jack Turner and now headed by news editor Olwen Logan, LymeLine had the humble beginnings one might expect for a site that covers two towns (Lyme and Old Lyme) with a combined population of fewer than 10,000. When Turner first decided to venture into the world of online journalism, paperless news had yet to... -
Jan 4, 2011 01:20 PM
Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting
Filling the reporting gap in Maine's state capital
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HALLOWELL, MAINE — As the number of reporters covering Maine state government dropped from twenty in 1989 to fewer than ten today, a wife-and-husband duo, two old-school reporters, stepped up. In 2010, Naomi Schalit, a former reporter and producer at Maine Public Radio, and John Christie, former president and publisher of Central Maine Newspapers, launched the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, a watchdog... -
Oct 6, 2011 05:15 PM
MediaStorm
Multimedia outlet meets production house
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BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — Above the cobblestone streets of Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood, the producers, engineers, and cinematographers of MediaStorm are producing some of the most arresting and moving stories online today. While side-stepping the news cycle in favor of more timeless features, their particular brand of multimedia narrative is attracting online viewers from 170 countries around the globe. It has also helped the... -
Mar 15, 2013 11:47 AM
Midway Messenger
A university startup for a small town in Kentucky
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LEXINGTON, KY — Sometime during one of his daily commutes between his home in Frankfort and his job in Lexington, where he teaches journalism at the University of Kentucky, Al Cross had an idea. Between the two cities lies the aptly named Midway, a town with a census population of 1,647 that, at the time, was covered solely by the Woodford Sun,... -
May 26, 2011 04:06 PM
Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
A one-man investigative unit in the heartland
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PRAIRIE VILLAGE, KANSAS — If you head to the "leadership" page of the website for the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting you will see profiles of an impressively large Board of Directors. There are professors and consultants and attorneys, all smiling into camera alongside slabs of striking qualifications. Under the heading "staff," though, you will find just one name: Mike Sherry. Sherry,... -
Feb 2, 2012 02:47 PM
Milford Live
Hyperlocal news for a small town in Delaware
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MILFORD, DELAWARE — Dave Burris and Bryan Shupe grew up in Milford, Del., and later crossed paths while working on Republican campaigns. Burris had experience running a digital lifestyle magazine called Coastal Sussex Weekly and wanted to start a hyperlocal news site for Milford. He thought Shupe, who had become disillusioned by the negativity in politics and was ready to move on, would... -
Jan 5, 2011 04:53 PM
MinnPost
The Twin Cities startup is seeking loyal readers for hard news
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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA — Harvard's Nieman Journalism Lab calls MinnPost founder Joel Kramer "one of the brightest stars in the news-startup firmament." The former editor and publisher of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Kramer started his nonprofit in 2007 with a rolodex of veteran journalists to whom he offered freelance work, and $1.2 million dollars in commitments from foundations and private donors. This was... -
Mar 28, 2012 12:23 PM
Mint Press News
A privately financed international news startup in Minnesota
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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA — The coming of Mint Press was noted all over the journalism jobs boards. Touting its independent status and dedication to honest reporting, the site seemed to advertise for a new position every day: staff reporters, California and D.C. correspondents, and associate editors. Many of these positions remain open. Mint Press currently claims five staff writers and three paid writing interns;...
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Editor's Spotlight On...
Startups covering high school sports
- Republic Tiger Sports Extensive sports coverage for a school district in Missouri
- San Fran Preps Exhaustive high school sports reporting for San Francisco
- Yadkin Valley Sports High school sports news for eighteen schools in central North Carolina
Startups covering state politics
- The Arizona Guardian Niche political news for a state everyone's watching
- Quorum Report A pioneer in niche online coverage, reporting on Texas politics since 1998
- CTNewsJunkie Giving the good stuff to Connecticut's political insiders
Startups run by married couples
Recent CJR.org posts about the future of news
The News Frontier
- Hello to Symbolia New iPad-only comics journalism magazine launches today
- The Kickstarter Chronicles Fiction, in serialized and small forms
- The Kickstarter Chronicles Beauty pageants for seniors and case law books for zombies
- The Kickstarter Chronicles A few words to the wise
- ICYMI: tweet chats Building a community 140 characters at a time
- CJR Audio: investing in local news startups Talking shop with investor/ publishers Alice Rogoff (Alaska Dispatch) and Vincent LoVoi (This Land Press)
- The Kickstarter Chronicles Printing the Internet and updating an office
- The Kickstarter Chronicles Punching up community radio in Iowa and punching out Mike Tyson in 8 bits
