The Business of Digital Journalism
Download the full report "The Story So Far: What We Know About the Business of Digital Journalism"as a complete PDF.
The Story So Far: What We Know About the Business of Digital Journalism
A report from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
By Bill Grueskin, Ava Seave, and Lucas Graves May 10, 2011 at 10:00 AM
The Story So Far: What We Know About the Business of Digital Journalism (PDF) Introduction Chapter One News From... More
Introduction
The story so far: what we know about the business of digital journalism
By Bill Grueskin, Ava Seave, and Lucas Graves May 10, 2011 at 12:13 AM
Few news organizations can match the setting of The Miami Herald. The paper’s headquarters is perched on the edge... More
Chapter One: News From Everywhere
The economics of digital journalism
By Bill Grueskin, Ava Seave, and Lucas Graves May 10, 2011 at 12:12 AM
In early 2005, a researcher at the Poynter Institute published a column that was instantaneously read and—by many—misunderstood. Rick... More
Chapter Two: Traffic Patterns
Why big audiences aren’t always profitable
By Bill Grueskin, Ava Seave, and Lucas Graves May 10, 2011 at 12:11 AM
At first glance, the numbers don’t seem to add up: The New York Times has more than 30 million... More
Chapter Three: Local and Niche Sites
The advantages of being small
By Bill Grueskin, Ava Seave, and Lucas Graves May 10, 2011 at 12:10 AM
TBD.com went out with a whimper, not a bang. In February 2011, just six months after going live, the... More
Chapter Four: The New New Media
Mobile, video, and other emerging platforms
By Bill Grueskin, Ava Seave, and Lucas Graves May 10, 2011 at 12:09 AM
News organizations can be forgiven for feeling that they’re in an endless cycle of Whac-A-Mole. They’ve had fifteen years... More
Chapter Five: Paywalls
The price tag for information
By Bill Grueskin, Ava Seave, and Lucas Graves May 10, 2011 at 12:08 AM
“Information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive. Information wants to be free because it has... More
Chapter Six: Aggregation
‘Shameless’—and essential
By Bill Grueskin, Ava Seave, and Lucas Graves May 10, 2011 at 12:07 AM
A group of middle school students at Brooklyn’s Urban Assembly Academy of Arts and Letters got a special treat... More
Chapter Seven: Dollars and Dimes
The new costs of doing business
By Bill Grueskin, Ava Seave, and Lucas Graves May 10, 2011 at 12:06 AM
Journalism is expensive and good journalism especially so, but the newsroom usually is not the costliest part of running... More
Chapter Eight: New Users, New Revenue
Alternative ways to make money
By Bill Grueskin, Ava Seave, and Lucas Graves May 10, 2011 at 12:06 AM
“The basic point about the Web is that it is not an advertising medium, the Web is not a... More
Chapter Nine: Managing Digital
Audience, data, and dollars
By Bill Grueskin, Ava Seave, and Lucas Graves May 10, 2011 at 12:05 AM
Although all digital news organizations live in a brutally competitive environment, some companies do much better than others because... More
Conclusion
Lessons, takeaways, and bullet points
By Bill Grueskin, Ava Seave, and Lucas Graves May 10, 2011 at 12:04 AM
"Here’s the problem: Journalists just don’t understand their business.” That’s the diagnosis from Randall Rothenberg, a former New York Times... More
Executive Summary
By Bill Grueskin, Ava Seave, and Lucas Graves May 10, 2011 at 12:03 AM
Chapter One News From Everywhere: The Economics of Digital Journalism Large-scale competitive and economic forces are confronting news organizations, old... More
Acknowledgements and Credits
For “The Story So Far: What We Know About the Business of Digital Journalism”
By Bill Grueskin, Ava Seave, and Lucas Graves May 10, 2011 at 12:02 AM
Acknowledgements We owe a great debt to many people who contributed to this report. While we can’t name them all... More
How Smaller Gets Bigger
By Jan Schaffer May 10, 2011 at 12:02 AM
"The future of journalism will be a tale of smaller and smaller organizations making a bigger and bigger impact," asserts... More
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