This newsletter addresses the business of news. Several analysts out there write compellingly about the craft of newsgathering, the First Amendment, or policy attempts to nurture the news business. (Here I will direct you to Margaret Sullivan, Dan Kennedy, Dick Tofel, the Poynter Institute, Neiman Lab, the Columbia Journalism Review, and the National Press Club for starters.) Not so many of these sources discuss the mechanics of sustainable news.

I am interested in what news organizations do to keep readers paying for news in their communities and organizations willing to buy advertisements in those news organs. Likewise, I have been looking at other activities those news organs can monetize to cross-subsidize that news gathering. In other words, how can news organizations sustain revenue flows to pay for news gathering. This is the true meaning of sustainable news.

This project will therefore involve examining the changing ecosystem of news, the challenges of the chain model, and the successes and failures of both large and small news companies.

I bring to this project an understanding of the employee side of the news business. In January 2024, I retired from my position as an economist for the Communications Workers of America. I worked on a variety of projects in my nearly 23 years of service at CWA. During the last 7 years, I worked primarily on the news industry in service to the news workers of The NewsGuild-CWA. I have written on Alden Global Capital (click here), Tribune Publishing (click here), and Gannett (click here). I have ghost-written letters to Tribune shareholders (click here), Lee Enterprises shareholders (click here), and Gannett shareholders (click here).

Before my employment at CWA, I taught for ten years at Wesleyan University and Connecticut College. I wrote a book about labor, management, and the central government in France (click here), I co-authored a book about labor-management relations in Europe (click here), and I edited an anthology of the presidency of French President François Mitterrand (click here).

I come to this project very open-minded about how to sustain news. Ultimately, we will need a combination of for-profit and non-profit news organizations in this space. There is room for small chains where the back-office work (legal, accounting, payroll) can be shared. Worker ownership can be effective. I have one firm belief, however: local news organizations can only be sustainable if employees are in it for the long term, so they gain experience in their communities, and being in it for the long term means those employees have to receive livable compensation.

This is my attempt to contribute to conversations about how to address news deserts from a business perspective. I hope you enjoy. I would love feedback.

Tony

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