Bottomlines and Deadlines: Examining Local News Startups’ Content cross Different Revenue-Earning Sites

• In Event: Does Journalism Pay?

Abstract

The ease with which one can start an online news site has consequently led to the rise of numerous digital startups around the world. The easy part ends there; many have struggled to find ways of earning revenue that will help them sustain their news gathering, production and dissemination efforts. This study examines independent news startups with self-reported revenue earnings in high, middle and low categories and compares them in the areas of news content creation. The findings, based on a content analysis of 704 articles across low-, mid- and high-revenue earning sites reveal that low revenue earners publish fewer stories than middle and high revenue earning sites. For-profit sites publish significantly more in low- and mid-revenue earning categories but non-profits publish significantly more in high-revenue earning sites. There were no significant differences in content produced by editorial staff versus non-editorial staff across the three revenue categories.

Authors

• Monica Chadha, Arizona State U

• Summer Harlow, U of Houston