The Story So Far

Bill Grueskin, Ava Seave, and Lucas Graves spent close to a year tracking the reporting of on-site news organizations--some of which were founded over a century ago and others established only in the past year or two--and found in their traffic and audience engagement patterns, allocation of resources, and revenue streams ways to increase the profits of digital journalism.

In chapters covering a range of concerns, from advertising models and alternative platforms to the success of paywalls, the benefits and drawbacks to aggregation, and the character of emerging news platforms, this volume identifies which digital media strategies make money, which do not, and which new approaches look promising. The most comprehensive analysis to date of digital journalism's financial outlook, this text confronts business challenges both old and new, large and small, suggesting news organizations embrace the unique opportunities of the internet rather than adapt web offerings to legacy business models. The authors ultimately argue that news organizations and their audiences must learn to accept digital platforms and their constant transformation, which demand faster and more consistent innovation and investment.

Bill Grueskin is dean of academic affairs and professor of professional practice at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. He worked for thirteen years at the Wall Street Journal, in roles including deputy page-one editor, managing editor of www.WSJ.com, and deputy managing editor of news.

Ava Seave is a principal of Quantum Media, a New York City-based consulting firm focused on marketing and strategic planning for media, information, and entertainment companies. Before cofounding Quantum Media in 1998, she served as a general manager of three media companies: Scholastic Inc., the Village Voice, and TVSM. She is the coauthor, with Jonathan Knee and Bruce Greenwald, of The Curse of the Mogul: What's Wrong with the World's Leading Media Companies.

Lucas Graves is a Ph.D. candidate in communications at Columbia University. His research focuses on the fact-checking movement in American journalism and its reflection of changes in the networked news ecosystem.