The document discusses several challenges facing journalism, including a decline in statewide issue coverage due to fewer newspapers and reporters, decreased engagement and voter turnout, and increased partisanship. It also notes structural economic problems in the media industry, such as the inability of the for-profit model to support public interest journalism and the difficulty of monetizing non-partisan content.

1. Int’l Online Journalism Symposium
04.24.10

2. * Decline in coverage of statewide issues
* Fewer papers
* Fewer people
* Fewer pages
* Bigger problems
* Decline in engagement
* Low voter turnout
* Generation gap
* Increase in partisanship
* Politics is more divisive
* Media is more of an echo chamber

3. * Decline in coverage of statewide issues
* Fewer papers
* Fewer people
* Fewer pages
* Bigger problems
* Decline in engagement
* Low voter turnout
* Generation gap
* Increase in partisanship
* Politics is more divisive
* Media is more of an echo chamber
Four Challenges

4. * Decline in coverage of statewide issues
* Fewer papers
* Fewer people
* Fewer pages
* Greater Challenges
* Decline in engagement
* Low voter turnout
* Generation Gap
* Increase in partisanship
* Politics is more divisive
* Media is more of an echo chamber
Four Challenges

5. * Decline in coverage of statewide issues
* Fewer papers
* Fewer people
* Fewer pages
* Bigger problems
* Decline in engagement
* Low voter turnout
* Generation Gap
* Increase in partisanship
* Politics is more divisive
* Media is more of an echo chamber
Four Challenges

6. * Decline in coverage of statewide issues
* Fewer papers
* Fewer people
* Fewer pages
* Bigger problems
* Decline in engagement
* Low voter turnout
* Generation Gap
* Increase in partisanship
* Politics is more divisive
* Media is more of an echo chamber
Four Challenges

7. * Decline in coverage of statewide issues
* Fewer papers
* Fewer people
* Fewer pages
* Bigger problems
* Decline in engagement
* Low voter turnout
* Generation Gap
* Increase in partisanship
* Politics is more divisive
* Media is more of an echo chamber
Four Challenges

8. * Decline in coverage of statewide issues
* Fewer papers
* Fewer people
* Fewer pages
* Bigger problems
* Decline in engagement
* Low voter turnout
* Generation gap
* Increase in partisanship
* Politics is more divisive
* Media is more of an echo chamber
Four Challenges

9. * Increase in partisanship
* Politics is more divisive
* Media is more of an echo chamber
* Bigger problems
* The for-profit model won’t pay for public interest journalism
* Structural problems of media economy
* Content can’t be monetized
* Increase in partisanship
* Politics is more divisive
* Media is more of an echo chamber
Four Challenges

10. * Increase in partisanship
* Politics is more divisive
* Media is more of an echo chamber
* Bigger problems
* The for-profit model won’t pay for public interest journalism
* Structural problems of media economy
* Content can’t be monetized
* Increase in partisanship
* Politics is more divisive
* Media is more of an echo chamber
Four Challenges

11. * Increase in partisanship
* Politics is more divisive
* Media is more of an echo chamber
* Bigger problems
* The for-profit model won’t pay for public interest journalism
* Structural problems of media economy
* Content can’t be monetized
* Increase in partisanship
* Politics is more divisive
* Media is more of an echo chamber
Four Challenges

12. * Increase in partisanship
* Politics is more divisive
* Media is more of an echo chamber
* Bigger problems
* The for-profit model won’t pay for public interest journalism
* Structural problems of the media economy
* “Serious” content can’t be monetized
* Increase in partisanship
* Politics is more divisive
* Media is more of an echo chamber
Four Challenges

13. * Nearly 1.27 million page views
* Nearly 400,000 visits from 164 countries
* 206,000 unique visitors (we’ll exceed 100k this month)
* 17% of our visitors have been back more than 8 times
25 Weeks In…

14. * More than 3.8 million page views
* More than 1,086,000 visits from 190 countries and 1,180 TX
cities and towns
* 40% of our traffic is from outside TX. The remaining 60% is 1/3
Austin, 1/3 other big TX cities, and 1/3 the rest of TX
* 583,000 unique visitors (we exceeded 200k in March)
* 17% of our visitors have been back more than 8 times
25 Weeks In…

15. * More than 3.8 million page views
* Home page: 635,284 page views
* Library: 1,346,725 page views
* Stories: 587,925 page views
* Blogs: 340,044 page views
25 Weeks In…

16. * More than $4 mil raised in ‘09 (more than $3 mil collected).
* More than 1,500 members (< $5,000). Average gift: $96.
* More than 50 major donors (> $5,000).
* Nearly 70 corporate sponsors ($2,500).
* $105,000 in events sponsorship.
$$$$

17. * More than $4 mil raised in ‘09
* More than $720,000 already raised in ‘10
* Nearly 1,600 members (< $5,000). Average gift: $96
* Nearly 60 major donors (> $5,000). Average gift: $73,000
* More than 80 corporate sponsors ($2,500)
* $150,000 in events sponsorship
$$$$

18. * 2010 budget: $2.0 million
* 2011 budget: $2.3 million
* 2012 budget: $2.5 million
$$$$

19. Secrets of Our Success

20. Secrets (?) of Our Success (?)

21. Secrets (?) of Our Success (?)
* Swim in the deep end of the talent pool
* Data as journalism (H/T Matt Thompson)
* Events as journalism (H/T The New Yorker)
* Revenue promiscuity
* Content partnership sluttiness
* The Law of Popeye: We am what we am

22. Thank You.