Opera is a tightly defined form of musical theater, but it doesn’t encompass all celebrated music. Journalism risks a similar narrowing of scope—a class divide that leaves it lacking the range and diversity its principles deserve.
As a community of practitioners, we often misunderstand journalism as the exclusive product of a single industry: news organizations. Journalism is not just a product; it’s a set of principles and approaches developed over centuries to foster trust and build relationships.
In the 20th century, journalism’s societal value—fact-based, contextual information to help communities navigate a complex world—was primarily produced by news organizations. This dominance stemmed from a successful business model that paired advertising revenue with independent newsrooms. That model, however, has collapsed under systemic creative destruction. Instead of rethinking how to produce the outputs (journalism) more effectively, we remain overly focused on restructuring the inputs (news organizations).
Meanwhile, other actors—some unaware of or uninterested in journalistic norms—have invaded the space. They mimic the appearance of journalism but produce outcomes ranging from banal content marketing to partisan propaganda, further eroding trust in traditional news organizations.
As someone who co-founded a digital-first local news organization after the Great Recession, I’ve spent the last decade operating in this shifting landscape. In 2011 I wrote: “Sustaining the craft of journalism matters more right now than the craft itself.”
Our work looks little like the 20th-century newspaper model that dominated local journalism, which leaves us seen as anomalies rather than as viable examples of what’s possible. Through this experience, I’ve become convinced that journalism practitioners are still thinking too small. We need to codify the tenets of journalism into a worldview that any professional or organization can adopt—making journalism less of an exclusive craft and more like a cloud-based SaaS tool: adaptable, scalable, and widely accessible.
Local journalism, in particular, suffers under two unsustainable extremes: large-scale media brands thriving through web-enabled reach, and small, local brands struggling with audiences that appear minuscule in comparison. Nonprofit newsroom models have emerged as a promising response, preserving the core principles of 20th-century accountability journalism while leveraging philanthropy and reader support. These models are important and long-lasting—but also limited.
Nonprofit journalism cannot meet the needs of every community. Competing against other vital services like food banks and job training, especially in times of crisis, is an uphill battle. Moreover, the editorial firewall of the 20th century has left many journalists deeply uncomfortable with—or even hostile to—revenue generation. That mindset is dangerous if we want this work to last.
What we need is a broader exploration of commercial opportunities and new ways to align journalism’s value with sustainable business models. My own company, Technical.ly, hasn’t cracked the code—because there is no code. But we’ve worked through the painful, slow steps of building something sustainable, and I believe those lessons are replicable.
I’m motivated by the conviction that every community needs a voice. Journalism doesn’t belong to news organizations alone—it belongs to anyone committed to creating and sharing fact-based, contextual information. If we embrace that, we can ensure journalism thrives, not just as a profession, but as a societal good.
