Revolutionary new technologies are compelling news organizations to recreate their business models or be left in history’s wake. The Strategic Digital Media Entrepreneur by Knight Chairs Penny Abernathy and JoAnn Sciarrino is packed with practical insights and guidance on all aspects of the business of media. Click here to explore case studies, videos, and essays by media leaders that will help you develop your own digital strategy. New material added weekly.
The UNC School of Media and Journalism’s Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media is pleased to announce the third round of the UNC-Knight Foundation Table Stakes Newsroom Initiative…
As a former managing editor for commodities at Dow Jones Newswires, Terry Wooten identified the kinds of trends that would move markets. In this case study, Wooten discusses how new digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain are transforming the way organizations practice journalism.
Andaiye Taylor discovered that she had a passion for reporting stories about her hometown, Newark, N.J. In 2013, she launched Brick City Live, an online news startup that quickly won awards and community acclaim. The experience took such a toll on its founder that she nearly shut it down. Here is what she discovered during that process, and why she’s now on track to increase year-over-year revenue fivefold.
In this case study, Rick Thames – who led newsrooms as an executive editor at The Charlotte Observer in North Carolina and the Wichita Eagle in Kansas – explores how news organizations can use metrics to understand both the needs and expectations of its readers.
In this case study, William R. “Bill” Barker – Florida southwest regional president for Gannett and the USA Today Network – discusses how media entrepreneurs and leaders can survey the competitive landscape for opportunities that drive growth.
“In 2019, we want to invest in growth to achieve a long-term increase in value,” CEO Mathias Doepfner said in a statement coinciding with the release of Axel Springer’s 2018 annual…
EBay founder and philanthropist Pierre Omidyar founded Honolulu Civil Beat with the intention of it using a for-profit subscription model. But public reaction changed the nature of its business.
Introduction As Sesame Street enters 2019 and approaches its 50th anniversary, the show looks nothing like its humble beginnings. More than 4,000 episodes later, Sesame Street’s home is premium cable, not public…
Introduction Self-care and wellness applications on smartphones have been booming. According to a February 2019 Forbes article, the self-help industry rakes in $9.9 billion annually in the United States alone – and…
Margaret High grew up in the newsroom of the Pulitzer Prize-winning News Reporter in Whiteville, North Carolina. She’s the fourth generation in a newspaper family. Her great-grandfather, grandfather and father…
Knight Chair Penny Muse Abernathy delivered the 18th annual Huck Boyd Lecture in Community Media last week to an audience of journalists, media executives and concerned Kansas citizens. Afterwards, Abernathy appeared…
Interested in helping save community newspapers? The UNC Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media is hiring a paid intern to research community newspapers between May and August, 2018….
Spotlight on Research Is the Digital Content Bubble About to Burst? Questions with Tom Nicholls One of a regular series of articles that highlights research in the academy and in…
As part of Melody Kramer’s fellowship last fall, she has written a report detailing information gathered from speaking with journalists and newsrooms across North Carolina about how they use data…
Spotlight on Research The impact of mythology and technology on how journalists gather information Questions with Zvi Reich and Yigal Godler One of a regular series of articles that highlights…
Now that the dust has settled from last month’s elections, let’s consider how newspaper ownership shapes election coverage. Last year, Knight Chair Penelope Muse Abernathy and her research team looked…
Penelope Muse Abernathy spoke with Oliver Broudy on his podcast Let’s Be Reasonable about the reasons behind the downsizing of community newspapers, and in this case, the Hampshire Gazette. While…
Melody Kramer (update: now a Reese News Lab Fellow!) wrote for Poynter about News Voices: North Carolina, a new initiative supported by The Democracy Fund with the goal of stronger collaboration…
Spotlight on Research Freedom of Information Act: exploring issues, solutions Four Questions with David Cuillier One of a regular series of articles that highlights research in the academy and…
Spotlight on Research Examining the Future of Local Solutions Journalism Four Questions with Andrea Wenzel One of a regular series of articles that highlights research in the academy and…
Spotlight on Research What do high school students think of the First Amendment? Four Questions with Kenneth Dautrich One of a regular series of articles that highlights research in…
Spotlight on Research Online News Startups Seek to Fill the Local News Void Four Questions with Matthew Powers One of a regular series of articles that highlights research in…
Spotlight on Research Can small community newspapers successfully launch digital ad agencies? Four Questions with JoAnn Sciarrino One of a regular series of articles that highlights research in…
Spotlight on Research How Healthy is the News Ecosystem in Your Community? Four Questions with Philip Napoli One of a regular series of articles that highlights research in…
Spotlight on Research Who should pay for local public affairs journalism? Four Questions with Christopher Ali One of a regular series of articles that highlights research in the…
Spotlight on Research Comparing media ownership models, and the future of “all-digital” news models Four Questions with Merja Myllylahti One of a regular series of articles that highlights…
Spotlight on Research What Happens to Political Participation in Communities When Metro Papers Pull Back? Four Questions with Sarah Cavanah One of a regular series of articles that highlights…
A twice-weekly with a storied history, The Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.) is one of the few remaining locally owned community newspapers in North Carolina. In the past two decades, the community newspaper…
Newsroom moves and the newspaper crisis: space, place, and cultural meaning The buildings where newspapers were published in the 20th century were often iconic structures. They stood out on the…
This is a periodic update of major sales and acquisitions that have occurred since the publication of The New Media Baron and the Emerging Threat of News Deserts. The report…
What is the value to society of investigative journalism? In his new book, Democracy’s Detectives: The Economics of Investigative Journalism (Harvard, 2016), author James T. (Jay) Hamilton calculates the long-term economic consequence to society when lives are saved and disasters are averted by such reporting.
The Media Innovation Fellows program at UNC-Chapel Hill School of Media and Journalism places recent graduates at local media companies in North Carolina to help them embrace new technologies and…
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