TimesofE Weekly Newsletter: Blockchain goes to college, immigration in the Heartland…and corporate BSWeekly Newsletter: Blockchain goes to college, immigration in the Heartland…and corporate BS
A note from our editor, Elizabeth MacBride:
It’s common to hear journalists, media execs and venture investors say, “the business model for journalism is broken.” But the business model is slowly righting itself.
Print journalism was in the past funded by a combination of revenue streams: brand advertising, patrons, subscriptions, events and the gold mine, the platform business of classifieds. In the past two decades, those revenue streams were squarely hit on two fronts. New media companies thrived by scaling and controlling the platform idea. And when the Internet rammed into the newspaper world, the obsession with click counting overtook brand advertising. Journalism sold itself too cheap in a world turned topsy-turvy.
But it has been obvious all along that we needed journalism, even if we don’t always like it. Our democracy needed it — that’s clear. But businesses, politicians and communities (and publishers who wanted to make a mark on the public conversation) had a need for the other services journalistic media delivers, from caché, to events, to information.
Now, you see companies from Chalkbeat to The Information to Axios (to Times of E!) putting the old revenue streams together in new and creative ways. The social media companies that grew out of the old classifieds idea have thrived beyond imagining — but no doubt even their hegemony will be disrupted by government or an upstart.
But there’s one part of the journalism picture that does not seem to be restoring itself: The profession. Journalists used to be disconnected from the question of how many people read their stories. Decisions were made as editors, reporters and publishers figured what people needed to read and wanted to read. And they served audiences that weren’t well defined. It was an impressionistic world, and imperfect.
But it was better than what we have today, when most journalists pay way too much attention to the traffic numbers on their stories and the size of their social media followings. It’s human — but I see it happening even in media outlets where journalists have very secure jobs. (It is probably no coincidence that many of today’s prominent journalists come from celebrity families.) This is the personal version of the flawed cheap click models that did so much damage to brand advertising in the early days of the Internet.
The business model of journalism is righting itself. The profession will take longer.
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Times of Entrepreneurship Stories of the Week
A Tulsa Bakery Born From A Lifetime’s Love Of Cakes Carries The Extra Weight Of History
A new $4 million effort to build wealth via the Black business community takes root, in an old hospital building renamed as the story of the Race Massacre shifted through the decades.
StudentCoin, Growing In Europe and Asia, Enables College Students To Create And Manage Tokens
A startup team based in Poland is growing a blockchain database in universities.
StudentCoin, Growing In Europe and Asia, Enables College Students To Create And Manage Tokens
A startup team based in Poland is growing a blockchain database in universities.
You may have missed: The Quantum Boom Moves Closer With The Launch Of Two Accelerators (The Startup Kind) Quantum innovation has the potential to disrupt nearly every industry. And the race to lead the way is starting, with the University of Chicago and University of Maryland each putting a stake in the ground
Living the Dream
Best practices: When Gili Elkin from the Israel-Colorado Innovation Fund found that fewer than 10 of 700 startups she met had female CEOs, she decided to pivot her fund to invest in woman-run companies. As she and other investors are realizing, there’s a lot of opportunity in backing women-owned firms.
Bonus best practice: The National Venture Capital Association, working with investment analytics firm, released a new model term sheet. Be sure to compare any term sheets with other models, such as a commonly used one from Y Combinator, before you adopting one a guide.
Rathskeller
The 4.5 hour workweek: A productivity hack
Beat digital distraction by email notifications, social media and other lures by using Serene, a MacOS app. It allows you to block distracting apps and websites. Never let Insta distract you from meeting a deadline again.
Made in the U.S.A.
If camping is on your summer bucket list, Barebones Living’s All-in-One Cast Iron Grill($149) could be just what you need to travel light. You can pack it down to a single relatively tiny bundle. Barebones, a certified B Corp based in Salt Lake City, specializes in products that support open-fired cooking, nature centered dining and “transformative communal experiences.” It supports disadvantaged communities by providing them with its emergency shelters.
Wanderlust : a restaurant or activity from our Top Ecosystems list
If you’re a root beer lover, Fitz’s Root Beer in St. Louis, Mo., is worth a side trip if you’re in town. It bottles its own root beer, along with craft soda in flavors like vanilla mint, orange crème and key lime.
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