Monday 19th October: The realities of going solo as a journalist

October 19, 2020

It's Monday! Today's Media Roundup is brought to you by Esther.

It's rare we trumpet our own podcast in this top slot, but this is special as it's the second ever podcast-documentary we've done (the first was on freelance journalism). Even better, it's all transcribed here if you'd rather read it, although we'd recommend listening!

Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of high-profile examples of journalists leaving publications to launch their own newsletters. This isn’t a new trend, but as tools like Substack, Medium and Patreon have grown in prominence, the barriers to making a living off working by yourself have come down.

In this special podumentary episode, we talk to journalists at a range of stages, from those that have been flying solo with their own businesses for a number of years, to those that have recently taken the leap.

Hear from Platformer’s Casey Newton, Baekdal.com’s Thomas Baekdal, The Business of Content’s Simon Owens, Culture Study’s Anne Helen Petersen and The Media Nut’s Josh Sternberg as they talk about the realities of what it takes to go it alone with reader revenue as a journalist.

The Atlantic has launched Planet, a vertical and newsletter dedicated to climate journalism. Like its pandemic coverage, Planet won't rely on a beat reporter or two; it'll be a newsroom-wide effort that brings in writers across disciplines and sections. Given the strength of the work The Atlantic has produced this year, we're excited to see how this goes.

Our friends at the International Magazine Centre have recruited Peter Houson to write a monthly column for publishers. October's question was "Housty, we're a small publisher - what's the point in Big Data?"

Shockingly, people have actually changed their minds about things! Okay, this might not always be changing in a positive direction, but it's reassuring to know that social media users aren't always completely entrenched in their views. This is worth a look, especially for the comparisons between political leanings, ethnicity, age and the likelihood of minds being changed.

For this to be sitting in your inbox, one of us has been up pretty late on Sunday. We also often record our episodes at the weekend due to workload during the week. If you like our work, please consider shouting us a virtual coffee to keep our eyes open!