What 20 early-stage creator journalists learned this summer

Substack's politics lead goes indie and more from around the ecosystem

Labor Day happened. Here's the roundup and community news anyway.

What I mean when I say 'creator journalism'

Plus: Trusting News' new creator credibility cohort, a legacy exec goes independent, and two members' Dolly Parton moment.

What Is Creator Journalism?

Creator journalism, defined. Plus, a checklist and the research behind it.

APPLY NOW: Journalism Creators Startup Lab – EMEA Cohort

For early-stage indie journalists across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa – apply by Sept. 4

What It Actually Costs an Indie Journalist to Take a Vacation

Plus: A strike gives birth to a worker-owned newsroom, Hank Green's AI reckoning, and what's coming up at Project C

Independent journalism had a very good Saturday in DC

Six months after joining Project C's Muslim Creator Journalism Accelerator, 16 creators pitched their work – and walked away with real money and a real network

Teaching journalists to sell sponsorships

PLUS: Newsrooms want to create creators, a bumper crop of community wins and what's coming up at Project C.

Introducing the Journalism Creators Startup Lab

The Journalism Creators Startup Lab is here, and so is our inaugural North America cohort

For creator journalists on different continents, a similar industry crisis

PLUS: Zeteo goes global, a Gourmet lawsuit and upcoming Community events!

SAVE THIS EMAIL: The new biz toolkit for creators!

PLUS: @Muslim's founder on building to 12M and DC's Capital Weather Gang goes solo

The political disclosure problem creator journalists can't ignore

PLUS: Joanna Stern's killing it, Substack v. beehiiv and an Emmy win for Johnny Harris!

The Most Disruptive Shift the News Industry Has Already Seen

PLUS LINKS: Neighborhood newsletters have a moment; fleeing the Substack tax

Agreeing to disagree with Casey Newton on AI

Plus: Vine is back, TikTok's thumb on the scale and a new creator economy minor

The reporting is moving. The credit isn't.

A growing share of investigative journalism is being produced outside newsrooms. Getting credit for it has become its own kind of work

We know more about creator journalists than we ever have

CNTI's new report is the most comprehensive look yet at the independent journalism economy. – and it bummed some of you out

Lotsa links from the road: Trustfnd, TBPN, Newdle & more!

It was a busy week in creator journalism. Here's what I was reading from airports this week

What it costs to leave

The economics of independent journalism are more complicated than the stories we keep telling about them

The Chicago filmmaker who couldn't sleep

Andrew Freer has been documenting ICE operations in Chicago and Minneapolis since last fall. He's running out of money to keep going.

We need to talk about AI

Plus: YouTube's new partnership portal, prediction markets target journos and Project C heads to ONA!

The Joanna Stern model + Friday Links (a day early!)

Plus: A new Project C website, community wins and a ton of upcoming events

Meet the Project C ONA26 Creator Cohort!

From Portland to Miami to Birmingham to Phoenix, these 10 journalists are building the future of independent media — and heading to ONA26 together

The news you're missing in Chicago

How Chicago's untapped media landscape is quietly serving the city's most specific communities

From 'What is this?' to 'How do we work together?'

A year of transformation for independent creator journalism – notes from the 2026 Knight Media Forum

Indie journalists targeted in Minnesota arrests + Friday Links

More inside: NextGen News Report deets and a bomb cyclone of local weather influencers