Hi there,
This summer we ran the first Journalism Creators Startup Lab with the support of the Google News Initiative: eight weeks of instruction and coaching with 20 participants across North America plus sustained coaching and a warm welcome to the larger Project C Community.
The cohort took full advantage of the summer and used the time, coaching and workshops to build real parts of their business – including new strategies, sponsorship decks, newsletters, websites, vertical video channels, disclosure language, safety plans, contract templates and so much more.
We asked everyone to rate their confidence across 12 skill areas at graduation. Strongest: trust signals, defining a value proposition, using data. Many participants rated themselves the toughest around business skills – not surprising for a group of journalists. This is the biggest gap for them to bridge. But all came away with a plan to increase revenue and the ability to build a pitch and understand their own sustainability paths.
Some voices from the exit survey:
"I came in knowing the stories I wanted to tell and left with a much clearer understanding of the audience, strategy, and business that can sustain them." - Serena Maria Daniels of Midwest Mexican
"This course helped turn my videos into an actual business." – Joseph Ferguson
"This whole thing has been a turning point moment for me." - Julie Rose of Julie’s Provo Notes
The next cohort – for journalists from Europe, the Middle East and Africa – starts September 28. If you’re interested in a future cohort, just click below.
THE LATEST THINGS
Kevin Roose and Casey Newton are in talks for a podcast deal worth up to $5M a year. The former NYT Hard Fork hosts, going independent for their next act, look to come out of the gates with seven-figure revenue. Talking Biz News
Alex Heath is leaving The Verge for a VC partner job, but keeping his newsletter. He's joining Sound Ventures while holding onto Sources on the side. A different shape of "staying independent." Newcomer
Beehiiv's Media Collective just added three more names. Peter Greenberg, Dana Harris-Bridson and David Covucci joined the collective, which has helped members earn $5M+ since late 2024. Nieman Lab
A creator's subscriber list is not a marketing mailing list. Andrew Callaghan's Channel 5 handed Hunter Biden its subscriber emails to promote a memecoin – a data-privacy expert called it "likely illegal." 404 Media
The media kit that closed a $79,500 sponsorship deal. A tactical, screenshot-level breakdown worth sharing from Catskill Crew founder Michael Kauffman. Mikey Pesto on X
Joanna Stern's "New Things" is going beyond the newsletter into live dinners. One more example of an indie brand extending past the inbox. LinkedIn
A new $17M-funded platform wants in on the newsletter game. Workweek raised the money to build its own infrastructure targeting a clientele of subject matter experts. via LinkedIn
YouTube is cracking down on "ghost creators." Worth watching if it touches how independent channels get verified. Semafor
An AI-investigations toolkit built by one data journalist, for anyone doing this alone. Tom Vaillant is previewing "Indicator Lab." The Indicator
Taylor Lorenz on why a subscription business gets harder when you won't fit a political box. Directly on-theme for anyone building trust across a polarized readership. LinkedIn
Reader-data segmentation is the next "unfair advantage" for newsletters. Dan Oshinsky’s piece is worth reading for your own newsletter ops too. Inbox Collective
A former 30-year USA Today columnist built a travel channel that just got picked up by Scripps. Jefferson Graham turned down five buyouts before finally leaving to start PhotowalksTV on YouTube – Scripps News just licensed it as a FAST channel. Simon Owens
The Washington Post is hiring a Creator Content & Partnerships Director. $137K–$229K, reporting to the President of Washington Post Creator – real money behind "creator partnerships now rival editorial in strategic importance." Job posting
McClatchy laid off journalists at the Charlotte Observer, Miami Herald and Sacramento Bee. About eight cuts at the Charlotte paper alone; one editor called it "slicing out vital organs." Status News
FROM THE PROJECT C COMMUNITY
Soleil Ho gave a talk about Coyote Media Collective at Indiecon in Hamburg – a festival for independent publishers – and got the room fired up about co-ops. 🔥
Bryan M. Vance (Stumptown Savings) keeps stacking wins: 12% audience growth running Meta ads again, 30 new members this month (30% toward his goal), a year of original grocery-price data showing local baskets up nearly 8% year-over-year, and an OPB interview recorded while walking through a grocery store. 🕺
Yulia Denisyuk's ManyChat experiment is working, with 10 new free subscribers in a week, more than she usually sees in a month. 📈
Vanessa Armstrong is adding paid-subscriber perks: a mailed zine and stickers, including one designed by a fellow member's kid. 😃
Becky Bullard passed 11,000 Instagram followers 🫰 and launched limited-edition "Texorcism" shirts (voting + Halloween + Texas).
Jayne Lytel built journalismfunding.com, a free tool to help solo journalists and micro-newsrooms find funding – and wants your feedback.
Joey Scott posted his first video in over four months and it’s a banger!
Welcome
Barney Lerten. Left his Digital Content Director job at KTVZ and built barneysbendbugle.com and a subreddit for it that grew to nearly 200 members in under two days.
Ben Whitelaw. Founder/editor of Everything in Moderation and its podcast Ctrl-Alt-Speech – all about platform governance, digital regulation and the systems shaping online safety and AI.
Members get at least one live event a month, usually more. All times ET.
Thursday, September 17 · 3:00 PM · Legal Office Hours with Julian Sarafian. Group Q&A — contracts, rights and IP, brand deals, AI licensing. Bring your questions. RSVP →
🎤 Where I'll be this week: ISOJ, September 17–19 in Austin!
See who's building independent journalism, and where. The Atlas maps 2,000+ verified creator-journalists and subject matter experts, organized by beat, platform, and geography.
How this newsletter is made: A human (hi, it's Liz 👋) writes, edits and makes every editorial call here. I use Claude, Anthropic's AI assistant, as a research tool — each week it sweeps my sources and assembles the first draft of the links roundup. Every link and every word gets a human read before it reaches you.
