T-Squared: Trib Fellows Launch NewsBiz Site

Last month we announced the selection of our Knight Foundation-funded Tribune Fellows, Jake Batsell and Tim Griggs, who are joining our staff full-time to help us think about how we gather news, engage audiences and grow our business. Today we're excited to announce the first by-product of that effort: NewsBiz, a website where Jake and Tim will disseminate their findings and spark what we hope will be a global conversation around public media and the economic models that support them.

Curated by Jake, NewsBiz is where we'll open the kimono on nonprofit news. A veteran reporter and professor of journalism at Southern Methodist University, he knows more about the ever-changing digital news business than just about anyone we know. And even though he just began his Trib fellowship, he's already started visiting news organizations with an eye to identifying the smartest, most sustainable practices in journalism today. He'll report his findings on NewsBiz with the aim of creating a valuable online resource for public media practitioners of all shapes and sizes.

While NewsBiz has a global perspective, it doesn't only look outward. From time to time, the site will turn its magnifying glass on the Trib itself. As with his research into other newsrooms, Jake will examine how we here at Trib HQ create content, and he'll share those findings — warts and all, we hope — on NewsBiz. 

Tim, our other Trib fellow, will contribute to this effort as well. Focused on the business side of of our organization, he will leverage his experience as executive director of cross-platform monetization at The New York Times to help us fortify our economic model. Like Jake, Tim will publish his discoveries and initiatives on News-biz.org so that other news operations can benefit from seeing what works in the Trib's business model and where we see areas to improve.

Jake's first post appears on NewsBiz today, and he'll regularly add new posts. Look for Tim's contributions starting in a few weeks.