5 ways to start a sustainable journalistic venture

At present, founding a digital media venture may be a straightforward task; the complex issue is to make it sustainable. When undertaking ventures, journalists tend to focus on the production of news contents and overlook income generation. However, the balance between both actions is the key to more and better journalism.

“We can all work as volunteers, but for a few years, or else we begin to suffer. (...) That is why I insist [journalists] should earn enough to live well,” said Janine Warner, Executive Director of SembraMedia and ICFJ Knight Fellow. Bearing that in mind, she created a professional support team for entrepreneurial journalists with Mijal Iastrebner in 2015.

A paper titled “Inflection Point,” posted in July 2017, was an important milestone in the work of SembraMedia. It analyzed 100 digital native media outlets in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, and the study of their achievements and failures revealed the following keys to ensuring sustainability of a journalistic venture:

Being innovative

Prioritizing innovation when defining the project’s target community, which of their needs will be addressed, and the ways in which income will be generated for the venture.

Having at least one team member in charge of sales

Unless there is a person dedicated to driving revenue, sustainability may not be guaranteed. “Inflection Point” showed that, in 2016, the average income of digital media with no staff devoted to sales totaled US$3,900, while the income of ventures with at least one person in charge of sales was US$117,000.

Diversifying sources of income

Having more than just one way of earning money not only reduces the project’s financial risk, but also ensures the most important aspect: media independence. It is advisable to gradually cultivate three or four ways of driving revenues.

A large and/or very loyal audience

If you have a broad audience, the main source of income will be online traffic and innovation in the use of advertising. Nonetheless, if the audience is not broad but very loyal, there may be other ways to monetize: consulting, events, workshops, product sales (e.g. books), etc.

Up-to-date and transparent bookkeeping

Keeping accounting records of the media venture up-to-date not only contributes to the financial health of the project but also makes it immune to any external agent seeking to question its ethical dimension.

About El Otro

El Otro: 2^nd Latin-American Meeting of Entrepreneurial and Innovative Journalism will be held on July 31 and August 1 in Lima, Peru, as an initiative by the Gabriel García Márquez Foundation for the New Ibero-American Journalism (FNPI), CAF and SembraMedia, with the support of the Peruvian University for Applied Science (UPC), John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships (JSK) and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).