🔶 #79: "Journalism is investable"

Hello and welcome back to the News Alchemists newsletter!

And a warm first welcome to new subscribers from Uusi Juttu, Correctiv, What's New In Publishing, tbd, Harpswood, and to all of you – many of you this week! – brave souls working independently.

Back in March I asked in this newsletter: Wait, is journalism in Europe actually thriving?

As I said at the time, it was a mildly provocative question that I posed to celebrate many European organisations I admire because they "embody people-centricity in everything they do, proving that a sustainable future for journalism is not a dream: it already exists."

I didn't have numbers to back up my claim, just anecdotal evidence. Thanks to the Center for Sustainable Media, now we have the numbers too.

Last week they launched Capital Stacks of Journalism, a fantastic report that shows that journalism really is investable, and "where viable journalism businesses can be built, how they are financed, and what makes them work".

It is based on research and in-depth interviews with 21 European organisations that built a viable (and often thriving) journalism business over the last two decades.

Five of the seven outlets I included in that newsletter back in March are featured in the report.

There are over 30,000 words to read, but they are neatly organised in the interactive website, so take your pick:

• You can start from the executive summary, full of data explaining how the 21 organisations have managed to be so successful – and how there's definitely not only one route to viability;
• From any one of the 11 chapters – allow me to recommend chapter 5, The moral conundrums of making a living: "how audience revenue, advertising, grants and adjacent products combine and where commercial pragmatism meets editorial principle."
• Or directly from the conclusions, which outline "what investors, funders and founders should take away about early capital, self-sufficiency, talent, returns and the civic value created along the way."

If I were to cherry-pick one data point in support of the News Alchemists philosophy, it would surely be that audience revenue accounts for over 60% of total revenue for 16 of the 21 newsrooms in the report – and even 100% (or very close to 100%) for four of them:

Talking about fantastic reports:

If you have missed / have enjoyed / want to know more about the global report on impact in journalism that I shared two editions ago, the Pulitzer Center is hosting an online event this Thursday, 8 October. You can sign up here.

One last note for today:

Last week I concluded a wonderful 6-month engagement with The Chronicle of Philanthropy, in which I helped them relaunch their flagship daily newsletter and revamp their whole newsletter portfolio.

I now have some availability in my schedule for a new engagement, so if you need help with your newsletters over the next few months, reply to this email and let's chat.

See you next week 👋

Mattia

And the most clicked link from the previous edition is... 🥁

...a tie between Cherry Agarwal's post on using newsletters to build community, and Blair Hickman's post on the five traits that newsrooms need to display to stay successful no matter what tech platforms throw at them.

⇲ The LinkedIn Corner

Usually, a section of this email in which I highlight LinkedIn posts written by newsletter readers that, for different reasons, may not make it to the main section, but are still interesting to share.

I found no posts to highlight this week, so I ask you: Have you posted anything recently that might be interesting for other News Alchemists readers to find in this section next week? 👀