Archives for posts with tag: business

Unity - Journalists of Color logoThe hardest part of becoming an entrepreneur is putting a good idea into action. The second-hardest part is money. But if you’re a member of AAJA, NABJ, NAHJ or NAJA, here’s help:

Unity: Journalists of Color has launched a new program called “The New U: News Entrepreneurs Working through Unity.” The four member organizations (that’d be those acronyms at the top) will be giving away slices of a $100,000 Ford Foundation grant to applicants who have the best-laid plans for a sustainable small business.

Applications are open now.

Winning applicants not only get money, they’ll get two days of mentoring at one of the national conventions — which one depends on which organization the applicant belongs to. I’ll be among the mentors at the AAJA and NABJ workshops, working to lay solid foundations for long-term success.

If you’ve been thinking about starting a business, but need guidance and seed funding, this is your chance.

NAHJ’s convention is coming up first (June 23-26), so they’ll be fielding the first candidates. If you have questions in the meantime, ask in a comment.

For reference:
NAJA convention (July 21-24), St. Paul, Minnesota
NABJ convention (July 28- Aug. 1), San Diego
AAJA convention (Aug. 4-7), Los Angeles

By now you’ve probably read about the shuttering of the Rocky Mountain News, which foundered under rising costs and falling revenues.

The Denver Post put together a photo tribute to is scrappy rival.

Staff at The Rocky produced their own thoughtful wrap video.


Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo.

The Rocky’s closure means Denver now has just one newspaper (with a website) that covers the city. But there are still several TV news stations (with websites) and lots of blogs.

People will miss The Rocky’s particular editorial mix, the stories and the bond that comes from strongly identifying with anything well-loved, and having gone through the particular heartbreak of losing a daily in a two-paper town, I know what that’s like.

But I wonder what this says about the way businesses are run. While I haven’t closely studied what happened to The Rocky, it seems this wasn’t a problem of content or editorial overreaching — it was a top-notch, locally focused news outlet. The problem, it seems, was one of being a line item on a debt-heavy corporate balance sheet.