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Six months in, journalist-owned tech publication 404 Media is profitable
(www.niemanlab.org)
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this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2024
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Technology
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While I love that they are profitable, this sounds like a massive private investment from all involved which is not a good model as a whole
To me it sounds like a journalism co-op, how is this not a good model? Everyone contributes to getting it going, and then everyone gets an even slice of the pie. They keep their overhead minimal to keep costs down, and everyone has incentive to put out their best work. Sounds solid to me.
Well, the line between a minimal overhead, self employed lifestyle and an abusive workplace are fuzzy in those kinds of arrangements
How does it compare to a regular journalist workplace? I’m not a journalist.
They each put a quarter share of $1,000, per the article:
I mean investment less in dollaridoos and more in time and energy.
Isn’t that what most small business owners go through? My brother and his wife own a business and they hustle waaaay more than I need to as an employee of a large business with all the HR, retirement etc baked in. I don’t think they went net positive for like 4-5 years.
Yeah, this sounds like most small businesses. You could do well, or not. That's the risk you take. It isn't for everyone, which is why a lot of people work for other people for a regular wage. They trade the chance of doing really well for (more) stability, and forgo the risk of losing their investment and having to look for a new job.
The thing is it's profitable because they pay themselves less than they make in income. We don't really know how sustainable their pay is
Yeah they make the same point in their subscribers-only podcast. They did say that they earn enough to be sustainable, so it sounds like they aren't having to dip into their savings anymore. I hope they get more than that though as everyone deserves to thrive.