Local Journalism is in the Wrong Business

While much has been done by the media industry to document local journalism’s demise over the years, little action has been taken to evolve the business model that funds it. Back in 2018, Rosario and Robert Halpern, the couple who ran two local newspapers in our remote area of Far West Texas, were retiring. Were my wife, an award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker, and I, a brand and business strategist, interested in taking over The Big Bend Sentinel and Presidio International , an institution they’d shepherded for the last 30 years?

Our research, not surprisingly, showed that locking into two revenue streams – (1) relying on readers to pay for the content, and (2) advertisers to pay to access them – left local journalism watching from the sidelines while the internet and social media changed the game. At the same time, there was much to learn from a few city-based news organizations and traditional magazines that launched diversified revenue streams closely tied to the why of their publications.

The unfortunate truth, though, is that news doesn’t pay because the last 20+ years tells us information abounds, it’s free, and that advertisers value quantity over quality. What people, especially Gen Z and Millennials, do want to pay for are unique experiences . Live concerts. Sporting events. $7 cups of coffee/matcha. These graphs go up and to the right. In a world where everything feels so damn digital people actually crave the physical.

Small towns don’t have an uncapped audience to play the quantity game so if we were going to accept the Halpern's offer we’d need to get creative. We'd need an organizing concept bigger than what applying technology and shouting into the black void of the web could offer. Something differentiated and unique. 

Business + News. Not the Other Way Around.

In the most uninhabited part of rural Texas we got out of just being in the local news and information business and into the business of building a brand that builds community. On July 4th, 2019 we published our first papers and simultaneously opened the doors to The Sentinel – a cafe, retail shop and event space that would provide the capital to do it differently. We surrounded the 100 year old title with an intentional ecosystem. Almost five years later we’ve grown our revenue 500+% allowing us to hire more journalists producing a better quality product with better pay than when we took over.

It’s a brand that sells people what they’ll pay for while providing something important when they want or need it. Marfa is a tourism-based economy so we built a revenue mix that matched in order to support our community. Journalism is a “yes, and.” It's our reason for being. The staff produces a killer weekly product and people love it. And they love the community The Sentinel provides, too. What once was a small town business employing a few family members now employs almost 20. 

A Healthy, Community-Oriented Future

If local journalism just remains in the news business the conversation will struggle to evolve beyond, "helping to sustain." But if the industry gets into the local community building business it will give the industry a shot at a healthy future. 

The good news is there’s more funding and resources being allocated towards the future than ever before. In September, Press Forward , an amalgamation of national foundations, announced its $500MM commitment to local. 11 local chapters are joining in as well. Yes, foundations can help but they shouldn’t be solely held responsible. While their endowments are the results of past capitalistic success they no longer employ the expertise nor mindset to execute in that capacity. Investing in anything takes the deployment of capital and knowhow to visualize the future. It’s why impact investors and local business entrepreneurs need to come to the table to help build these ecosystems, too. 

If local is the canary in the coal mine for a healthy democracy, isn’t it a bit myopic to think that more newfangled news products or turning everything into a non-profit will be the panacea(s) we’ve been waiting for?

People want to pay for the experience of being part of something. They’ll gladly spend $7/day for the feeling that comes with a fancy cup o’ caffeine but they struggle to pay even $1/day to be informed. Building a brand by building community is the most differentiated, ownable, relevant, resonant place local journalism can stand. 

Where do people gather? What does a community want and need and how can a non-core news product fill a void? While a model like The Sentinel can be replicated (I have a plan how), each mix of revenue needs to be location-specific. To its place and its people. Built with proud locals supporting each other because that’s what community is after all.  

We can do this at scale but it requires vision, putting literal boots on the ground and collaborative capital to make it happen. Products are ephemeral. But brands, they can be forever. Here we go.

Max Kabat is the Publisher and Co-Owner of The Big Bend Sentinel , a weekly newspaper covering the borderlands region of far West Texas, and The Sentinel , a mixed-use retail ecosystem that supports it, in Marfa, TX. He is also Co-Founder of goodDog , a brand and business strategy shop that helps founder-built brands grow via story by articulating their goodIdea and then pulling it through the rest of the business.

Photo Credits || @sarahdhetrick , @thesentinelmarfa , @katiejameson , @sebastienclosuit , @berkeleyholmes