2024PULITZERS

The Washington Post

The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists' Headlines & Headliners Fundraising Event

Stringer

for The Washington Post

protests-wkcr

Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears at court in New York

For The Washington Post

Michael Cohen Testifies Before the House Intelligence Committee

Media Rebellious Journalists

Jim Hoft

Laura Coates

US-POLITICS-JUSTICE-COURT-TRUMP

Contributor

style-media-nprmeltdown

Conservative Political Action Conference CPAC 2021

staff

GOP Convention Reporter Expelled

style-media-murdoch

Photo illustration of Scott Bessent surrounded by red abstract elements.

style-media-sorospublishing

Ronna McDaniel

President Donald J. Trump’s Remarks in Clinton Township, MI 

Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

Show NLP summaries collection recirc on article pages

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

The FTC’s noncompete clause rule goes too far

The next global crisis could come from the sun. We should prepare now.

The crisis Biden and Trump don’t want to deal with

In Arizona, election workers trained with deepfakes to prepare for 2024

Election 2024 latest news: Biden back in the battleground state of Wisconsin

How Trump’s allies amplify his Truth Social messages to the wider world

France tries to shed its rude reputation ahead of the Olympics

Don’t be a jerk at the airport: A guide for headphones

The new cure-all for vacation excess: the IV drip 

Postal worker finds WWII-era letters, drives 5 hours to deliver them

Strangers help Sesame Street puppeteer after heirloom necklace was stolen

Teen grabs wheel when driver passes out and school bus veers into traffic

Nats go over .500 the hard way by beating the O’s and Corbin Burnes

A look at what has changed since the Nationals were last above .500

Baseball can crush rookies. Why hasn’t it crushed Trey Lipscomb?

Social Security has to be fixed. But you still need your own savings.

An I bond is now at 4.28 percent. Are they still a good deal?

Use these 6 points to say no to a college you and your kid can’t afford

RFK Jr’s ‘history lesson’ on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine flunks the fact test

The Trump-Biden battle over the 2017 tax cut

That time football legend, rig-driving eligible bachelor Biden was arrested

Middle East conflict live updates: WHO says health services in south Gaza will run out of fuel in three days

Commerce Department revokes more export licenses to China’s Huawei

U.S. signals optimism for Gaza cease-fire as Israel moves into Rafah 

Ask Amy: I want to be closer with my brother. He never reaches out to me.

Miss Manners: I’m offended by a golfer’s skirt choice

Carolyn Hax: Family pushes siblings to ‘make amends’ after their mother’s death

A college professor wants to use Section 230 against Big Tech

Apple plays up AI potential in new iPads

‘Look at the U.S.A.’: A photographer’s reflection on post-9/11 conflict

In photos: The scene after tornadoes struck Michigan and Oklahoma 

In court, Stormy Daniels pulled a Trump on Trump 

US-VOTE-POLITICS-ECONOMY-BIDEN

Ulysses Muñoz

Bob Cohn served as president of two prominent media companies with a combined 300 years of distinguished history — first, the Atlantic, and now, the Economist, a global affairs magazine with subscribers in more than 200 countries.

But in February, he will turn his focus to his own backyard of Baltimore as the chief executive of the Baltimore Banner, a nonprofit digital news outfit aiming to become an industry model for high-quality local journalism.

His marching orders: Build the Banner — which launched last year with a $50 million, five-year pledge from the former hotel and health-care magnate Stewart Bainum Jr. — so that it can stand on its own.

“It’s an intellectual puzzle: how to create a sustainable business at scale for local news,” Bainum said. “It really hasn’t been done for a metro area. That’s what the goal is, and what he’s charged with.”

Bainum himself took on this puzzle in 2021 after leading an unsuccessful effort to keep the 186-year-old Baltimore Sun out of the hands of a hedge fund with a reputation for deep cost-cutting.

Local newspapers have shrunk dramatically over the past 20 years — many going out of business — because of changing readership habits and the migration of advertising money to digital platforms such as Facebook and Google. More than 200 counties in the United States now have no local news outlets, according <a href="https://localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/projects/state-of-local-news/2023/report/#executive-summary" target=_blank>to </a><a href="https://localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/projects/state-of-local-news/2023/report/#executive-summary" target=_blank>a recent study by the Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University</a>, which predicts that by the end of next year, the country will have lost a third of the newspapers it had in 2005.

Studies have shown that a dearth of reliable local news can lead to lower voter turnout and more political <a href="https://academic.oup.com/joc/article-abstract/68/6/1007/5160090?redirectedFrom=fulltext" target=_blank>polarization</a>.

The Economist

Bainum aimed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/baltimore-sun-new-owner-nonprofit/2021/02/17/dcf56bf0-7154-11eb-85fa-e0ccb3660358_story.html" target=_blank>to buy the Sun</a> from parent company Tribune — and briefly s<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/maryland-business-executive-wanted-to-buy-the-baltimore-sun-now-he-may-try-to-buy-the-rest-of-tribune-newspapers/2021/03/15/b1a35730-85a1-11eb-bfdf-4d36dab83a6d_story.html" target=_blank>ought to acquire even the entire chain of Tribune newspapers</a> — to restore local ownership. Ultimately, he lost to hedge fund Alden Global Capital.

But he said he discovered through the process that there were other deep-pocketed philanthropists across the country willing to back high-quality journalism “so they can enhance the quality of life for the people in their communities.” This past year, donors contributed about $500 million to underwrite local news organizations, according to the Northwestern study. Last week, the MacArthur Foundation announced $48 million of grants in an expansion of its efforts to boost local news.

Bainum <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2021/10/26/baltimore-banner-kimi-yoshino-bainum/" target=_blank>launched the Banner</a> — with the help of several reporters who defected from the Sun — in the hope of building a website that could provide Baltimore-area residents with robust local news reporting.

“Our national goal is to find a solution here that can be replicated by investors around the country in local markets, because there is a solution to this,” he said.

Inside the campaign to find new owners for a legendary group of newspapers

The Banner is much bigger than most other local news start-ups: At 18 months in, its newsroom has about 75 journalists; the Baltimore Sun Media group had 100 when the Banner was launched.

“We’re doing it at a scale that some may say is too fast or too aggressive, but it is also necessary in order to build a news report that people are willing to pay for,” said editor in chief Kimi Yoshino.

The staff has scored major scoops, including the <a href="https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/religion/w-francis-malooly-john-peter-krzyzanski-samuel-lupico-joseph-omeara-EFUF5NGCBNBGDF2VGVNSC3SBZU/" target=_blank>unmasking of alleged sex abusers</a> within the state’s Catholic clergy; an <a href="https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-power/state-government/superintendent-of-maryland-state-park-system-fired-amid-turmoil-toxic-culture-at-gunpowder-falls-7JRKFAFCHREOLP7LT3QE5SB7VA/" target=_blank>investigation into the Maryland Park Service’s “toxic” work culture</a>, which led to ouster of several officials; and <a href="https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-power/national-politics/snap-benefits-stolen-telegram-XZWBQARNKFG4NHQAH6JUQRRGBU/" target=_blank>exposing stolen SNAP benefits</a>, which led the Maryland governor to allocate millions of dollars to reimburse victims of fraud.

The Banner’s sports and dining coverage has attracted many of its subscribers, Yoshino said. The outfit has 11 sports reporters —<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/12/14/local-sports-news-start-ups/" target=_blank> and sent five to an Orioles series game in Texas</a> — and just added a second food reporter.

One close observer of the nonprofit journalism world said the Banner has stood apart — and shown an uncommon likelihood of success — by focusing early on how to make money.

“The Banner had the good sense to charge readers for their news premium content,” instead of giving it away, said Jim Friedlich, executive director and CEO of nonprofit Lenfest Institute for Journalism, which owns the Philadelphia Inquirer and provides guidance for other nonprofit newsrooms.

Unlike other such start-ups, “they have lessened their dependence upon philanthropy, which can be both fickle and insufficient to sustain a quality news organization in the long-term.”

In 2024, the Banner aims to expand its coverage of education and nearby suburban communities by hiring journalists in Howard and Anne Arundel counties, a step that will be crucial to attracting more paying subscribers. The former editor of Annapolis’s Capital Gazette, Rick Hutzell, recently joined the Banner as a columnist. “He obviously knows Anne Arundel better than anyone, probably,” Yoshino said.

These mass shooting survivors were called journalism heroes. Then the buyouts came.

Bainum, who interviewed 11 candidates for the job of chief executive, called Cohn “a mission-driven man.”

He added: “You think we can pay him what the Economist pays him? Hell, no. He’s just a good person who wants to tackle this and make it work for the country, and his community.”

Cohn, a resident of Rockville, Md., also will serve as CEO of the Banner’s official patron, the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism. He replaces Wall Street Journal veteran Imtiaz Patel, who helped Bainum launch the Banner and <a href="https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/economy/nonprofit-philanthropy/imtiaz-patel-baltimore-banner-ceo-publisher-VWFOL6HXU5GF5OS3U2ERB67FDQ/" target=_blank>left in May to be an executive at Gannett</a>.

This year, the Banner brought in about $8.5 million of revenue, including from subscriptions, advertising, donations and live events. It has about 32,000 paid subscribers, Banner executives said — and Bainum said it needs to hit 75,000 subscribers to be self-sustaining.

“Personally, I’d like to get 100,000,” Cohn said.

Cohn, 60, was a reporter covering the Supreme Court and the Clinton White House before he moved into management, eventually becoming the executive editor of Wired in 2001. He then helped the Atlantic adapt to the digital era, first as its top digital editor, then as president, expanding his oversight to the business side of the publication.

At the Economist since 2020, he launched a subscription tier for podcasts and <a href="https://pressgazette.co.uk/news/economist-profit-2022-results/" target=_blank>oversaw record subscription numbers</a>.

“I’ve had a lot of great experience in journalism,” Cohn said. “And right now, what’s happening in local news is the most interesting, most challenging and most important thing in journalism, and an exciting place to try to put my experience.”

Although this will be his first time working in local journalism, he got a window into the plight of local news as an advisory board member for Report for America, a nonprofit organization that places journalists in distressed local newsrooms across the country.

Growing up in Chicago, Cohn recalled riding the city bus to school and seeing newspaper boxes for six different publications at every bus stop — a relic of a bygone era.

“There has been a decline in the amount and the salience of local news in Baltimore and in a lot of other cities,” Cohn said. “The fact that it’s local, it means it’s a definable problem. It’s right in front of us. We can get our arms around it, and we can figure it out.”

The Banner, like other start-ups, still has to build up its name recognition in a region with newspapers that are more than a hundred years old. But Cohn noted that the Banner is slightly ahead of its 2023 subscription goal — and he said he remains optimistic that high-quality reporting will attract subscribers and advertisers.

“So it’s marketing, but the journalism is the business model,” Cohn said. “The work of the newsroom is the nucleus around which the business will succeed.”

duPont-Columbia Award, 2023

Gracie Award for best podcast co-host, 2023

Mirror Award finalist, 2023

University of Maryland, Bachelor of Arts degrees in journalism and history

Post Reports 

Elahe Izadi is a staff writer covering media and also co-hosts daily flagship podcast "Post Reports." She joined The Post in 2014 as a general assignment reporter, and has covered pop culture, Congress, demographics and breaking news. 

Elahe Izadi

At the Baltimore Banner, a new CEO seeks a business model for local news

the-washington-post

Baltimore Banner exterior

Staff Photographer

The Baltimore Banner

handout

Arts & Entertainments

Power

The Media

Fashion

Of Interest

Style

washpost

prism://prism.query/site,/style/media&limit=20

The Media - The Washington Post

Coverage of the media industry from The Washington Post. The latest headlines and breaking news on cable news networks and the influence of digital media

Style - The Washington Post

Style is the source for breaking news and trending topics on fashion, culture, and anything of interest. You’ll find in-depth coverage of the media and entertainment including the latest in movies, music and tv.