The Story So Far

Can digital journalism be profitable? What's making money, what isn't, and why? Columbia University faculty members Bill Grueskin, academic dean of the Journalism School, and Ava Seave, Principal at Quantum Media and adjunct professor at the Business School, addresses these questions about the financial state of digital journalism. The Story So Far offers the most comprehensive analysis to date of the business challenges that large and small, old and new for-profit news organizations face with their digital ventures. Grueskin, Seave, and Lucas Graves spent several months reporting on-site at news organizations -- some that were founded over a century ago and others created in the past year or two. Based on that body of data, they examine how news organizations allocate resources, explore what patterns are emerging in revenue streams, and draw conclusions about how companies might generate revenue more effectively. The book is divided into nine chapters covering everything from advertising models at a diverse array of news organizations, to alternative platforms, new revenue streams and audience engagement. The authors argue that news organizations must do more to embrace the unique attributes of the Internet rather than trying to adapt Web offerings to legacy business models. The authors suggest that news organizations and their audiences "regard digital platforms as being in a constant state of transformation, one that demands a faster and more consistent pace of innovation and investment."