Addressing and Solving the Needs of the Journalism Industry
By Sandy Mui
Entrepreneurial journalism, to me, is a field that addresses the needs of the journalism industry. Looking at the term just from the two words, “journalism” serves as the underlying discipline that is being studied/analyzed, and “entrepreneurship” is the approach that is taken. What makes entrepreneurial journalism unique is that it is innovative, and its primary purpose is problem-solving.
Entrepreneurial journalism matters because journalism, as it exists, is never short of needs and issues that need to be addressed. As time passes, these needs and issues may fluctuate, but they’re nevertheless there. For instance, prior to the invention of the printing press, one issue may have been the limitations of existing technology in disseminating news to the masses. Nowadays, some of journalism’s problems may include the widespread dissemination of “fake news,” the decline of newspapers, and the lack of diversity in newsrooms. (Though the last listed issue has inarguably always persisted.)
Who is affected by the development of entrepreneurial ventures, depends on the specific entrepreneurial venture. There isn’t one clear-cut recipe for what entrepreneurial ventures should look like and target because each venture’s target audience will vary. With entrepreneurial journalism, in particular, I’d argue that the target groups include journalists/news organizations and the public.
With something like Scrub Daddy that was featured on Shark Tank, however, the target audience seems to be anyone who wants to make their lives easier when washing dishes in the sink. Either way, the hope with entrepreneurial ventures is that they will generate revenue and serve an existing need of a particular target audience.
Overall, new journalism ventures have a positive and “accelerant” impact on existing news organizations, and they introduce new approaches that news organizations can take to address specific issues. For instance, NYC Media Lab runs bootcamps that frequently feature some entrepreneurial journalism ventures.
One of the ventures that was selected for NYC Media Lab’s 2019 Combine Cohort is “VettNews,” a “ratings agency for news organizations,” according to its website. VettNews’ mission is “to make citizens more media savvy and news organizations more transparent.” In this particular case, the “positive” impact seems to be more “combative,” but the intentions of the entrepreneurial venture are good. After all, one goal of VettNews is for news organizations to become more transparent, so the journalism industry at large should improve.
