How to launch your own news outlet: Phillip Smith on the Google News Initiative digital 'bootcamp,' and why 'journalists can make great entrepreneurs'

Reliable Sources

CNN

News

3.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2021

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Phillip Smith is the founder and director of the Google News Initiative Startups Bootcamp, which trains journalists to launch digital news sites in eight weeks. Smith joins Brian Stelter to discuss the "skills crossover" for journalists; how they can “grow financially viable, award-winning digital newsrooms;" and what can sometimes go wrong. Smith shares takeaways from the inaugural bootcamp in 2020 and describes the application process for this year. He says this is about "a movement of people that are trying to address needs that are no longer being met" in their communities. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Journalists are springing up on sub-stack launching startups, newsletters, one-person platforms.
0:07.9	They are launching in other ways, in other directions as well.
0:11.9	We're seeing what kind of feels like an exodus from legacy publications, a shift, at least
0:16.9	in some corners, to independent platforms.
0:21.0	So how about you?
0:23.8	What would you want to do?
0:25.4	Could you launch a digital news site, and if so, what would be the best ways to do it?
0:30.5	Those are some of the questions for this week's Reliable Sources podcast.
0:34.2	So let's cue the music.
0:36.3	I'm Brian Celter, and this weekly podcast is our chance to go more in-depth, talking with
0:41.7	media leaders and newsmakers, exploring how the news gets made, and it's getting made
0:47.4	differently in ways large and small, in ways you probably noticed when you're signing
0:53.3	up for a newsletter or getting asked to pay and subscribe.
0:57.3	This week, we're going to have a version of Bootcamp here on the podcast.
1:01.3	I was inspired by a recent article I read over on the Lion Publishers website.
1:06.6	The title was, I want to help you launch a digital news site in eight weeks.
1:13.0	The article was really a promo of sorts for something called the GNI Startup's Bootcamp,
1:19.1	and Philip Smith wrote the article.
1:21.6	He's trying to spread the word about it because he is the director of the GNI Startup's
1:26.7	Bootcamp.
1:27.7	It's currently looking for applicants for the 2021 program, so Philip joins me now.
1:33.3	Welcome to the podcast.
	...

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