ABSTRACT
More people than ever are reading content created by journalists, yet, since the birth of the Internet, an industry once used to substantial profits and annual revenue hikes has been hit by declining print sales and disappearing advertising revenue. The storm has caused such enormous disruption that many fear for the very existence of the news industry. In the ten years before Lenfest’s altruistic act, a number of journalists who had either left commercial newsrooms in frustration at reduced budgets and changed focuses, or found themselves at the sharp edge of the necessary cuts, founded dozens of alternative news organisations across the United States and in parts of the wider world. The chapter looks at the structure of the newsrooms operating in the space, the attitude to reporting in these organisations, the value systems and how journalists are rediscovering that they really can pursue careers in the profession of journalism thanks to these new initiatives.
