AN INNOVATIVE NEW BUSINESS MODEL
The NEWSWELL model is an innovation itself, solving stubborn problems in local news:
How can newsrooms stay local and nonprofit but enjoy the benefits and economies of scale offered by large for-profit networks?
How can they focus less on operations and more on news reporting?
How do they diversify their sources of revenue in order to become or remain sustainable?
As an affiliate of Arizona State University, NEWSWELL offers comprehensive wraparound services, business planning and professional training to our local newsrooms, helping them build sustainable business models that focus on and serve their communities.
HOW NEWSWELL WORKS:
1
DONATE
Sites or papers are donated to NEWSWELL, an affiliate of Arizona State University, and become or remain nonprofit. We serve communities with nonpartisan, fact-based news and information.
2
REMAIN LOCAL
The sites are staffed by local reporters and editors, the journalists who know their communities best, with support from local advisory boards.
3
INNOVATE
We combine our innovative practices, economies of scale
and best-in-class business operations with this local passion and knowledge.
4
REINVEST
We reinvest in local newsrooms as efficiencies and revenue grow and partner on audience, growth and business planning to create long-term sustainable news operations.
5
TRAIN and DEVELOP
Local sites work with ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of
Journalism and Mass Communication, repeatedly ranked as one of the nation’s best journalism schools, for learning opportunities for students and ongoing training for journalists.
6
TRANSFORM
This is a key NEWSWELL advantage. We partner throughout ASU, one of the fastest growing research institutions in the U.S., to forge partnerships and pioneer interdisciplinary thinking. Our goal is not simply to find solutions, but to fundamentally reshape how we approach the local news crisis. The NEWSWELL portfolio is our living laboratory.
REINVENTION THROUGH INNOVATION
NEWSWELL doesn’t just operate local newsrooms. We’re working to solve local journalism’s biggest problems and accelerate its future by partnering with the researchers, faculty and students of ASU, named America’s most innovative university 10 years in a row.
We’ll use our properties as live laboratories for original research and product development and share our findings along the way. We’ll collaborate with other nonprofit partners who have sharp ideas and plans but limited R&D. When we co-create, we increase our speed to market, building tools that can be shared.
We believe a research university is a knowledge enterprise — our business is creating and sharing new knowledge to provide value to our communities. This belief fuels everything we do. We build the right teams and work across the university to accomplish our goals, regardless of disciplinary or organizational boundaries.
CURRENT EXPLORATIONS:
DISINFORMATION
How to identify and thwart AI-fueled disinformation in local news.
INVESTIGATIVE
REPORTING
How to use technology to ensure small and/or rural communities have the investigative reporting they need.
AI
How to use AI to streamline the publishing process to save newsrooms valuable time and resources.
NEWS AS LEARNING
How to use news content as a doorway to deeper learning, personal growth and career development.
Donate
to NEWSWELL
Your donation to NEWSWELL ensures a future for factual, nonpartisan journalism in America’s hometowns. We’re innovating a new business model that helps local newsrooms stay local, but get the services and strategy they need to thrive. Donate today to support reporting that holds the powerful accountable, informs and empowers residents and offers solutions to our shared problems.
Healthy news helps us all.