Amid monetary challenges, the nonprofit Houston Touchdown on-line information outlet plans to close down by mid-Could.
In an April 15 announcement posted on its web site, Houston Touchdown says that though it launched in 2023 with greater than $20 million in seed funding, the outlet failed to draw sufficient income to proceed working. The announcement adopted a vote by the group’s board of administrators to shut the nonprofit newsroom. All 43 staff will probably be laid off, the Columbia Journalism Evaluatestudies.
“We’re happy with the Touchdown’s protection of Larger Houston and proceed to consider deeply within the want for extra free, unbiased journalism in our area,” Ann B. Stern, board chair of Houston Touchdown in addition to president and CEO of the Houston Endowment, says within the announcement. “This resolution was tough however obligatory. Houston Touchdown’s reporting has made a significant impression locally, nevertheless it struggled to search out its long-term monetary footing.”
In keeping with the announcement, the Touchdown’s board is exploring a partnership with the Austin-based Texas Tribune, a pioneer in nonprofit journalism, to doubtlessly set up a neighborhood information initiative in Houston. Later this yr, the Texas Tribune plans to open a regionally centered newsroom in Waco. The same newsroom is within the works in Austin.
“We have now nice respect for Houston Touchdown’s work in delivering high-quality, nonpartisan journalism to its readers,” says Sonal Shah, CEO of the Texas Tribune. “We additionally perceive the profound challenges dealing with native newsrooms as we speak — journalism is a public service and wishes a powerful ecosystem to thrive. We look ahead to exploring how we will be taught from what the Touchdown began and create a sustainable mannequin that serves the Houston group. We are going to take time to discover the best path ahead to make sure sustainability.”
Houston Touchdown was launched after a two-year examine led by the American Journalism Undertaking discovered many Houstonians had been upset a few lack of reliable, deeply reported native information. Monetary backers of the Touchdown embody the American Journalism Undertaking, the Houston Endowment, Arnold Ventures, the Kinder Basis, and the John S. and James L. Knight Basis.
Regardless of the high-profile help, the positioning struggled to search out an viewers. CJR notes that the Touchdown had roughly 13,000 e-newsletter subscribers and solely generated about $80,000 in subscription income. Within the article, government editor Sewell Chan identifies numerous different points, together with a scarcity of editorial focus and modifications in management. “However in the long run, the hole between board and workers, between administration and labor, and between runway and income was simply too giant to bridge,” he writes.
“Whereas it’s with a heavy coronary heart that we announce the closure of our newsroom, I wish to categorical my deepest gratitude to the devoted journalists and workers members who poured their ardour into our mission each single day,” Houston Touchdown CEO Peter Bhatia says.
“Houston Touchdown demonstrates how a dedication to reality and accountability can rework communities and enhance lives,” he provides. “I’m grateful to those that believed in us, supported us, and stood with us as we related with one another by tales that impressed constructive change.”
