Using rich interviews and participant observation, Patrick Ferrucci examines institutions with funding mechanisms that range from traditional mogul ownership and online-only nonprofits to staff-owned cooperatives and hedge fund control. The variations in market models have frayed the tenets of professionalization, with unique work cultures emerging from each organization’s focus on its mission and the implantation of its own processes and ethical guidelines. As a result, the field of American journalism no longer shares uniform newsgathering practices and a common identity, a break with the past that affects what information we consume today and what the press will become tomorrow.

An inside look at a fracturing profession, The Organization of Journalism illuminates the institution’s expanding impact on newsgathering and the people who practice it.

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Recentering the Organization in Journalism Studies

Chapter 1. The St. Louis Beacon—The Digitally Native News Nonprofit

Chapter 2. Defector Media—The Cooperative

Chapter 3. The Colorado Sun—The Public Benefit Corporation

Chapter 4. The Boston Globe—The Mogul-Owned Newsroom

Chapter 5. The Athletic—The Venture-Capital-Funded Newsroom

Chapter 6. The Denver Post—The Hedge-Fund-Owned Newspaper

Conclusion: The Organization and the Deprofessionalization of American Journalism

Notes

Bibliography

Index