Gothamist, DCish, LAist Are Returning Funded by Public Radio

After billionaire Joe Ricketts announced that he was shutting down the local news organizations Gothamist and DNAInfo last fall, readers across the nation mourned the loss of the beloved sites. They worried about what this meant for the vulnerability of journalism in the digital age. But now, a consortium of public radio stations, including WNYC in New York, WAMU in Washington DC, and KPCC in Southern California, have stepped in to save the sites.

The three stations are acquiring the assets of Gothamist, as well as several associated sites, including LAist, DCist and DNAInfo. Gothamist founders Jake Dobkin and Jen Chung spearheaded the deal, and it is being funded by two anonymous donors who have contributed an undisclosed sum to acquire the brands. The deal also includes keeping the archives of those sites online, and Gothamist, led by Dobkin and Chung, will begin publishing new stories this spring. Ricketts’ controversial decision to shut down the sites came months after DNAInfo acquired Gothamist and just one week after the combined newsroom successfully unionized. Ricketts also initially blocked access to archives of of both sites. Following a public outcry, the archives were restored, and will now be maintained by the public radio stations.

While local newspapers and other media companies have not been able to adjust to the difficult freemium economics of digital journalism, New York Public Radio, the non-profit owner of WNYC, has actually grown. They expanded to some $93 million in annual revenue in 2017 and more than 20 million listeners across its radio stations and podcasts.

For now, WNYC plans to run Gothamist as a parallel site. Chung and members of the WNYC staff will produce stories, and eventually they will hire a mix of new journalists and former Gothamist writers, according to Wired.