Seriously considering starting a journalism outlet to compete with The Courier in Eastern Scotland so I can have news without transphobia. Probably lefty, green, and pro Indy too. Not everyone will like it, but wondering if there is enough.
Anyone interested or have any tips or warnings?
I'm thinking co-op structure so that profits are shared, but not sure how to structure that properly (or what the good legal structures are for news outlets), so any help there appreciated too.
@otfrom profits? well anything is possible with enough circulation i suppose 
@airshipper I'm not sure there will be money to pay anyone at the start, but I wanted to make it clear that it wasn't a volunteer thing
@otfrom 'slicing the pie' maybe? https://www.veoc.org/blog/slicing-pie
work earns ownership of shares, as does investment. it would be relatively easy to do for a newspaper: you earn equity for published articles with multipliers for reach and recognition, and also keeping up with peer review and fact-checking of other writers pieces
@otfrom the beauty of internet publishing is that if you are good on the fundamentals of reporting and editing, and you're transparent about finances, you could have worldwide readership and top-talent practically overnight
a journalist co-op with a meritocratic board, you can really never have enough of those.
@otfrom the folks at The Bell in Glasgow have recently set themselves up, and have been running a bunch of freelance articles, so might have some contacts to get some East Coast stories written?
@craignicol cool. Do you have a link/info on their stuff? I've not heard of them before
@otfrom https://www.glasgowbell.co.uk/ and there's an email contact form or social media links in the footer
@otfrom @craignicol The same group have been running https://www.livpost.co.uk/ for a few years now, and they seem to be steadily expanding.
I'm a paying subscriber and they seem to be doing a decent job. I saw a little behind the scenes too when they did a piece on #SensorCity
My only concern is that it's a for-profit, and has been fund-raising https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/aug/30/manchester-mill-prepares-for-uk-expansion-after-valuation so it's not clear how they'll resist the enshittification phase
@amcewen I think this is why I'd like to choose a structure that resists that kind of enshittificaiton. (tho I'm not sure of one that could completely resist it as we've seen co-ops de-mutualise in the past to get more money)
@craignicol @otfrom some clause like that sounds sensible.
I /think/ the risk of that is one of the things that @dilgreen and @tfwoodroof are looking to address with the stewards role in the #commons work they're doing; that's picked up from chats with them, I'm not sure they've got anything written down explaining it yet
@otfrom in terms of co-operatives, The Canary is the biggest one I've heard of - and I remember they had to wrestle control to protect marginalized voices, so they'd definitely know a thing or two about writing and funding from the left.
@otfrom I would link up with @rhyseverquill and the network of indie media coops the Leicester Gazette and The Ferret https://theferret.scot/ are a part of!
@janet that is exactly the kind of info I'm after. Thank you!
@decadecity@hachyderm.io@otfrom 404 Media have been singing the praises of Ghost as a technology platform to enable small journalistic operations.