Jim Rich, who was most recently the executive editor at HuffPost and before that the editor-in-chief of the New York Daily News, has announced he is stepping down from his post. According to a tweet, he is planning to launch his own “not-for-profit news site that will cover the city and state in the thorough, unflinching, yet fair, and uncompromising manner that remaining publications can’t or won’t.”
Though unnamed in the post, the specter of DNAInfo and Gothamist is intimated throughout his announcement. The two sites provided real, hard-hitting local coverage about New York City–as well as other cities–but were ultimately killed when their billionaire owner was asked to recognize his staff’s union.
Those sites, like others, relied predominately on advertising to stay afloat, which Rich believes is unsustainable. “The for-profit model that once buoyed these news organizations as stalwarts of local journalism is dead, and it’s not coming back,” he writes. Rich goes on, “The only viable way forward is to free local news gathering from the for-profit demands that have suffocated it to within an inch of its life.”
It’s unclear when he plans to launch this new venture or what it will be called. Below is the tweet announcing his departure.
Some exciting personal and professional news here: pic.twitter.com/lWwPms3trD
— Jim Rich (@therealjimrich) December 14, 2017
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