From Student Journalists to News

Entrepreneurs: A Case Study of

Technically Media

International Symposium on Online Journalism Austin, TX – April 20, 2012

Mark Berkey-GerardAssistant Professor, Rowan UniversityTwitter: @mabege

Technically Media

Founded in 2009 by three Temple U. grads

Media consultancy for business, news and nonprofits

Publishes Technically Philly, a regional technology blog in Philadelphia

Sean Blanda, Brian James Kirk, and Christopher Wink. Photo by Colin Lenton

Technology blog covering local: • startups• venture capital• social media/web development • digital access• science, tech, engineering and math education• technology-related local government policy

•25,000 a month•Employed in research, science, media, marketing, IT•71% age 20-39•63% earn $50K+ annually•47% read daily

Readers

Technically Media:

Provides “editorial strategy” for businesses, nonprofits and news organizations

Identifies audience conversions

Online publication where legal scholars, historians and staff write about constitutional issues

Extend museum programming to digital platform

Adopt newsroom ethos and practices

National Constitution Center

April 23-28 - 65 tech events, 4,000 participants

Philly Tech Week

News Coverage Advocacy

Tools

51%

35%

12%

ConsultingGrantsEventsAds/Job Board

Technically Media Revenue

Future:

Launch of Technically Baltimore (Summer 2012)

Membership model

Staff transitions

Why Study Technically Media?

• “Prototype plucked from an entrepreneurial journalism textbook”

• Profitable without outside investment

• Bridge the gap between research and classroom

• Evidence of entrepreneurial capacities

Entrepreneurial Capacities (Gibb)

1. Opportunity seeking

2. Initiative taking

3. Ownership of a development

4. Commitment to see things through

5. Personal locus of control

6. Intuitive decision making

7. Networking capacity

8. Strategic thinking

9. Negotiation capacity

10.Selling/persuasive capacity

11.Achievement orientation

12.Incremental risk taking

RQ1: Knowledge and skills?

• Newsroom

• Publishing

• Consulting

• Grants

• Event Planning

• Small Business

RQ2: Acquire knowledge and skills?

• Implementation of existing ideas

• Student publication, internships, entry-level jobs

• Reporting as a pathway to business knowledge

• Creating forums for sharing knowledge (BarCamp News Innovation)

RQ3: Key entrepreneurial capacities?

• Initial launch

• Beyond advertising

• Journalistic values as a product

• Event funded online news publication

• Expanding to additional markets

RQ4: Implications for J education?

• Training for jobs that do not exist

• Opportunities to build publications and tools

• Testing products

• Entrepreneurial projects as gateway to traditional employment

Conclusions1. Entrepreneurial by necessity

2. Limits of skill-based education

3. Build on existing strengths of journalism programs

4. Accelerator vs. Venture Capital approach

5. Create forums for sharing knowledge and information