The record number of newsroom closures in 2020 offered unsettling evidence of how difficult it is to maintain a local news outlet in the digital age. In this episode, Peggy Anne Salz talks to Millie Tran, chief product officer at The Texas Tribune, which has built a sustainable online local news business that employs more than 60 journalists through a range of revenue sources, including thousands of paying members. From her experience at the Tribune, as well as The New York Times and Buzzfeed, Tran shares how the news outlet aligns editorial with the back-end processes to adapt content and coverage to what most readers find most useful. She also reveals how her team harnesses audience data and innovative news modules and visualizations to drive a 2x increase in homepage views and keep readers coming back.
