*TLDR*: Support the News Product Alliance Sustainability Drive. They are one of the best things going in news today.
https://lnkd.in/eeeUtEzi
When talking to people about Overtone, one of the images that always resonates the most, for people across industries but especially anyone who has spent any time in a media org, is the slide below about "purple people." Organizations like the ones I've worked at are traditionally very split between "red" editorial people, the writers, reporters, editors, doing the work of journalism, and the "blue" people on the business side trying to create sustainable businesses out of that work. And they do not know what the other side is doing. My co-founder Reagan Nunnally and I joke that if we worked at the same news org previously we would have seen each other once a year at the Christmas party.
In the middle are what we call purple people, for roles like audience, data, product, innovation, strategy, etc. Sometimes you can call them "content scientists" but they are always focused on how (often using technology of some form) to best use that work that the red side is making to have it fulfill the needs of the audience and fit the goals of a business, whether that be subscriptions, ads, donations, etc. They are in my experience some of the most with-it people in any organization.
One of the real bright spots in my work has been the community in the News Product Alliance, which is full of "purple people" who are open, honest and deeply engaged with figuring out how to get people good information in a sustainable way. They are now raising money to keep going, with donations matched by Lenfest Institute for Journalism if you donate by May 18.
