Jake Batsell profiles the online news service in the summer edition of the Columbia Journalism Review. Two things I found interesting: database searches (government salaries, etc.) comprise a large part of its traffic, and its total traffic numbers for the last six months are only in the 220,000 range per month. Batsell is more interested in the site’s impact than its traffic. By my own count, FrontBurner has cited Tribune stories eighteen times since its inception, which is higher than any source other than the DMN. The sub-hed on Batsell’s story asks, “Will the Texas Tribune transform Texas journalism?” The answer to that is simple: No. Better to task whether it has improved Texas journalism. The answer to that is most definitely Yes.Â
But the best part of the story has nothing to do with all that high-minded, do-gooder stuff. Rather, it brings us back to the titillating question of Evan Smith’s salary. Read it after the jump:
“After the fundraising bonanza that accompanied its launch, the Tribune is still raising money at a healthy clip, pulling in around $600,000 so far in 2010. But Thornton, who is pushing the Tribune to wean itself from philanthropy, says building grassroots support “is what keeps me up at night.” It’s what keeps everyone involved in a journalism startup awake at night. How do we sustain these creatures?
In light of this, I asked Smith if his salary–$315,000–has led to a perception problem for a fledgling nonprofit with a populist message. “Populist? What am I, Eugene Debs?” Smith says. “What is this, like a Socialist Party summer camp? You think (NPR’s) Vivian Schiller is not being paid a lot of money? You think (ProPublica’s) Paul Steiger is not being paid a lot of money? . . . I haven’t heard boo about it since the first week of the Tribune.” Perhaps not, but it’s only prudent to anticipate that high CEO salaries at the Tribune and peers like ProPublica (Steiger makes $570,000) and the new Bay Citizen (Lisa Frazier makes $400,000) might, by themselves, present a sustainability challenge for nonprofit news sites down the road. It certainly sharpens the pressure on these CEOs to raise money–as Smith actively does, traveling the state to meet potential donors at least once a week.”
How often does Eugene Debs come up in defense of a CEO’s salary? Good one, Evan. My compliments.
