The board of Houston Landing has voted to shut down the nonprofit newsroom in the face of financial challenges. Although Houston Landing launched with significant seed funding, it has been unable to build additional revenue streams to support ongoing operations.
The newsroom anticipates it will cease publishing by mid-May of this year. This timeline will enable Houston Landing to facilitate a thoughtful transition.
“We are proud of the Landing’s coverage of Greater Houston and continue to believe deeply in the need for more free, independent journalism in our region,” said Ann B. Stern, board chair of Houston Landing. “This decision was difficult but necessary. Houston Landing’s reporting has made a meaningful impact in the community, but it struggled to find its long-term financial footing.”
The Houston Landing board continues to believe there is a strong need for nonprofit local news in Houston and a viable path to sustaining it. The board has entered into discussions with The Texas Tribune, which is exploring the possibility of establishing a Houston news initiative as part of its broader strategy to expand local journalism and serve more Texans.
“We have great respect for Houston Landing’s work in delivering high-quality, nonpartisan journalism to its readers,” said Sonal Shah, CEO of The Texas Tribune. “We also understand the profound challenges facing local newsrooms today — journalism is a public service and needs a strong ecosystem to thrive. We look forward to exploring how we can learn from what the Landing started and create a sustainable model that serves the Houston community. We will take time to explore the right path forward to ensure sustainability.”
Here’s the letter from their CEO. I’ve obviously been a fan of their reporting – they’ve especially done strong work on schools and school districts in general, and HISD in particular – and it sucks to have such a good resource go away. Maybe the Texas Tribune, which has been setting up local newsrooms, can hire some soon-to-be-former Landing staffers and fill the gap a bit. Maybe another startup can do better. Maybe this was just bad timing and the next try will have better luck. Whatever the case, I’ll miss the Houston Landing when it’s gone. Thanks for all the good work and I wish you the best with whatever comes next.
Having seen the demise of Public News (used to pick up copies at their West Alabama location) and a print copy of the Houston Press (the online presence is so full of ads I avoid it like the measles), this don’t surprise me too much.
Texas Trib all the way – they do some mighty fine reporting.
Kuff shows us every day that it can be done with sweat equity alone.
No ads even.
Kudos!
Seriously, it’s amazing that a blog like this would survive so long. All it takes is one dedicated pro bono minded individual and a loyal and grateful audience. I regularly disagree with Kuff on issues and premeis, but this sustained effort commands respect.
RIP Swamplot. Featured ads but died anyways.
I think Swamplot stopped because the owners just got tired of running it. It’s still out there, presumably making enough money to pay the costs. I do miss the wittiness there