This is one of 15 profiles in our series on journalism’s last decade. For the rest of the stories, visit “The Hardest Decade in Journalism.”
Anne Galloway was excited about enterprise reporting back in 2008, when she worked as the Sunday editor at Vermont’s Rutland Herald and Times Argus. And she worried about layoffs.
But when she was laid off one year later, Galloway started a non-profit news site, VTDigger. In 2018, the Institute for Nonprofit News reported, “VTDigger is averaging nearly 300,000 monthly users, has a staff of 19 full-time employees and an annual budget over $1.5 million.”
Here’s what she had to say about the past decade:
In the last 10 years, what are the biggest changes you’ve seen journalism go through?
Shift to digital; impact of Google and Facebook on advertising.
What are you doing now that you didn’t expect to be doing 10 years ago?
Improving membership, selling underwriting, managing 23 people.
What aren’t you doing now that you did expect to be doing 10 years ago?
More reporting and editing.
Looking back, what do you wish you’d done or changed faster?
Persuaded more people that I had a good idea.
Looking back, what are you glad you didn’t give up in your career?
Journalism.
What advice would 2018 you give 2008 you?
Stay in journalism and ride the wave.
10 years ago, where did you think you’d be now?
An editor at a newspaper. Now I’m the CEO of a nonprofit newsroom.
Where do you think you’ll be 10 years from now?
Head of a regional online news group.
What’s the best thing that’s happened in journalism in the past decade?
The advent of subscription/membership funding.
What’s the worst thing that’s happened in journalism in the past decade?
Layoffs of thousands of journalists; dramatic increase in the number of flacks.
What are you the most excited about now in your career?
Figuring out how to make the business model work.
What are you the most afraid of now in your career?
Failing to figure out how to make the business model work.
