Creators head to Congress, London’s local news desert, an updated TikTok deadline

A Place to Grow: Over the past year, I’ve had so many conversations with journalists navigating the creator model about what’s working, what’s hard and what support is still missing. Now, there’s a place to bring those conversations together: projectc.biz. The site is a starting point — home to workshops, insights and (soon) resources for journalists building independent businesses. But more than that, it’s a reflection of this moment: one where more of us are shaping journalism on our own terms. If you check it out, I’d love to hear what you think. What’s useful? What’s missing? Hit reply! I’d love your input.

It’s been a long time since I dropped a pure links post. Today, that’s exactly what’s on offer with a roundup from around the ecosystem. - Liz

the latest

• Johnny and Iz Harris talk to Colin & Samir about building New Press, their newsy creator-led media company. The most interesting thing about the hour-and-forty-minute interview is getting a sense of how Iz fits in – she stopped producing her own videos to concentrate on building out the operational side of the business.

• Political journalist Tara Palmieri leaves Puck to launch her own YouTube channel focused on speaking to audiences from the underdeveloped territory of “the middle,” she tells the NYT’s Jessica Testa.

• With the newish newsletter London Centric, former Guardian reporter Jim Waterson is stepping into a surprising local news desert: London, where the shuttering of The Evening Standard last fall left the metropolis without a city-facing newspaper for the first time in almost 200 years. “Every story includes a WhatsApp link to text Waterson, and his phone buzzes through the night with neighborhood gossip and whatever else is on Londoners’ minds,” writes Sam Knight in the New Yorker.

• Democrats invited 40 digital media creators – including Jessica Yellin and voices from Crooked Media – to Congress for President Trump’s live address last week, writes Max Tani for Semafor. But, writes Tara McGowan, the Dems missed the point – forcing creators into their own spin room for their own feeds vs. engaging with them on their native platforms.

• Speaking of Trump, on Thursday he told reporters he would likely extend the deadline for the sale of TikTok if a deal isn’t reached by the April 5 deadline.

• Sophia Smith Galer announced on Threads that she’s secured funding for Sophina—an AI-powered tool that helps experts create journalistic video explainers. The funding comes from the ICFJ Solutions Challenge, and Sophia’s team is now building Sophina as a mobile app, with Beta testing launching in April.

know things

• ICYMI, The Verge released an incredibly useful study into internet communities and why, largely thanks to AI, we’re at a moment of redefinition. The data and findings are required reading for anyone building content for online audiences, including creators. Key findings | The deep dive

• If you’re thinking about how local newsrooms can collaborate with influencers and trusted messengers, this playbook from the American Press Institute is a must-read.

• A group of experts warn Fast Company that authenticity is fading fast in the broader creator economy as more content, including AI-generated junk, floods the zone.

• So this is v. cool. Journalist Brandon Tauszik is using his fellowship at The Starling Lab for Data Integrity at Stanford (FANCY) to build a way for journalists to preserve their work online before it disappears (aka “link rot”). Tauszik talked to Tony Elkins at Poynter about the project.

making it work

• Independent investigative journalist Scott Carney shared his combined earnings across Substack, YouTube and Patreon for the last 12 months:

  

do something cool

• This year, The Newsletter Conference (May 2 in NYC), brings together a crew of inbox superstars – like Dan Oshinsky (Inbox Collective), Ben Smith (Semafor) and more for one day of deep dives into the business of, umm, newsletters.

totally random

Big Technology newsletter writer Alex Kantrowitz created a lo-fi game using Claude’s artifact feature. Called The Journalist Game, play involves repeatedly questioning sources until you get their scoops. (h/t to Taylor Lorenz for the find)

PS. We’re halfway through the first Going Solo creator 6-week journalism workshop and, let me tell you, it is a blast! If you missed the first time around, heads up: Registration for the second cohort will go live next week!