The news business ecosystem is broken.
We have a solution.

The News Project has created a world-class suite of technology and tailored services to address the critical need for sustainable business models in the news marketplace.

Our mission: To empower journalists, philanthropists, entrepreneurs and investors to launch high-impact news properties rapidly and operate them successfully.

The News Project solution integrates best-of-breed content, audience and revenue tools that a typical news venture would assemble separately at far greater cost in time, effort and dollars.

IN THE NEWS
– The News Project Powers ‘CalMatters’ Relaunch (MediaPost Publishers Daily)
– The News Project’s publishing platform goes live with its first customer, CALmatters (TechCrunch)
– Nonprofit CalMatters Finds Tech That Works For Local Journalism (Ad Exchanger)
– How CALmatters is growing out of its startup stage (Nieman Lab)
– CalMatters launch press release

What We Do

“A news business
in a box”

Our team of journalists, technologists, designers and news business pros provides the resources and expertise you need to launch, sustain and scale your news venture.

State-of-the-art editorial tools and high-performance display templates

Revenue and member management for subscriptions, sponsorships, metered content, payments and programmatic advertising

Audience development and engagement tools for social media, Apple News, Google News, email campaigns, push notifications and mobile-optimized layouts

Enterprise-class managed hosting for scale, security and performance

Dashboard featuring customized analytics and business metrics

World-class news and features to supplement your original content

Partners

The Associated Press, the world’s most trusted news organization

WordPress, publishing software that powers 32% of the world’s websites

Managed hosting by WordPress VIP for scale, security and performance

10up, finely crafted tools for content creators

Piano

Piano, tools to drive engagement, loyalty and revenue

Charming Robot, smart design and user experience

Google Ad Manager

Google Ad Manager, robust tools to manage your ad business

Who We Are

Merrill
Brown

Founder
Merrill Brown, a business executive, journalist, educator and consultant, most recently served as Founding Director of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University, a post he held from 2012 until 2017. He was the founding Editor in Chief of MSNBC.com, which became a recognized leader in digital news delivery when it began operations in 1996, and cofounded the Online News Association in 1999. Brown is principal of MMB Media LLC, which provides strategy consulting, product development and editorial services for clients including early stage companies as well as large publishers such as The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times and The Guardian, and broadcasters such as National Public Radio and ABC News. A former reporter, Wall Street correspondent and Director of Business Development at The Washington Post, Brown was founding Editorial Director of News 21, the national reporting project produced by journalism students and launched by the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education.
Peggy White
Warren

Finance
Peggy is the founding partner at White Warren Co., providing digital marketing, business and product development strategies from planning boards through execution and beyond. Since 2007, White Warren has specialized in helping transform organizations – generally in the fields of news, finance and sports — to the new digital landscape. Peggy was previously the Publisher of DoubleX, a Slate-owned digital magazine written by and for women. She has been in digital media since 1996, helping to launch NBA.com, and which was followed up with senior positions at MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek and Yahoo! Finance.
Miguel
Ferrer

Product
Miguel, founder of SOYFERRER, is a content, audience and product strategist who’s served as vice president of digital at Fusion, managing editor for Huffington Post’s Latino Voices and Black Voices, and director of programming of AOL Latino. For over twenty years, Miguel has executed breakthrough projects in mass mediums across the U.S. and Latin America, for media, music, entertainment, marketing and non-profit organizations.
Michael
Meyers

Technology
Michael is the Managing Director of Tag1 Consulting, a global team specializing in crisis management and prevention, scalability, high availability, security, & infrastructure design and management. The former CTO The Clarity Digital Group, Michael rebuilt and grew Examiner.com into a top 50 site and a leading source of news and information online. Michael has made major contributions to and helped establish Drupal as one of the most successful open source platforms powering millions of websites. He is an advisor to the Drupal Association board, and to Parse.ly, and is the Acting CTO for TNP.
Stu
Rohrer

Editorial
Stu is a pioneering editor/producer who helped create first online editions of The Washington Post, The New York Times and News Corp. and produced on-demand video networks at Cablevision and HealthiNation.
Frank
Voci

Product
As media executive and consultant for more than 20 years, Frank has created and launched digital products for CNET, IFILM, E! Online, Fox Sports and ABC News. His expertise includes multi-platform product strategy & development, information architecture, user experience, programming, marketing, brand launches and digital distribution.

Frank holds a degree in Human Biology from Stanford University and is based in West Hollywood, CA.
Sandor
Marik

Insights
Sandor Marik mixes data, analytics, content, technology and marketing to produce insights and strategies that help build and scale businesses. Spanning revenue models from e-commerce to subscriptions Sandor brings leadership experience in publishing, financial services and health. He has worked with some of the most recognizable content brands, including Wired, Vogue, and The New Yorker as Executive Director of Digital Consumer Marketing at Condé Nast. As SVP Marketing, Sandor helped Business Insider rise to become the #1 business news site (leading to a marquee acquisition by Axel Springer), and also served as General Manager of BI Intelligence, Business Insider’s subscription research service. A deep interest in technology trends along with healthcare and health sciences have led Sandor to recent projects exploring artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies with Nextikon, serving as Chief Marketing Officer at Remedy Health Media and Senior Advisor for the Digital Health Coalition.
Brian
Reich

Marketing
Brian Reich, partner at little m media, is a strategist and speechwriter for executive leaders at global brands, media companies, startups, nonprofits, political, and advocacy organizations. He is leading the development of TNP’s community development and audience engagement efforts.
Hersh
Patel

Customer Integration
Hersh is a Tow-Knight Fellow at CUNY and founder of search technology firm Hindsight Technology Solutions.

What People are Saying

The News Project allows us to grow the business operations side, to keep up with growth on the editorial side

— “The News Project Powers ‘CalMatters’ Relaunch” in Publishers Daily

We’re excited to partner with The News Project to improve the experience for our audience while allowing our journalists to work faster and smarter.

— Neil Chase, chief executive officer, CALmatters

In this difficult business climate for news organizations, we want to double down on our commitment to journalism and a free (and sustainable) press.

— Nick Gernert, Head of WordPress.com VIP, investor in The News Project

The News Project gives me hope we will come out of the current climate with a strengthened and renewed news industry.

— Larry Irving, Co-Founder, The Mobile Alliance for Global Good

Congrats! It’s a great project with tremendous prospects for helping the future of journalism.

— Larry Kramer, Chairman of The Board, The Street, Inc., and investor in The News Project

The News Project is bundling a number of services that are either out of our reach or disproportionately expensive to a publication of our size

— “Nonprofit CalMatters Finds Tech That Works For Local Journalism” in Ad Exchanger