Yvonne Leow columns
Yvonne Leow is a digital media consultant and founder of Bewilder. In 2018, she co-founded a local media company called By The Bay, and has previously consulted for tech companies like Nextdoor and Sequoia Capital. Yvonne formerly worked for Vox.com, Digital First Media, and the Associated Press. She was also a JSK fellow at Stanford University and a former national president of the Asian American Journalists Association. You can find her at @YvonneLeow.
Journalism’s broken talent pipeline
It’s impossible to address what journalists do and why we exist without understanding how and who becomes a journalist today.
What newsrooms can learn from creator culture and monetization strategies
Like the music and movie industry before us, it’s time for journalism to rethink the way things are done.
Journalists are creators now, and that’s a good thing
Journalism’s hostility is understandable, but our denial is not.In 2009, the former editor-in-chief at Thomson Reuters, David Schlesinger, described journalism as one of the great self-declared professions. He wrote, “I am a journalist because I said I was one more than two decades ago and have spent the years since working on my abilities. I am not … Continued
Saving democracy is a slogan not a strategy
In the past four years, I’ve seen increasingly fervent articles, studies and op-eds declaring journalism’s essential role in a healthy democracy. As we’ve heard many times before, local news is critical to informing communities and promoting civic engagement. The very presence of a local news organization revives democracy, underpins democracy, sustains democracy, and yet these proclamations have been strikingly disconnected from reality.
Why local journalism needs a funding pipeline
Tech and philanthropic institutions are giving thousands of $5,000 to $250,000 grants to individual newsrooms, but… then what?
Local news: Filling in the future gaps
Paul Graham, the founder of tech accelerator Y Combinator, famously advises aspiring entrepreneurs to “Live in the future, then build what’s missing.” To him, the most successful founders don’t come up with startup ideas by solving the problems of today. They notice something that’s missing in the current landscape and they envision how their business … Continued
Redefining local journalism: What is news?
Since the advent of the Internet, many people have increasingly wondered: What is “news” in a universe of infinite information? What is a journalist’s role when anyone can publish a story and report the “Truth”? David Caswell, Executive Product Manager of BBC News Labs, asks the most urgent question of all: “Does society still need news publishers … Continued