When The Barbed Wire debuted, in 2024, it promised “something different: a site that combines the best of savvy, new-model online journalism with Texas’s deep—and very old—association with progressive ideas.” Its goal, Olivia Messer, the editor in chief, wrote at the time, was to reach the millions of Texans who weren’t reading their local newspaper or any statewide news outlet, and to do it in a way that created a new hybrid for-profit/nonprofit revenue model for journalism.

The Barbed Wire lasted for a little under two years, publishing 725 stories. This spring, it ran out of money. All five journalists on staff lost their jobs. (Two occasional newsletters remain, written by freelancers.) The hybrid business model, it turned out, had made it more difficult to bring in philanthropy money; the roster of paid subscribers never grew big enough to keep the operation afloat.

It’s easier, and more fun, to focus on what’s working in journalism: new startups, growing newsrooms, initiatives at major outlets. But I also think it’s important to dissect what hasn’t worked. In our conversation, Messer was admirably candid about what factors brought down The Barbed Wire. Listen below, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes:

Goodbye for Now, Olivia Messer, Bluesky.

Our Independent Newsroom Was Built on a Ferocious, Delusional Sense of Hope. Help Us Keep It Going, Olivia Messer, The Barbed Wire.

Are You There, Texas? It’s Me, Olivia, Olivia Messer, The Barbed Wire.

‘Gods in the Building’: How the Texas Senate Buries Sexual Harassment Complaints and Enables Bad Actors, Olivia Messer and Cara Kelly, Texas Monthly.

‘This Is Not Hazing. This Is Rape’: Inside a Texas Town’s Football Nightmare, Olivia Messer, Daily Beast.

Credits:

Host: Megan Greenwell

Producer: Amanda Darrach

Since last year’s uber-competitive New York City mayoral primary, my favorite election night activity has been watching Hell Gate’s live broadcasts. CNN it is not. The Hell Gate show is available only on YouTube; correspondents hold tiny mics with a card bearing the company logo; the set includes a disco ball. During the most recent stream, during the state’s congressional primary last month, Nick Pinto, a Hell Gate reporter, delivered coverage from his bike while commuting between candidate watch parties. The effect is delightful, as the team has managed to turn one of the most staid forms of news into something lively and fun that also offers some of the smartest political coverage in the city.

In just over four years, lively, fun, and smart have become the Hell Gate brand. The site, which is worker-owned and subscription-powered, boasts ambitious investigations—such as this year’s Courts of Contempt project, about the city’s broken process for selecting judges—as well as coverage of the goofy and absurd. The team also hosts events, makes memes, and generally offers something entirely different from any other local news outlet around.

I talked to Max Rivlin-Nadler, a co-owner and copublisher of Hell Gate, about professionalizing the livestreams without sacrificing personality; how reporting on Zohran Mamdani is different from covering his predecessor, Eric Adams; and the site’s coming expansion of its cultural coverage. Listen below, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes:

Courts of Contempt, Hell Gate and Type Investigations.

2026 Primary Election — LIVE with HellGate, Hell Gate.

The Hell Gate NYC 2025 Primary Night Livestream, Hell Gate.

HellGate election graphics, Hell Gate.

Tall Ships. TALL SHIIIIIIIPS, Hell Gate.

HellGate 2025 Annual Report, Hell Gate.

One Hellish Night, Lauren Watson, CJR


Credits:

Host: Megan Greenwell

Producer: Amanda Darrach

If you had lots of money to give away, what kind of journalism would you fund? City hall reporting? Big-swing investigative projects? Detailed coverage of your favorite sports team? The magazine of every narrative writer’s dreams?

Over nearly three decades as a professional philanthropist, Ruth Ann Harnisch has funded many kinds of journalism, several of which fit none of those buckets. Deez Links, Delia Cai’s reliably hilarious “culture and online fixation report.” Oldster Magazine, Sari Botton’s excellent newsletter about aging. The Rumpus, the storied literary magazine recently relaunched by Roxane Gay and Debbie Millman. One estimate hassaid Harnisch ashas been a founding supporter of more than a hundred newsletters—the vast majority of them as no-strings-attached gifts, not investments. The common thread? Publications the world would be worse off without, from the serious to the delightfully silly.

I interviewed Harnisch about her road to philanthropy, how she makes her donation decisions, and why more people don’t follow her philosophy of giving. Listen below, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Debbie Millman, “Design Matters: Ruth Ann Harnisch,” PRINT.

“Ruth Ann Harnisch,” IMDb.

“About the Harnisch Foundation.”

Tracy Gary, Inspired Philanthropy.

Host, Megan Greenwell

Producer, Amanda Darrach