Vice Journalists Start Their Own News Outlet After Company’s Undoing
Composite image generated on AI, logo via 404 Media
When one door closes, a Windows or Mac laptop opens, or something along those lines.
When the once unwaveringly formidable Vice Media filed for bankruptcy, journos from its tech vertical, Motherboard, kept their vigor and sought to continue their work outbound. Four of them have founded 404 Media, a tech news outlet focused on covering technology’s sweeping effects on humans.
404 Media was started by Motherboard’s former editor-in-chief of six years, Jason Koebler, along with leading editors Emanuel Maiberg and Samantha Cole, and staff writer Joseph Cox. The publication’s name no doubt calls back to the error code seen on broken webpages, but it also represents the unmasking of “worlds people may not even know exist,” Cox shares with the New York Times.
“404 Media is a journalist-founded digital media company exploring the ways technology is shaping—and is shaped by—our world,” the team details on its new website. The outlet will work on investigative reports, scoops, and longform content surrounding topics the members had worked on during their stint at Vice, like hacking, cybercrime, sex, artificial intelligence, surveillance, consumer rights, and the democratization of the web.
Stories won’t be centered around the business of technology, but rather, how technology affects real people, Maiberg elaborates to the Daily Beast.
“We will report and publish stories that you will not find anywhere else, that we believe only we can do,” the journalists further outline on their website. “We hope these stories will take over the internet, impact public policy, and expose bad actors. We will point out the absurd. We will be irreverent and have fun. We will also do very serious work.”
The independent media company hopes to operate on reader subscriptions, and the writers are confident their stories and unique voices will help create a sustainable model resilient against the niggling pains of the media landscape. Readers pay with “the knowledge that without [their] support, this type of journalism will not exist.”
Articles from the first week or so will be available for free. Following that, some will be hidden behind a paywall.
It costs US$10 a month, or US$100 a year, to subscribe to the tech publication and support the team, which is starting small with just four of its founders as its sole writers. Per the Times, each member invested a wee capital of US$1,000 to cover web hosting, a payment structure, and other nitty-gritty stuff. They’re all also working from home so there’s no need to vex over an office space for now.
The co-founders will decide on their salaries after looking at the number of early registrations. When all goes well, they might expand their team.
[via The New York Times and Daily Beast, images via various sources]
