Built on Collaboration, Discourse Media Closes in on Profit

June 22, 2016

By: Ben DeJarnette

Excerpt from MediaShift

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The struggle to develop digital-era revenue models has made financial turbulence all too familiar for news organizations, especially those specializing in investigative or explanatory journalism. But as Canadian startup Discourse Media enters its third year, co-founder and CEO Erin Millar is trying to buck that trend. “We’re really close to being profitable,” Millar said. “There’s a possibility we’ll achieve that this year, which would be great.”

Discourse Media is a mission-driven, for-profit news organization that tackles ambitious, months-long reporting projects in partnership with other Canadian media outlets. It doesn’t exactly seem like a recipe for quick financial success, but Millar says collaboration has helped make the venture viable.

“We looked at how we could collaborate with media outlets to pool different sets of resources,” she said. “Not just money, but also expertise and platforms.”

On the revenue side, Discourse Media depends mostly on traditional funding streams, such as foundation support and syndication fees. But Millar says the company is experimenting with other revenue models — a continuation of an approach has helped the company rise quickly from humble beginnings.

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