"The Banner, the three-year-old Maryland news nonprofit that earned national recognition with a Pulitzer win this year, is launching a news bureau in Montgomery County. The expansion into Maryland's most populous county brings The Banner into the northern Washington suburbs - where it already has several thousand paying subscribers - and marks its first hub outside Baltimore. The launch follows the nonprofit's subtle rebrand last month, when it shifted its website domain from thebaltimorebanner.com to thebanner.com."
""It has always been our plan to expand beyond our core audience in Baltimore," Cohn told me in an email. "As we looked at communities further from the core, we saw real hunger for Banner-style coverage of local news, but audiences were confused by 'Baltimore' in our name. So in these new regions, we will show up as The Banner." The Banner already has several thousand paying subscribers in Montgomery County."
""We expect the Montgomery launch to help us grow all aspects of our business - subscribers, advertising, and philanthropy," Cohn added. The Washington Post's Jeremy Barr reported that the new bureau will consist of around nine journalists, led by Zuri Berry, who was previously a digital strategy editor for The Banner. Seven of the nine are new hires, Cohn told me; of the two positions from the Baltimore newsroom, one has already been backfilled."
The Banner is launching a Montgomery County news bureau, its first hub outside Baltimore, entering the northern Washington suburbs where it already has several thousand paying subscribers. The nonprofit changed its website domain from thebaltimorebanner.com to thebanner.com to reflect expanding coverage across Maryland and to present itself as The Banner in new regions. The organization plans to expand beyond its Baltimore core to meet demand for Banner-style local coverage and to avoid confusion from 'Baltimore' in its name. The new bureau will include about nine journalists led by Zuri Berry; seven hires are new and one Baltimore position was backfilled. The Banner has about 69,000 paying subscribers across Maryland but is not yet profitable and expects the Montgomery launch to help grow subscribers, advertising, and philanthropy.
Read at Nieman Lab
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