Guest: Mitra Kalita, co-founder and CEO, URL Media

“From a mission perspective, we did not want Black and Brown audiences to be only charitable endeavors. We see our people as a very important, vital, necessary market.” – Mitra Kalita, URL Media

You know you were meant to be a journalist when, as a pre-teen, you created a newspaper to protest your parents’ decision to move your family from Puerto Rico to New Jersey! That is exactly how Mitra Kalita, co-founder and CEO of URL Media, got her start in journalism.

On this episode of News Take, News Media Alliance President & CEO David Chavern and Kalita have a heartfelt discussion about her journey from being a busy CNN Digital executive to starting her own newsletter, Epicenter-NYC, and media company, URL  Media, in Jackson Heights, New York City amidst a pandemic and racial justice movement. During this light-hearted and honest talk, Kalita shares how she and her business partner were able to achieve instant scale, launching the URL Media network with seven million users, and how they’ve embraced a for-profit business model at a time when many similar groups were launching as nonprofits. In addition, she shares advice for improving diversity in content as well as in the newsroom, including ensuring changes to improve DE&I are lasting and become a part of the organization culture.

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Speaker bio

Mitra Kalita is a veteran journalist, media executive, commentator and author of two books. She is the co-founder/ CEO of URL Media, a network of Black and Brown community news outlets that share content and revenue. URL Media works with mainstream newsrooms to syndicate content and partner on diversity initiatives in content, staffing and culture. She is co-founder and publisher of Epicenter-NYC, a newsletter designed to help New Yorkers get through the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the newsletters The Unmuted and The Escape Home.

Previously, Mitra was Senior Vice President at CNN Digital, overseeing the national news, breaking news, programming, opinion and features teams. She also worked in leadership roles at the Los Angeles Times and Quartz. She sits on a number of journalism industry boards, most notably, the board of the News Media Alliance.

Related links

URL Media

Epicenter-NYC

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Watch the previous episode: Leveraging Products to Connect with Your Audience 

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The post News Take Episode 104: Encouraging and Sustaining Diversity in News Media appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

Media Contact:
Lindsey Loving
Manager, Communications
lindsey@newsmediaalliance.org
571.366.1009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

News Media Alliance Announces 2017 Accelerator Pitch Winners

Winning Startups Will Present at mediaXchange 2017 in New Orleans

February 16, 2017

Arlington, VA—The News Media Alliance today announced the four winning media startups that will participate in the fourth annual Accelerator Pitch Program at mediaXchange 2017, which will take place April 30 – May 3, 2017 in New Orleans. The program showcases new businesses that provide solutions for print and digital news media. The winners will have the opportunity to pitch their innovative solutions to approximately 1,000 top news media and advertising executives attending the conference.

“Our winners this year represent the best in creativity and innovation happening in the news media industry right now. Through their products and services, news media companies can more effectively diversify and adapt to the changing and increasingly competitive communications and media landscape,” said Michael MaLoon, Alliance VP, Innovation. “We look forward to showcasing the winners at mediaXchange and to involving the Alliance membership in the selection of one first place Accelerator Pitch winner.”

Past Accelerator Pitch program winners have received interest from leading publishers and industry executives following their participation in the program, elevating their business to a new level.

The winners will be featured on the News Media Alliance Facebook page and voting will take place ahead of mediaXchange. The winner with the most Likes will be the first place winner of Accelerator Pitch 2017.

This year’s entries were judged by an Alliance committee based on usefulness to news media companies, innovation and creativity. The following four companies were selected as the 2017 winners:

Hearken – Hearken helps news organizations listen to their audiences by engaging the public as a story develops from pitch through publication. Using Hearken’s consulting and software services, our partners get deep audience engagement that lead to original, high-performing content, along with valuable data and insights.

Recruitology – Recruitology is a “SaaS” recruitment technology platform used by media companies and publishers to offer a complete one-stop recruitment solution to their employers. Recruitology’s goal is to enable media companies and publishers to be the top advertising choice for local employers and to help them grow market share and recruitment advertising revenue.

Relay Media – Relay Media is leveraging a new web publishing standard (Accelerated Mobile Pages) to build a highly efficient, infinitely scalable platform for distributing quality news and content across the open web.  The platform addresses publishers’ need for extended reach and revenue beyond their owned properties, and advertiser demand for high-performance, brand-safe inventory.

Wallit – Wallit is the most flexible subscription management solution for publishers of all sizes looking to sell their content through a variety of unique subscription purchase options. Built with the user experience and marketer in mind, Wallit allows you to seamlessly and easily segment/change niche content – all without having to engage your IT.

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About mediaXchange 2017:

The annual News Media Alliance mediaXchange 2017 will take place April 30 – May 3, 2017, at the New Orleans Marriott in the French Quarter. The conference is designed to inspire and provide valuable ideas to help news media professionals grow audience and revenue for their print and digital products. The theme of the conference is “The Futures of News” – the many ways news media are positioned to excel through technology and innovation, as well as providing high-quality journalism and engaging with local communities. For more information visit www.newsmediaalliance.org/events/mediaXchange

About News Media Alliance:

The News Media Alliance is a nonprofit organization representing nearly 2,000 news organizations and their multiplatform businesses in the United States and Canada. Alliance members include print, digital and mobile publishers of original news content. Headquartered near Washington, D.C., in Arlington, Va., the association focuses on ensuring the future of news media through communication, research, advocacy and innovation. Information about the News Media Alliance (formerly NAA) can be found at www.newsmediaalliance.org/.

The post Announcing the 2017 Accelerator Pitch Winners appeared first on News/Media Alliance.