Nonprofit news site AxisPhilly has shut down, its parent organization announced today.
But Temple University’s Center for Public Interest Journalism (CPIJ) also announced that it will incubate a new news venture, run by former Digital First Media executive Jim Brady. Also part of his team is former Inquirer online editor Chris Krewson.
The William Penn Foundation-backed organization’s future was called into question last summer when former CEO Neil Budde left the organization. AxisPhilly, which launched in late 2012, did not meet its goals, CPIJ said in today’s announcement: “While the quality of the work on the site was lauded nationally, it did not achieve consistent local impact and fell short of serving as a collaborative hub for the emerging news ecosystem, both of which were goals at founding.”
CPIJ will take over OpenDataPhilly, the city’s official open data portal, which AxisPhilly had been managing. Meanwhile, Brady, the former executive editor of WashingtonPost.com, will create a Philadelphia-based “news service that will seek to cultivate audiences currently disengaged from traditional news product.”
We can confirm the new site will be called Brother.ly. It will not receive any of the funding that was originally put aside for AxisPhilly, said Andrew Mendelson, CPIJ’s director. Part of the sudden movement here is CPIJ now has proper leadership in the way of Temple’s new communications school dean David Boardman.
AxisPhilly’s four employees will receive severance, Mendelson said.
Before you go...
Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.
3 ways to support our work:- Contribute to the Journalism Fund. Charitable giving ensures our information remains free and accessible for residents to discover workforce programs and entrepreneurship pathways. This includes philanthropic grants and individual tax-deductible donations from readers like you.
- Use our Preferred Partners. Our directory of vetted providers offers high-quality recommendations for services our readers need, and each referral supports our journalism.
- Use our services. If you need entrepreneurs and tech leaders to buy your services, are seeking technologists to hire or want more professionals to know about your ecosystem, Technical.ly has the biggest and most engaged audience in the mid-Atlantic. We help companies tell their stories and answer big questions to meet and serve our community.
Join our growing Slack community
Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!
