Technical.ly is piloting Membership. Shape where community journalism goes next

It’s a funny time for newsrooms.

Precisely because faith in the independence and intentions of the modern American journalist is under new heights of scrutiny, I think we’re more important than ever. Though the attacks come on all sides, most of us report trusting local newsrooms more than national ones. Meanwhile, we’re coming to terms with the fact that it is local journalism that is even more in peril than the national version. Since it is rarer, there is lots of talk about ways to fund it.

For nearly four years, we have reported on the D.C. tech community, gathering an audience of technologists, entrepreneurs and their supporters. We do this work across the Mid-Atlantic, bringing perspective on how tech communities are blossoming across one of the densest, most economically important regions in the world. We want to do more.

Today we at Technical.ly announced an individual membership offering.

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This is not a paywall. Our daily reporting will remain free and accessible.

It’s not a transaction, either. We aren’t selling anything. Yes, for $12 a month, you’ll get early access to our events and reporting. But more interestingly, we’ll be including our members in shaping what a community news organization should and can be.

Want a curated weekly newsletter (as some of you have already said)? Want to see our monthly journalism before anyone else? We’ll be talking to you and building with you. This is the beginning.

Journalism is costly. Nearly a third of our payroll goes to a fully independent newsroom, let alone an events team that puts on gatherings like our annual 500-person summertime Super Meetup. We have funded this work with event sponsorships and and the underwritten reporting we do and the talent acquisition services we offer (such employment-branding Talent pages, like this).

You support our reporting and community work if your organization purchases these services, plus you get the value therein. But, real talk, things are always tight in the community journalism world. We remain a small independent media company.

Piloting membership is a way to ensure we can expand and defend the work we do with your help.