On Monday October 3rd, Margie Freivogel, the founding editor of the St. Louis Beacon presented the online newspaper to our class. Freivogel used to work at the St. Louis Post Dispatch before she started the St. Louis Beacon, which really shows her credibility as a journalist. She received many rewards for her work on News Watch in Washington D.C. for the Post Dispatch. The St. Louis Beacon is a non profit organization whose main goals are high quality journalism, engagement, and connecting with the community in St. Louis. She talked about being drastically independent, presenting context and important issues, and the passion for journalism. She also said they needed people who were experts in business and technology because the journalists should focus on the stories. The Beacon did a series called “Race Frankly” that discussed racial issues and opinions of people in the St. Louis Community. They had barroom conversations with citizens of the community that was loosely led by a member of the Beacon. There are 20 staff members, 15 are journalists, which makes it a more intimate atmosphere for a paper. 65% of their revenue comes from generous donations, 20% from foundations, and the rest is from events. Freivogel said the key difference in the Beacon and the Post Dispatch was the journalistic reforming, which was easier to do with the Beacon because it is a smaller organization with no limits or expectations. She said that they can seize opportunities as a new organization so they can experiment. Seeing the presentation was inspiring to see that an online newspaper can start from the ground up with the framework of the opinions and ideas of the community that reads and donates to the paper itself.
KC Digital Marketing | Becky Neems 