What Went Wrong: A first-time editor in chief reflects on a startup that didn’t work

When The Barbed Wire debuted, in 2024, it promised “something different: a site that combines the best of savvy, new-model online journalism with Texas’s deep—and very old—association with progressive ideas.” Its goal, Olivia Messer, the editor in chief, wrote at the time, was to reach the millions of Texans who weren’t reading their local newspaper or any statewide news outlet, and to do it in a way that created a new hybrid for-profit/nonprofit revenue model for journalism. 

The Barbed Wire lasted for a little under two years, publishing 725 stories. This spring, it ran out of money. All five journalists on staff lost their jobs. (Two occasional newsletters remain, written by freelancers.) The hybrid business model, it turned out, had made it more difficult to bring in philanthropy money; the roster of paid subscribers never grew big enough to keep the operation afloat.

It’s easier, and more fun, to focus on what’s working in journalism: new startups, growing newsrooms, initiatives at major outlets. But I also think it’s important to dissect what hasn’t worked. In our conversation, Messer was admirably candid about what factors brought down The Barbed Wire. Listen below, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes:

Goodbye for Now, Olivia Messer, Bluesky.

Our Independent Newsroom Was Built on a Ferocious, Delusional Sense of Hope. Help Us Keep It Going, Olivia Messer, The Barbed Wire. 

Are You There, Texas? It’s Me, Olivia, Olivia Messer, The Barbed Wire.

‘Gods in the Building’: How the Texas Senate Buries Sexual Harassment Complaints and Enables Bad Actors, Olivia Messer and Cara Kelly, Texas Monthly. 

‘This Is Not Hazing. This Is Rape’: Inside a Texas Town’s Football Nightmare, Olivia Messer, Daily Beast. 

Credits:

Host: Megan Greenwell

Producer: Amanda Darrach