To say that Peter Bhatia is a successful newspaper editor would be akin to stating that Tom Brady was a good quarterback. As Bhatia reminisces during this vodcast interview with E&P Publisher Mike Blinder, when he left Stanford in 1975 to begin his journalism career, the first operation he worked at was using "hot type” typesetting to lay out the daily edition.
Since those early days, Bhatia has managed newsrooms that collectively have won 10 Pulitzer Prizes. He spent time in academia as the Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism director at Arizona State University's Cronkite School of Journalism. Bhatia was president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and received the 2020 "Benjamin Bradlee Editor of the Year Award" from the National Press Foundation. He is the first journalist of South Asian descent to lead a major daily newspaper in the U.S. And was featured on the cover of E&P Magazine as our 2008 "Editor of the Year."
For the last seven years, Bhatia was part of the Gannett/ USA Today company, serving as vice president and editor for the Cincinnati Enquirer from 2015-2017. He then worked for the Detroit Free Press until January 2023, when he decided to be one of eight to take a voluntary severance departure, sacrificing his job to save others from being laid off the next month.
Some thought now that Peter would take advantage of a long and prosperous career, perhaps watching the rest of us struggle to swim in the turbulent waters of today's news publishing industry from his front porch rocking chair. However, that was not to be the case.
A few months after he departed from Gannett, Bhatia announced that he was launching a nonprofit, free-access local news website in the nation's fourth largest metropolitan area, entitled Houston Landing.
Stating its core mission is to be “an independent, nonpartisan news organization devoted to public service journalism that seeks to strengthen democracy and improve the lives of all Houstonians one story at a time," the Landing was started with a 7 million dollar seed investment from three Houston philanthropies – the Houston Endowment, Arnold Ventures and Kinder Foundation.
Bhatia states that the Landing was born out of a study spearheaded by the American Journalism Project that found many Houstonians do not feel they have access to a trusted source for deeply reported stories that impact their daily lives. As of the time of this interview, they have used those funds to hire over 20 journalists led by Editor-in-Chief Mizanur Rahman, who spent 15 years in the same post at the Houston Chronicle.
On June 7th, 2023, Bhatia announced the Houston Landing's launch in an editorial where he states: “We formally launch today, without the legacy that traditional journalistic outlets face based on long years of practices and viewpoints. (We will not have an “editorial page," nor will we endorse political candidates.) We are unburdened with debates about the past. Ours is a clean slate, bolstered by the nonprofit, nonpartisan, no-paywall principles we embrace, and by carving an independent way to make Houston a better place, but to do so through truthful, thoroughly reported, and fair journalism.”
In this episode of E&P reports, we go one-on-one with Pulitzer Prize-winning newsroom leader Peter Bhatia, who recently exited his post as editor-in-chief of Gannett's Detroit Free Press to lead a new free-access, nonprofit, Texas-based digital local news startup, Houston Landing. We ask Bhatia why he believes this new project lacking paywalls, editorials and local sports can become a sustainable business in today's news ecosystem. We also ask his thoughts on managing newsrooms for over seven years at major market Gannett newspapers and where he sees the news media industry today and the future for its survival.
234 Local Media Association and Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association partner to create fundraising lab
233 New York State implements historic tax credits to support local journalism.
232 Facebook blocks State’s Newsroom’s Kansas Reflector: A threat to free press and first Amendment?
231 Addressing America's Divides: The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s newest chapter1
230 Understanding the skills necessary to lead the newsroom of tomorrow
229 The “whats, whys and hows” of The Association of Community Publishers (ACP)
228 Exploring their new book: “What Works in Community News,” from authors Ellen Clegg & Dan Kennedy
227 A look at the broadcast news industry from RTDNA CEO Dan Shelley
226 A frank discussion about public media with industry expert Tom Davidson
225 Jeff Jarvis and Steven Waldman debate the hard questions facing the news media industry.
224 No more downsizing, as Gannett is hiring locally at all levels.
223 An inside look at The Messenger — from startup to shut down — 10 months and 50 million dollars later
222 An inside look at the LA Times with Guild President, Matt Pearce
221 Hussman announces four $25k prizes for best in fair and impartial reporting.
220 Word in Black's journey from a pilot project to a public benefit corporation
219 Media sales icon Chris Lytle shares tried and true insights that still apply today.
218 A new film tells a story of how hedge funds are destroying local journalism.
217 The future of “big tech” compensation, now that Google's $100 million deal with Canada is law
216 Shannon Kinney’s entrepreneurial advice
215 Ashanti Blaize-Hopkins. A one-on-one with the SPJ’s new president.
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