Block Club Chicago

Block Club Chicago
Type of site
News
Available inEnglish
OwnerBlock Club Chicago NFP
URLblockclubchicago.org
LaunchedJune 2018

Block Club Chicago is an online newspaper that reports local and neighborhood news in Chicago. The website operates as a non-profit, subscription-based service.[1][2]

After DNAinfo was shut down in November 2017, Block Club Chicago was founded by three former DNAinfo Chicago editors – Shamus Toomey, Stephanie Lulay, and Jen Sabella. The new online publication was initially funded with a Kickstarter campaign and with capital from the Civil publishing platform. The Kickstarter was, at the time, the most successful local news Kickstarter campaign.[3] Block Club Chicago went live on June 12, 2018.[1][2][4][5][6][7]

Block Club Chicago was founded in order to supply a neighborhood-focused coverage.[8] It therefore adopted a geographic, rather than topical, structure, in which each reporter is assigned a "neighborhood beat".[3]

As of 2021, Block Club Chicago had a newsletter circulation of 140,000 and a paid subscribership of 15,500. It had ten reporters and five editors.[8]

As of 2023, the website had 20,000 paid subscribers, and offered news coverage of 45 of Chicago's 77 community areas.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b Stevens, Heidi (February 6, 2018). "3 Months Later, Block Club Chicago Picks Up Where DNAinfo Left Off". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Grieve, Pete (February 6, 2018). "DNAInfo Journalists to Launch New Chicago Newsroom on Blockchain Marketplace". Chicago Sun-times. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Legg, Heidi. "A Landscape Study of Emerging Local News Models Across America" (PDF). Shorenstein Center. Retrieved 2023-06-03.
  4. ^ Emmanuel, Adeshina (February 7, 2018). "Former DNAinfo Staffers Link Up with Civil for Block Club Chicago". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  5. ^ Schmidt, Christine (February 8, 2018). "DNAinfo Chicago Will Be Reborn as Block Club Chicago, Relying on Blockchain and Subscriptions Instead of Billionaires". Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  6. ^ Guaglione, Sara (February 9, 2018). "'Block Club Chicago' to Focus on Local Coverage". Publishers Daily. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  7. ^ Feder, Robert (June 12, 2018). "Block Club Chicago Comes Alive Wednesday". Robert Feder. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  8. ^ a b Scott, Marin (2021). "Local Chicago news startup turns 3, with a growing list of newsletter readers and paid subscribers". Gateway Journalism Review. 50 (360) – via Gale Academic OneFile.
  9. ^ Caro, Mark (June 13, 2023). "Why One Local Newsroom Startup in Chicago Succeeded Where Others Failed". Poynter. Retrieved July 14, 2023.