Texas Tribute, Nonprofit News Organization, Buys Texas Weekly
Sometimes it’s hard to get folks to see exactly what Dallas South News means for our city, and more importantly what it says for the way news is covered in general (moving forward). An announcement made today -and subsequent announcements yet to come- will help make it crystal clear.
While reading a football article on D Magazine’s FrontBurner Blog, I saw a short commentary written by D publisher Wick Allison regarding a shift in the Texas media landscape. Here’s what Wick had to say on FrontBurner:
…the online venture (Texas Tribute) just became a print venture, buying the venerable Austin-based political newsletter (Texas Weekly) owned by Ross Ramsey, who will become managing editor of the new venture.
Texas Tribute, a new non-profit news organization that will cover Texas politics and government, had already sent tremors through the local media community with activity that came to light earlier this week. Emily Ramshaw, one of the Dallas Morning News‘ most celebrated reporters who covered the state government beat out of Austin, has left DMN for Texas Tribute.
In April, Ramshaw was named Star Reporter of the Year by the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors and the Headliners Foundation of Texas.
Read this press release announcing the purchase of the Weekly and 5 Tribute newsroom hires.
The progression of Texas Tribute makes me feel even better about the most recent announcements made by our nonprofit news organization, Dallas South News. As I always say, these changes are a good thing for democracy and for journalism in general.
To put Emily’s move into perspective, it would be kind of like Gromer Jeffers leaving the Dallas Morning News for Dallas South News (hmm…note to self). I’d already heard about Emily’s transition ahead of this press release and how folks at the paper are taking it (not good).
News is as popular today (probably even more so) as it has ever been, but how we access news and the current business models are changing. Print will continue to be important and organizations like the Dallas Morning News and Houston Chronicle are necessary and vital.
But they can’t be everything to everybody. And even with all the pain being felt right now, what’s on the other side of this transition could be better than anything we’ve ever had before. These are tough, yet exciting times in media.
