''Hell Gate NYC'' is an online

worker-owned A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and self-managed by its workers. This control may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision-making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which management is elected by ...

publication focused on local

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

news. The publication is named after the

Hell Gate Bridge The Hell Gate Bridge (originally the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge) is a railroad bridge in New York City. The bridge carries two tracks of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and one freight track between Astoria, Queens, and Port Morris, Bron ...

, due to the bridge's reputation for tenacity. ''Hell Gate'' covers a wide range of topics that include, but are not limited to,

political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, influen ...

, local

street performers Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pr ...

, and strange subway advertisements. The company is headquartered in a

co-working space Coworking is an arrangement in which workers for different companies share an office space. It allows cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services, a ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

History

The founders of ''Hell Gate'', Nick Pinto, Esther Wang, Christopher Robbins, Max Rivlin-Nadler, and Sydney Pereira, began developing the idea for the publication in 2021. Many of them were former coworkers at local publications such as the ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Ma ...

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

,'' and ''

Gothamist ''Gothamist'' is a New York City–centric blog operated by New York Public Radio. From 2003 to 2018, Gothamist LLC was the operator, or in some cases franchisor, of eight city-centric websites that focused on news, events, food, culture, an ...

,'' as well as non-NYC publications such as ''

Jezebel Jezebel ()"Jezebel"
(US) and

'' and ''

The Intercept ''The Intercept'' is an American left-wing nonprofit news organization that publishes articles and podcasts online. ''The Intercept'' has published in English since its founding in 2014, and in Portuguese since the 2016 launch of the Brazilia ...

''. Pinto, Robbins, and Rivlin-Nadler had all faced job instability as journalists due to companies mismanaging resources, lacking funding, and cutting budgets. In January 2022, they pitched the idea of ''Hell Gate'' to fifty local journalists, and recruited Pereira and Wang. The team decided that their publication would have a snarky tone like pre-acquisition ''Gothamist,'' and that they would approach stories from a human rights-oriented perspective. Hell Gate launched the website as a test on May 2, 2022, and launched in full two months later.

Business model

''Hell Gate'''s initial funding came from two New York-based organizations for the arts: a $25,000 grant from The Harnisch Foundation, and a $50,000 grant from the Vital Projects Fund. A further $300,000 in grants was given between 2023 and 2024. It supports its journalism with tiered subscriptions to access its articles behind a

paywall A paywall is a method of restricting access to content (media), content, with a purchase or a subscription business model, paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their website ...

. The founders believed that a subscription-funded business would work. , the site had 5,368 paid subscribers and costs an average of $59,000 per month to run. To keep costs down, they wrote from home and published online, using the same provider as

Defector Media ''Defector Media'' is a subscription-based sports and culture blog and media company founded in September 2020 and based in Manhattan. The Defector blog is primarily written by former employees of the ''Deadspin'' sports blog. In October and No ...

, another worker-owned cooperative. ''Hell Gate'' is a worker-owned cooperative, where the journalists have the job of reporter, editor, and managing the business. They also hire freelancers. As of March 2024, all of the worker-owners were paid $60,000 per year. The company offers tiered and annual subscriptions, but the subscription revenue is not enough to be sustaining, . ''Hell Gate'' also offers a free newsletter. Advertisements are not a major source of revenue. Half of its revenue comes from donations.

Reception

''Hell Gate'' has been identified by numerous outlets to be part of a resurgence in indie publishing. They have been favorably compared to other worker-owned sites like '' Defector'' and ''

404 Media ''404 Media'' is an online publication that focuses on technology and internet reporting. It covers topics such as hacking, sex work, niche online communities, and the right-to-repair movement. It is worker-owned by its reporters. History ' ...

.''{{Cite web , last=Silverman , first=Justin R. , date=April 18, 2024 , title=404 Media and the hopes of worker-owned journalism , url=https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/404-media-and-the-hopes-of-worker-owned-journalism.php , access-date=2024-04-28 , website=Columbia Journalism Review , language=en

References

Employee-owned companies of the United States Mass media in New York City Internet properties established in 2021 American blogs Cooperatives based in New York (state)

History

Business model

Reception

See also

References