#KleinCamp18: Designing a subscription strategy for local news around information that isn’t easy to get

With newspapers, as with humans, that which is easy to get loses value.

-History of the New York Sun, published 1928

AmyJo Brown, co-founder of War Street Media and an editor with an investigative journalism background, shared information about Grant’s Hill, her newest project, ran with her husband, that focuses on the business of governing in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.

Here’s a look into Grant’s Wall, and how they plan to make a subscription product around information that isn’t easy to get.

Making paywalls work

Grant’s Hill

Grant’s Hill is a news publication focused on the business of governing in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. Along with its enterprise and investigative stories, it offers community research tools that link public data with structured information from news reports. Subscribers receive access to clean data relevant to their interests, displayed in contextual, visual dashboards.

• Allegheny County is the second largest county in Pennsylvania.
• 260 Governing Bodies
• 542 Elected Officials

Three consumers that Grant’s Hill will target

Utility News Consumers

• Interest is sparked by a need for information.

Civic News Consumers

• Interest is self-motivated. identity is tied to feeling informed and connected to a community.

Passive News Consumers

• Interest is piqued when the story or information affects them personally.
• Least likely to be monetized

The Design

Gran Hill will visualize the data through dashboards. The design recognizes that data isn’t the point. It’s the story and impact of the data that Grant Hill wants to show.