Max Tani of Semafor writes about the decline of Rest of World, an international business news website put into limbo by financial backer Stephanie Schmidt.
Tani writes, “The outlet — initially organized as a nonprofit and funded at first largely by Schmidt, rather than advertising or subscriptions — hired dozens of journalists and built out a fast network of freelancers. Rest of World received some critical acclaim and broke several stories that prompted global policy changes, including its reporting on Uber Eats in South Africa and on mapping in rural Borneo.
“But over the last 18 months, its fortunes began to shift.
“Around the beginning of the second Trump administration, Rest of World saw a sharp decline in online web traffic, prompting concern from its leadership and a scramble to hold onto its audiences. The organization reprioritized Western readers in an attempt to sharpen its connection with the audience most likely to read its content, and chose to focus coverage on regions it believed remained true to its mission but would more easily appeal to American readers, like China. It began requiring visitors to register with the site in order to read articles.
“None of the moves seemed to stop the publication from hemorrhaging readership.”
Read more here.
