Rick Edmonds of The Poynter Institute writes about health care news site STAT News and how it works with its parent company, The Boston Globe.
Edmonds writes, “The Globe is a clear leader in digital-only subscriptions among regional newspapers with more than 200,000. Its audience staff meets with STAT’s monthly to compare notes, but big differences in the publications make comparisons difficult. For instance, the Globe is having success with introductory discounts as deep as $1 for six months, but Berke said that would not be a match for his largely professional audience.
“The two can use each others’ stories — the Globe picks up STAT content particularly for its print edition, and STAT runs some Globe stories, especially business coverage.
“STAT’s takeoff has been smooth, the Globe’s bumpier with some major snafus changing circulation vendors and resizing printing operations. ‘We made a lot of mistakes,’ Henry said.
“Keeping STAT separate has turned out to be the right call, she said. ‘The culture of a 140-year-old organization is not what you need for a digital startup. It’s a different tempo.'”
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