How The Information built a business on scoops and deep dives

Jessica Lessin

Cynthia Littleton of Variety interviewed Jessica Lessin, the founder and editor in chief of tech news site The Information, about her success.

Littleton writes, “While working as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal nearly a decade ago, she saw an opening in the journalism market for more thoughtful longform reporting. The decision to follow her instincts meant that she has been in the business of launching a subscription business just as the companies she covers went headlong into an industry-shaking pivot to direct-to-consumer offerings.

“On the latest episode of Variety’s podcast ‘Strictly Business,’ the founder and editor-in-chief of The Information discusses the growth of the eight-year-old outlet that has distinguished itself through deep-dive reporting, analysis and scoops in the tech and media worlds.

“‘It’s been fascinating to see the media business embrace [DTC services] and in some ways be upended by it,’ Lessin says.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.