Inside Jessica Lessin’s The Information

Jessica Lessin

Merissa Marr of Columbia Journalism Review profiled technology journalist Jessica Lessin, the founder of The Information website.

Marr writes, “The Information has gained notice for its contrarian, old-school approach to digital news, which includes a no-joke $399 paywall, relatively scant attention to social media (at least when compared to other digital-first news sites), and a newsroom ethos that encourages reporters to write fewer, deeper stories, as opposed to a constant drip of quick, often thinly reported hits. The Information’s sweet spot is the serious pursuit of business news: Snap Inc.’s IPO plans, the boardroom travails at Uber, an investigation into the founder of Nest Labs.

“While The Information isn’t as hot as Vice or BuzzFeed, or as entrenched in digital business reporting as Recode (whose co-founder, Kara Swisher, has been positioned in Silicon Valley as a perhaps-inevitable Lessin rival), the site is clearly making a mark. Its staff now approaches 20 people, it recently opened an Asia bureau, and the number of subscriptions has more than doubled over the past year. It recently announced plans for an expansion that includes an all-access VIP membership for big investors.

“Success has won Lessin fans among Silicon Valley’s ruling class, but it has also made her a target of grumbling that she’s too close to the people she’s supposed to be covering, and that the membership model—sparkling with events like the rooftop party—has put her in the odd position of having to hit up for money the very people she should be taking down.

“At her Pacific Heights launch party, Valley A-listers included Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, and Brit + Co founder Brit Morin, who looked on as Lessin, adorned in a gold sequin dress, informed them that The Information would do the stories no one else is doing. ‘Congrats. I’m so excited about this,’ Zuckerberg messaged her on Facebook.”