The Compass Experiment’s uncertain future
An earlier version of this piece was featured in the Tow Center for Digital Journalism’s weekly newsletter.
In March 2019, Craig Forman, then McClatchy’s president and CEO, announced a new partnership with Google News’ Local Experiments project. Dubbed the Compass Experiment, its goal was to create three digital-only outlets in communities with little access to local news, with help from Google as a technology and innovation partner. According to Forman’s announcement, the Compass Experiment’s local news sites would be wholly owned and operated by McClatchy, a 163-year-old, family-run company that oversees dozens of newspapers. The project was to be funded for three years through the Google News Initiative, a wide-ranging endeavor that the company started in 2018 with a pledge to invest $300 million dollars over the course of three years to aid the ailing news industry, which has seen more than 2,100 newsrooms disappear since 2
Village Media expands to U.S. with acquisition of The Longmont Leader
This marks the first owned and operated site in the United States for the Sault Ste. Marie-based company
Mar 2, 2021 4:00 PM By: Village Media
Longmont, Colorado is the site of Village Media s first owned and operated news site in the U.S.Matt Maenpaa for The Longmont Leader
Village Media, the company that operates this news site, is thrilled to announce its expansion into the U.S. with the acquisition of The Longmont Leader in Longmont, Colorado.
Village Media has been working closely as partners with The Longmont Leader team since the site was first launched as a part of The Compass Experiment in June 2020. The Leader has been operating on Village Media’s custom CMS and the two teams have been jointly working towards the goal of creating a robust local news source for the Longmont community.
McClatchy is making changes to its Compass Experiment. The effort is a local news laboratory founded by McClatchy and Google News Initiative’s Local Experiments Project.
McClatchy is making changes to its Compass Experiment. The effort is a local news laboratory founded by McClatchy and Google News Initiative’s Local Experiments Project.
LONGMONT The McClatchy Co., a publisher of newspapers around the nation, has shifted gears on its Compass Experiment and will spin off its Longmont Leader online publication to Canadian company Village Media Inc., effective March 1.
Mandy Jenkins, the general manager of the Compass Experiment which operated two and planned a third community news startup said the company had determined that its experiment would not produce profitable, independent news operations as designed. As a result, it moved its Youngstown, Ohio, operation under the McClatchy news division with a Kansas City Star editor leading it and shifted control of its Longmont operation to Village Media.