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Online worker-owned publication focused on New York City news From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hell Gate NYC is an online worker-owned publication focused on local New York City news.[2][3] The publication is named after the Hell Gate Bridge, due to the bridge's reputation for tenacity.[4][5] Hell Gate covers a wide range of topics that include, but are not limited to, political corruption, local street performers, and strange subway advertisements.[6] The company is headquartered in a co-working space in Brooklyn.[5]
| Good blogs for the greatest city. | |
_logo_2024.svg){kind=logo} Logo since July 8, 2024 | |
| Format | Digital |
|---|---|
| Founder(s) |
|
| Founded | May 2, 2022 |
| Headquarters | Brooklyn |
| Circulation | 5,368 paid subscribers (as of October 2024)[1] |
| Website | hellgatenyc |
The founders of Hell Gate, Nick Pinto, Esther Wang, Christopher Robbins, Max Rivlin-Nadler, and Sydney Pereira, began developing the idea for the publication in 2021.[4] Many of them were former coworkers at local publications such as the Village Voice, The New York Times, and Gothamist, as well as non-NYC publications such as Jezebel and The Intercept.[4] Pinto, Robbins, and Rivlin-Nadler had all faced job instability as journalists due to companies mismanaging resources, lacking funding, and cutting budgets.[7] In January 2022, they pitched the idea of Hell Gate to fifty local journalists, and recruited Pereira and Wang.[7] The team decided that their publication would have a snarky tone like pre-acquisition Gothamist, and that they would approach stories from a human rights-oriented perspective.[3]
Hell Gate launched the website as a test on May 2, 2022, and launched in full two months later.[8]
Hell Gate's initial funding came from two New York-based organizations for the arts: a $25,000 grant from The Harnisch Foundation, and a $50,000 grant from the Vital Projects Fund.[3] A further $300,000 in grants was given between 2023 and 2024.[1] It supports its journalism with tiered subscriptions to access its articles behind a paywall.[3] The founders believed that a subscription-funded business would work.[4] As of October 2024[update], the site had 5,368 paid subscribers and costs an average of $59,000 per month to run.[1]
To keep costs down, they wrote from home and published online,[4] using the same provider as Defector Media, another worker-owned cooperative.[3]
Hell Gate is a worker-owned cooperative, where the journalists have the job of reporter, editor, and managing the business.[3][4] They also hire freelancers.[7] As of March 2024, all of the worker-owners were paid $60,000 per year.[9] The company offers tiered[9] and annual subscriptions,[3] but the subscription revenue is not enough to be sustaining, as of October 2024[update].[5] Hell Gate also offers a free newsletter.[4] Advertisements are not a major source of revenue.[10][1] Half of its revenue comes from donations.[9]
Hell Gate has been identified by numerous outlets to be part of a resurgence in indie publishing. They have been favorably compared to other worker-owned sites like Defector and 404 Media.[2][6][11]
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