Shared Media Services for Worker Friendly Media
An initiative of Start.coop to build operations-as-a-service for the next generation of worker cooperative media — designed to complement existing offerings, not compete with them.
Our Partners
Media Economies Design Lab, University of Colorado Boulder
Freelance Solidarity Project
Defector Media
Press Forward
National Writer’s Union
SHARED MEDIA SERVICES | THE GAP
Providing affordable operational support for independent, worker-friendly newsrooms.
Journalist-led publications tell us the same thing over and over: they want operations people who understand journalism as both a craft and a business — but cost and vetting are real barriers to finding good operations talent. They're also tired of another round of coaching and consulting.
What they need is people who will actually do the work.
What’s Included?
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Planning & systems
Ad hoc editing
Newsletter/social/podcast execution (without touching editorial independence)
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Budget modeling
Subscription lifecycle analysis
Editorial data analysis
Ad hoc revenue analysis
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Ad ops setup
Media kits & rate cards
Campaign execution
Invoicing & revenue tracking
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Vendor & contract management
Customer service management
Process design
Subscription operations
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Access to vetted PEO to handle payroll processing and contract for group health insurance
Access to vetted broker to find media liability and general liability insurance policies
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Subsidized licensing access to high-quality, legally usable images for editorial and promotional use
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Brand/visual identity work
Ongoing editorial design support
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Vendor contracts
Operating agreements
Regular filings
Generalized legal advice
Pre-publication review
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Financial statements & reconciliation
Tax coordination
Budget development
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Handbooks & policies
Onboarding/offboarding systems
Conflict resolution & mediation
Culture & engagement surveys
How it works
Shared Media Services sits between participating publications
and a network of qualified vendors. We:
Vet and onboard
both publications and vendors
Coordinate demand
across services so no single newsroom has to manage a dozen vendor relationships on its own
Negotiate vendor rates
estimate usage, and handle billing on both sides
Pricing
Newsrooms choose a package of hours that fits their near-term needs, for one fixed monthly fee.
You can spend those hours on whatever mix of services makes sense that month, whether that's HR and ad ops one month or legal and bookkeeping the next. One contract, real flexibility.
Timeline
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RFP process to identify and negotiate with vendors
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Develop service plans, pricing, and delivery model in partnership with vendors
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Select an initial group of organizations as founding user group
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Pilot period with heavy testing and learning alongside our founding users
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Shared Media Services will accept next group of interested media organizations as clients. Program opens for new publications
Our Partners
National Writer’s Union
Freelance Solidarity Project
Media Economies Design Lab, University of Colorado Boulder
Defector Media
Shared Media Services and the Accelerator for Worker-Friendly Media is led by Start.coop, a systems change catalyst committed to building a more equitable and resilient U.S. economy — one that shares prosperity among the many, not just the few. Start.coop has a track record of supporting cooperatives across sectors as different as breweries and hardware stores, and is now bringing that same back-office support model to local news.
The project is being developed in close collaboration with Defector Media, a worker-owned media company that has become a model for journalists wishing to escape ongoing corporatization of the news and information sector — and an organization that regularly fields inquiries from other newsrooms about how its worker-owned model works.
Together, Start.coop and Defector are helping small newsrooms build a shared services hub that handles everything from HR and bookkeeping to graphic design and ad operations — saving outlets both money and time.
Funded by
Shared Media Services — and Start.coop's Accelerator for Worker Friendly Media — are both funded by a $1.5 million award from Press Forward, a national initiative to reimagine and revitalize local news.
The award is part of Press Forward's Open Call on Infrastructure, a $22 million commitment across 22 projects addressing urgent challenges facing local newsrooms today. Infrastructure grantees are focused on strengthening newsroom sustainability — tackling revenue and operations challenges so the field can thrive long-term, alongside other recipients working on press freedom, newsroom safety, reporter mental health, and legal resources.
The award funds two connected efforts for worker-owned and worker-friendly media:
The Accelerator for Worker Friendly Media, helping emerging cooperatives validate a business model, an ownership model, and a financial model
Shared Media Services, giving newsrooms that have found product/market fit affordable, ongoing access to back-office support — from HR to payroll, legal, benefits, and administration
Together, the goal is straightforward: lower costs and increase sustainability for worker-owned media companies, so newsrooms can spend less time on operations and more time on journalism.
Our Accelerator for Worker Friendly Media
Designed for emerging worker-owned media co-ops, Start.coop's 12-week Accelerator offers cohort-based learning, individualized coaching, mentorship from experienced business leaders, and connections to co-op-friendly funders.