Newsletters for journalists, with Peter Geoghegan and Henry Winter
Free online masterclass on using newsletter platforms such as Substack to reach new readers, build a loyal readership and generate revenue
Newsletters have emerged as a powerful tool for journalists to connect directly with their audiences. Unlike social media platforms at the whim of ever-changing algorithms, newsletters provide a more personal and reliable channel to deliver high-quality, longer-form journalism straight to readers' inboxes.
In our latest online masterclass, we’ll explore how journalists can use newsletter platforms such as Substack to build a loyal readership, create revenue streams and take greater control over the distribution of their work, whether that’s specialist reporting or broader news roundups. We’ll discuss how to choose the right platform, craft compelling subject lines and develop a consistent publishing schedule that resonates with your audience.
We’re thrilled to bring you two highly regarded and experienced journalists who run their own successful Substack newsletters:
Peter Geoghegan is an award-winning Irish investigative journalist based in the UK who runs the Democracy for Sale newsletter. He was co-founder of Scottish investigative platform The Ferret and editor-in-chief of award-winning website openDemocracy. Peter’s newsletter, which has 20,000 subscribers, is dedicated to uncovering dark money and hidden influence. Democracy for Sale stories have been picked up by a range of news organisations including the Guardian, Financial Times, Mirror and Times. His stories have prompted parliamentary inquiries, regulatory probes and forced transparency on corporations.
Henry Winter is an award-winning English sports journalist who runs the Henry Winter's Goal Posts newsletter, which has gained 10,000 subscribers since launch just last year. Chief football writer for The Times from 2015 to 2023 and before that football correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, Henry was named Specialist Correspondent of the Year at the British Sports Journalism Awards in 2004, 2009, 2010 and 2013, and was voted Football Journalist of the Year in 2023 by the Sports Journalists' Association. He is a columnist for World Soccer magazine and presents a Sunday morning radio show on talkSport.
This online masterclass on Wednesday 5th February from 3pm to 5pm (UK time) is brought to you by the Civic Journalism Lab at Newcastle University. It's free and open to anyone, but registration is essential as we'll email you joining instructions a few hours before the masterclass begins.
REWIND: Making TV documentaries
If you missed our Civic Journalism Lab masterclass on making TV documentaries, you can watch an edited version of the session led by Emma Wass on our YouTube channel here.
In fact, you’ll find all kinds of useful and thought-provoking content on our YouTube channel, from masterclasses on “Debunking Conspiracy Theories” and “Data Visualisation” to discussion panels on “TikTok for Journalists”, “Travel Journalism” and “Dealing with Online Abuse”.
J-LAB PODCAST: Are you a subscriber yet?
How can crime reporters and true crime content creators ensure that their pursuit of a gripping story doesn't come at the cost of human dignity or justice? Our first guest on the latest episode of our J-Lab podcast is Bethany Usher, lecturer in journalism at Newcastle University, and author of a new book titled Journalism and Crime. Bethany is researching how we might create new codes of practice, for crime reporters, true crime content creators and police comms teams as well as for social media influencers and amateur sleuths. In this episode, you’ll also hear highlights of a panel discussion on crime and journalism that we hosted at Newcastle University with crime reporters, newspaper editors, true crime podcasters and commissioners, media lawyers, regulators, campaigners for survivors of crime and academics. Listen here on SoundCloud or here on Apple Podcasts or here on Spotify.
TELL US: What do you want?
We'd like to make the Civic Journalism Lab and its activities as relevant as possible to the needs and apsirations of professional, community and student journalists. So we've put together this very brief, 10-question survey. Give us just five minutes of your time, and we'll do our best to give you what you want and need.
AND FINALLY: Feel free to leave at any time
We're keen to continue building a valuable forum, resource and network in our north east corner of England (and beyond) for professional, community and student journalists, so we hope that our communications about Civic Journalism Lab events and activities are useful to you. However, if you'd prefer not to receive any more newsletters from us, please unsubscribe or update your subscription settings by clicking the unsubscribe link at the very, very bottom of this email. Thank you!
Another great subject; thanks for organising this.