The Status logo.
One year ago, the very first edition of Status landed in inboxes.
It marked the start of the most thrilling chapter of my professional life. Leaving CNN, where I had a stable job at a high-profile news organization, to launch something entirely new was a leap into the unknown. It was daunting, to put it mildly. I had no financial backing, no corporate safety net, no secret investor. It was just me and an idea: build an independent outlet that would aggressively cover the media industry.
Of course, I knew I wasn’t truly alone. I believed there was a community of people—people like you—who would support an independent voice committed to such reporting. And the team at beehiiv, the platform we use to publish this newsletter, couldn’t have been more supportive. Still, none of that alone is quite enough to calm the nerves when you’re walking away from a corporate salary and benefits.
Fast-forward a year, and I’m proud to share that we’ve made remarkable progress. We’re closing in on 100,000 total subscribers. We’ve published hundreds of scoops, breaking some of the biggest stories in the media industry, often sending our more established competitors scrambling to catch up. Along the way, we’ve welcomed Jon Passantino—formerly CNN’s media editor—as our Executive Editor, held two live events, and we’ve launched the Power Lines podcast, delivering analysis and original reporting in a new weekly video/audio format.
Of course, not everyone in the halls of power welcomes Status’ success. Some would surely prefer that there wasn’t a nightly newsletter scrutinizing—and, at times, calling out—their actions. But that scrutiny is the point. Media doesn’t just reflect society, it determines how information flows, how culture is shaped, and how we communicate with one another. Strong, independent coverage makes the entire ecosystem better.
Over the last twelve months, we’ve also learned a few things about building an independent media company from the ground up. I wanted to share a few of those lessons:
Subscriptions are a slow burn. From the outside, it can seem like independent media success stories take off overnight—a big launch, a splashy media profile, and suddenly they’re thriving. The truth is far less glamorous. No single story has transformed our subscriber base. Growth has been a steady climb, built day after day, night after night. Some stories convert more readers than others, sure, but there’s no magic bullet—only the daily work of producing something worth paying for.
Churn is real. Even with a loyal audience, a small percentage of subscribers will leave each month. That means growth isn’t just about attracting new readers, it’s also about retaining the ones we have. Keeping churn low requires not only strong journalism, but also a reliable publishing schedule, and making sure readers feel the value of what they’re paying for.
Email deliverability is an entire discipline. Before launching Status, I didn’t give much thought to what it takes to get an email into someone’s inbox. Now I know it’s practically its own science, especially when sending to corporate domains. Spam filters, security systems, and outdated infrastructure all conspire to make delivery harder than you’d expect. We’ve spent countless hours working with beehiiv to tweak and troubleshoot just to ensure that the work we produce actually reaches the people who signed up for it.
Free content doesn’t drive revenue growth. We wish we could publish all of our reporting at no cost to readers, but that doesn’t pay the bills. We produce free editions on the weekends. Occasionally, a free piece will convert a handful of readers to paid subscribers. But overwhelmingly, when content is available for free, people consume it for free. That’s why our best reporting is reserved for paying subscribers—not because we want to hide it, but because without subscriber revenue, the journalism itself wouldn’t exist.
Scoops are what move the needle. For us, the biggest surges in new subscriptions come when we publish original reporting that readers can’t get anywhere else. That’s the kind of journalism people will pay to access. Analysis, while valuable and often widely read, rarely drives the same level of growth. That might be different for others. I’m sure there are high-profile writers whose subscribers are there primarily for their commentary. But in our case, it’s the scoops that earn trust, demonstrate value, and convert free readers into paying members.
Building business infrastructure is harder and more expensive than it seems. Payroll, accounting, insurance, legal work, taxes—when you work at a large media company, all of that happens in the background. When you go independent, it’s all on you. In Year One, a huge amount of time went into building the systems that make the journalism possible. It’s been a bit like flying a plane while building it mid-air—not only stressful and time-consuming, but also quite costly. It’s simply not as glamorous as it might seem from the outside.
We’ve also tried to build Status in a way that reflects our values, even when it comes at a cost. For example, we’ve chosen not to post on Elon Musk’s X platform because we’ve openly questioned why news outlets and journalists choose to contribute to what has become a right-wing fever swamp. That decision almost certainly means we’ve sacrificed growth and potential subscribers. But we believe it’s the right one. Similarly, we’ve committed to never taking ad money from fossil fuel companies that use marketing to mislead the public about their environmental record. We want to run this company as ethically as possible, even when it’s not the easiest path.
Looking ahead to Year Two, our goal is to keep building Status into the most trusted, most unafraid outlet covering the industries that shape our information environment. Power likes to operate in the shadows, and our job will continue to be to shine a bright light on those dark corridors. That means making more hires to expand our reporting muscle, producing more live events to connect with readers in person, and exploring new formats to bring our journalism to audiences in fresh, engaging ways.
None of this would be possible without you. Status exists because of our paid subscribers. There’s no corporate parent to lean on. You actually are the backers of our independent voice. Your support is what allows us to chase stories without fear or favor.
Thank you for making Year One possible. Here’s to Year Two and all that it will bring.
With gratitude,
Oliver Darcy
Founder, Status
The remainder of this newsletter is for paid subscribers only.
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