GlobalPost, an online media company focused on foreign news, launched on Monday hoping to fill the dearth of international news coverage in recent years. The site has been launched by veteran journalist Charles Sennott who left the Boston Globe to start his own news organization.
The free website, supported by ads, went live Monday and will offer regular dispatches for an American audience to supplement coverage from news organisations still covering the world. GlobalPost also will sell stories to papers to run in print or online, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Sennott, who will serve as executive editor, said the operation's 65 journalists—including veterans of major news organizations like the Washington Post, Time magazine, CNN and the Associated Press—would not be able to cover ever story. During major developments, like the terror attacks in Mumbai or the ongoing conflict in Gaza, GlobalPost journalists will be asked to pursue unique angles, he said.
"We can't ignore it because it's what matters," he said, "but we can cover it differently, and we can take it in a different direction."
At the start, GlobalPost will span nearly 50 countries, including Brazil, Indonesia and other regions that Sennott said were underserved by American media. Reporters also will be concentrated in emerging markets like China and India.
Journalists will generally be paid $1,000 a month as part-time freelancers, meaning they will probably continue working for other outlets as well. In fact, Sennott has discouraged applicants from leaving full-time jobs.
GlobalPost is providing its recruits with digital video cameras and some travel expenses, but they will work from home, eliminating office costs.
Journalists also will receive equity stakes in the privately held company, Global News Enterprises. Those shares vest over five years and collectively could give the journalists ownership of half of the stake that is not held by the company's 14 original investors.
Those investors, who have put up $8.2 million, include the former Boston Globe Publisher Benjamin Taylor and Paul Sagan, chief executive of Akamai Technologies, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
