Acknowledgements

I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to those employees of Chartbeat, The New York Times, and Gawker Media who shared their time, insights, and experiences with me. Their generosity, patience, and thoughtfulness made this research possible. I am especially grateful to those who took the time to speak with me on multiple occasions, answered many questions over IM and email, let me shadow them, or otherwise went far above and beyond to help me understand their work. I wish I could acknowledge them by name, but hopefully they know who they are.

I would also like to thank the team at the Tow Center for the tremendous support—material, intellectual, logistical, and moral. Caffeinated conversations with Emily Bell contributed vitally to the initial development of this project; her continued input and willingness to make introductions enabled me to see it to completion. Taylor Owen helped me think through challenges at every stage—from case study selection to site access to data analysis. Fergus Pitt’s incisive comments on drafts led to a smarter, richer, and more eloquent report. Abigail Ronck’s meticulous editing helped scrub the text of errors, awkward phrasings, and passive voice. Susan McGregor seamlessly facilitated the publication process. Lauren Mack and Elizabeth Boylan were unfailingly organized and helpful in coordinating various practical aspects of the research.

In addition to being my go-to fount of wisdom about journalism studies and organizational ethnography, C.W. Anderson provided thoughtful critique and indispensable guidance on the report’s structure, analysis, and recommendations.

I’m grateful to my colleagues and mentors at the Department of Sociology at NYU—especially Eric Klinenberg, my dissertation advisor, who gave characteristically perceptive comments that substantially strengthened my Tow proposal.

Finally, thank you to Ari Brand, Ann Banks, and Peter Petre for all that you do (and there is so very much) to support me.

May 2015