A Cautionary Tale for Journalists About Saving Your Digital Work
You might not think you need this advice, but trust me, if you're a digital content creator, you DO.
In the fifteen years since I became a freelance writer, more than 25% of American newspapers have gone out of business. During this time, I’ve been fortunate to have my opinion column regularly featured in two of the nation’s best papers, the Chicago Sun-Times and The Chicago Tribune.
And, in addition to my paid opinion columns, I’d spent seven years between 2012 and 2019 writing hundreds of posts for free for The Chicago Tribune’s ChicagoNow blogging platform. It was an exciting, growth-filled time for me as a fledgling writer, and I poured my heart into my posts as I honed my voice and learned the craft. I learned discipline and found community, support, feedback, inspiration, and motivation while writing for ChicagoNow. It was my first true writing home, and the experience opened so many doors for me, including landing me those paid opinion columns.
For those who might want to jump all over me for “giving any writing away for free”, just step off your soapbox for a moment and listen to my experience.
I came to ChicagoNow as a middle-aged mom and newbie blogger with no professional writing experience, looking to increase my online literary presence as well as my skills.
I didn’t have a degree in journalism.
I didn’t have an MFA.
I didn’t have any bylines.
And so, I was thrilled that my application to blog on ChicagoNow was approved, knowing that its parent, the Chicago Tribune, carried some serious journalistic cache. I also loved the idea that I’d be part of a community of other writers — new and experienced — as I figured out what the heck I wanted to write about. Sure, I could blog by myself for free (and I used to), but why not do it with other, like-minded writers and pick up some skills? Wasn’t there massive value in that?
Yes. ABSOLUTELY.
Moreover, we also had an incredible Community Manager, Jimmy Greenfield, who worked at the Chicago Tribune. Jimmy met with us regularly and taught us about SEO and a bit of basic coding — concepts I’d never heard of back in 2012.
Bottom line: I gained more than I gave at ChicagoNow, and I was 100% okay with that. I was writing about my life and my experiences in my community. I was happy to cut my teeth this way as I worked on other projects.
The problem is, I never saved the work that appeared on ChicagoNow.
In 2019, when the ChicagoNow site started embedding ads within my content and changing readers’ experience to the point where it was hard to distinguish between content and advertisements, I decided to take my writing elsewhere.
I don’t know if I assumed my ChicagoNow work would live in perpetuity on the site…or if I’d just get around to saving it one day….but I’m experiencing a deeply painful reckoning now.
My ChicagoNow colleagues (fellow bloggers who, like me, are passionate about writing and building community) are rumbling about the site going down for good.
You see, ChicagoNow’s owner, the Chicago Tribune, was bought in May of 2021 by a mysterious global hedge fund, Alden Global Capital. Soon thereafter, the Chicago Tribune newsroom was gutted. There is literally no one there running the ChicagoNow site.
According to The Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan, Alden is "one of the most ruthless of the corporate strip-miners seemingly intent on destroying local journalism." Vanity Fair also described Alden as the "grim reaper of American newspapers." And while these assessments may, on the surface, sound outlandish, I’m coming to see how they might hold weight, since I can no longer access my seven years of posts on the ChicagoNow site.
Even before the Alden buyout, I dealt with sign-in challenges to the site, so I’d found a workaround of sorts by signing into my ChicagoNow account through Facebook — but since the buyout, this sign-in option no longer works. At this point, I can’t sign in to my account at all. I can’t access my content. I can’t even download my posts or save them to another site. There’s no longer anyone working in the Chicago Tribune’s flagship office building; it was turned into multi-million dollar, luxury condos on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue. Of those at the Trib who do remain at an offsite location, there’s no longer anyone running the ChicagoNow site. Therefore, there’s no one I can call to ask for help.
And so, I’m scrambling with my techie friends to help me figure out how to download my content and preserve seven years of growth and development as a writer.
To say that I’m stressed is an understatement.
I’m worried.
I’m mad — at myself AND at the people and mechanisms behind this cluster.
And, I’m hoping that my experience will be a cautionary tale for anyone out there who creates digital content.
Save. Your. Work.
You may think you’re in control of your content, but you never know when a platform might change its ownership, its philosophy, or its management.
Save. Your. Work.
No one’s going to do it for you, and if you wait too long, it might just be too late.
Are you saying you wrote directly in the platform? You didn't write in Word first and then submit/transfer it to the platform? If so, wow. Yes, this is a huge bummer.
I save everything. Including endless drafts. All on Word and all backed up.
This is a good lesson. Unless it is our own self-hosted blog, we don't own or have control of the platforms where we post our work.
I write everything in Word. Then copy and paste to Medium, Substack, Wordpress etc. That way, I still have a copy of everything I have written.