The Newsonomics of Talking Points Memo’s Native Advertising Shift

By: Ken Doctor | Nieman Journalism Lab

Call it addition by subtraction, or deduction over misdirection. The commercial progress of Talking Points Memo is a telling lesson in the maturation of digital native news companies.

TPM was born very much a blog, one of those early political blogs built on single-minded strong opinion and dogged work. Josh Marshall worked solo, building it up from 2000 to 2005. Then he began turning into a site, one with a staff and a business in search of a workable long-term revenue model. Over the last couple of years, he says he’s found it.