In June, we welcomed Lily Black to the team as our membership manager to lead and build out this initiative. Black oversees our readership revenue program for all of Voice Media Group’s publication websites (Denver Westword, Dallas Observer, Miami New Times, New Times Broward-Palm Beach, Phoenix New Times). She moved to Colorado from North Carolina in 2019 after graduating from the University of North Carolina Asheville with a degree in music business management.
Black has years of experience working in nonprofit fundraising and membership development, previously with Amp the Cause and Swallow Hill Music. Her background in music-centered event management overlaps with her love for the arts, culture, and community engagement.
Join us for members-only editorial events
With Black's help, we are happy to announce some updates to our program and benefits that will be coming your way soon, including members-only editorial events, an ad-free website experience, membership merch, and opportunities for complimentary tickets to our signature events.
In early 2024, New Times will release the book Cocaine Cowboys, a collection of our decades of investigative journalism on the crimes of Willy and Sal. To celebrate, we are planning a presale book party for our recurring members. Keep an eye out for more information to come on this, as well as additional members-only editorial events.
About New Times’ membership program
From the day it was founded in 1997, New Times Broward-Palm Beach has been free to our readers. We remain dedicated to providing our local journalism to everyone at no charge. How can we do it? We've always relied on advertisers to generate the revenues that make our rent and pay our staff. Most of those advertisers were local mom-and-pops, and their support meant we were able to give our newspapers away.
For several years now, media organizations large and small have been hit by a perfect storm of financial pressures. As readers shifted from print to online, advertising rates dropped. Tech giants began sucking up most of the remaining local advertising dollars. This shifting market has led us to completely rethink how we operate.
We remain committed to keeping our journalism free and avoiding paywalls or mandatory subscriptions. But the long-term challenges that organizations like ours face in generating advertising dollars aren't going away.
We want to keep covering South Florida the way it deserves to be covered. That means remaining independent and avoiding paywalls — but still bringing in enough money to fund our journalism.
We recently sent our members a survey asking why they give. Here are some of the responses:
- “I've always liked independent journalism. Miami New Times, like all ‘local rags,’ descends from the late Village Voice. We must support independent, alternative journalism.”
- “Miami desperately needs more local journalism."
