WordPress to launch web hosting platform for small- and medium-sized news outlets

The Bangor Daily News in Maine and nonprofit investigative website Oklahoma Watch have been chosen as two of the 12 small and medium-sized news organizations from all over the world that will form the core of Newspack, a new platform WordPress has started to allow publishers to dedicate more resources to journalism. WordPress will host and update the websites for the participating publications, which it says will allow publishers to focus on content rather than web development.

"The journalists at these 12 publications will work with the Newspack development team to identify the needs of publishers with small and medium-sized newsrooms," Steve Beatty reports for Newspack. "They will help design, test, and deploy the first live versions of the platform, using some tools not yet available to the wider WordPress community."

Google, through its Google News Initiative, is the lead underwriter for the project, contributing $1.2 million. Other major contributors include The Lenfest Institute, contributing $400,000; ConsenSys, contributing $350,000; and the Knight Foundation, which is contributing $250,000, Beatty reports.

Newspack is expected to launch in the fall. If all goes well, WordPress expects to issue a call for new applicants next summer, and could bring up to 50 more publications on board in the next round. The news outlets participating in Newspack in these first two phases will receive the service for free until March 2020. WordPress expects the service to cost $1,000 a month for the lowest level of support and features, Beatty reports.