Buyouts buy time to try online

The newsroom purge last fall at the Star-Ledger in New Jersey has spawned a website, newjerseynewsroom.com, run by about 40 former staffers - all of them took lucrative buyouts from owner Advance Publications, aka Newhouse. The site is a mix of original reporting and links, some provided through a deal with Voice of America, Editor and Publisher reports.

None of the writers are being paid just yet. It was the buyouts that have provided the cushion to allow the start up to keep going, according to former sports writer Matt Romanoski. From E&P:

Romanoski says the beauty of the start-up is that contributors can work without pay, to start, and rely on their buyout payments. Some have outside jobs and contribute one or two stories per week.

"No one is being paid as of now, we are giving equity and hoping to secure revenue," he said.