Dave Jorgenson is striking out on his own. After hosting videos across The Washington Post‘s social media channels, including its popular TikTok account, Jorgenson is becoming independent through a new venture called Local News International.
The Washington Post‘s 1.9 million TikTok followers will recognize Jorgenson as one of the foremost faces in the world of short-form journalism. In pithy updates, Jorgenson blends traditional reporting with comtemporary editing techniques to package the news in a format that appeals to Gen Z. Jorgenson got so good at short-form video that he even published a book replete with TikTok-ready prompts.
With Local News International, Jorgenson will continue to share top stories through unconventional means. In a YouTube video addressed to his former employer Jeff Bezos, the 34-year-old journalist outlined his plans for his new venture. He’ll release five short-form videos per week, one long-form video per month, and periodical newsletter updates.
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“My boss and my boss’ boss are coming with me, so viewers can continue to expect the same high-quality, fact-checked videos,” Jorgenson said in the video. The editors in question are former WaPo Director of Video Micah Gelman and Gelman’s deputy Lauren Saks.
WaPo‘s social video presence, which grew in the late 2010s on platforms like YouTube and Twitch before blowing up on TikTok in the 2020s, has turned several of its reporters into FYP mainstays. But amid a tumultuous political climate, some of those voices are going solo in search of editorial freedom.
One notable departure was digital culture reporter Taylor Lorenz, who has launched a newsletter called User Mag. “I just wanted to get out of legacy media,” Lorenz told The Hollywood Reporter last year. “I feel like it’s just really, really difficult to do the kind of reporting that I want to do on the internet within these kind of older institutions as a primary job.”
The push and pull between legacy media companies and the talent they incubate is nothing new. A decade ago, we saw a similar type of friction at BuzzFeed, which lost many of its YouTube stars when those creators chose to strike out on their own. For those individuals, staying big without institutional support hasn’t always been easy, though standouts like Michelle Khare have found success.
Luckily for Jorgenson, the media landscape is now friendlier to independent personalities. Money is flowing into the newsletter biz through platforms like Substack and beehiiv, and Jorgenson is betting that he can absorb some of the viewership that enjoyed his WaPo segments. Local News International already has 100,000 YouTube subscribers, so Jorgenson has a nice base he can build on.
