Hell Gate NYC

Hell Gate NYC is an online worker-owned publication focused on local New York City news. The publication is named after the Hell Gate Bridge, due to the bridge's reputation for tenacity. Hell Gate covers a wide range of topics that include, but are not limited to, political corruption, local street performers, and strange subway advertisements.

History
The founders of Hell Gate, Nick Pinto, Esther Wang, Christopher Robbins, Max Rivlin-Nadler, and Sydney Pereira, began developing the idea for the publication in 2021. Many of them were former coworkers at local publications such as the Village Voice, The New York Times, and Gothamist, as well as non-NYC publications such as Jezebel and The Intercept. Pinto, Robbins, and Rivin-Nadler had all faced job instability as journalists due to companies mismanaging resources, lacking funding, and cutting budgets. In January 2022, they pitched the idea of Hell Gate to fifty local journalists, and recruited Pereira and Wang. The team decided that their publication would have a snarky tone like pre-acquisition Gothamist, and that they would approach stories from a human rights-oriented perspective.

Hell Gate launched the website as a test on 2 May 2022, and launched in full two months later.

Business model
Hell Gate 's initial funding came from two New York-based organizations for the arts: a $25,000 grant from The Harnisch Foundation, and a $50,000 grant from the Vital Projects Fund. It supports its journalism with tiered subscriptions to access its articles behind a paywall. The founders believed that a subscription-funded business would work. , the site had 2,500 paid subscribers and 200,000 monthly visits.

To keep costs down, they wrote from home and published online, using the same provider as Defector Media, another worker-owned cooperative.

Hell Gate is a worker-owned cooperative, meaning all of the owners have the job of reporter, editor, and managing the business. They also hire freelancers. As of March 2024, all of the worker-owners were paid $60,000 per year. The company offers three monthly paid tiers: friend ($6.99), supporter ($9.99), and believer ($19.99). They also have annual subscriptions, with the corresponding tiers being $70, $100, and $200. Hell Gate also offers a free newsletter. Advertisements are not a major source of revenue. Half of its revenue comes from donations.

Reception
Hell Gate has been identified by numerous outlets to be part of a resurgence in indie publishing. They have been favorably compared to other worker-owned sites like Defector and 404 Media.