Brill Sells Fledgling Company Journalism Online

Steve Brill’s Journalism Online, the startup he launched two years ago with the idea that it would be the savior of reporting, has had limited impact so far. But Brill’s sale of the company to R.R. Donnelley & Sons could help it gain the scale it’s lacked so far.

Launched in April 2009, Journalism Online never gained much traction and its growth potential has appeared limited. No major metropolitan papers have signed on, raising the question of whether the concept can work on a broad scale. For R.R. Donnelley & Sons, the purchase is a way to help its newspaper and magazine customers stay in business, and it helps the company with its continuing effort to reduce its reliance on its core printing business. Brill and his co-founder, former Wall Street Journal publisher Gordon Crovitz, are reportedly staying with the company.