By Isabella Simonetti | Photographs by Amir Hamja for WSJ

Oliver Darcy left CNN, one of the most recognized news outlets in the world, to start a newsletter. It has quickly become a must-read for the power brokers of publishing and entertainment.

Darcy's newsletter, Status, which launched in August, is fueled by juicy tidbits about media deals, newsroom spats and executive moves. He was first to report that then-New York Magazine correspondent Olivia Nuzzi had a romantic relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and that ABC News was going to re-sign anchor George Stephanopoulos last fall.

Status has accumulated more than 70,000 total subscribers since August and is on track to surpass $1 million in annual recurring revenue by the end of 2025. Darcy declined to comment on how many subscribers are paying members.

"People have really gravitated towards Status because they don't feel like they're getting a filtered version of what's transpiring in the industry," Darcy said.

Darcy has been running his venture as a one-man operation, until now. This week, he brought on longtime CNN editor Jon Passantino, who oversaw media coverage and CNN's Reliable Sources newsletter. Darcy plans to add more employees down the line, and launch a podcast later this year.

"He is the opposite of blasé about a political moment in which the president of the United States is overtly and proudly hostile to the press," David Remnick, the editor of the New Yorker, said of Darcy.

Status's early success highlights the growing popularity of independent and nontraditional news outlets targeting niche audiences. It also shows the potential appeal for reporters to launch their own brands via platforms like Beehiiv and Substack where they can earn more money and flexibility, but lose some of legacy media's guardrails.

Status offers limited versions of its emails for free, and subscriptions start at $149.95 a year or $14.95 a month.

There are plenty of options for news junkies looking for fresh voices. Among them are Puck News, which features reporting on areas including Washington, Hollywood, media and sports, and another CNN alum, Jim Acosta, who already has more than 250,000 subscribers on a new Substack.

"There are a lot of really exciting new media companies that have sprouted up in the debris falling from some of these legacy news organizations," Darcy said.

Other media outlets like Puck have developed robust audiences. About a year ago, the New York Times reported that Puck had amassed roughly 40,000 paid subscribers. That number has grown significantly since then, according to people familiar with the matter.

Matthew Belloni, a founding partner of Puck and former editor in chief of the Hollywood Reporter, said newsletters are more casual and approachable. "That, I think, is more appealing to people who are distrustful of the 'mainstream media.'"

Darcy decided to launch Status after entering contract negotiations to reup his deal with CNN last year. The outlet offered him a pay increase, according to a person familiar with the matter, but the opportunity to go out on his own and report straight to readers was more enticing.

He said the unfiltered nature of his reporting is compelling to Status readers. "If someone is a right-wing conspiracy theorist, we are calling them a right-ring conspiracy theorist," he said.

That independence can also come with certain risks. When Darcy was launching Status, he didn't have a stable of lawyers on retainer to review his pieces before publication, like traditional outlets do, and instead relied on pro-bono help.

He now has lawyers he can consult pre-publication on sensitive stories if needed.

Darcy put several thousand dollars into getting Status up and running, and it currently has no outside backers. But he has been approached by outside media companies about potential investments.

Write to Isabella Simonetti at isabella.simonetti@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 25, 2025 08:00 ET (13:00 GMT)

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