Lean journalism: lean thinking principles and news values applied to Brazilian news startups

Abstract

This article aims to present the concept of lean journalism as a perspective to investigate news startups in Brazil. We have selected two examples: Projeto Draft and AgênciaLupa, and performed a qualitative analysis of their manifestos, through which they introduce themselves to the audience, advertisers, sponsors and future partners. Those open letters to the public reveal how Internet-based news companies are defining the present and future of journalistic business models and products, especially in Brazil, and a good part of this revolution, as the manifestos show, is about rethinking methods to produce and manage information as a corporate asset, as well as revisiting as reinforcing classic news values.