How 4 Vice alums are building a new media company with ambitions to turn its journalism into film and TV

• Four top journalists have left Vice to start a new tech outlet, 404 Media.
• It’s part of a trend of journalist-led news startups that have eschewed institutional funding.
• The founders discussed their plans to expand into filmed entertainment as well as other media.

Vice Media’s bankruptcy led to scores of layoffs and exits and left remaining staffers demoralized, and now four senior writers and editors have departed to launch their own independent tech news outlet, 404 Media.

Behind the new venture are Jason Koebler, the former editor in chief of Vice’s tech vertical, Motherboard, along with its executive editor Emanuel Maiberg, senior editor Samantha Cole, and senior staff writer Joseph Cox.

As advertising and institutional funding for journalism dries up and once high-flying upstarts like Vice collapse under the weight of unrealistic valuations, a number of journalists have gone to start lean, subscription-based news startups.

404 Media will start small and focus on the areas where its founders have deep experience, including hacking, sex, artificial intelligence, consumer rights, cybercrime, and surveillance.

Over time, they plan to put articles behind a paywall (starting at $100 per year) and explore advertising sales.

They also plan to expand some of their work into books, documentaries, feature films, and podcasts.

404 Media is partnering with Derek Mead, a producer with Earthbound Pictures, a documentary production house, to develop ideas. Mead is a fellow Motherboard alum; he and Koebler also are executive producers on a docu-series, “Encounters,” from Steven Spielberg’s production company Amblin Television, that’s due to launch September 27 on Netflix.

They’re also actively developing pitches about the Right to Repair movement, which gives device and equipment owners the right and access to repair them; and cyber-crime themes drawing on Cox’s reporting.

404’s founders said while they all worked on stories that were turned into filmed projects at Vice, they believe they’ll have more leeway and control over what projects they pursue at an independently financed publication.

Projects they were involved with at Vice included “The Most Unknown,” a doc directed by Ian Cheney that explored scientific mysteries and streamed on Netflix; “Sold Out: Ticketmaster And The Resale Racket,” which ran on Tubi; and YouTube doc series “Cryptoland.”

“We have a track record of working with these sorts of companies,” Koebler said. “I’m very proud of our Vice work.There’s a set process for how to turn something into a documentary.”

Vice’s financial woes also were a factor in their exit. Vice’s bankruptcy proceedings revealed high bonuses for execs while severance to laid-off workers was delayed and vendors went unpaid. The company was bought out of bankruptcy in July by an investor group led by Fortress Investment Group for $350 million, a fraction of its onetime valuation of $5.7 billion.

“I never had an issue with editorial freedom,” Cox said of his tenure at Vice. “Now we can have financial freedom, so if we think this is a good idea, we can build upon it. We can be nimble, agile.”