Digital Journal is a global media platform and content partner that elevates voices in the news cycle by capturing and covering firsts.
What do we mean by firsts? It’s simple: those moments in time when a business, a leader, a startup, or an incumbent shares information with the world for the first time. A news flash, if you will.
Today we attract millions of readers, we’ve amassed hundreds of thousands of social media followers, and we publish upwards of 70,000 articles per month.
Founded in 1998, we’re an independent media company that has lived through several waves of media and digital transformation.
Why we do it
We focus on elevating voices in the news cycle so we can help businesses share these firsts with those reading or searching, as well as empower our audiences to learn something new.
Our mission to elevate voices and unearth insight is rooted in our belief that single, important pieces of news and information are lost in a fragmented (and quite frankly loud) news cycle.
We are a platform. And our platform allows us to take news flashes and distribute them to a network of niche publications, so we share firsts both broadly and to niche audiences focused on specific subject matter.
What we value
- We are curious. Always.
- We collaborate.
- We listen more than we talk.
- We value differences.
- We celebrate lived experiences.
Get in touch
We have been a success because we listen more than we talk. Input, feedback, ideas and partnerships are the lifeblood of our organization. If you want to share your thoughts, discuss partnerships, sponsorships, or crazy cool ideas, please do reach out. We can’t wait to hear from you.
Our history
We started in 1998, when the Internet was still in its infancy and we’ve evolved over the years through multiple digital transformations of our own.
You can read the story here, and below is a timeline of highlights:
1998: Digital Journal was founded by journalist Janusz Uiberall who taught himself to code. The initial editorial focus was “digital culture for creative minds.” Uiberall recruited the initial team and launched the publication out of his condo in Mississauga, Ontario in Canada.
2000: Digital Journal entered its first years as a media publication with a technology offering at its core. The tech roots took hold when Alex Chumak joined in 2000. As a developer and designer, Chumak re-coded Digital Journal to be a publisher with a basic custom content management system at its heart. Around the same time, entrepreneur and business leader Grace Krigstin joined Digital Journal as an operational, finance, and strategy leader.
2001: Digital Journal launched a printed publication that was distributed coast-to-coast across Canada. The magazine featured an eclectic range of feature stories, profiles of next-generation Internet thought leaders, major news events, and the creative application of technology in a digital world.
2003: Broadcast journalist Chris Hogg, joins Digital Journal as a freelance writer while also interning at CBC’s Fifth Estate, CBC Sports, and freelancing for the Toronto Star. Hogg quickly climbed the editorial ranks and at 21 he was named Editor-in-Chief, making him one of the youngest editors ever in Canada to lead a national publication. The same year, journalist David Silverberg joined the editorial team, first as a staff writer, then Managing Editor where he and Hogg sought to build a unique publication that covered how digital technology was shaping and affecting daily lives.
2005: Hogg was promoted to Chief Executive Officer of Digital Journal and Silverberg was promoted to Editor-in-Chief. At the same time, Chumak was recognized for his programming skills and creative thinking and assumed the role of Chief Technology Officer (a role he’d really been leading since joining). With a small team of freelance writers, no outside funding, and a shoestring budget, Hogg began working with Chumak to transition Digital Journal from being a publication into a platform.
2006: Digital Journal unveils its new media platform that paired traditional journalism with social media components on a new, custom-build platform architected by Hogg and Chumak. Digital Journal’s new media platform focused on enabling and collecting “citizen journalism” as it was called at the time. The basic premise: democratize the media so professionals and experts alike could contribute. In the year that followed the launch, Digital Journal became a widely recognized global pioneer in managing a new media crowdsourcing business model that paired professional journalism with user-generated content. The idea took off and Digital Journal landed international media attention for innovation in news, hundreds of thousands of readers, and contributors around the globe.
2007-2009: The company refined its user-generated offering to focus less on all crowdsourced content and instead on subject matter experts (SMEs); an application process was launched for writers joining globally; an assignment desk was built; revenue-sharing models were created to pay contributors; and several layers of manual processes were automated to allow for scale. Digital Journal grew from its Canadian roots into international scale and distribution and the company amassed a contributor base of nearly 3,000 writers, journalists and SMEs from every continent.
2010: Digital Journal launches the “Future of Media” conference to explore how media organizations are adapting to the Web, how social media has influenced journalism, and what the future holds for media professionals. In the years that followed, the conference hosted executives and leaders from the BBC, Meta (formerly Facebook), the Globe & Mail, Global News, CTV News, BlogTO and more.
2012: Digital Journal was named among the “best-of-the-best of Canadian entrepreneurship” by the C100 and the company was invited to Silicon Valley to showcase its business and technology.
2013: Publisher and founder, Janusz Uiberall, and CEO, Chris Hogg, were awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for their innovation in the media landscape, and for significant achievement and remarkable service to Canada.
2014-2018: With millions of monthly readers and contributors on every continent, Digital Journal consistently broke news, covered major media events in hard-to-reach places, and began attracting the attention of organizations looking to get news out in an increasingly noisy media landscape. As the company grew, Digital Journal began consulting several other large-scale publishers on new media strategy, and how to create opportunities for innovation. Digital Journal also forged many new syndication partnerships with leading, global PR firms who were coming to Digital Journal to share news, earnings, developments, partnerships — ”the firsts” that the company is known for today.
2018-2022: Digital Journal launches its first niche publication, DX Journal, to cover digital transformation. The niche publication was initially launched as a test for the company to see how its audience would respond to targeted, industry- and profession-specific content. At the same time, Digital Journal re-architected its next content technology platform (again, led by Hogg and Chumak) that would allow it to crowdsource from subject matter experts, publish content from leading press release and market research firms, and tell companies “firsts”. The company ultimately moved to focus on news flashes, a time-tested news format that Digital Journal partner Grace Krigstin advocated for as a lost, but important component in the news cycle — a decision that led to more than 50 organizations coming to Digital Journal to be a content partner.
What’s next: Working for nearly 25 years in the publishing industry, Digital Journal is an award-winning platform that has lived through several waves of digital transformation. Today we publish thousands of stories every day — news flashes and “firsts” — as well as original journalism and in-depth coverage from global subject matter experts. The company is also building on the success of DX Journal and is expected to announce a network of niche content sites that will power the next 25 years of the company’s success of elevating voices online.
Get in touch
We have been a success because we listen more than we talk. Input, feedback, ideas and partnerships are the lifeblood of our organization. If you want to share your thoughts, discuss partnerships, sponsorships, or crazy cool ideas, please do reach out. We’re here to listen.
