Racket (Minnesota)
News website
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Racket is a writer-owned, reader-funded website founded in 2021 by a group of former City Pages editors: Jessica Armbruster, Jay Boller, Em Cassel, and Keith Harris. Racket focuses on local news, politics, music, arts, culture, food and drink, and theater in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area.[1][2][3]
 | |
| Type | News website |
|---|---|
| Owner | Writer-owned |
| Founded | 2021 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Website | www |
The previous funding model used by Racket's predecessor City Pages, as well as most alt-weekly newspapers, depended largely on advertising, but Racket's founders felt that this model was outmoded. Instead, it is funded largely by reader subscriptions, a model inspired by the earlier success of Defector Media.[3] Racket reported in 2024 that it had generated $322,000 in revenue over the previous year, including $242,000 from subscriptions.[4]
In 2024, Racket won five Page One Awards, given annually for outstanding journalism by the Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. These included first-place wins for Best Interview (Keith Harris for “My Teen Niece Helps Explain the Taylor Swift Show I Saw on Saturday”) and A&E/Culture Criticism/Reviews (Harris for “I Saw 30 Concerts in 30 Days”).[5] Racket also won four Page One awards in 2023, including first place for Arts & Entertainment Reporting (Jay Boller for “How Music Streaming Impacts Minnesota Musicians“).[6]
