With a plethora of lay-offs of newspaper reporters in the U.S., the newly unemployed journalists have turned to the Internet for a continued existence in the news industry. However, these startup, online-only news sites have had limited success, Mediabistro.com reported Thursday.

Last month a team of 30 former Rocky Mountain News journalists, backed by three investors, launched the online based INDenverTimes. Investors had hoped the site would receive up to 50,000 subscribers paying between US$4.99 to $6.99 a month. Kevin Prebuld, spokesperson for the three investors, said so far there have only been 3,000 subscribers.The project is now starting back at square one.
Former Seattle Post-Intelligencer journalist, Kerry Murakami, in conjunction with other former employees of the now exclusively online newspaper, earlier this month launched SeattlePostGlobe.org. The group is currently working without pay and the future remains fragile. Murakami recently told readers that the staff were "volunteering because we believe in this, but realistically we can't do this for long without your help," Mediabistro reported.

Murakami said the sites survival needs "thousands in our community pretty soon to donate $10 a month so we can keep going, at far less pay than we received, while we apply for grants and work to sell some ads."

Two online news sites were formed by staff cut from the Phoenix's East Valley Tribune. Heat City is run solely by former court reporter Nick Martin. The site has currently received $942 in donations, 31 percent of the target. Martin stressed on the site that its continued operation depends on substantial support in the form of donations, Mediabistro reported.

Four more ex employees of the East Valley Tribune, in conjunction with political consultant Bob Grossfeld, launched the Arizona Guardian Web site in January. The site focuses on the state government and charges $150 for full monthly subscriptions ,or $30 for a limited site pass as well as sourcing revenue from advertising. Grossfeld said this broad approach to revenue is learning from where others failed from sole reliance on advertising, subscriptions, or investment as a source of revenue, according to Mediabistro.

The Guardian's results show potential success. After an initial investment of $10,000 from Grossfeld and pro bono work by the reporters, Grossfeld said currently "everybody's getting paid, we have no debt, and each week we're bringing in more revenue than is going out... We've gotten through the first quarter of operations, we're showing a profit."