The Houston Landing is shutting down today, and you are probably saying to yourself, 'What is the Houston Landing?'
That was a question I received frequently from my readers (who are clearly interested in Houston news, journalism, and media if they are reading my blog) when covering the non-profit digital news outlet in Houston.
If they didn't even know what the Houston Landing was...that was not a good sign.
I was concerned about the Houston Landing's existence when, in six months after its launch, the reported $20 million funded site, which featured Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters, according to Texas Monthly, was generating the same amount of web traffic as the blog you are reading now. And you know I am an unprofessional, unfunded dunderpate with a free blogger account doing this as a hobby.
The Houston Landing reporters did great work. What surprised me is the lack of article output. When working on long-form, investigative journalism, I understand that it takes time, which limits the amount you can publish. However, Houston is not exactly a news desert, and if you want to compete with the many media outlets, you must produce a large number of articles. Perhaps use some of that funding to produce more daily news.
Not only that, but the legacy media in Houston is still holding its own. The Houston Chronicle just won a Pulitzer Prize a few weeks ago. KPRC 2 won a duPont-Columbia journalism award and was nominated for a National Emmy Award, both of which occurred in 2025. These are some of the top accolades in the journalism field. And I don't have the time and space to mention all the other awards Houston media outlets win every year. Just go back and read my old posts!
In the above video, City Cast Houston host Raheel Ramzanali and Texas Monthly senior writer Michael Hardy break down what happened that led to the demise of Houston Landing.
Houston Landing CEO Peter Bhatia posted this goodbye message:
"After more than two years of producing independent, nonpartisan, deeply reported journalism, we have ceased operations due to financial challenges. While this outcome is disappointing, I also feel an immense amount of gratitude and pride in what our team built and accomplished.
When Houston Landing launched in February 2023, we set out to make Houston better, one story at a time. Since then, we’ve published thousands of stories that reached millions of readers, spotlighting issues that matter most to Houstonians.
This final chapter has been among our most meaningful. In just the last month, our newsroom was honored with dozens of awards and recognitions — celebrating the courage, integrity and impact of our reporting. These honors affirm what we’ve always known: outstanding journalism can spark change, uncover truth and transform communities."
