Neil Barsky began his journalism career at the Daily News working for Steve Yahn on the business desk and said it was his most enjoyable time in journalism.
After two years, he jumped to the Wall Street Journal in 1988 and then left to join Morgan Stanley in 1993, covering some of the same industries he wrote about at the WSJ.
Five years later, Barsky joined another Morgan Stanley alum to launch the hedge fund Midtown Research. Four years after that, in 2002, the partners split and he launched his own hedge fund, Alson Capital Partners, which beat the market most of its years, but he folded up after one lousy year in 2009.
He spent two years directing the well-received documentary about former Mayor Ed Koch.
But Barsky told The Post he said never fully shook the journalism bug. In recent years, he has been the chairman of the board of overseers of the Columbia Journalism Review.
Just this week Barsky was able to shake Bill Keller, the former executive editor of the New York Times and 30-year Times veteran, to jump ship without too much cajoling and join him at a journalism start-up covering the criminal justice system.
Keller is to be the editor-in-chief of the not-for-profit start-up, the Marshall Project, due to launch later this year.
View video“I reached out to him about a month ago,” Barsky recalled in an exclusive interview with The Post. “We had never met. I outlined in an email what we were thinking of doing. He said, ‘let’s talk.’
“We had breakfast.” A few weeks later, they had a handshake agreement.
Keller, who is writing op-ed pieces for the Times after handing the reins to Jill Abramson two years ago, said, “You like to think you have another act or two in your career.”
He conceded he has never worked on a start-up. A big reason for doing it now, he said, was “Partly Neil. He moves from one crazy thing to another and makes it work. He’s been a journalist, ran a hedge fund that made money and directed a documentary movie about Ed Koch that was critically acclaimed.”
Barsky’s has a different way at looking at online publishing.
“New technology has been both a disaster and boon to journalism,” he said. But Barsky added the “business model is still shaky” for many of the online journalism sites, particularly ones that deals with crime, prisons, etc.
“There is no way to cover the criminal justice, courts and prisons and make money from it,” he told The Post. “There’s no way to support it with ads. In fact, I am skeptical if there is a way to support content sites anywhere. I know there are ‘for profit’ sites, but I suspect none of them have turned major profits. It’s a very difficult model.”
But Barsky does think there would be value to shining a light on the subjects and occasionally catching the public’s interest with great stories.
Speaking from his office at Barsky Ventures on the 25th floor of a West 57th Street office tower, he said he hopes to raise about $5 million in venture funding and launch in the second quarter of this year — a relatively ambitious launch cycle.
“By hiring Keller as our editor, it will free me up to do more strategic things,” said Barsky.
He’s also been working with Jane Spencer, the former executive editor at the Daily Beast under Tina Brown, as an editorial consultant.
Barsky said he eventually expects to hire 25 to 30 staffers.
Keller said he already “has some people in mind, but I am going to be a little coy about that. I’ll certainly look beyond the Times and hopefully not make any enemies here.” His last day is Feb. 29.
Keller said he hopes to build a “first-rate website” and also engage in what he calls “partnership placements” similar to what the New York Times has done with ProPublica, a not-for-profit investigative journalism site.
Added Barsky, “The way to effect change is through high-quality journalism.”