The WordPress Media Corps initiative, introduced in 2024 by then-Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy, has officially come to an end. The experiment, which was initially designed to strengthen ties with independent media, later struggled with scalability, lagging updates, and low engagement. Despite early momentum, these persistent challenges led to its discontinuation.
Initial Progress and Momentum
At the start of the experiment, there was enough momentum with Josepha highlighting the next steps for the Media Corps. This involved creating a Make Media Corps team, blog, and Slack channel, the temporary archiving of the Make Marketing Team and Slack channel, and so on.
Later on, the initial roadmap was published by Reyes Martínez, in which the goal was stated as, “The WP Media Corps aims to enable independent WordPress marketers and media members to produce excellent quality content with less time and effort.” The media partner criteria guidelines were also published.
The first Media Corps contributor meeting, held on May 22, 2024, aimed to introduce participants, align on project goals, and lay the groundwork for Phase 1 of the experiment. The last update regarding Media Corps was on September 20, 2024.
Progress Slows Following Leadership Departure
Josepha Haden Chomphosy and Reyes Martínez left Automattic in October, and following their departure, the Media Corps experiment became inactive.
With no dedicated marketing team in place and the Media Corps experiment now concluded, WordPress is once again without a coordinated marketing initiative.
The Community Response
In response to the closure of the Media Corps experiment, Jono Alderson pointed out that, “ So now we don’t have a marketing function, OR a (parody of a) PR function. How exactly are we planning to engage and build recognition and preference with our potential audience, exactly?”
Courtney Robertson on X said, “ Looking forward to the #WordPress marketing team reopening since that was closed for the experiment for the Media Corps.”
Nicholas Garofalo tweeted, “ A little over a year ago, we opened a WordPress Media Corps. It was fun getting to know some of the amazing authors and creators in our community, but it never really caught on.”
sé reed on X voiced, “ It’s almost as if “retaliation” and “harassment” were explicitly against the #WordPress Code of Conduct (and the law) and some lawyers introduced the concept of “clear evidence of retaliation and harassment”. They should introduce “accountability” next.”