Archive for June, 2009
Non-Profits Seek a Donor Collaborative
Posted on 11. Jun, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
Newspapers aren’t the only ones looking to pool resources. Some of the non-profit news organizations that have been springing up around the country hope to create a network aimed at gathering donations. Last month, at a conference on non-profit media hosted by Duke University, Joel Kramer of MinnPost.com and Jon Sawyer of the Pulitzer Center, […]
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Content you can't afford not to pay for
Posted on 08. Jun, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
We’ll start this week with a final thought on last week’s discussion of the various pay-for-content models that were presented to newspaper publishers a few weeks back. At the Neiman website, reporter Zachary Seward posted a transcript of his conversation with Steve Brill, in which the mogul explains some of the assumptions for his forthcoming subscription platform, Journalism Online. The entire thing is definitely worth a read, or a listen, but here is a key passage:
Brill: We were meeting with the publisher of a major, you know, city newspaper, not a national newspaper, but a big city newspaper. And he said, well, what do you think you need to achieve critical mass? I said, in this town, I’m looking at it. Which is to say, this thing that, you know, if you’re the publisher of a newspaper, you know, in a major city, one assumes your, your reporting, especially on local issues, is really the critical mass, especially if you’re the only newspaper in that city.
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The Mutter Variation
Posted on 05. Jun, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
Steve Brill was not the only guy pitching a pay-for-news start-up to newspaper executives in Chicago last week. News veteran Alan Mutter was also on hand to present ViewPass, his idea for an industry-owned online advertising network.
Click here for the pitch Mutter made to the publishers.
As Neiman Lab reported yesterday, Mutter’s business plan focuses primarily on boosting advertising revenues by serving ads to match readers preferences and behavior, rather than the content on the page. However, readers will register/subscribe to access journalism from the ViewPass member publications.
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Brill's Pay-for-News Pitch to Publishers
Posted on 03. Jun, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
Neiman Lab published details of the pitch Steve Brill is making for paid content yesterday, including a slide show presentation for wooing newspaper publishers. (The slide show is embedded below.)
In his latest venture, Journalism Online, Brill is aiming for an “easy-to-use e-commerce platform”…
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Google Wave and news
Posted on 01. Jun, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
From Jeff Jarvis, via Buzzmachine.
Never underestimate Google. That should have been my 41st WWGD? rule. Just as I was thinking they were behind the curve on the live web – and argued they should buy Twitter – Google attacked it from the left flank with Wave.
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Forcing Your Own Paper Out of Business
Posted on 01. Jun, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
From Jeff Jarvis, via Buzzmachine. Drivers at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune are threatening a strike. I could see a few interesting unintended consequences for the drivers: (A) This forces the paper out of business. They lose their jobs. (B) This forces the paper to go online only and the company takes advantage of bankruptcy to kill […]
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Happy Birthday, Baristanet
Posted on 01. Jun, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
From Jeff Jarvis, via Buzzmachine. Baristanet, the queen of hyperlocal blogs, is five years old today. I remember well the NJ.com Meetup we held back then to try to encourage locals to blog on our site. I learned an important lesson there. Debbie Galant, the original Barista, said starting a town blog was a good […]
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Tick, Tick, Tick
Posted on 01. Jun, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
From Jeff Jarvis, via Buzzmachine. The Observer’s John Koblin reports that the NY Times is considering putting a meter on usage of its site and charging once you’ve read too much. Incredible. They’ve spent the last 15 years trying to get people to stay longer and read more on their site and now they’re going […]
