Network Models for News and Media (Why People Join Networks)
Posted on 23. Oct, 2008 by Adeola Oladele.
So why would people join a network?
(Mark Josephson – Outside.In)
The main thing is that it gives people a sense of belonging that is greater than themselves
To help people who wants to be stars to become stars
To help people make money with Ads
To provide tools to make you better
To provide huge audience for you
And a market if you decide to sell.
Also, to meet local publishers needs
To give access to more inventory
What you need to be part of the network:
Scale & Inventory
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Public Support.4 The NPR Way
Posted on 23. Oct, 2008 by Eliot Caroom.
“It’s a tough time for us,” says NPR’s Adam Davidson, there will be new cutbacks. “WNYC is now more corporate support than public gifts, which is a first for them, it’s a first for the system. …The biggest thing that’s new is how to monetize non-station distribution. We sort of own the podcast space. We’re always the top 6 or 8 of the podcasts. But we actually lose money, I believe.”
Member stations don’t want NPR taking money from their local donors. It’s a contentious environment, says Davidson.
“They see themselves as direct competitors to our web stream,” Davidson says of local stations.
NPR’s David Folkenflik says certain popular shows aren’t podcasts because competition with member stations is avoided–there needs to be a reason for listeners to tune in. Folkenflik says members provide 45% of annual revenue, and have the majority of seats on the board.
Davidson says there are 5 million unique web visitors a month versus 30 million radio listeners a month. Folkenflik adds that a good blog post gets tens of thousands of views, compared with a news story that gets millions.
Leonard Witt of Kennesaw State University talks about a pitch he’s been presenting to PBS, and wants NPR to consider it. His idea is a model in which local affiliates of a news network like NPR pay for a premium staff in a certain area, like a water issues desk in drought-stricken Georgia.
“You could tap into a whole other sphere of potential givers,” Witt says.
Adam Davidson responds that he’s seen sponsorship sway NPR coverage. “The meetings I’m in at NPR, …we’re going to make editorial decisions and we’re going to let our funding group know about them.” He has turned down wealthy donors who wanted to create an agenda for the U.S. government’s long term environment policy.
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Revenue.4
Posted on 23. Oct, 2008 by Emily Mayer.
Big issue in display advertising is ad networks have few CPMS. There is a little bit of a backlash from publishers toward third party ad networks.
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Revenue.3
Posted on 23. Oct, 2008 by Emily Mayer.
Discussion of cookie-based data.
Dave Morgan and Scott Meyer say they sell cookie-based data to third parties.Others say it’s against their privacy policies. Meyer feels the revenues that come out of these shared tags represents a good opportunity.
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Public Support.3 ProPublica Continued
Posted on 23. Oct, 2008 by Eliot Caroom.
Tofel says “one year grants or three year grants are not a way to sustain anything. If you were going to sustain this thing one philanthropy, you would need a very broad base.”
Currently ProPublica is funded on rolling 3-year grants from the Sandler Foundation.
What is their direction?
Tasks: 1. Proving they can recruit and retain quality staff. So far, they’re doing well.
2. Prove they can do great stories.
3. Prove they can distribute the stories–“First returns are decent…”
4. Come up with a sustainable model of revenue.
“Our job is to set out to prove 1, 2, and 3,” Tofel says. He aims to do that by 2010: “If we have rung all three of those bells (hopefully) the fourth task will not be the hardest.”
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Revenue.2
Posted on 23. Oct, 2008 by Emily Mayer.
Revenue models: data mining, sponsored feeds, Adsense, syndication.
Purpose of meeting is to define best prospects for revenue and explore new models.
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Public Support.2 The ProPublica model
Posted on 23. Oct, 2008 by Eliot Caroom.
Richard Tofel says ProPublica is the largest investigative journalism staff in the country, and is entirely funded by philanthropy. Most support comes from the Sandler Foundation, with support from others like the McCormack Foundation.
“We’re very cognizant of the fact that we’re making it up as we go along,” Tofel says. He adds that the reason they decided to give away the stories instead of charging, “is it’s an editor-to-editor transactions” and avoids business people getting involved.
ProPublica stories use a dual byline with the reporter’s name, followed by ProPublica.
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Introductions-Revenue
Posted on 23. Oct, 2008 by Emily Mayer.
As people introduce themselves it turns out some people are more interested in money than what’s on their name tags.
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Public Support.1 "What are the real possibilities?"
Posted on 23. Oct, 2008 by Eliot Caroom.
After introductions, Jay Rosen asks for real possibilities for non-market funded, non-state funded journalism? Public support means, beyond funding, public input.
Beyond NPR and ProPublica, what kinds of work could be supported publicly? What never can be? What new ideas or maxims could be offered to the rest of the group?
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Investing in Journalism, One Donation at a Time
Posted on 23. Oct, 2008 by Claudia Cruz.
Anyone can participate. First, someone can leave a story tip. Second, a journalist will find the tip and create a pitch. Third, the pitch is posted on the site and the public begins to donate towards the journalism. Once the amount needed is generated the journalist will begin to write. The story will be shopped to mainstream media and if msm buys the story, all donations are returned to the public.
