I’m thinking about charging to read this blog.
I have expenses, you know? And no job!
The problem, of course, is that you probably don’t have a job, either, and even if you did, would not ante up a nickel to hear what I might have to say. (I at least don’t have to pay you to read it. I suppose that’s a consolation.)
Anyway, there is a rising tide of talk (and some action) about newspapers charging for their online content. Here’s a recent article. It’s not a bad idea in principle. Readers ought to value information. (For this blog you would have to get a 75% bullshit mark-down, of course.) And if information has value, people who provide it ought to be compensated.
The problem is partly technological. It’s too damn easy to move information around. Cut, paste, email — and suddenly a New York Times article is free to the 75 people who the buyer sent it to. That’s also a social benefit, I suppose, since the easy and free flow of information protects us from tyranny and despotism as we go broke.
So how do we charge for information without stifling our freedom of communication?
Realistically, I don’t think we do. That’s why I keep going back to this non-profit organization business model, where information providers have the same tax status as, say, churches or charities. You give to the local public information service — like NPR, for example — and you write it off your taxes.
Imperfect, I agree, but better than what we have now.
(Here’s another related piece. I like the term “micropayments.” This is maybe a term the Rell administration would rather use than “fees.”)
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The Courant needs a new business model for these changing times. One idea might be to convert the newsroom into a living-history museum with historical interpreters in authentic garb. Visitors could watch and listen as the interpreters pretend to call the State Capitol, edit stories, monitor the police radio, watch CNN, pick at their dinners at their desks, walk down the street to the original Kenney’s, get called into the editor’s office to be laid off — that sort of thing. The building could also feature an authentic twentieth-century printing press downstairs, and there could be hands-on crafts like compositing and cleaning out one’s desk after accepting a buyout offer.
It could be a fun journey through time, as the interpreters carry out all the activities of late-twentieth-century journalists.
FYI: Paul…I agree with you. Here’s some news from SPJ regarding this PBS-model idea catching on around the country…
REINVENTING THE ROCKY
The Rocky Mountain News may be closed, but its former staffers are still producing quality journalistic reports, thanks in part to IWantMyRocky.com. The newspaper staff started the Web site several months ago in an effort to rally support for the struggling paper. Eventually it morphed into a de facto news site as well, and now contains reports and features that previously would have been in the Rocky. Take, for example, a story about a bus driver who was hit by a truck while helping a woman cross the street. The reaction to Denver losing one of two dailies has struck many people on an emotional level, as Past SPJ President Christine Tatum reported in the New York Times.
INTELLIGENT AT THE INTELLIGENCER
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the lower-circulation competitor of the Seattle Times, will soon follow in the footsteps of the Rocky Mountain News and close if no buyer acquires the paper from Hearst. Some P-I reporters are proposing to start their own venture, a community-funded news entity working off of the generous support of contributors and other donors. The proposal is similar in nature to Spot.us, the nonprofit creation of Knight News Challenge winner Dave Cohn.
Two observations:
1. Alfred R. is wallowing in cynicism in a most creative way.
2. The Courant — or should I say, the Ex-Courant — has enough leftover journalists to make a good shot at organizing a not-for-profit online news service, but lacks a committed leadership.
All too true about my woeful cynicism (I thought the same thing after sending the last post), Paul, and you’re absolutely right about the refugees’ having a good shot at organizing an online news site — a very good online news site considering all the talent they could bring to it. With a good domain name, people would have something of a seed to start with, something planted now that could sprout in the warm spring sun. Carlos has posted some good ideas on a possible site.
Here’s one idea to make it more than volunteer work: Refugees could write freelance stories for newspapers or magazines. The refugees’ online site would link to the stories. (Most online news sites are largely links to stories published elsewhere.) Of course, refugees could do freelance work without an online site, but the site would provide some extra motivation and a sense of unity of purpose. People could meet and discuss freelance ideas, too. It’d be a virtual newsroom, syndicating its work.
As much as a lack of leadership, it’s a failure on the part of most of us to see that we have few if any alternatives.
My own cynicism made me less than receptive to the neo-Conservative motivational gospel of Lee Hecht, the so-called “outplacement service” that doesn’t really place anyone but is hired by the executioners to salve their conscience and console the executed in the most hollow of ways. All the same, by way of trying to inspire fellow Courant refugees into getting together to do something – preferably an online alternative to courant.com, rather than some nebulous news service or freelance agency that poses no threat to The Courant – I urge you to read this “motivational” piece in the Harvard Business Review’s website. It urges you to stop looking for a job. Check it out: http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/cs/2009/02/need_to_find_a_job_stop_lookin.html
That’s a great post, Carlos. The Harvard Business article is a departure from the usual homily on the topic — and thought-provoking. A penetrating comment on the Courant’s displacement service, too (the soft landing in the disposal chute).
To add to the “motivational” article at harvardbusiness.org on how to find a job (stop looking, go out to lunch, do some gardening or meditating, play Backgammon, go rowing on the Charles River, take a round-the-world cruise, etc.), today’s Courant has some useful tips on how to save money. The piece, “10 Easy Ways to Save $2,000 This Year,” isn’t written by a Courant staff writer (they’re all gardening and meditating), but I think you’ll agree that it certainly speaks to Connecticut residents struggling to pay the bills. Among the ideas for your recently laid-off wife: Save on makeup (Chanel) by applying it with a Q-tip; cut the bill for hair highlights from $125 to $50 by negotiating with the hairdresser; save on pedicures by taking your own nail polish to the salon; cut wine consumption to an economical four-pack that lasts for two meals; take your own soda to work (work?); use coupons during shopping expeditions to stores such as Bed, Bath & Beyond. The Courant hits home again.
From a story in Ad Age: One start-up thinking bigger is San Diego News Network, populated with former Union-Tribune journalists and backed by entrepreneurs Neil Senturia and Barbara Bry, who expect nothing less than to take on the local daily when their news site launches March 18. They raised “more than a million” for the news site, which will have a much smaller cost structure than the Union-Tribune thanks to wire news services such as the AP and only 10 employed professional journalists. It will also link to bloggers and hire some freelance contributors.
No doubt we’ll see more big ideas soon. Steven Brill, the onetime journalism entrepreneur and founder of Court TV, American Lawyer and Brill’s Content, resigned as CEO of his non-journalism start-up, Verified Identity Pass, last week to, as he said, “turn toward the ideas I’ve been tinkering with related to the business challenges facing quality journalism.”
Entrepreneurs — that’s what the idea needs. Where would one find them these days in Hartford? Maybe under one of sculptor Carl Andre’s rocks next to Center Church?
I loved the Harvard Business.org article on getting busy volunteering while you dial back on your job search. Thanks, Carlos, for passing it along.
You’re welcome, Marge. Tell-it-like-it-is Alfred: great posts.