Newspaper/Blog Hybrid Business Model

Part II
(a quick update)

My research into this topic was somehow sidetracked into a search of local newspapers.

Results:
. BC newspapers list at Stuff.com
. ~ at Google Directory
. Free Community papers at VPL
. CPIQ database listing (per VPL)
. List from ShopinVancouver.com
. ~ from ThePaperBoy.com
. Freebase listing
. Ulrich's (per VPL)
. RelocateCanada
. Eye on Vancouver
. Mondo Times
. Newspapers24
. Onlinenewspapers.com

A good starting point, perhaps, to understand the local newspaper scene.

Newspaper blog monetization, however, is a somewhat different kettle of fish...

Blog search

Tech writer's tweets suggest targeted advertising for Twitter
Alan Mutter’s plan for newspapers is an industry-owned ad venture
See his links? >> Monetize blog without seo
affiliate blog convert
long tail keywords

Newspaper/Blog Hybrid Business Model

Part I

I want to know more about how newspapers incorporate blogging into their business model.

Much has been posted on the need for newspapers (particularly North American newspapers, operated by larger corporations and carrying a heavy debt load (1)), to rejig their business plans. For example, Clay Shirky's classic March 13, 2009 post (1,055 comments, as of this writing).

Clay points out that newspapers foresaw the internet's potential impact well in advance and, in the 1990's, came up with an array of plans, but that they ignored the 'unthinkable' scenario that ensued， instead stiving to maintain a doomed order.

The core assumption behind all imagined outcomes (save the unthinkable one) was that the organizational form of the newspaper, as a general-purpose vehicle for publishing a variety of news and opinion, was basically sound, and only needed a digital facelift.

Shirky concludes that:

With the old economics destroyed, organizational forms perfected for industrial production have to be replaced with structures optimized for digital data. It makes increasingly less sense even to talk about a publishing industry, because the core problem publishing solves — the incredible difficulty, complexity, and expense of making something available to the public — has stopped being a problem.

He also compares the present day publishing landscape with the 1500's (impacted by the printing press), pointing out that in a revolution it is hard to predict what will succeed. The traditional model's dominance was based on a publication cost barrier, which enabled high, sustainable advertising and subscription revenues. As ads shift from classifieds to craigslist, and bloggers tackle more of Clark Kent's workload, these revenues are redirected.

We don't know what is going to work, just that it is changing. Clay Shirky suggests we focus not on what works for newspapers, but on what best serves society.

Step back and consider the big picture, in which newspapers are small players owned by globe-spanning corporations (who also own radio, TV and ISPs). If we are to believe the Media Democracy Day folks, these represent an ongoing threat to individual freedom, which behooves us to be cautious in the face of change and to stand up for:

* Education - understanding how the media shapes our world and our democracy
* Protest - against a media system based on commercialization and exclusiveness
* Change - calls for media reforms that respond to public interests, promote diversity, and ensure community representation and accountability.

Perhaps many would regard these 'topics to be avoided at the dinner table' (or in polite conversation), the province of passionate fringers: Entertaining, but disturbing, and certainly not profitable in the short term. However, they do present information of possible value to those speculating on media futures.

Which, in a philosophical sense, is everyone. Or, if you heed the twittersphere, seems like almost everyone in a hardcore PR/marketing/hype/blind-leading-the-blind way.

Reading:

Gans, Joshua. Newspapers in The Voice : Core Economics. The Voice, 13 July 2009.

Put simply, for the vast majority of news, the value comes from being able to talk about and share it ("did you hear about"?) rather than add to your pool of knowledge per se.

Kafka, Peter. What Happens When Your Local Paper Goes Online-Only? It Loses Most of Its Staff. The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, June 24, 2009.

Here’s what the math looks like: I’ve broken up the P&L into three sections, and clicking on each of them will enlarge the image. Or you can view the whole thing as a Google document here.

Notes:
(1) Try Googling 'newspaper debt load'.

Other searches:
newspaper blog business model
newspaper sample business model

Elated News, part 2

(continued from Elated News, part 1)

The 4-Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferriss points out the contradictions in our industrial age mentality of "work now, retire at sixty-five to enjoy life." It delves into various ways we can set up different income streams, so that we can really enjoy life, and do what we love now.

Tim goes into all kinds of communication strategies and ways to save time, and efficiently promote businesses. It was a revolutionary book when it came out.

It sounds very inspiring. Is that what set you on your path?

Dan: Not entirely -- though it was a component. There were other seminars and books that opened my eyes, but The 4-Hour Work Week was significant, for myself and many other people. I go to various entrepreneurial start-up and marketing groups, and usually just about everyone in the room has read it; it has come up in dozens of conversations.

It is a revolutionary idea. Four hours is so different from our concept of a work week.

I should qualify, as Tim does, that the definition of 'work' in the book is 'doing things you don't like to do, just to make money.' The point is to create your cash flow to minimize such activity. If you run an online vitamin store, for example, automate: Have virtual assistants process your orders, a shipping centre for distribution; that element would be four hours. You then do things like speaking or blogging, that takes up much more time.

So, if you love your job, the book is not encouraging you to stop working but, instead, to find out what you are passionate about. In the meantime, you set up a way to make all the money you need so that you are not stressed out and worried.

TO BE CONTINUED ..

Interview: Elated News, part I

Dan Johnston is a writer, speaker & coach dedicated to helping entrepreneurs succeed with their first business.

Dan, how did you come up with the idea for Elated News?

The concept for the paper is a focus on positive, actionable items -- both editorial and stories. There will be a range from local inspirational stories to editorials on relationships, health, business, and general / personal development related articles.

What kind of niche do you see for this publication?

It works for people who want more from their time. Traditional media often leaves you hanging: There is no action to take, no positive feeling. This is bad, both for the reader and also for the businesses supporting the publication. The last person you want to try to sell to is someone disempowered or deflated.

The concept behind Elated News is that people who feel positive and confident are more likely to spend money and support the people behind the publication.

Did that idea come from looking at what is available in the regular media?

Yes. First I went on a media fast (or media diet), about a year and half ago, after reading The Four Hour Work Week. Traditional media, be it the TV news, or many different feeds (obviously newspaper), while they do inform, often don't give you anything you can act on. And they clutter your mind with things that don't benefit your primary goals or objectives.

If your focus is launching a business, reading about all the different things going on in the economy -- albeit entertaining and good for some cocktail party conversation -- won't empower you: It doesn't help you achieve your goals. That was the theme of The Four Hour Work Week: It challenged readers to take a week off from all media and then evaluate whether they want to go back. I never went back.

The media fast lesson isn't a total blackout, but that there are other ways to find things out (for instance, through conversation or, for a high-end executive, having assistants do some research).

Clearly there is a niche for a publication that offers that empowering information.

>> CONTINUED

New York Review of Books

The News About the Internet

Michael Massing provides some thoughtful commentary, such as:

The blogosphere, by contrast, has proven especially attractive to those who, despite having specialized knowledge about a subject, have little access to the nation's Op-Ed pages.

Massing notes that blogging, albeit subject to "polemical excesses" among other issues moves us from journalism's traditionally two-sided (at best) framework, to a multi-faceted discussion. At stake is who will dominate such discussions, and why.

This would be a good backgrounder for Media Democracy Day (November 11, 2009).