Category: News

Many have expressed excitement over the new Huffington Post Investigative Journalism Fund, which will support projects in investigative reporting. Others are concerned that the role of The Huffington Post as a funder might bias the journalism towards the left, reflecting the blog's well-known slant. Others doubt that lump-sum journalism is a viable option for the future. In the short-term, it may work, but the long-term sustainability of such funding remains tenuous. You can read the full article on Journalism.co.uk here…….Continue Reading Excitement, criticism over Huffington Post initiative

The Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation has given West Virginia University $85,000 to produce multimedia content for rural newspapers. The university's journalism school has begun training rural newspaper staffers to produce video and audio content, as well as blogging and social networking. Read the Charletson Daily Mail article. — April 6, 2009…….Continue Reading Grant for WVU to help rural newspapers

The New York Times has launched a new interactive feature that allows readers to upload their pictures of the economic recession to its Web site. The project is titled P.U.F.F.Y. – photo upload form for you – and had its trial run during the Hudson plane crash. The site now has hundreds of photos, in categories of business, home, transportation and others. You can read the Editors' Weblog post about P.U.F.F.Y. here. Postscript (7/14/10): From browsing the NYT website, it seems as if P.U.F.F.Y was a one-time experiment with only moderate success. There are no other areas on the website……Continue Reading The NY Times; new citizen photojournalism

The Reynolds Journalism Institute is a nonprofit think tank affiliated with the University of Missouri's School of Journalism. The Institute is working to preserve journalism and help journalists monetize on their work. One of their first ventures is creating a social networking site that allows solo journalists to connect and collaborate with one another. The Institute is also funding research for a portable, electronic device that would carry the news. The Institute is funded by a grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. You can read about the work of RJI in this article by the Associated Press…….Continue Reading Think tank trying to help solo journalists

In The American Journalism Review, Paul Farhi contends that the Associated Press may have hastened the decline of newspapers by providing online carriers with their wire service. Newspapers, which have watched their medium unravel as audiences move online, own the AP. Thus, says Fahri, they have been handing their online competitors the means to challenge their very viability. You can read Farhi's article on AJR here…….Continue Reading Claim: AP has helped undo newpapers

Martin Langeveld does the math on charging viewers for online news, and he guesses that newspapers would be facing a net loss in revenue if they imposed pay walls for their content. There is little data on which to base these calculations, so there are a fair amount of assumptions involved in his assessment, but the conclusions are nevertheless noteworthy. Read the Nieman Journalism Lab post. — April 3, 2009……Continue Reading Does it pay to impose a pay wall?

At The Cable Show, Rupert Murdoch discussed his company's future plans–such as an investment in a four-color Kindle-like device–and dismissed the idea that a closure of the San Francisco Chronicle would be a bad omen for the future. Perhaps most interesting, Murdoch maintained that the New York Times would work well under a pay wall, countering common opinions that the Wall Street Journal is unique among newspapers in consumers' willingness to pay for content. You can read Murdoch's comments on paidContent.org's post…….Continue Reading Murdoch discusses newspapers' future

Maryland Sen. Benjamin Cardin wrote in today's Washington Post about the reasons he submitted the Newspaper Revitalization Act, a bill to assist newspapers in becoming non-profits. He argues that, while a non-profit structure might not be optimal for some newspapers, many smaller and more local newspapers would benefit from the creation of a IRS category of "qualified newspaper corporation." You can read Sen. Cardin's article in the WaPo here…….Continue Reading Sen. Cardin makes his case for Newspaper Revitalization Act

More than 100 Members of Parliament (MPs) have signed a motion that encourages the government to support local journalism, but not the media conglomerates who "have already extracted millions of pounds from their businesses whilst cutting investment in editorial resources." Though the motion does not carry the weight of law, it does indicate that Parliament is unlikely to heed Newpaper Media Alliance's request for governmental assistance. Perhaps the US should be taking notes on these proceedings. You can read the full article on UK government funded news from the Guardian here…….Continue Reading MPs issue statement of support for local journalism

Editor and Publisher suggests a new profit model for newspapers — Low-Profit Limited Liability Company, or L3C. An L3C is "a corporation that qualifies as a charity under IRS rules but runs as a for-profit business." An L3C is allowed to take money from charities and nonprofits because it serves a social benefit. The Newspaper Guild is currently lobbying Congress for legislation that would state explicitly that newspapers serve this social benefit. You can read the Editor and Publisher article in its entirety here…….Continue Reading Newspapers as L3Cs?