News

In July, the Associated Press will begin providing its members with watchdog and investigative journalism from non-profit organizations, a six-month experiment involving four such institutions. If the project is successful, it will likely be expanded to include additional non-profits. The four organizations are the Center for Investigative Reporting, the Center for Public Integrity, the Investigative Reporting Workshop and ProPublica. The venture will give the organizations additional avenues for distribution as well as provide newspapers with additional content. You can read the Editors' Weblog post here…….Continue Reading AP to include non-profits in its service

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has announced that it will bestow $15 million in grants to develop new economic models for investigative journalism. The Center for Investigative Reporting, ProPublica and the Sunlight Foundation are among the largest recipients. Eric Newton, vice president for journalism, made the announcement, saying, "We're awash in information, yet it seems to be getting harder to find good investigative reporting." You can read the Knight Foundation's press release here…….Continue Reading Knight Foundation gives funds for new models

John Harris, co-founder and editor of POLITICO, has said that the media organization will become profitable by the end of this year. The site makes money through advertisements in its traditional paper and also through its partnership with regional newspapers who exchange advertising for content. Harris also noted that Politico sends more reporters to cover the White House than any other organization. You can read the article from BeetTV here or watch the video below:……Continue Reading Harris: Politico will become profitable

In a move to provide additional benefits for subscribers, BusinessWeek will offer a special online version of the printed magazine available only to paid users. The change is an attempt to differentiate the online content, spurred by breaking news, from magazine articles, which are more analytical and forward-looking. Nonpaying users of the BusinessWeek Web site will still be able to access all of the content, but in a different design. Read the MediaWeek article. — June 15, 2009……Continue Reading BusinessWeek redesigns Web site for subscribers only

The Uptake,/a> which founder Jason Barnett calls Minnesota's "C-SPAN for the common man," provides video coverage of Minnesota politics. The site has recently received much publicity, especially because of the state's Senate recount, when MinnPost and other competitors re-streamed The Uptake's video on their sites. Despite the positive coverage, the Web site is seeing its revenue dwindle. During the 2008 election, the site received funding from political organizations like the Alliance for a Better Minnesota, but since then those major funding sources have dried up. Instead, The Uptake relies solely on small donors, and cash on hand is tight. It……Continue Reading Minnesota The Uptake’s fortune is uncertain

Google News is experimenting with including links to Wikipedia among its other news links. For now, Google is only providing those links to a small number of users, but you can see screenshots from blogger Michael Gray, who is one of those guinea pigs. If this experiment turns mainstream, it will catapult Wikipedia into the world of journalism, and serve as the ultimate example of crowd-sourcing. You can read the post from the Nieman Journalism Lab here…….Continue Reading Google includes Wikipedia in news searches

With Detroit's newspapers cutting home delivery to three days a week, two brothers are looking to start their own printed publication. Mark and Gary Stern are in negotiations with contractors to begin publishing a newspaper covering Metro Detroit. The fledgling news organization will contract out distribution and printing. They expect to charge 50 cents for the daily paper and $1 on Sundays. You can read the article in Detroit News here…….Continue Reading A start-up newspaper may launch in Detroit

USA Today will produce an electronic version of its newspaper to send via email to those willing to pay for it. While USA Today's Web site will remain free, the paper will charge slightly less than the printed paper for customers to receive an emailed version. USA Today's executives are considering other ways to increase revenue, like paid mobile applications. The new e-newspaper service will begin Aug. 3. You can read the story from the Associated Press here…….Continue Reading USA Today now charging for e-newspaper

The latest iPhone has a variety of updates and new features. Perhaps the most significant for the news industry is that content can now be bought from within iPhone applications, allowing news organizations to charge micropayments or subscriptions for mobile access. Another possibility might have newspapers joining together to create a Hulu-like site for newspapers. Despite these developments, the existing diversity of smart phones might slow the progress of charging for mobile content. You can read the Editors' Weblog post here…….Continue Reading iPhone mobile update may aid newspapers

The retired president of Cox, Jay Smith, and the former editor of the Rocky Mountain News discuss their ideas for the newspaper's industry to monetize their content. Smith argues that the newspapers individually lack power, and probably do not produce much that they can charge for. However, he suggests that the AP does have that power. He cites one of countless examples: "How much might, say, the soft drink industry pay for a daily report of EVERY news item of interest printed in every U.S.newspaper?" You can read the Temple Talk blog post here…….Continue Reading The power of the AP might save newspapers