Google CEO Eric Schmidt has a plan that he believes may help newspapers generate more revenue for their content. Google's algorthims will start bringing users the news, adapted to their preferences, without the users even looking for it. Because the news will be personalized and highly targeted, the site can charge for premium ads alongside the stories. Problematically, the content producers will not receive a cut from this additional revenue, but Google says that this will still help the newspapers as they will receive more hits on their sites. You can read the Editors' Weblog Post here…….Continue Reading Google to offer more targeted news
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New York Times turns to crowdsourcing
In an experiment aimed at increasing reader interaction, the New York Times has turned to crowdsourcing — using its readers as the sources for news. The paper has published over 650 pages of Timothy Geithner's schedule as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and asked that its readers supply their thoughts on what is worth noting in the document. The NYT has already published some of its own insights and perspective, but is offering the masses a greater chance to weigh in. You can read the blog post in The Independent here…….Continue Reading New York Times turns to crowdsourcing
Fellows Selected for Inaugural News Entrepreneur Boot Camp
Fifteen digital journalists from 10 states have been selected for the inaugural class of the Knight Digital Media Center's News Entrepreneur Boot Camp. Through an intense week of training in audience development, market research, business practices and management, legal issues, and entrepreneurial decision-making, the program will prepare journalists to develop and launch new and sustainable news and information services in the public's interest. The News Entrepreneur Boot Camp will be in Los Angeles in May 2009 and is presented in partnership with the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at USC's Marshall School of Business, the Center on Communication Leadership……Continue Reading Fellows Selected for Inaugural News Entrepreneur Boot Camp
Alex Jones: Endow ‘NewsHour’ with $2 billion
Alex Jones has led one of the nation's most successful nonprofits on politics and the press for nearly nine years. Like many people, though, he doesn't think the fundamental answer to the news media's precipitous slide will be found in the largess of philanthropists and foundations. "The solution to what's happening to news media these days is going to be a commercial one," said Jones, director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. There are two exceptions, though, and one of them is a big one.Jones wants one or more of the world's richest people……Continue Reading Alex Jones: Endow ‘NewsHour’ with $2 billion
Using the brand to make money
Eric Gertler, in The Huffington Post, writes that newspapers should focus less on producing content that they can charge for online and instead work to leverage their brand. By creating new ventures like resume services, membership clubs and classes, newspapers can start to make money off their brand. Newspapers need to hurry, though, as other online competitors, from Yelp to The Huffington Post, continue to take over spaces where newspapers traditionally dominated. You can read the blog on the Huffington Post website here…….Continue Reading Using the brand to make money
The future of ProPublica
Richard Tofel, ProPublica general manager, praised the substantive work that the nonprofit news organization has been able to produce, citing the coverage of health care for contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet Tofel noted that ProPublica could not alone fill the gap in investigative reporting brought on by dwindling newsrooms. Tofel also argued that the organization's next big challenge will be to find a sustainable business model, so it can persist after the grant that began the project runs out. You can read the Poynter article here…….Continue Reading The future of ProPublica
A look at online watchdog news sites
PBS MediaShift has put together a compendium of local watchdog news sites, including a description of the sites like MinnPost and the Arizona Guardian. You can view the list complied by PBS's MediaShift here…….Continue Reading A look at online watchdog news sites
Using Twitter to save newspapers
Umair Haque suggests that the New York Times might save itself by buying Twitter. The NYT could use the timeliness of Twitter to disseminate the news. Haque suggests that Twitter offers the newspaper viral distribution, context, relational capital, and the ability to experiment with business models. You can read the blog post on the Harvard Business Publishing website here…….Continue Reading Using Twitter to save newspapers
Knight Foundation seeks ideas on community news needs
Over the next two weeks the Knight Foundation is asking the public to help define communities' news and information needs. Journalism's biggest foundation is skeptical that communities will have the information they need to be effective citizens in the digital age. You can view the Knight Foundation's press release here…….Continue Reading Knight Foundation seeks ideas on community news needs
InDenverTimes misses subscriber target
After the close of the Rocky Mountain News, reporters and investors sought to launch InDenverTimes, a news site funded by subscribers. Their goal was to have 50,000 subscribers by April 23, in order to fund their launch in May. As of today, however, the site has enlisted just 3,000 subscribers, causing the site's three investors to reevaluate the project. Some reports have suggested that the investors are withdrawing their support from the project, but the Westword blog suggests that they are simply readjusting their business model. You can read the Westword blog post here…….Continue Reading InDenverTimes misses subscriber target