Mark Josephson, the CEO of news aggregation site Outside.in, proposes a simple mantra to save newspapers: aggregate, curate, and network. First, newspapers should start to aggregate local content to attract readers with stories that affect their lives. Second, newspapers are uniquely poised to curate the information available online, by supplying their own editorial voice and separating the wheat from the chaff. Finally, newspapers need to partner with local media, blogs, and businesses to generate profits from their work. You can read the Business Insider article here…….Continue Reading Josephson: three steps for profitability
News
Should newspapers publish once a week?
Theodore F. di Stefano suggests in the E-Commerce Times that newspapers begin publishing weekly rather than every day. By publishing in-depth coverage of current news that is not available on the Web or in current weekly magazines, newspapers could offer a unique perspective that could prove profitable. It would require a change in the way newspapers cover the news, but could save them from going under, he says. You can read di Stefano's article here…….Continue Reading Should newspapers publish once a week?
Could the Kindle encourage micropayments for news?
Daniel Finkelstein of the London Times muses on the possibility that the Kindle will prompt people to pay to subscribe to newspapers. He even suggests that the newspapers could give the Kindle away and then charge for content, noting that it costs the New York Times more to print and deliver their newspaper than it would be to purchase Kindles for its subscribers. You can read Finkelstein's entry on the Times…….Continue Reading Could the Kindle encourage micropayments for news?
Resistance to government’s role in saving newspapers
The response to Sen. Benjamin Cardin's proposed legislation to help newspapers become nonprofits has been met with some criticism. James Taranto of The Wall Street Journal argues that the guidelines for nonprofits would prevent them from writing commentary on legislation and candidates, and thereby have a chilling effect on journalism. You can read the full Wall Street Journal article here. In the Cleveland Plain Dealer, columnist Kevin O'Brien goes farther, saying that newspapers must reject Cardin's proposal. You can read the column in Cleveland Plain Dealer here. Still others, including the editor of a Southern Maryland paper, note the prohibition……Continue Reading Resistance to government’s role in saving newspapers
Former newspaperman starts watchdog site
Jim Walls, formerly of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, has started a new site devoted to ethics and transparency in government. Atlanta Unfiltered will focus on public records, and shy away from any interpretation or opinion. You can read the post from Altanta Unsheltered here…….Continue Reading Former newspaperman starts watchdog site
Newspapers as non-profits? Tax savings but some big downsides
Given the fact that many newspapers seem headed toward nonprofit status anyway, it's perhaps not surprising that someone would try to make it official. Legislation introduced this week by Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland would enable newspapers to establish themselves as tax-exempt nonprofits and qualify for significant expense savings courtesy of Uncle Sam. Under the Cardin measure, they wouldn't have to pay income taxes on income derived from advertising sales. That's a big difference from existing IRS regulations, which customarily extract federal income taxes on advertising revenue derived by nonprofits. (There are a number of exceptions to this, including one……Continue Reading Newspapers as non-profits? Tax savings but some big downsides
Legislation would give newspapers a non-profit avenue
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:””; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin has introduced a bill, the Newspaper Revitalization Act, that would enable newspapers to restructure as non-profits by offering a variety of tax breaks. Though this might not save large conglomerates, Cardin hopes it will save local and community newspapers. Read the Reuters story. ……Continue Reading Legislation would give newspapers a non-profit avenue
ExecTweets tries to capitalize on Twitter
No one has quite figured out how to harness Twitter's popularity into a revenue stream. But the ad network, Federated Media, is about to try. The group has launched ExecTweets, a site sponsored by Microsoft, which aggregates "tweets" from business executives. Twitter users can reply directly from the site, recommend new executives to follow and other community-oriented features. You can read the blog post from Mashable here…….Continue Reading ExecTweets tries to capitalize on Twitter
Saving newspapers through ad optimization?
The Rubicon Project is currently the third-largest online advertising company, after Google and Yahoo!. The Los Angeles based company is now promising that their ad-optimization technology could increase online revenue for news outlets by 60 percent. Frank Addante, the company's founder, suggests that technology that can adapt ads to the particular article in more sophisticated ways will increase profits for news outlets, eventually making up for the loss of advertising on the print side. You can read the Los Angeles Times article in its entirety here…….Continue Reading Saving newspapers through ad optimization?
Mother Jones may be the model
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that non-profit magazine Mother Jones has recently been fielding phone calls about their funding and operations. The investigative news magazine takes in money from advertising and circulation, but half of its funding comes from contributions. In this climate, some are looking to this magazine as a model for others. You can read the article in the San Francisco Chronicle here…….Continue Reading Mother Jones may be the model