New York Times Jumps Into Local Blogs
Decatur Metro | March 3, 2009The New York Times has created “The Local“, which features two blogs; one that covers a couple Brooklyn neighborhoods and the other that documents a few towns in NJ.
Descriptions on the two sites (description 1 and description 2) make them sound like they’re aiming to be very similar to sites like DM. A little FAQ created by the Brooklyn blogger asks the perennial question “How on earth does the Times expect to make money off this?” Here’s his response…
We’re not sure yet. This is very much an experiment. As this venture grows, we’re hoping that a business model will emerge from it. If you’re a fledgling Internet entrepreneur and you have an idea – well, you can contribute to The Local, too.
Hmm. Doesn’t sound too like they found the magic formula just yet…but I think just jumping in is the best way to figure it out. A big part of the problem thus far has been that news folk everywhere have been attempting to find a business model that can be applied to every community. Just the act of attempting that shows they’ve already missed the point of local blogs. The best ones are molded to their individual communities. That includes how it would possibily make revenue.
Regardless of the eventual outcome, good for them! I’m obviously in full agreement that local blogs are of great value, and I think they’re on the right track by having bloggers blog their own neighborhoods. In terms of being self-sustaining…that’s something everyone is still working on.
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I found this story about the fall of a major daily significant. The implIcations are scary for democracy if the decline of the powerful free press is not quickly replaced.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/27/AR2009022703591.html
I think the phrase “Half-truths, obfuscations and apparent deceit” in the article says it all.
Sadly, it speaks for the other side of the argument, as so many newspapers have become what they once fought against. As the American public has more news sources, in more formats than ever, I won’t miss them.
The news is dead, long live the news.
Wow…I was actually going to put that Wash Post link into this post somehow, but couldn’t figure out how to do it. Thanks for helping me out Progressive dem! I guess many of us are tuned into many of the same news frequencies.
I don’t want to cast any aspersions upon Decatur Metro. I find it to be level headed and democratic. However I believe we will all suffer if the large news organizations fall to the wayside.
There are some professions that everyone thinks they can do. Kind of like opening a restaurant. I like to cook and eat, I should open a restaurant. Or traffic engineering; I drive, so I must be an expert in traffic. Journalism is one of those professions, too.
I appreciate the fine grain focus of the local blogs. They frequently cover and break stories that a large organization with a broader audience can’t cover. However, local blogs often don’t have the resources, talents and expertise to cover and reveal many stories. These could be stories of vital interest to the public like the one presented in the Washington Post. Here at home the AJC is teetering, and while we all complain about the direction of the paper, we will all be losers if they continue to cutback reporters and coverage. (I don’t think I’ve ever seen the paper as thin as it was this morning.)
Very few things are free in this world, and good reporting should be paid for by readers. I don’t think advertisers should be the ones footing the total bill either since they could color the coverage. I’m hoping a new business model will emerge that continues to support the profession of journalism – a profession with a tradition of muckraking and informing that keeps our democracy functioning as well as possible.
Of course they need to charge for online content. A product you’re willing to give away is not one you can sell, and so the model of fee-based paper subscriptions and free online access was doomed from day one. This is a period of transition for newspapers, not an end to journalism.
On that we can clearly agree – You certainly get what you pay for, in newspapers and in the free markets. If you don’t value your own product, your customers won’t either.
But they’ve got to survive with no subsidies. Not from taxpayers, at least. Government funding means government news, and nobody wants that.
The front page of the AJC has made a decided turn to the local. Some of it may have to do with eliminating their national staff, but take note of how many local stories are on the front page.
No worries P dem. If you read regularly (or listened to the podcast) you know that I agree with you. Blogs help fill the gap, but they don’t (and won’t) pop up everywhere, and they can’t muckrake at the level of a pro.
But we don’t have to wait for more papers to go the way of the Rocky Mountain to see the effects. Thousands of smaller towns across the nation have been lacking any sort of real news service for years. Local blogs do a better job of filling the gap in these towns/cities, but it still requires that someone care enough about the municipality to put in the uncompensated effort. As for larger cities…they need newspapers for everything: from the gossip to the investigative stuff.
Yes, I have personal issues with the way the AJC has treated this site over the many months (use it and pretend like it doesn’t exist)…but unlike its presumed feelings towards me, I do NOT wish it ill. ATL needs a newspaper…and if they go down like so many others, I will be angry that they weren’t able to figure out a profitable model.
And I hate to revive a old, old idea…but perhaps it is finally time for a pay model for papers online. NOT for the big national papers (and maybe not at all for national news) – unless they did it all at once…because there’s too much free competition out there. What they need to charge for is the stuff that they have exclusively. That’s all the local news in a one paper market. You might not be willing to pay for opinion, or national news…because you can always get it somewhere else for free. But what about all that state of GA and local news? Where else are you gonna find that?
And if you check your local news page on AJC.com everyday and it disappears, would you pay for it? Maybe not everyone…but I bet a whole lotta folks would if the price was right.