Digital Newsroom Business model

We all know that the old newspaper model has been broken by the creation of online newspapers. Advertisements in print newspapers started to cut back. Readers and advertisers started to migrate to online newspapers. The good news is people went to the Internet to read the newspaper, but the bad news is people weren’t paying for it.

My journalism class final project was to come up with a new business idea for the digital newsroom.
My business idea is simple. It’s all about subscriptions and package deals.

Online newspapers should limit their websites and offer monthly and package deals. If this happens consumers will be forced to buy a subscription or even buy a print newspaper. When accessing the website consumers will be able to view the major headlines for that days newspaper to see if they are even interested in the articles and if they are willing to pay a small fee.

Examples of Subscription Deals: Yearly, Monthly, Sectional and one-day small payments that would be less than a dollar.

Prices are estimated. I’m not good in math.  The prices are just to give you an idea of what my plan is.

Subscription deals:
• For the year- New York Times $45 dollars gives Full Access
• For the month – New York Times $5 gives full access to all articles
• One day use – The New York Times would be less than a $1 – The website will give readers 24 access for that day to the newspaper.
• Sections – The New York Times – small fee less than $4. This is good for people who just like reading the sports section or just the arts sections. Consumers will pay for just what they want to read.

Promotional Package Deals:
Get these 5 prestigious newspapers now for just $60 a year with this promotion!
• New York Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Wall Street Journal. – Consumers will be able to access all articles
Get these Local New York Newspapers now for just $ 30!
• New York Post and The Daily News!

Every news publication will have promotional deals because people love deals and saving some money!

Here is another crazy idea that is not related to the previous one.

Telephone companies have mastered micro payments way before newspapers even thought about using it for online newspaper revenue. Newspapers could charge for viewing their articles on a smart phone. For example the New York Times would have an application on smart phones for $.99. Then after it is paid, people will be able to access the website any time. Just that small flat fee will give consumers access to its website for the entire year.

 

 

This article has nothing to do with journalism, but I thought it would be interesting to read. 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090421/ap_on_sc/eu_britain_new_planet Scientist discovered planets not too far from our solar system that are similar to earth.

 

Protecting journalists

Many states have shield laws for journalists, which is a law that protects journalists from revealing confidential sources.  There should be a federal shield law protecting all journalists.  If there wasn’t  confidential sources corruption of the LAPD wouldn’t have been revealed and the Watergate scandal wouldn’t have never happened.  Journalists should not be jailed for doing there job.  Get the truth is entitled in their job.

Read this article: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-shield16-2009apr16,0,6860719.story

 

There is still Hope…

Don’t fear, even though newspapers are declining, college students are still flocking to journalism schools. Journalists have to be doing something right. Young journalists can’t get enough of the adrenaline rush that comes with the job. The idea of being a multi-tasking journalist still does not scare away prospective journalists.

What does it matter what form the journalism is being presented to you, whether it’s on newspapers, on t.v, or on the internet. It is still good journalism if it is presented on the internet and young journalists curiosity and enthusiasm will shape the evolution of journalism.

To read the article its in the LA Times.

 

Decline of Newspapers

News update on the status of declining newspapers.

The New York Times plans to close the City Section.  There are also discussions to eliminate regional weeklies in New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester and Connecticut.  This is one of the most prestigious newspapers and its even becoming affected by the decline in readership.  If one of the most well-know newspaper is eliminating some sections than small town newspapers do not stand a chance.

Sun Times Media Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  This is the second Chicago-based newspaper chain to file for bankruptcy.  Three other newspapers filed for bankruptcy recently: Journal Register Co., The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.  

Detroit’s daily newspaper, Detroit Free Press ended home delivery for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. The newspaper is directing readership to its online website.

The Rocky Mountain news, Cincinnati Post and Seattle Post Intelligencer have gone out of Business. 

A good article to read is “End of Journalism” by Andrew W. Stephens.

 

Local Newspapers dying, Cardin’s Revitalization newspaper act might help

The newspaper model is broken and newspapers are fighting for survival. Senator Cardin, a democrat, introduced a bill to help newspapers. Cardin’s Newspaper Revitalization Act would allow newspapers to operate as nonprofits for educational purposes under the U.S. tax code, giving them a similar status to public broadcasting companies.  

This act hasn’t been a big hit with co-sponsors or the media, but it is a start for newspaper revenue. Advertising and  subscription revenue will be tax exempted so newspapers could profit more from it.  This bill is aimed to preserving local news since it is disappearing.  Since ad revenue and circulation has  declined local newspapers are hugely affected by the economic recession.  Newspapers like the Rocky Mountain News and the San Francisco Chronicle has stopped publishing newspapers.  Newspapers need to saved, but time is running out.

 

Benefiting from micro payments: Telephone companies: 1 Online Newspapers: 0

Cellphones companies have mastered  micro payments way before newspapers even thought about using it for online newspaper revenue.  An article in the New York Times has a good statistic from  Piper Jaffray, a market research firm. A published report recently said it expected consumers to spend $13 billion on downloads to their phones in 2012, up from $2.8 billion this year.

iPhones applications have become a fad of this generation.  People rather buy applications on their cell phones than on their computers because it is quicker to download. People could rank up to $20 a month for phone applications.  Now if this isn’t a clever way for phone companies to make money than what is?

What if newspapers charged for viewing their articles on a smart phone.  For example the New York Times would have an application on smart phones for $2.99. Then after it is paid,  people will be able to access the website any time, but it won’t necessarily be free. Rather than some one just accessing The New York Times website for free,  people won’t be able to view the website unless they pay a $2.99 application fee.  Everyone does not have a smart phone, but the money collected from the micro payments will start to gain some revenue for online newspapers.

 

Finding a solution for online newspapers revenue is not as easy as it looks

  In the last five years the traditional ideas of newspapers are becoming something of the past.  Since the traditional newsroom is dying,  journalist are looking for new ways to make money in the new digital newsroom.  The traditional newspaper model relies on 80 percent of advertising  and 20 percent of circulation.  Most of the revenue from advertising came from the classified ads, which gave readers the opportunity to look at job listings, apartment searches etc.

 How do online newspapers make a profit? Well, it simply doesn’t make a profit.  Journalist are trying to come up with clever ways, like crowdfunding to help fund newspapers.  Crowdfunding are micro payments through the internet.  Spot.us is one website that has experimented with crowdfunding.  On this website, journalist will pitch a story and will ask for a donation from readers to fund the story.  When the amount is fufilled the journalist will write the story.  Will this be able to fund the new digital newspapers?  This might work for small town newspapers, but large publications like the New York Times can not make a profit by crowdfunding.  The New York Times publishes so many articles a day it would be impossible to wait for peoples donations.  Immediate news needs to be written as soon as it happens.  News consumers can not wait until the story has made enough money for it to finally be written.  It’s just not realisitc.  A great article about crowdfunding is “Can Crowdfunding help save the journalism business?” by Mark Glaser

 

Out with the old & in with the new digital newsroom

“We live in an entrepreneurial age, not an institutional one,”said John Harris o f

Politico.com

 

 

The traditional job of a journalist has shifted.  Journalist need to know how to multi-task in the new digital newsroom. There will be new forms of media and storytelling.  Journalist will have to get use to carrying around a digital camera, and video cameras to record audio for their own sounds clips.  Journalist can’t only report and write anymore.  They will have to take their own pictures, which then inevitably will replace photojournalist. Newspapers are disappearing but is it because of the digital revolution or is it because  of the one of Americans worst recessions?   It could be a combination of both.  It is true that less people are buying newspapers, but because of the recession advertisers can’t dish out a lot of money to help profit newspapers.  It is still a vital source for news consumers, but the internet has became a vicious competitor since it gives free information for news consumers. It is weird to think that possibly in 10 years newspapers could just be a memory of the past.  

In this post-paper newsroom journalist will became a beat blogger.  Blogs will basically have short entries throughout the day with video or audio clips, which then they have to give instant updates on their beat blogger.  Journalist will be required to respond to comments and questions that readers have about their blogs.  Also in the reinvented newsroom, journalist will participate in social networks like Facebook, to spread the word about their work and to collect readers.   The internet gives news consumers fast immediacy for free.    College graduate students are what employers are looking for because they  are easily adaptable to change and are egger to learn.  Newspaper journalist who can not adapt to the new shift will inevitably loose their job.  

Some of those newspapers will live on purely in digital form, reinvented (and inevitably downsized significantly). - Steve Outing 

 

 

Steve Outing