But bad news for journalism entrepreneurs

Meanwhile staying on the subject of the business model for journalism,Robert Niles believes that we are all wasting our time as there is no new revenue model for journalism.

Instead according to Robert,

By reducing the barrier to entry for new publishers to almost zero, it has vastly increased the number of competitors reaching any given publisher's audience.That's why we have to find new production models that work.

For all the talk of the journalist as an entrepreneur........

My former tutor at UCLAN,Andy Dickinson was present at the hyperlocal session at News Rewired yesterday and makes some good points on his blog.

I sat in the same session and I left this comment on his site.

For me it sums up the problems for journalism

Some good points Andy and as you know my big concern is the sustainabilty of hyperlocal sites.

For all the talk of the journalist as an entrpreneur,there seemed little appetite yesterday to try and solve the basic problem of how to make money.

Instead it was worrying that the debates descended into arguments about the role of the citizen journalist(which should have been put to bed now) and the role of the BBC (over which we have little or no control).

The likes of Lichfield blog and Josh Halliday’s SR2 are great examples of hyperlocal innovation but to be sustainable they need to find a way of attracting certain and regular revenue streams )I think I am slipping into my former profession here) but it’s an important consideration.

The question I asked in the session about whether hyperlocal could survive on volunteers and dedicated individuals was answered spot on by Philip John (ie no way).

I start to get a bit angry at many of these conferences as a roomful of media people seem to get wrapped up in minute detail whilst failing to address the bigger picture

As Andy says

By the time we got to the ‘close the BBC and local newspapers will thrive’ stage I lost my patience

Andy made the comment which I tweeted

Shall we go back to letting the printers carry swords so that we can succeed by killing off the competition”.

A case of supply and demand for journalists as technology opens markets

As journalism comes out of its current turmoil,there will be fewer journalists in the future. But those that remain in the market will probably earn much more.

That's according to Lisa George,empirical economist and professor at Hunter College in New York City, who writes that

some of the best reporters and the most insightful commentary will come from fewer and fewer sources. But these reporters will have national reputations, and those reputations will be well-financed both from media itself and also from books and speaking engagement

You can see the interview with Lisa below



via Sustainable Journalism

Things to ask befor you go for a journalism start up

Such a great post from Adam Westbrook who give seventeen question you should be asking yourself if you are thinking of starting up a journalism project.

News start-up checklist

1.Is it a new idea?
2.Does it have a defined target audience?
3.Does it provide niche (i.e. hyperlocal) content?
4.Does it satisfy a desire that is not being fulfilled by someone else?
5.Or does it do something better (faster, cheaper, more effectively) than someone else?
6.Does it actually have income potential, or will it rely on funding?
7.Does it use the power of crowd-sourcing/community?
8.Would it be fulfilling for journalists to work for?
9.Does it publish/exist on more than one platform?
10.If it has content, is it sharable?
11.Does it require a lot of money to run?
12.Does it have boot-strapping potential?
13.Does it scale?
14.Does it fulfill a public service?
15.Is it a legally sound idea? What about copyright?
16.Would it appeal to venture capitalists, angel investors?
17.And…does it have a cool name?