Next Wednesday the Master of Communication in Digital Media (MCDM) at UW will host an event to discuss how digital can save journalism. The panelists are well-respected journalists that have embraced digital tools and have succeeded in producing news in a whole new way and cultivating audiences. They run some of my favorite local news sources like techflash.com and myballard.com
I find it very inspirational to talk with bloggers/journalist like John Cook, Monica Guzman and Cory Bergman because the passion for journalism really shines. They work hard in finding and crafting great stories and they are devoted to their audiences. Perhaps the immediacy of the blog and Twitter makes journalists more accountable for what they publish and therefore much closer to the true meaning of journalism: servicing the public by supplying information.
While they provide great models for how journalism can live without the ink, the unavoidable question remains: how can journalism sustain itself financially? I’ve heard, “journalism doesn’t have an audience problem, it has a business model problem.” So, in other words, this crisis forces journalists to consider what they have never needed to consider before: from where, really, does the money come?
In essence, running a blog for a living is running a business. Therefore, one must ask: what is the revenue model? Traditionally, most bloggers think that they can cultivate an audience and then just sell ads on their blog. Well, I have a big problem with that: advertising models are ALSO in crisis. Online ads have been declining in response for a long time and therefore, advertisers are reducing their investments in online display; it’s not such a great proposition for an advertiser to put money into an ad that nobody is going to click on.
How can we create a new model of journalism with an old revenue model to sustain it?
Marketers are certainly tackling this question by coming up with experimental models such as pay-per-post, incentives for reviews, paid blogger clubs and sponsoring content, to name a few. Some of these models are quite controversial because they can undermine the authenticity of the content and therefore, the trust readers bestow in the blogger can be tarnished quickly.
The problem here is that marketers shouldn’t be the only ones developing new revenue models for digital journalism. Bloggers should too! No marketer out there is going to care as much about the transparency and relationship with readers than the bloggers themselves. So I urge bloggers (and journalists embracing the digital era) to get in the game and start thinking about how to generate MONEY to sustain their content–don’t wait for marketers to solve the problem on their own. You are the creative power here, and after all, it is YOUR business.
PS. There are some content creators that are coming up with some interesting revenue models, such as subscriptions, public funding, fundrasing per story and content syndication.
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:20 pm
This sounds really interesting… where on campus and starting when?
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:24 pm
You’ve pointed out the crux of the issue — advertising doesn’t support information distribution very well any more.
In my most pessimistic hour, I begin to wonder whether content itself is a loss-leader — meant to be given away Radiohead-style. While the money is earned elsewhere: in the platforms (Google), in the merchandising, in the events.
It’s instructive to remember that advertising as a revenue model for electronic media came about during the rise of industrialized media at the outset of the 21st century. Radio did not begin as advertiser-supported. And as the industrial models fracture and dissipate, we should no longer rely solely on advertising as the way to support our new forms of communication.
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Hanson- you said it best! This is why I think you have set the right agenda at MCDM by challenging content creators to think as entrepreneurs.
Of course, we could go the way of the scribes (yikes!) and make journalism just part of everyone’s social activity. That causes me pain to write, but it’s one scenario to consider an debate.
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Doug, see the event info here: http://futureofjournalism.eventbrite.com/
August 30th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
I never ever post but this time I will,Thanks alot for the great blog.