A New Business Model for Journalism?

Our journalism class had a phone conference with journalist Philip Meyer recently. We all tossed out questions regarding the future of journalism and blogging.

One thing that Meyer said really struck me. He explained that journalism is going to have to start paying more attention to the business side of operations. No longer are newspapers succeeding in only print format. They are moving online, moving to mutlimedia platforms and beginning to blog.

Meyer said that as budding journalists, we need to keep our minds open to different business models that can support online and print journalism. As print news starts to decline, many papers are inclined to cut back on reporters and editorial staff. However, these are relatively fixed costs, says Meyer. Therefore, papers should be trying to cut relative costs, not fixed costs.

This conversation affirmed by belief that journalism is headed for rough waters in the upcoming decade. But, when we emerge from the madness, we'll be working in an entirely different context: new media platforms, new writing and a new business model.

Check out this link to an article that Meyer wrote on the topic of journalism’s transformationhere

Blogger Schmogger

Now time for the ultimate blogging question… Are bloggers journalists? I feel qualified to speak on this topic after successfully hosting a blog for a few months now.

In my own experience with this blog, I’ve found that the amount of time I spend writing a blog article and the amount of time I spend writing a traditional news article are drastically different. I exert much more effort and time on my traditional writing. Perhaps this is because I feel the need to fact check, attribute, edit and re-edit all my traditional entries. But in the blogosphere, who’s looking? Aside from my Professor (Hi, Scott!).

I do agree that blogs have power and potential. The ability to directly communicate with readers is so important, and blogs allow this. News will finally become interactive and conversational.

But I have to wonder if I can anticipate the same kind of success for independent, lesser-known bloggers, like myself. What are the chances that any poor soul would stumble onto Ye Ol Weblog? And, if they did, who guarantees they will stick around long enough to read my banter? Right now, the most popular blogs are those run by larger news conglomerates or professionals.

Furthermore, news and headlines may break in the blogosphere, but they never stay there. According to a survey by LexisNexis, when consumers read a breaking story in a blog, they go immediately to a trusted news source to get the entire story.

Still, I like the ability of blogs to target specific niches, like East Mediterranean cooking or rubber band enthusiasts. Blogs allow sub-topics like these to be covered in-depth, as the mainstream media giants traditionally ignore them.

I hope my own media-centered blog has interested a few journalists along the way. And, I look forward to the coming decade when, I believe, the blogosphere will realize its full potential as an information/entertainment source.