Comments on: N.M. media struggle for viability online

By: benito_a

benito_a — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:36:12 +0000

PBS' Media shift has a ton of great content on this very subject.

By: benito_a

benito_a — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:36:12 +0000

PBS' Media shift has a ton of great content on this very subject.

By: benito_a

benito_a — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:36:12 +0000

PBS' Media shift has a ton of great content on this very subject.

By: rober1s

rober1s — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:16:10 +0000

It has not yet been mentioned that craigslist has captured a huge amount of local traffic that had previously been supplied by print. Check out

http://santafe.craigslist.org/

It's a thriving local community.

By: ErinOliver

ErinOliver — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:55:24 +0000

With the age of the blog, and the iphone and now the kindle if there is not some sort of organizing I'm afraid news papers are going to be a passing trend. I can read the new york times, Washington post, time magazine, news week, hell I can have it read to me by the text to speech feature on my kindle every morning. I also can read the huffington post, daily kos etc.. to me, that is where I see the future. Whether or not the public suffers because of more op ed types of blogs out there (mine included) in lack of complete grasping of the issue is hard to say.

But then again, we have reporters who take advertisement money from companies that are actively lobbying the legislature,(Suncal) Makes me wonder whether the words of the advertisements will speak more of the message than the author.

Nice Article Matt !

By: benito_a

benito_a — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:16:39 +0000

I think one of the big problems for newspapers is that the world has changed and they expect their business model to stay the same. Most newspapers, as well as many analysts, are infatuated with the medium as if there has to be a choice between print and online... when everything in this age has to be a hybrid.

Television news sources aren't waxing nostalgic about the good ole days when everybody got their evening news watching tv at the dinner table... they're maximizing their content by putting their news segments on the web as well as providing written stories... even for stories that they don't have video for. Newspapers need to start thinking the same way... using video with reporters, maximizing regional advertising with flash video, perhaps actually producing advertising content.

Also, I think most newspapers could immediately slice off half of their overhead by some of their staff using virtual offices and instant messaging services to hash out story details with their editors.

If you think about it, the newspaper industry has been very fortunate to have had advertisers willing to pay up to $15,000 dollars for a single ad for one day... and that's a local rate.

I have little sympathy for newspapers who's circulation and ad revenue are sinking and yet they have terrible web sites... one local daily comes to mind.

Likewise, bloggers and news aggregates should be doing their darndest to promote the news organizations that they are aggregating to because without them there's nothing to link to. This age of hybridization requires collaboration rather than a dated way of looking at and treating the competition...something Monahan and the Journal have yet to learn.

I think a current model that has been hugely successful is the huffingtonpost. Although it started as solely a blogging venue, its grown into having a group of full-time news writers. It aggregates news, aggregates opinion blogs, writes its own news and pays to post ap stories. And they've just started a new investigative news non-profit venture. The gossip crap is unnerving but then again so is the celebrity section of the journal that seems to be slowly creeping its way to the front page.

Newspapers need to start making the effort to adapt and they could do themselves a huge favor by actually hiring some younger blood, say under 45, who really understand the web and its potential.

Arthur's suggestion was great... here's the link for the Columbia Journalism Review (March/April 2009).

By: rober1s

rober1s — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:39:13 +0000

Few believe that the "paid subscription" web newspaper model will succeed. Newspapers have traditionally maintained their cash flow through advertising revenues. Until the Journal can come up with an effective ad-based web version of their newspaper, circulation will continue to shrink.

A hint for the managers of the Journal: look at successful news web sites for examples of how it should be done -- msnbc.com, abc.com, cnn.com, and, yes, newmexicoindependent.com. Not to mention "America's Finest News Source", www.theonion.com.

A counter-example of an effective on-line news layout is represented by the approach that the New Mexican took. In my opinion, that web site is just too cumbersome and clunky to navigate effectively.

--Doug Roberts

By: abqabraxas

abqabraxas — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:15:07 +0000

Great article Matt –
As Barbara says it it hards to know where this will go.
Maybe the subscription model of some electronic newsletters would work?
Free and Paid subscribers – free you get what is visible on the home page, paid you get the entire article/blog/comment?
But I'm sure brighter minds than myself are trying to figure this out.

By: arthuralpert

arthuralpert — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:31:34 +0000

Thanks, Matthew Reichbach, for the excellent piece. For more on the future of news - and a less pessimistic outlook - interested parties may want to look at the current Columbia Journalism Review (March/April 2009). The issue features a round table in which 10 pioneers in "journalism's search for a support system" opine on the future. Among them, incidentally, is David Bennahum, president and CEO of the Center for Independent Media, publisher of NewMexicoIndependent.com.
Arthur Alpert

By: barbwire

barbwire — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:18:41 +0000

Excellent coverage of this important issue, Matt. It's hard to know where this will go, but if we're to maintain a functioning democracy a new model that's economically feasible is essential. Unfortunately, I think about the dismal condition of the music business as the worst case scenario. Seems net consumers want music without paying the artist and journalism without paying the reporter. That can't last long.