Remember the scene in Blazing Saddles once the sheriff installed a toll booth in the center of the prairie, and all of the bad guys lined up on horseback to pitch a cent in the turnstile as opposed to ride round the gate? Classic 1974 Mel Brooks; revisited with a pose of 2009 irony. After the U.C. Berkeley Media Technology Summit held at Google last week, it seems that some strong voices have moved discussions away from paid content. ‘Sell News Online’ won’t pass the smell test for 95% of news sites because shhhh…. online news is free. naija news
The turnstile gate is up: readers can undergo it, around it, over it, and get their news however, whenever, wherever they desire. Individuals are in control, advertisers have voted to spend their dollars elsewhere and media companies perhaps, may be starting to talk about opportunities that scale. Nevertheless the question remains, will investigative journalism survive the slow, painful transition of the media industry?
Interesting that:
Not-for-profit business models like ProPublica are cropping as much as support investigative journalism.
John Temple’s compelling presentation on lessons learned from the Rocky Mountain News included comments that online news needs “more ways for local businesses to reach prospects locally.
Advertisers weren’t represented. I didn’t see Associations from Restaurants, Car Companies, Auto Dealers, Convention Centers and certainly small businesses weren’t providing input.
It is interesting that the bread and butter of the media industry, advertisers, continue to be not asked what they think and how online news may play a role in the advertisers’ future. Perhaps since paid content is on the back burner, (I can make the broad assumption that advertisers weren’t asked about paid content as a business model either), perhaps journalists may do what journalists do: research, investigate and report. There are numerous niches, industries and geographies that could provide data and perspective, if analyzed. If media firms had reached out and asked for feedback as early as 2006 when advertisers started initially to leave newspapers, they might be presenting an alternative history today.
Janet Smith is a Strategist, Marketer, “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door” kinda gal… (quote from Milton Berle) Marketing is about generating repeat business with advantageous partnerships and effective communications. With 20+ years experience writing business plans and marketing strategies, [http://www.janetsmith5d.com/], Janet seeks a Director of Marketing position with a firm that desires to break away from the pack. An inventor, Janet owns a patent-pending business method for the media industry.