The future of Bay Area newspapers in a digital age and changing economy

Discussion

• January 06, 2009 Jake Bayless

  News in the Bay area is pretty saturated - not necessarily great, but lots & lots of sources.  The North Bay, Sonoma County northwards, is a one rag community with all the little papers dying.  (See: Bodega Bay Navigator)

  I'm in this for some cash if the Press Democrat editor (An NYT joint) is included - this would make for a great & necessary broad brush story of the whole bay-area picture.  

  ~jake

   

• February 09, 2009 Aaron Crowe

  Hi all:

  I'm Aaron Crowe, the reporter for this story on the future of journalism in the Bay Area. Starting Tuesday, Feb. 10, I will blog about my progress on this story. I'll give reporting updates as they happen, and will also give shorter updates on Twitter, mostly alerting people when the blog entries are updated.

  Go to www.AaronCrowe.net to read the story updates starting Feb. 10.

  And follow me at www.Twitter.com/aaroncrowe

  For those who have donated, thanks for your support. For those considering donating, please check out AaronCrowe.net for more and for updates on this important story.

• February 09, 2009 Jeff Klein

  Expand your interview list beyond newspaper editors. Talk to those on the business side at newspapers as well. They are wrestling with these problems. More important, look for web savvy publishers who are doing interesting things on the web--that's where the new ideas will come from. Newspapers are the last ones to experiment with new business models. I spent 15 years on the business side at the LA Times. Then launched a successful web/magazine publishing company which was highly profitable. Check out Jeff Jarvis new business models summit. It can be done. Good luck.

  Jeff Klein

  twitter/jeffreysklein

• February 10, 2009 Mark Glaser

  I agree with Jeff, you will need to talk to people beyond the editors of the Merc and Chron. I would bet that the person who runs this site, David Cohn, knows more about the future of newspapers than those editors. I can already guess what those editors would say: "The future of newspapers is online, but we can't make money there." Why not talk to people who *are* making money there? Talk to people at Yelp, at Digg, at Craigslist, at EveryBlock -- places where the future of journalism will happen to some extent. If this is about investigative journalism then talk to people at Salon, at the Center for Public Integrity. Widen your focus if you really want to know what will be happening to the future of newspapers.

  Good luck!

• February 11, 2009 Spot. Us

  Thanks Mark

  I think we are going to focus on the Bay Area newspapers (Media News Group or otherwise) right now - because that is what the pitch said it would go into.

  That aside we def. want to get beyond the "The future of newspapers is online, but we can't make money there." If I hear that again, I'll probably vomit.

  You bring up interesting stuff with Yelp, Everyblock, etc. What interests me isn't just talking to these groups and turning the story into a web 2.0 story - is IF and HOW newspapers in the Bay are going to incorporate these into their products. I think EveryBlock, which just opened up its code, is a perfect example.

  Are they aware of EveryBlock? Do they have plans for Everyblock? How do these relate back to newspapers and their online product. What real tangible plans do they have?

  If we were to go back to Keane - I'd ask him about how they intend to stay nimble and agile on the web (which I'd argue is what is required to be succeful online) without offending their large beaucracy.

  ie: Does it take 6 months to try something new and innovative online? If so - is that a problem and how can it be resolved?

  ROCK ON. Keep the comments coming.

• February 14, 2009 Alok Verma

  I can't agree more with Jeff and Mark. I am in India and have been struggling to launch online neighbourhood newspaper generously. I am quite surprised to know that the story is no different even in the west and the language of the business honchos is the same as in India. I have been discouraged at every step that I have been taking in the last eight months as to how the initiative of a online neighbourhood newspaper will be a non-starter due to lack of monetization potential. I have studied a lot many models of the community newspapers in the Bay and how are they trying to be succeessful.

  The India Internet population has been growing exponentially and online consumption of services and information has grown maifold but these lazy editors and business executives are not ready the look at the trend and are almost out to reject and debilitate any initiative that is away from traditional media objectives. So is the advertising fraternity and so does is the response of the venture capital community.

  I have spent 26 years in mainstream media in India both in print and television and have been the editor of the last three television news stations. I began my online neighbourhood newspaper venture journey through my own resourses last year. I am still pursuing it with my resources and there has not been an encouraging response from advertising world however the users are growing and appreciating the content. 

  So, knowing predicament of Aaron has put a spanner in my thought process. But persons like and Jeff and Mark surely are the examples to think forward.

  I seek a whole lot of advise from media professionals on this platform on innovations that I can do for making my initative a success. 

  Alok Verma, Noida, India

  alokvermaa@gmail.com

   

• March 03, 2009 Spot. Us

  At this blog.

• March 06, 2009 Spot. Us

  Are being discussed on Aaron's blog. This post is on how the Seattle PI's moves might also be mimicked here in SF - since both are owned by Hearst.

  The post is here.