Comments on: No one thinks “news wants to be free”

By: GreaterGrafton

GreaterGrafton — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:35:02 +0000

Dan — This was interesting reading for us, because today, we made GraftonTimes.com a paid news site after a great deal of debate. Reaction so far (it’s been official for only an hour at this point!) has been mixed.

Story: http://www.graftontimes.com/Articles-c-2009-10-06-54844.113122_Special_announcement_Read_GraftonTimescom_for_as_little_as_7_cents_a_day.html

By: InsiderNegot

InsiderNegot — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:57:16 +0000

The Daily Beast’s Tina Brown responded to a question for what it’s worth:

Are you still writing print’s obit?

It’s such a phony war, print versus the Internet. So much of print has one foot in on the Web these days—New Yorker writers blog, Times reporters shoot digital video. And the so-called old lions are turning out wonderful journalism—see our Cheat Sheet, which is agnostic about print or online journalism, on a daily, hourly basis.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-05/the-daily-beast-turns-one/full/

By: Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:59:35 +0000

George: Could you clarify? The Batavia Daily News is the local daily print newspaper; it has a Web site. The Batavian is the Web-only project I was referring to.

By: George Williams

George Williams — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:57:08 +0000

I just visited the Batavia Daily News website and now I wish there were a site like that for my neighborhood. If I lived in Batavia, I would be a regular visitor to the site. If they could/would do investigative reporting, it seems they would have a regular newspaper site. It would be difficult for me to rationalize paying for access to a news site but the new Globe Reader would be a temptation if the print option gets any more expensive. I think they should be pitching a green alternative (like the credit card companies do) with a “paperless” newspaper. Your town would save money on recycling and you would not have to schlep all those old papers curbside.

I buy bottled water because it is a convenient delivery system when I am in my car or working in the shop.

By: Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:46:14 +0000

Neil: Are you really going to tell me about Woburn? Really? I'm all ears. I'm talking about marketing, not toxic waste. I don't have any data to back this up, but I suspect that when people buy gallons of water at the supermarket, it's because they're concerned about what's coming out of their tap, as was the case in Woburn. But when they buy a bottle of Dasani or Poland Springs at a sporting event or whatever, they see it as an alternative to soda. Or beer. Which is the analogy we were talking about when you dropped by.

By: Neil

Neil — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:40:25 +0000

“And bottled water isn’t marketed as an alternative to the tap — it’s marketed as a healthy alternative to soda.”

Tell that to the people in Woburn and other locales that have water quality problems that amount to health risks.

By: lafcadio mullarkey

lafcadio mullarkey — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:36:37 +0000

Malcolm Gladwell had a nice analysis of Anderson's book this summer. I read the article in The New Yorker, which I still have a subscription to. Though I cancelled the Globe. Anderson may be a plagiarist, and Gladwell pretty effectively takes his argument apart, but he does exist.

By: Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:46:05 +0000

Local Editor: And let me add to what you said by observing that that was the model for hundreds of weekly newspapers across the country before the era of consolidation.

By: Local Editor

Local Editor — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:37:13 +0000

Sammy,
I think the actual staff at the Batavian is Mr. and Mrs. Howard Owens. If the goal is to make enough money to operate the site, put food on the table and pay the mortgage, the model is fine.

By: sammy

sammy — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:43:49 +0000

Dan,
As good as WBUR is, there is no way it can replace the relentlessly local coverage of every daily newspaper in eastern Mass., northern R.I., and southern N.H. It couldn’t possibly raise enough money to pay for the huge additional payroll of reporters, editors, photogs and videographers needed to do even a halfway decent job.
As it is, the public model is hurting just paying for what it currently does, hence the layoffs or fear of layoffs at WGBH, etc.
The Batavia site is great, but I note that it is giving itself away. It can’t possible be raising enough through advertising to keep supporting its staff week after week, month after month, year after year. Right now, fine, while the staff retains its enthusiasm, but let’s see if it is still alive and thriving a year from now. If it makes it, it will have to have found a paying model that works. On line advertising can’t be the answer, or if it is, every newspaper publisher in the world would be desperately trying to learn the Batavia model.