Seeds for Newspapers Rebirth
Is it possible that as the large conglomerate financial model for newspapers show its failure in bad coverage, more levels of management needing support, greater demands for profits to fund hierarchy and bankruptcy that the seeds of a rebirth of the media is being laid.
With the retreat of corporate interest will an opening for new locally based newspapers that harken back to the era of independent voices and local ownership of newspapers.
I realize that the internet is, arguably, becoming the driving force behind national and international news there is still a need for local coverage, government notices, for those who prefer physical paper with their coffee rather then organized electrons and something to line the bird cages with.
The corporate model has failed on responding to local coverage. i.e. The Gannett chain that owns a number of local papers but in reality publishes the same paper with 6 or 7 pages of local coverage of which 1 page is obit's, 1 are official notices, 2 are local high school sports, at least 1 is Clubs/social coverage leaving only 1 or 2 pages to cover local news issues such as bond issues, growth and local political races.
The biggest difficulty is the cash cow that official public notices (bankruptcy, meetings, zoning changes etc.) supply are often tied to total distribution that are difficult for start ups to reach.
With the retreat of corporate ownership is it possible that local ownership will be able to reclaim the local papers and return to an era where local ownership supplied a wider variety of editorial voices and greater involvement of local communities in local issues as a result of greater coverage.
With the collapse of media moguls into bankruptcy and irrelevancy hopefully a niche will open for local owners who seek to make a living rather then accumulate grandiose fortunes.
I realize that this may be wishful thinking but I cannot see a viable alternative to communities with out any local coverage as the media conglomerates collapse under their own weight.
This would also offer a safety valve with the threat of the loss of net neutrality.
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Oklahoma City has problems that differ from Minneapolis.
Minneapolis has problems that differ from Duluth.
Democracy does not work unless the communities are working in their own behalf.
Representative democracy is the best we can do with three hundred million people. But that is made up of thousands upon thousands of communities.
I think that the internet gives those who care, who read, who can iterate, a new voice. There are organizations which have been created to give a localized voice to these concerns.
Organization is the key. If I comment on huff, I join 600 voices. If I comment here I join 100 voices or ten. I am really hopeful as to how this new medium can work.
January 2, 2009 2:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
The title of Honolulu's newspaper, the Advertiser, totally encapsulates the recently eclipsed model of newspapers: local businesses, advertising in local papers, to customers drawn by stories of interests (whether local or not).
The Internet precludes any local paper's supremacy in delivering national or international news. Global commerce precludes local businesses from competing for business and drives it to extinction.
Local issues tend not to be very sexy, only a minority can even name their city councilors or local state representatives, let alone demonstrate understanding of local issues.
What's left is a much smaller niche for local newspapers to operate within: local business without significant global competition, advertising in papers carrying stories under the Internet's operational floor, targeting a limited audience that wants to learn more about local issues.
That's a whole new business model that few newspapers can survive to adopt.
January 2, 2009 8:16 PM | Reply | Permalink