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At this point I don’t think anyone has a really good answer about how journalism will be funded. Print media (I’m including online here) is in such a state of flux and the market is too fluid right now to make a reasonable guess about business models for journalism.

Neighborhood Notes is advertising based and we will continue to offer new advertising opportunities as our site grows and evolves. However we are always considering new sources of revenue.

I do think that original content is extremely important. One of the many reasons people are abandoning newspapers is that they relied to heavily on wire services, and stopped reporting about really local issues that directly affect peoples lives. Some of our most commented on stories were about land use and development issues that directly affect people.

I also think that people do want more fact and less opinion in their news. Personally, I am sick and tired of news with a political bias. Having news reported from such poles distorts the facts and, in my opinion, can mislead people. I believe that fair and objective reporting is essential for the new journalism business model. 

I don’t see aggregation as a really viable business model. People can and do act as their own aggregators already by using RSS etc to select the news they receive.  All too often aggregators get details, such as the location of the story, incorrect. People loose patience with these mistakes and they hurt the credibility of the aggregator as a news source.

Community participation is vital for a news site, but citizen journalists present many challenges. Quality of writing, variety of stories, ability to do research and thoroughly investigate a story, and long-term dedication are some of the difficulties with citizen journalists. Since they are usually not getting paid, citizen journalists tend to write about only what interests them, and after the initial excitement interest can waiver because of the time commitment required. 

I think we are going to see a wide variety of experimental business models over the next few years as we all try to understand how journalism will be funded in the future. It makes for a very exciting time!

posted 3 years, 7 months ago
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