Comments on: Chicago Journalism Town Hall: Ideas to help news organizations bring in revenue

By: Chicago Journalism Town Hall » Blog Archive » Musings from an erstwhile Town Hall moderator

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:02:18 +0000

[...] despite Kyoshi Martinez’s enthusiasm for on-line advertising, It almost certainly won’t support journalism in a [...]

By: Brad Flora

Brad Flora — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 05:29:58 +0000

Kiyoshi, we joked about this earlier, but while this is a great piece, you’re kind of giving away the playbook for the future here. Shhhh!

By: Pat Yeagle

Pat Yeagle — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:42:08 +0000

Hey Kiyoshi,

Pat Yeagle with the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin here. (PAR)

I really like your suggestions, especially the fact that most are low-cost endeavors that would be highly relevant to a specific target audience. Localization is the key here, I think – people can get news from so many sources, but there should be only one place they look for stuff that matters most to them. Once you’ve hooked a reader with the targeted local content, it’s only natural that they’ll stick around for the rest of your content (provided it is quality).

As you’ve pointed out, too much time is spent trying to get users to pay for content. I’m a journalist, but I’m also a young consumer. The internet has been my preferred method of doing business for my entire adult life, and I know for a fact that my peers do not want to “pay-per-click”. Unless you consistently have exceptional, completely-unique content, it’s just not going to happen – not when the rest of the free internet beckons.

I hope the industry takes your advice, or I’ll have to do it myself…

By: kiyoshimartinez

kiyoshimartinez — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:06:36 +0000

Jesse: No one has contacted me yet, but we’ll definitely be in touch.

Eric: Thanks again for giving me the unexpected opportunity to speak. I agree that there’s a difference between national and local sites, however, I think there’s also a lot of business fundamentals that can be shared when it comes to online advertising. The IAB standards are terrible and crush innovative advertising methods that capture user attention. I think if there’s a revenue solution to be found, it’s going to come from people who work in that industry and have new, tested ideas.

Chuck: We should grab a beer soon.

Gordon: I’m not sure people would pay to remix. Looking at the Tribune’s AllTop that launched today though, I think that I would sign-up and register to customize a Tribune AllTop page that fit what I was interested in, not just showing me everything.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

By: gordon

gordon — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:37:55 +0000

just a quick comment about microsites. I’ve often thought that news sites are staggering under the weight of their own content… maybe they need to *dis*-aggregate some of the news their… and let people remix it to their own needs and ends. maybe they could charge for advanced uses like these?
-gordon

By: Chicago Journalism Town Hall » Blog Archive » Here are some links to Post-Town Hall comments

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:59:55 +0000

[...] thoughtful comments have been posted today by Kyoshi Martinez, the NP Communicator at CMW, Jesse Greenberg, Ryan Blitstein and a variety of others. Windy [...]

By: Chuck

Chuck — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:36:51 +0000

Hey Yosh -

Just wanted to say I looove Eric Zorn (in my Hawk Harrelson/Sox announcer voice). He stuck up for Acton and I way back in the Cartoon Wars days. Seems to have his head screwed on straight and offers an intelligent direction for the future of journalism.

Hope all is well,

Chuck

By: Eric Zorn

Eric Zorn — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:59:47 +0000

Good to meet you in person yesterday and I’m glad I called you out — shoulda called @whet out as well! — for your thoughts. I think it’s important that we recognize the difference between these national sites with somewhat niche audiences and the local news organizations that don’t/can’t/shouldn’t just skim the high-click cream off the top of the news. I don’t think it’s useful to compare, say, Deadspin with the Tribune or Sun-Times, though I would not say we can’t learn anything from them.
There’s a of merit in what you say above about buiding better online communities, about better targeting and branding and about potential revenue streams.
I hope Ken does this again and bring in an entirely new panel with people/ideas he has discovered through the first town hall.
Now I am going to tweet this post of yours.

By: Jesse Greenberg

Jesse Greenberg — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:43:52 +0000

Kiyoshi, if the Trib or the Sun Times don’t call you in a week’s time (or at least thank you for giving them a business plan, give me a call and we should do this!