Comments on: ‘Penny’ press redux: a new business model for journalism?

By: Russ Wellen

Russ Wellen — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:43:06 +0000

Thanks for keeping this issue before us, Dr. D. It’s such a puzzle.

Maybe just news, since reporting costs money, rather than opinion, should be paid for.

Also, go Martin!

their reporters are either cub rookies or Stockholm Syndrome-afflicted toadies who regurgitate right-wing talking points without substantiation. Itâ€™s a sad day when I get better news coverage on the issues I care about from USA Today than the Grey Lady.

By: Carol White

Carol White — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:04:59 +0000

IMO one of the good thing about the blogs is the ability to air controversial opinions.I would hate to see pressure to “attract” viewers to one’s article pushing writers to make their articles “appealing” as opposed to “truthful.” That said, I think that good tight writing should be rewarded over diffuse rants!

By: fikshun

fikshun — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 06:25:23 +0000

The only problem with the micropayment model is 1) why would the average consumer pay for what he can get for free? Micropayments are nice because they allow consumers to link articles to friends who are not subscribed. Hopefully banner ads make said links profitable.

Still, MMO games are moving more from subscriptions to micropayments and seeing great profits (see Runescape). Though again, maybe the larger issues are 1) how can you justify that news should cost money (unless your free option is Soviet-era Pravda)? and 2) at what point do people just run out of money to pay for their Gotcha Capitalism and Micropayment lifestyle?

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:40:52 +0000

I would happily pay for any news source that provided me a diverse range of actual news from a wide variety of fronts, as well as opinion columns from a truly broad swath of thinkers. But such a thing does not exist.

The papers of record–the NYT and the WaPo–are riddled with right-wing corporatists who are paid to advance a narrow, psuedo-centrist range of opinion as if it’s the gospel. With a few exceptions (Dana Priest, Walter Pincus, Paul Krugman), their reporters are either cub rookies or Stockholm Syndrome-afflicted toadies who regurgitate right-wing talking points without substantiation. It’s a sad day when I get better news coverage on the issues I care about from USA Today than the Grey Lady.

In the meantime, the best thing you can do is get magazine subscriptions from periodicals across the spectrum and donate to keep them going.

By: secretdraft

secretdraft — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:07:38 +0000

MIcropayments are just another deck chair on the Titanic.

By: Dr. Denny

Dr. Denny — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:55:32 +0000

I agree, but that’s merely a technical problem to solve. And, as Martin’s post earlier points out, if solving that problem makes an egregious amount of money for someone, it will be solved. Thanks for the comment.

By: Brian Angliss

Brian Angliss — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:45:47 +0000

The problem is that I haven’t seen a good “micropayment” solution come up. While I’d be willing to pay a little for much of what I read, until some entrepreneur can fix the micropayment issue for something like the music market, I don’t see it working for the even more wild blog/news market.

By: Support this story on Stirrdup

Support this story on Stirrdup — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:34:41 +0000

Â‘PennyÂ’ press redux: a new business model for journalism?…

This story has been submitted to Stirrdup. Your support can help it become hot….

By: www.buzzflash.net

www.buzzflash.net — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:21:28 +0000

â€˜Pennyâ€™ press redux: a new business model for journalism?…

Edward Wasserman makes an obvious but still unsettling point about the news business: "The nearly two-century-old marriage between consumer advertising and journalism is on the rocks." He’s got a new idea to allow journalism to prosper….