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I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the new nonprofit newsroom operation being set up by the folks at Willamette Weed – er, Week. When I told a friend of mine about it, he said, "Isn't Willamette Week a nonprofit already?" Ha! Good one.
As I mentioned, this is not a completely new idea being implemented for the first time in Portland. And after I posted, I noticed a New York Times article discussing the new world of journaliusm in San Francisco. The nonprofit setup is part of it.
[I]n San Francisco, local news is seeing a resurgence thanks to a willingness to experiment. Half-century-old neighborhood news organizations are becoming nonprofits. Others are banking on the help of deep-pocketed supporters. And as local news driven by advertising revenue declines, news sites are relying on subscriptions to fill in the gaps.
I've pulled the story out from behind the Times firewall so that you can read the whole thing if you're interested, here.
In these dangerous times, legitimate journalism is more important than ever. We'd all better keep an eye on what's happening in that industry.
I’ve always thought non-profit organizations avoided the competition arena. Kinda relying on donations from compassion rather than paying the bills with good ideas that ended up with profit. I don’t feel comfortable with journalism heading this way.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing interesting here for me is the GRAFFITI plastered on everything that can't move. It is so dispiriting and I am so glad I got out of Dodge to a place where I don't have to look at this kind of angry-creative expression any longer. And, as far journalism of any sort goes.... meh. Money will always be the thing that makes the world go 'round. "Legitimate" is an abstract value concept and its meaning is controlled by the ones who have the power to define it. That power is based in money.
ReplyDeleteYou live in a highly theoretical and abstract world.
DeleteI live in Newberg which is about concrete as you can get. But, I taught sociology which is the least abstract soft science there is. Legitimacy is always defined by those with the most power. Who you gonna trust?
DeleteThe biggest problem is that covering the "news" is very, very expensive. The problem is how the "news" is defined--and who gets to define it. Some "news" starts small, then gets big, then starts infecting other events, people, government...which poses obvious staffing and resource issues. Some huge stories require massive iinvestments of time and effort, even travel, with the payoff always in doubt.
ReplyDeleteAdd to that the now-obsolete "fill the paper" mentality of editors who were raised in the ink-on-paper world of classic journalism (the O's editor has been in the game for decades; WillyWeek's editor is retiring after 40 years) and "filling" the daily report makes it almost impossible to do anything with any depth.
The new Oregon Journalism Project will, it seems, have three staffers, all rooted in the "fill the paper" mentality. Good luck.
New Pirate Media is also trapped, mostly by the insistence of Instagram-style media to always keep the pot boiling and viewers flicking their thumbs. All of the leading pirates are begging for money, whiich inevitably leads to brushes with ethical missteps.
It ain't gonna get better.