Citizen Journalism Pros & Cons

Steve Outing added wrote an interesting column recently called "In Defense of Citizen Journalism."

Citizen Journalism is what happens when regular people start creating journalism instead of "journalists." One example could be a local blog discussing issues in the neighborhood. This is an "amateur" creating news that people want to read. This frightens the journalism community to no end! What will happen to our jobs if regular people can report the news for themselves?

As Outing says, we need to jump on this wagon and embrace it before it takes us over. A perfect way to do this is to allow citizens to cover sections of the news that a major news outlet may not have the resources to cover. But it is important, according to Outing, that the articles written by citizens are not walled off into one section of the publication, but that they are incorporated throughout the site and well marked.

How much would you pay for an archived article?

So who wants to pay for news content on the internet? Some maybe, but not a lot. Now who would pay for archived articles that were unavailable anywhere else? Probably a significantly higher number of people. Chances are... If you are looking for an archived article, it's important enough that you will may chip in some money for it.

Mark Glaser recently wrote an article for the Online Journalism Review discussing whether or not archived articles should be offered for a price.

He follows two arguments - one for each side. Paid archives are one of an online newspapers' only sources for income. The newspapers say they need this money in order to stay in business - they claim they cannot rely on advertising alone for archived stories.

However, the argument for free archives stems from the concept of being able to drive more traffic to the site - therefore upping the amount advertisers are willing to pay. If archived stories remain on the same URL since the day they were first put online, links from other sites would remain consistent. (You would be able to keep a stable link to a story for as long as it was online.) The more links that are established and that remain over time - the better the odds of appearing higher on a googol or yahoo search - driving more traffic to the site.

One example the article gives is the New Mexican. This paper has taken to offering two different versions of the website - one free and one for a cost. The free version only requires registration to view and offers about 10 news articles the paper printed that day. The subscription version is for a price, however the exact replica of the print edition is available on the site.

The New Mexican is an interesting example of a different way to think about subscription fees, but is it working? And will it work other places?

Track the forming of Speakeasy

Want to know what is happening with the new online magazine? Cara and I started a seperate blog to keep our ideas together as well as to keep track of what we accomplish.

You think you know, but you have no idea...

...This is the diary of a local news site.

One day in the Fall of 2004, two nerdy girls sat in a kitchen and went on a mass e-mailing frenzy. Today, Cara and I are starting an online news magazine to serve the interests of Ohio University Students. Nameless still, we are gathering support from students across campus who are interested in our "WebZine."

At the moment there are about twenty-five people involved who want to contribute time, effort and content. We have divided into six sections, they are: On the Green (Campus Life), On Our Minds (Staff Columns/Editorials), Event Calendar, Culture (Entertainment), From our Readers (Reader-submitted content), and In the Limelight (spotlights on people and places around the area). Cara and I have worked very hard on making this happen, but we have a lot left to do before our projected launch date in the beginning of Spring Quarter.

Part of the reason I choose to study local news sites is because I want to see ours become a success. Right now we are struggling with design. We think we have a Content Management System available for us to use, and we know where to get cheap server space, but we have no product where we can post our original content. We have been trying desperately to find a knowledgeable student who has experience with making websites; however, it looks as though it may come down to the wire for us to either learn to design the site ourselves (from scratch) or to use the format of www.athensi.com.

Right now we stand design-less but hopeful.

Read an interesting article today...

I read an interesting article in the New York Times today. The title claims "Internet News Sites Are Back in Vogue," but are they? The article focuses on financial information websites such as CBS MarketWatch and TheStreet.com and the advertising they are able to sell in order to make a profit. Advertising revenue through November of 2004 is $87.2 and $31.2 million respectively for each site (according to the NY Times).

I can't help but wonder is there something special about financial websites that keep people coming back and advertisers spending money? The article talks about several news sites trying to buy up CBS MarketWatch in order to expand their own financial sections. In fact the Dow Jones won with a bid of $519 million against the New York Times Company, the Gannett Company and Viacom Inc. Is it simply the nature of the site? Because the stock market changes so much each day, is the internet the only medium suitable of getting information?

What can local news sites learn from sites like CBS Market Watch? What is their monster appeal and how can small sites capture a piece of it?

Starting Out

The point of this blog is to look at various websites that are focused on providing news to local areas.

Over time, many newsites have changed thier focus from a broad, statewide or national, audience, to a local audience of maybe just a single city or county. Ventura County Star is one example of an award-winnning site based on a suburban newspaper.

The Online Journalism Review said, "this site has an obligation to cover all of Ventura County, a scenic area with mountains, forests, towns and beaches northwest of Los Angeles. Rather than thinking globally -- whether that means the world, U.S., California or even Ventura County-wide -- the site drills down to the community level from its home page."

What I am interested in is looking for more sites like the Ventura County Star. How are they changing? What methods are they using? Are they able to make a profit? How do they handle advertising? These are just a few questions that I intend to answer, and I would like to use my findings to help create a good local news website targeting college students living in Athens, Ohio.