We live in interesting times: A new business model takes root in community journalism

Move over, Voodoo priestess. The ancient Chinese had it right. The most effective curse is this one: “May you live in interesting times.”

We in community journalism certainly live in the most interesting of times. There have only been a few generations who have been fortunate (?) enough to live in the days when a new medium is being introduced and therefore redefining the old media.

It happened when Gutenberg invented the printing press, which took over dominance from the manuscript culture. Didn’t happen again until the 1920s, when newspapers were threatened by the new medium of radio. And radio had the shortest Golden Age of all, because when it was at its height, TV was invented and began claiming living rooms for itself in the early 1950s.

As each new medium came along, the old media had to redefine themselves and find new roles. When the Internet was invented, we saw email revolutionize personal communication and then search engines redefine how we got information. And now, we realize that one impact of the Net is to make a publisher out of everyone with a computer.

Even 10 years ago, we thought the newspaper — especially in smaller communities — had the market cornered on news and information. To be sure, someone could always start a rival publication, but costs were typically prohibitive.

No more.

Anyone with a computer is now potentially your competition. And if they don’t know how to start a newspaper, or what to put in one, or how to lay out the pages, or where to find news — no worry. There are Websites all over whose entire goal is to show anyone, anywhere how to start a newspaper on the Web.

Some start as blogs, some are primarily opinion journals. Many come and go overnight. But other people discover that with practically no overhead — no reporters, no rent or utilities, no presses — that they can get local names and photos and news and information on the Web and update it daily, and find an audience. And that audience may be your readers.

As they build audience and get more eyeballs onto their pages, they inevitably attract advertisers.

These Internet start-ups are more prevalent on the coasts, but it’s inevitable that we will see more and more in Texas. I asked Texas newspapers about their local Web-only competition recently and here’s a sampling only of what I found. Take a minute to scroll through the list to follow; you will find all kinds of new Texas Webmedia here, but these new publications represent a real threat to printed newspapers in Texas. The level of sophistication varies, from just blogs to legitimate online newspapers, but all represent alternatives to newspapers — and they frequently have more news, more photos, and more local opinion than papers do. Click on as many as you can, and you’ll get a feel for what may be the wave of the future.

Here they are:

And if you’re thinking that even starting a Web paper may be a daunting task for some potential competitors, what if they could just open a franchise operation, complete with all the support they needed? Check out www.hometowntimes.com. As the organization’s Website says: “We’ll show you and support you as you build an audience and support the growth of the local community through innovative, proven advertising packages designed to build your town’s business success, make your neighbors aware of the issues and events of importance to them, deliver local news that concerns your lifestyle, and more features to keep your visitors coming back again and again.”

How serious is this company? HometownTimes launched 513 local online newspapers across the United States in January. It was recently ranked No. 10 in a listing of Atlanta’s Top 25 Franchises.

Have you heard…

An analysis of circulation figures published in the 2004 Editor & Publisher Year Book showed that of the 9,321 U.S. newspapers listed, 9,104 (97.7 percent) had circulations below 50,000, a common benchmark used to distinguish “big” from “small” newspapers.
Those 9,104 “small” newspapers reported circulations totaling 108.9 million, compared to a combined circulation of 38.2 million for the 213 “big” newspapers.
The majority of all newspapers are weeklies, with an average circulation of slightly less than 7,500.
Among the 1,456 dailies, 1,239, or 85 percent, are small newspapers, and reach about 44 percent of all daily newspaper readers.
Social media have now overtaken pornography as the No. 1 use of the Internet, according to research by the Institute for Public Relations.
Ottaway Newspapers has launched electronic editions of its newspapers aimed at cell phone and smart phone users. “Seekers of news and information in our markets should be able to access our content on the platform that either they are most comfortable using, or that is most useful to them at the moment they need to be informed,” said Sean Polay, Ottaway’s product manager for distributed media. Ottaway is using internally developed software to support the initiative. The Cape Cod Times in Hyannis, Mass., was the first Ottaway paper to launch the service.

By Kathryn Jones Malone