Delaying the death of a (newspaper) salesman March 22, 2009

Across the U.S. local newspapers, many of which are historical institutions dating back more than a century, are finding themselves closing up shop or in the brink of doing so in the face of declining ad sales. Many point to the internet, and the fact that publications are expected to offer as much value-added features as they can for little or no cost. Did internet kill the newspaper star? If anything the internet has powered the transmission of journalistic information by making it mobile and time-relevant; a piece of paper with yesterday’s news is, for all it’s worth, useless and antiquated. But of course the newspaper as an institution can’t die, as there is the need for professional journalistic cadres to hold some ground while the concept of citizen-journalist is shaped by society; impartiality and professionalism are developed over time and through their own application.

For the past days a group of individuals that work in the forefront of digital journalism have been meeting in Washington, DC to come up with a business model that will sustain both the need to be profitable and the imperative to provide valuable content in the internet. Members of the group RevenueTwoPointZero have been working in everything from site layout to advertising models for portable content. Their work is both interesting and relevant. Just as companies have discovered the need to sustain their brands through sustainability and other CSR policies, so must publications find a way to balance profitability with the digital imperative of providing + sharing.