11-09-2020, 07:33 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-09-2020, 07:35 PM by GarthDanlor.)
(11-09-2020, 04:58 PM)ac3r Wrote:(11-06-2020, 06:50 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Whether you like the record or not, we MUST find a different business model for journalism...the current system is seriously broken, and I don't think paywalls, or guilt tripping, or anything like that is going to fix it.
I like the approach The Guardian uses. Their web conent content is all free (so, the vast majority of their news - yet they also publish physically, but they make sure the published versions contain some print exclusive material), so to generate revenue they just politely ask every so often if you'd like to either make a one time donation to help or buy a subscription. I'm not sure such an approach could work for The Record, given its size and readership (The Guardian is one the biggest papers in the UK and internationally), but I suppose that illustrates why high quality local journalism is a good thing - if you have that, you can draw in subscribers. Most objection I hear to The Record mirrors mine: it just isn't worth giving money to and their hard paywall can put you off considering it even if you want to check out what they have.
(11-09-2020, 06:16 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:I'm a fairly frequent visitor to the UK and one of the joys of my visits is to pick up a paper copy of the Guardian at the train stations or airports to help occupy my journeys. Their website/app is also my go to source of international news, and they have managed to find a formula on the site that allows for them to break even, or even a little better (though they do have an unusual ownership). I do ultimately think that there is a market for quality (unbiased & factual) reporting combined with reasoned opinion pieces (be they with a left, centrist or right bent). Unfortunately, there might be even more of a market for tabloid clickbait trash.(11-09-2020, 05:38 PM)robdrimmie Wrote: I'm very interested in a source for this assertion that is deeper than you speculating. I take no issue with the speculation, but it conflicts with my understanding of the industry and I'd like to update my knowledge.
I agree, unfortunately, like many things in capitalism, a quality product is not sufficient for success.
I do like the Guardian's positioning, but I wouldn't like having to read a physical paper to get some news, ultimately, I want as little paper in my life as possible.
Bottom line is that we need big quality news organizations like The Guardian, The Times, NY Times, Washington Post, The Tor Star, Globe etc. to survive as war zone reporting and deep investigations like Watergate are Cambridge Analytica are costly endeavors and can't be done effectively by DIY podcasters. We also need as many voices as possible to counter the myriad daily untruths of corporations and politicians like Trump (and many others). I imagine the biggies like the Guardian et al. will find a way to survive but we also need the smaller, local and, perhaps, more mediocre papers like The Record (to survive). Local reporting isn't usually "sexy" so I think they will have a much tougher job to attract or even to hang on to customers. To me $6 per month is a fair price to keep The Record and others like it going...it's the cost of 1 Starbucks' latte! Unfortunately, however, the days of these smaller papers seem to be numbered and I think we will regret it when they are gone.