The Business Realities of Journalism, 2009
At this session, participants will begin by taking note of the stark realities of the journalism business in 2009, particularly the plight of newspaper and broadcast journalism, the rise of online news sites, and the sources of income that might support journalism going forward. Those could include, for example, subscriptions, advertising, micropayments, fees (royalties, referral fees in e-commerce, licensing), philanthropic grants, endowments, underwriting, voluntary contributions, government subsidies including tax relief or reduced postage.
We then move directly to a presentation from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School of Journalism for models for journalism sustainability in two situations: (A) a journalistic ecosystem for a large metropolitan community without a traditional daily newspaper; and (B) a hyper-local model, e.g., an identifiable neighborhood within a larger community that can see its journalistic needs served in new ways. With traditional newspapers becoming less dominant in any number of local/metro markets, CUNY suggests that a new “ecosystem of news” will emerge and evolve. Their presentation will describe the make-up of that ecosystem and discuss what revenue sources will be required to support and sustain it. Discussion points: what are the building blocks of this news ecosystem? What are hyperlocal sites? What audiences do they serve? What revenues can they generate?
A third presentation and dialogue will address payment systems for online journalism. What are the conditions and circumstances under which these models might succeed? What content will work behind payment walls, and what will not? What levels of revenue can these initiatives generate?
From this session, participants will have a general understanding of some of the most promising and interesting models for generating more revenues from the access, use and dissemination of journalism over online media. This should serve as a basis for further discussion during the working groups and the following day’s plenary sessions.