DISQUS

Reading their 'F*ck you...' parting shot, it strikes me that Messrs 'Steve Rivera & Geoff Grammer's mastery of Wildcats basketball...' should be put to rather more constructive use than simply giving the bird to all the Wildcats bloggers out there who valiantly try to cover the team without the level of influence, access and knowledge that Rivera & Grammar bring to the party...

Or did.

As that paper 'unbundles', those boys should get off their ass and cash in on their 'mastery' whilst their 'brand' still has any value and worth and their contacts book is still fresh...

As Mr Shirky has long maintained: 'People want a good read...'

It's as simple as that; that's not rocket science.

So give them a good read about their favourite basketball team in an organised, networkable format that can then tie-in fellow 'beat' reporters from the Rocky Mountain News, etc... be small, but give yourself the chance to be big... source local advertising, cascade down national advertising... look to syndicate your original reporting and not let AP or whoever market your wares as their own..

The only people who are going to help journalists in this current climate are journalists themselves.

Messrs Rivera & Grammer, your opportunity knocks... or are you going to let all that 'mastery' count for nothing?

Rick Waghorn
www.myfootballwriter.com/norwichcity

An action plan for Ms Toynbee... bottom up, me thinks, lies the solution.

Just ask the people of Darwen.

http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=268

All the best, etc; must do that beer :)

It'll be intriguing to see what they come up with...

Won't it just?

My money would be on immediate consolidation (bigger silos, not better networks...), planning applications to stay firmly put and obligation on BBC/ITV to 'buy' their content in off the 'Secret Seven'.

Cos that will save them.

But then we weren't invited to tea at Claridges...

http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=256

All the best, etc

'The group added there had been no reaction from the public...

Sales of the Evening News are down 8% on last year. Sales of the Ipswich Evening Star are down 11%.

No quite right.

No reaction from the public.

Whatever happened to the view that two pairs of eyes are better than one?

It costs twice as much.

Alas, Roy is spot on.

And I speak with a very real interest; my wife's a provincial newspaper sub.

This makes for an interesting read - the same question being asked, and answered, across The Pond.

http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2008/11/why-feds-...

All the best, etc

RBS clearly has other, bigger skeletons rattling around in its closet right now. But this baby doesn't look too clever either...

http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=142

http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=143

Cloud Cuckoo hits one nail on the head... the other point to ponder is where you re-gain that lost hour on the M62...

http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=135

The other small saving grace for B2B publishers is that they have got geograpy on their side - as in they haven't got any.

Trinity, JP, Archant have geography by the bucketload; hundreds of little local, fragmented monopolies that the Web really, really doesn't do.

It hates them.

If I live in Norwich and want to sell my bike, my car, my house... I'm not going to sell it through an advertising medium/vehicle that stops just south of Thetford.

It's that kind of geography which is this ever-tightening noose around the regionals neck.

IMHO.

Of course Jeff “Link To The Rest” Jarvis would love it. Indeed, looking at Future’s deal, the big, fat, obvious question that forms in my mind is: why isn’t Conde Nast, EMAP or IPC doing this already?

Exactly... why not indeed...

Think you're spot on with the dawn of a post-industrial landscape...

http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=30

All the best, etc

In fairness to Ofcom...

Sent: Wed, 21 May 2008 14:14
Subject: Dinner invitation from Ofcom


Dear Rick,

As you may know, Ofcom recently published a thrill-a-minute consultation document as part of a review of public service broadcasting. (If you’re in the mood, an exec summary is online in handy blog-like format: http://ofcompsbreview.typepad.com/summary/ )

Ofcom recognises a vast array of organisations and individuals produces public service content on the Internet. I’m keen that the next stage of our review accurately reflects the views this broad constituency. In case you’re wondering, that includes MyLocalWriter and its kin.

I would therefore like to invite you to participate in a dinner and discussion hosted by Ofcom about how the reach and impact of online public service content might be improved. In other words, how to ensure people can discover content which meets their needs as citizens, as well as consumers....

I'd like to think that I produce pieces of meaningful journalism - and with 100,000 page views so far for the month of January so far, I've got some half-decent traffic numbers on my side as doing pure journalism - minus the time/distribution constraints of a printing press - works, albeit in the little world that is provincial football reporting.
That said, however, commercially it is a tough nut to crack and whilst I hunker down for a reasonably tight spring, I suspect the answer - for me, at least - will ultimately include at least five income streams which, together, may yet get me there. For somewhere in the midst of banner advertising locally bought and sourced; straight subscriptions for premium content; affiliate advertising; premium text alerts; a soccer betting portal; the ability, in theory, to do discount 'bulk' subscription deals to every office worker sat in Norwich Union just as the Daily Mail might drop papers off in Little Chefs; and, finally/possibly/eventually, servicing electronic sports desks with syndicated match reports, I ought to be able to fund my work-from-home living... as, in theory, ought a mini, 'news' team syndicating their copy back into bigger news hubs. But it ain't easy, trust me.