The year 2008 saw widespread staffing reductions at newspapers across the country. Those cuts raise a macro and micro question, whose answers may be intertwined as we move into the next era of journalism.
The macro question is: What is the future of traditional journalism, now that the business model seems irreparably broken?
The micro question is (if you were any of the thousands of journalists laid off) : Where is my next job as a journalist?
The answer to both question may be: Niche journalism blogs.
As newspapers crumble under the weight of their financial debt and fixed costs for production and delivery, a content model that is more nimble and smaller makes sense. In Seattle, several neighborhood blogs have sprung up to meet the need for hyperlocal news.
The West Seattle Blog and the My Ballard blog both regularly break news in their respective neighborhoods; they are frequently updated and often pilfered by the local MSM; and they have developed regular contributors. As Cory Bergman, MyBallard.com creator notes on Lost Remote, it's not quite a 'quit your day job' revenue model, and it's also a lot of hard work. But for journalists who have a passion for local news, it is also an opportunity. As Bergman points out - amazing things can happen if a local news blog reaches "a critical mass of an audience AND contributors in a dense geographic area."
(Full disclosure: I know Cory personally and professionally; he once worked for Belo, my current employer.)
Laid off St. Petersburg Times reporter Scott Barancik has come up with a different and creative business model for individual journalism. As Steve Meyers reports on Poynter, Barancik has launched Baylawsuits.com, "newsworthy cases from the civil courts."
Meyers digs through the court dockets and identifies cases that could be newsworthy, then does bullet point summaries. He then makes his research available on his password-protected site to media clients, who pay for access and then follow up and report on the cases he's found. Meyers, in effect, is the media middle man, using his journalism skills to identify and summarize newsworthy cases that staff-strapped media outlets might overlook. Meyers started with the idea of targeting media clients, but has since expanded to law firms and PR agencies. Again, the dollars don't yet compare to his previous salary, but the idea is creative.
A third approach, the niche blog, has perhaps the most promising business model. A great example of this is Portland's bicycle blog, BikePortland.org. Created several years ago by Jonathan Maus, the blog has grown to become the destination web site for all things bike related in Portland, a city known and nationally recognized for its interest in bicycling. By taking a topic rather than a location, Maus has had business as well as audience success. Specializing in a single topic, he's drawn all of those most knowledgeable to his blog, where they then become posters and tip contributors, making the blog even more of a go-to destination. I know from first-hand experience that the blog is checked regularly by the Portland TV stations looking for story leads. And, thanks to having a targeted subject matter, Maus also has an ad-friendly web site for those looking to reach that very well defined audience. Maus has been making the site work as his full time job for several years now, and while not all of the content is what we'd traditionally call 'journalism', Maus regularly breaks news in this niche category.
Journalists looking to answer the question, personally and professionally, "what next?" may want to think hyperlocal and niched.
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