PG: "News organisations can learn from start-up culture"

http://www.journalism.co.uk/5/articles/535577.php

by mark_h • 17 years ago

20 9 17 years ago

journalism.co.uk

ujjwalg• 17 years ago

Can someone throw more light into this idea YC is working on? I am damn curious, given that http://ycombinator.com/ideas.html mentions techcrunch on one side and reddit on the other (News will morph significantly in the more competitive environment of the web. So called "blogs" (because the old media call everything published online a "blog") like PerezHilton and TechCrunch are one sign of the future. News sites like Reddit and Digg are another. But these are just the beginning. ) And essentially, given the fact that HN is far better than any of the two.

thaumaturgy• 17 years ago

I don't know that YC specifically is working on a particular idea -- I think they're just interested in someone else who might be.

We're currently looking at making it possible for anyone to easily become either a news aggregator/publisher or a local news reporter, through a mostly decentralized system which is still easy for news consumers to navigate. We've found a wazoo's worth of revenue streams in this.

Just a matter of making deadlines now.

biohacker422• 17 years ago

I think politico is the true herald of the digital journalism future. They are hard journalists, they are small and efficient like a startup, and they are profitable. They are also very narrowly focused.

The problem with the majority of currently falling news organizations is the fat profit margins they've been enjoying. And there's no helping them.

Let me put it this way, after the railroads no amount of cleverness and inventiveness was going to save the pony express.

brandnewlow2• 17 years ago

One big problem/wrinkle with the "Politico is the future" thesis is that Politico makes all it's money by selling classified ads in a weekly print newspaper it distributes across Washington D.C. according to Vanity Fair:

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/08/wolff200...

From what I recall of the piece: The guy funding Politico originally wanted to publish a weekly Capitol Hill insider paper. The well-known editors and journalists who left the WaPo to start Politico convinced him that going hard on the web, breaking news every hour etc was the way of the future.

Yet, the original, "boring" idea, to offer a weekly Capitol Hill paper, is where they make all their money. The web site is in some ways just a marketing tool for their print product.

So when people tell me "doing a Politico" is how to make news on the web, I'm skeptical. That approach is a great way to build a brand, but you still need a way to convert that brand into $$$. That's where we need innovation.

biohacker422• 17 years ago

Everything you say is fact, and yet I completely disagree with your interpretation of the facts.

The original "boring" idea would be bankrupt by now if it wasn't for the website. So yes, they are using the web as advertising, that doesn't mean it's not the key to their existence.

And they are making money by selling a physical product, there's a lesson there too. How many free websites are funded by selling shwag? Isn't Joel's free blog selling fogbugz? There's a pattern here.

mighty• 17 years ago

I haven't bothered checking Politico since the 2008 U.S. election. They were horrifyingly fixated on covering the horse race, with a big spot on the front page dedicated to who "won" the day. Iirc, they also build the partisan split directly into their information architecture and staff, another big no-no as far as I'm concerned. This sort of thing is what's ruining our politics.

In theory, I would be interested in a site with a tight focus on low-level politics, but Politico ain't it.

Herring• 17 years ago

"If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"

-Maslow

boggles• 17 years ago

Wasn't that Mark Twain?

PG: "News organisations can learn from start-up culture"

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