When first approaching a problem it is normal for your thinking to be restricted by your limited knowledge. As you learn more you can see all sides of it and not just understand it but form new ways of communicating it and actually teach about it.
It is like the journalism aphorism about writing an article too long because you didn’t have enough time. A simplistic understanding of a topic can lead to a complicated or clumsy explanation, but with a greater knowledge explanations can be simplified.
That is something that we face. Magda and I know a lot about journalism and the news business, but we are working on the problem of what the future holds for those endeavours. We need to make sure that we know enough and to paint a clear and reasoned picture of the options for news operations based not only on what currently exists, but what could be.
When we started, we discussed doing case studies of operations with alternative business models. We suspected that might be insufficient for our purpose and it is. We will need to research the topic more fully to come up with answers not just stories.
As part of the development for our book, I have been thinking about outline. I envision a structure like the books and articles of fellow Waterlooian (he’s from the region, not the city) Malcolm Gladwell.
Gladwell recounts studies and stories, relating them together with coherent narrative offering a progression of lessons for us as we read. I think we should plan our book and write it like that.
We could start with the story of the Crier of Port Hope. I like the idea of the scene of eight people throwing in $100 each to protest the incumbent local newspaper and then start a paper of their own. That scene shows an impetus for change and the need for an alternative. That is what our book is about — alternatives to an inadequate failing model.
Just doing it isn’t enough though. The Crier folded after less than two years. So, with what else must we concerns ourselves. That leads us to issues like operational funding, and skills. We can look to other stories of other ventures to teach us.
The Beach Metro Community News had a similar beginning to the Crier and could have had a similar end. It started as part of a protest and could have folded, but new people came in to continue it and it has lasted more than 35 years. Advertising has sustained the News over this time. The News does so well, that even as a non-profit it donates part of its revenue to charities and other community projects (2% last year).
Even the staff at the News admit that as a bi-weekly publication with a small news staff — one reporter-photographer with other staff and volunteers as writers — they cannot investigate and report every important issue in their community.
That could lead us to the Voice of San Diego, which also has similarities with the Crier. Voice founders believed the incumbent Union-Tribune newspaper was not serving the community and began their own operation. They were concerned about quality and depth of reporting so they chose key priorities for coverage and hired full-time professional reporters as well as using free-lancers.
This sequence of stories isn’t just a collection of case studies, but a progression of ideas that shine light on different parts of our topic. As we examine these different pieces we begin to get a clearer picture of the possibilities and we can then develop answers to what kinds of business models for news will exist in the future.
We may not use the same stories, ideas, or order in the final manuscript, but as we learn more and investigate more stories and more models, we will be better able to teach about the issue in a simple and coherent way.