Newspapers and coffee, duh!

Not making it as a newspaper? 

Add coffee and stir.

That's the unusual business model emerging in the Czech Republic. I have to admit I was a bit dumbfounded as I read a about it in the New York Times this morning. But it is actually a really cool idea. In an effort to reconnect with their communities newspapers across Czech Republic are opening up Coffee Shops adjacent to their newsrooms. They offer an internet connection and one-on-one time with their reporters who will help customers learn social networking tools. And I'm not the only one who thinks this idea could work. Google is backing the project, supply tech support and training. The European company that is developing the cafes, the PPF group group says it is meant to be the Czech version of hyper-local news. PPF, an Amsterdam-based firm with banking, insurance and media holdings in Central and Eastern Europe is partnering with Vlatva-Labe-Press, a German-owned publisher of Czech papers. PPF has invested 10 million Euros of 13.4 million dollars in the project and the company plans to begin publishing seven weekly newspapers and about 30 websites serving four distinct regions of the country next month. It's great to see such a literal attempt by a newspaper company to reconnect with their audience. A cup of coffee and a conversation can go a long way in building a relationship, and right now newspapers can use all the friends they can get.

America's Newest Profession: Blogging

We've all heard of the oldest profession ... one unemployed young journalists will thankfully never be forced to consider. That's because they now have the newest profession: blogging. The Wall Street Journal says that there are now almost as many people making a living as bloggers as their are lawyers in America. A striking fact for the most heavily lawyered country in the world. A quick search of wikipedia says that there is about one lawyer per 265 people in the U.S., and the bloggers aren't far behind. Check out the April 21st article by Mark Penn with E. Kinney Zalesne. 

I first heard something about this article in the form of an NPR factoid. the announcer said there are now about as many bloggers in the U.S. as there are bartenders. That got my attention, since almost everyone I know has done that job at one time or another to make ends meet between starting college and beginning their career. I thought to my self, 'now everybody needs blogs as much as they do beer?' Wow. 

That's when it hit me that I am really in the right place (USC Anennberg) at the right time. Where else could be better to weather the storm of the economic downturn, the transformation of journalism to an online medium and my own personal evolution from a low-tech news hound to a multi-media online producer? 

Now, I'm not sure that I want to devote my entire life to sitting in front my laptop cranking out blogs. After all, blogging, when usurped by corporations will end up being just as oppressive as a nine-to-five job. And that's not what I went into journalism for. I chose the profession for idealistic reasons, including being a part of upholding democracy, but also because it offered the possibility of a certain degree of autonomy, creativity and adventure and of course, constant learning. 

I think it's great that blogging has gained legitimacy, but my secret hope is that it remains mostly a free-for-all, haphazard, brainstorming bazaar where we go to search out intellectual trash and treasures. But no doubt, from this year forward it will remain an integral part of journalism as we know it.

What I found really striking about the WSJ article was the figures. Check them out:

* One out of every three young people reports blogging

* 2 % of bloggers do it for a living

* It takes about 100,000 unique visitors a month to generate an income of $75,000 per year

* Bloggers can get $75-$200 for a good post

* It takes about $80.00 and 35 months to get started

* Pros who work for companies are typically paid $45,000 to $90,000 a year for blogging

* One percent make over $200,000 and work 50-60 hours per week

Take a look at this blog which discusses the numbers further.

And this is the one that really blew me away ... Pen and Zalesne write, "as bloggers have increased in numbers, the number of journalists has significantly declined. In Washington alone, there are now 79% fewer DC-based employees of major newspapers than there were just a few years ago. At the same time Washington is easily the most blogged-about city in America, if not the world." Penn and Zalesne didn't say it outright, but they drew a correlation between the decline of journalist in the capital with the rise of bloggers. Pretty interesting stuff.

8 Years for Reporting

The Front Page of  The New York Times features Roxana Saberi this morning, after Iranian authorities sentenced her to eight years in Prison for allegedly spying. We all know this is bunk. Saberi is a respected journalist who has worked for National Public Radio and The BBC. Saberi was arrested back in January on charges of buying alcohol. Then she was charged for working without press credentials and eventually with spying for the United States. I have been following the case of Saberi with great interest because it concerns me as I get ready to graduate from Annenberg and forge into my own freelance journalism career. Gone are the days when one could sign up to be a foreign correspondent the way one might sign up for the Navy Seals or the Army Rangers. Now you are on your own. And if you get shot in a war zone or arrested by a repressive regime there is no one at home to worry about you and work out the details of medical care or your release from Prison. It is good to see the New York Times, NPR and BBC working together to draw attention to Saberi's plight. But do they have the resources to really get her home? This will be one to watch. In the meantime the world of freelancers is growing and begs for a new association to work specifically on these such issues. The Society of Professional Journalists is one such organization that could step in to fill the void left by the  fragmenting of newspapers and the dispersion of correspondents. But SPJ seems more concerned with the things that made the old world of journalism go round -- awards, libel cases and basically celebrating itself. Yes they have a token blog and some ridiculous article about webcasting, but what the journalism world really needs right now is an online community for those of us who are brave enough to actually go out be journalists despite a global economic downturn, the collapse of newspapers and governments who will throw us in jail for telling the truth. Maybe SPJ is like an old newspaper forcing its writers to blog and post some video once in a while, but really not wanting to change much ... as long as the money keeps rolling in. I am a member of SPJ, and I believe it is an important organization. But I had hoped to see more leadership from them as the industry hit these tumultuous times. How about getting together a health insurance cooperative for all of the journalists who can no longer rely on corporations to cover them and providing a networking forum for journalism entrepreneurs? And I believe, member or not, they should be speaking up in defense of Saberi. Instead I see big articles about SPJ turning 100 -- and my thoughts are that they'd better watch out. If they don't make the leap, somebody more innovative might just jump in and do the job they should be doing, standing up for journalists and helping them through this transition ... and they just might start giving out their own awards too.

Three Blogs I Like

Three blogs I like: The Common Language Project's, 'CLP', Amanda Koster's, 'Amanda Koster', and Nicholas Kristof's, 'On the Ground'

Seattle Courant Cartoon

The Seattle Courant is Seattle's first online daily newspaper. While looking for interesting cartoons on the demise of journalism, I came across this cartoon, which they recently published. Through the cartoon I discovered the rest of the publication. I found that The Courant is a hyper-local publication focussing specifically on Seattle. It is an interesting mix of short story features, local news and cultural writing and reviews. Very Seattle. Despite the fact that the top story this weekend is about whether Sascquatches exist, the publication offers an array of information most Seattlites or those linked to Seattle in some way, may find interesting. Clicking around the site, I discovered some interesting stuff like their 'Layoff Reports,' which track layoffs at Seattle businesses (181 from the Seattle P-I, included). This paper seems to be in direct competition with what's left of The Seattle P-I. Over on the P-I's front page the Seattle Sounders (a local Soccer team) was the top story. I guess if I live in Seattle reading about Sasquatches and Soccer could be my top priority. I imagine that each of these stories is interesting, but I have to ask, where's the news?

Discovering The Courant through a search for cartoons about newspapers got me thinking though. It's kind of like the the whole internet functions the way newspapers used to. We've had that discussion in class a dozen times now, about how our parents used to read the newspapers for one particular thing that interested them, like sports or entertainment, and then this cool thing happened; they'd discover something else that they hadn't set out to read like international news, a story focussing on politics or a movie review. Well, my cartoon search worked much the same way. I was looking for a cartoon for my blog, and I discovered The Courant, and a bunch of really interesting Seattle stories about Sasquatches, sporting events and city council meetings. But this is where the cool connections came to a halt. That's because The Courant does not seem to link to other publications or really anything else on the Web. So instead of continuing my adventure of news discovery, I was basically circling an information cul-de-sac. This basically shot down my original theory, that the internet is the new newspaper, to pieces, which was quite disappointing. But I think my hypothesis is half true. As the internet becomes more interconnected through links and aggregation, we may see the internet acting more like a newspaper. Meantime we'll have to keep backing out of dead ends, like The Courant. Or, perhaps, some folks may actually decide they like it there an decide to stay.

A National Endowment for ... Journalism?

After our JOUR599 phone conference with Jon Sawyer from The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, I started checking out some of the folks he works with, as I would like to be one. Low and behold, on his list of reporters I found some fellow Seattlites; Sarah Stuteville, Alex Stonehill and Jessica Partnow, along with several others, make up 'Common Language Project,' a wonderful new model for international investigative reporting. As I was exploring the C.L.P. site (check them out facebook) , I came across a blog by Alex arguing for the creation of a National Endowment for Journalism. This is something I've been thinking about myself, and frankly I was a bit jealous that Alex beat me to it. But I have to say, that his editorial is really interesting and well written. Check it out if you care about the future of journalism in the United States. I think he's onto something. My question is how do we get Washington to pay attention in the middle of an economic crisis? Although creating a National Endowment for Journalism may seem indulgent in the middle of a recession, it is precisely at this moment when we need serious investigative reporting. Creating such an endowment would put laid off journalists to work and keep the Fourth Estate alive during this critical time in American history. What do you think?

A Reason to Want the Big Guys on Your Side

The idea of freelancing is romantic, until you end up sick in a foreign country, struggling with a story without an editor to guide you, or kicked out because you offended a government official. All this is to be expected at one time or another. But one of the worst situations we have seen lately, besides foreign journalists becoming casualties of war, is foreign countries throwing them in prison for no apparent reason. This is the case with Roxana Saberi who is being held in Iran's most notorious jail, Evin Prison, where it is rumored there is a torture chamber. I don't know about you, but this is when I would want 'The Big Guys' on my side. I commend NPR, ABC, BBC, FOX, WALL STREET JOURNAL, PBS AND FEATURESTORY.COM for their joint statement and their negotiations on behalf of Ms. Saberi. But I'd also want all the little guys on my side too. I actually found out about this story through facebook. I think I'd noticed the story while scanning the papers, but skipped over it, as I was busy with midterms. However, when I saw my old KUOW friend, Sara Lerner, had posted the official letter from the networks on her facebook page, I had to take a look. Why? For one thing, I trust Sara and find what she has to say interesting. Another major reason I read about Ms. Saberi was that I thought to myself ... that could be me, and I would want my fellow journalists to be interested in my fate. Ms. Saberi is a freelance journalist, but she is established and has lived in Iran for years. As more and more foreign correspondents are laid off and the ranks of freelancers swell, I hope the networks continue to defend the rights of freelancers who run into trouble for doing nothing more than their job. The spread of news about Ms. Saberi's situation through facebook is also hopeful. But somehow I don't think a letter from Facebook users would have the same impact as one from the networks.

Below is the letter I read on facebook.

MAJOR WORLDWIDE NEWS ORGANIZATIONS PRESS FOR INFORMATION

REGARDING AMERICAN JOURNALIST ROXANA SABERI BEING HELD IN IRAN

NPR, ABC, BBC, FOX, WALL STREET JOURNAL, PBS, FEATURESTORY.COM ISSUE JOINT STATEMENT

Washington, D.C.; March 10, 2009 – On behalf of the family, friends and colleagues of Roxana Saberi, and the many American citizens who share our concerns, we urgently request a series of steps be taken in the case of Roxana Saberi, an independent journalist and dual citizen of the United States and Iran, who is being held in Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran.

We now ask that one or more international organizations that have responsibilities and rights under the Geneva Conventions be permitted access to Roxana immediately to ascertain her health and well-being and to determine the conditions under which she is held.

We now ask that the specific charges against Roxana Saberi be made public. If no charges are filed, we now urge her immediate release and ask that she be given permission to return to her home country, the United States.

For the past six years, Ms. Saberi has resided in Iran, where she is an established and respected professional journalist. She has filed for NPR, ABC, BBC and others. Before her arrest, she was pursuing a master's degree in Iranian studies and international relations and writing a book about Iran.

On Thursday, February 26, nearly a month after the actual event, we learned that Roxana was detained by Iranian authorities in late January. Since then she has been denied contact with family, friends and associates. On February 10, briefly and under apparent duress, she contacted her family to inform them of her arrest and detention and requested their silence. On Sunday March 1, her family revealed the story to their home town press in Fargo, ND and to NPR, given their growing concern over the lack of contact from Roxana.

Roxana Saberi is a U. S. citizen, born in New Jersey, raised in North Dakota and educated in Minnesota. She has many friends and colleagues across the nation. We are deeply concerned about her well-being and the deprivation of her rights, and we will continue to press for action until we are successful.

Signed,

Vivian Schiller
President & CEO, NPR

David L. Westin
President, ABC News

Jon Williams
World Editor, BBC News

Paula Kerger
President & CEO, PBS

Robert Thomson
Editor-in-Chief, Wall Street Journal