Interesting conversation at Foothill about blogs and newspapers
Everyone is losing print circulation, not just the Times, though news web sites are gaining readers. People can say they don't cover the greater lacounty area well enough, but they were doing the same thing before the slide.
No one knows how to fix newspapers. Local coverage could be the answer, but it may not be. Blogs could be the answer, but it may not be. Papers as we know it may end; no one knows. Trust me, we are all trying to figure out how the next generation wants their information.
(via foothill cities)
New media guru Ryan Sholin (www.ryansholin.com) has good ideas. As a member of that "next generation," I think newspapers would do well to strongly consider his advice.
http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/03/18/hyperlocal-doesnt-mean-being-obsessive-about-every-breath-your-city-council-takes/
I think that in general, people feel like it makes sense to pay for things they can touch. When we buy books or newspapers or cds, at a gut level, I think we think we're paying for the paper or the the little disk -- not the intellectual property. I'm not trying to make an argument about what people *should* pay for -- I'm just saying that I think the problem is that for some reason it just doesn't feel at a gut level like intellectual property alone -- not bound to some physical object -- is something to pay for. I think that's the problem. Figuring out how to get money in exchange for pure intellectual property -- and to have it feel normal and right to the general public -- that's the challenge.