I’m heading to Cork Startup this weekend. Which means I need a sixty second pitch. Here goes.
I could build you a newspaper in the morning.
Counterpose government and opposition press releases to create a conflict. Add police reports, and a handful of EU, quango, and NGO reports.
Then there’s the PR filler, a mix of product launches, dubious surveys to promote products, tv shows, movies, books, perfumes, and the latest app. Round it off by checking half a dozen twitter lists of generic celebrities, politicians, sports stars and “personalities”. If you’re lucky, one of them got dragged into a troll fight, or just said something a little too Alan Partridge.
It wouldn’t be pretty. And it wouldn’t really be news either.
News is the new. But a lot of news looks like what I just described. What’s left, breaking news, gets old pretty fast. You learn about international stories from CNN, or the Guardian, or the New York Times. Local tv and radio report most breaking Irish stories.
I want to produce a magazine uncovering the new. Weekly, or monthly, I want to tell you something everyone else doesn’t know yet.
And I think people will pay for that.
Sounds good. Best of luck
What a great description of the shite that is Irish news online. And now some people even call The Journal and Broadsheet news websites. Depressing.
But would you pay for something different?
Hi Gerard,
Sounds like a good idea – some people will always be prepared to pay for something different. However there is a general sense of ‘entitlement’ in Ireland among many when it comes to getting news for free. The very best of luck with the venture.
It’s difficult to know where the serious pitch ends and the sarcastic whinge begins in this one
Hi Ger,
I would pay…. sounds good. !
Best of luck.
Eddie