Pickings are thin for freelance journalists in Ireland at the moment. Titles have closed, and freelance budgets are squeezed. Yet in my view, there’s never been a greater need for journalism.
A few days ago, I posted here a question I has earlier asked on Twitter, about what readers would like to see in a new Irish news magazine. Social media being as distributed as it is, that post led to new conversations through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, email, even Google Plus, though not in the comments below.
So, time to put some meat on the bones of the idea I outlined previously.
Imagine a news magazine, reporting on issues at home and abroad, produced by freelance journalists. Except this magazine is online only, sent to your kindle or tablet, or a kindle reader on your phone or computer screen. Delivered once a month, it provides original investigative journalism, independent analysis, media criticism, reviews, and a few decent long reads. Between issues, you’d also get the benefits of regular updates online.
Now comes the tricky bit. Journalism costs money. Would you pay €50 for the first twelve issues of that new magazine? Is this a viable idea, or am I dreaming?
Gerard – if the content was good enough yes.
And therein possibly lies the rub. Without subscribers willing to sign up, I lack the capital for the project.
i’d be willing to take a punt on a shorter subscription to for a taster and then upgrade to a full 12 or 24 month sub if i felt I was getting value. Offering a tiered subscription model might also work, where the per issue price is slightly less based on the length of your contract. Might as well apply mobile phone contract pricing model to it rather than a traditional media subs model.
Depends on who is behind it and who the potential contributors are. Use FundIt to see what the enthusiasm is for it.
I signed up to a 6 edition sub for a niche mag that never got past #3 but it wouldn’t put me off doing it again.
If I had an income, I’d be up for subscribing, certainly!
As Dermot suggests, would a FundIt.ie campaign be do-able to at least raise some seed money to put the idea into practice?
In terms of investigative journalism and informed analysis, my god Ireland is in such need of something like this.