Since the start of the new year, I’ve been thinking about new media.
Not new as in online, but new as in new points of view. New as in new voices.
Ireland needs new media. Though I’m not yet certain exactly what that new media should look like.
In conversations with journalists, I’ve toyed with the idea of publishing one off stories, a variant on kindle singles, published when ready. Then here’s the option of a regular publication, produced monthly, or maybe weekly, supplemented by blog updates between issues. There are a hundred variations on the theme.
The one thing I do know is that publication will be electronic. Screen first, not paper. Not computer, but app ready, a publication for reader screens, whether e-book reader, tablet, or smartphone.
News is approaching a tipping point. More newspapers are moving to subscription models. Andrew Sullivan is experimenting with reader funding. Even Vincent Browne noticed something was up when he wrote about the ‘Barcelona model‘ to fund a ‘Sunday People’s Post’.
So it’s time to put my money where mouth is. Except, I don’t really have that much money to put anywhere.
But I have to try. So crowdfunding, here I come.
I think the time has come for this in Ireland. The recent troubles at the SBP/Examiner show that huge goodwill exists towards independent media that offers a high-quality alternative.
It’s also time to embrace the digital age. Too many traditional media houses and journalists are too busy trying to protect a model whose time has passed. Despite the obvious risks, digital publishing of this kind offers a unique opportunity and freedom that we as journalists have always said we wanted.
TIme, as Ger says, to put our money where our mouth is – and that goes for consumers as well as content creators.
Within the next 12 weeks, I’ll be putting out the tip jar over at The Muckraker. As Philip says, good will exists and we need to tap into that. Increasingly, we’re going to see media micro-entrepreneurs doing public interest journalism sustained directly by the public.