Freebies

Does your company produce corporate knick-knacks? Ballpoint pens with company logos perhaps, or branded USB sticks, or coffee mugs. Or maybe you print t-shirts. Because if so, I think I’d like to talk to you. There’s a convention that kick starter contributors receive ‘rewards’ for their money, like those I’ve mentioned above. Producing a newsmag,… Continue reading Freebies

Get one free?

Would a demonstration issue increase the level of subscriptions in a crowdfunding round for a newsmag? The problem such an issue faces is it would have to be comment based, and comment is precisely what I’m trying to get away from. Breaking news is an impossibility for print any more, and effectively that means online… Continue reading Get one free?

A word’s worth

How do you price an online newsmag? I’ve run through various models, but I keep coming back to one key figure: €52 a year. Just a euro a week, as the marketers would promote it. [Update: €52 a year isn’t quite working on the spreadsheets; a euro a week may not pay for the level… Continue reading A word’s worth

Who’s in charge?

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) regulates every television and radio broadcaster in Ireland. It is a statutory body. The Irish Press Council, recognised by statute, regulates newspapers (though not all of them – papers can decide to opt in or opt out.) The Press Council also accepts web-based publications, though only one is listed… Continue reading Who’s in charge?

The investigative space

As a weekend roundup, a few stories (not all of them new) about investigative journalism that caught my attention recently… Shoe leather and paywalls: A French website exposes corruption and shakes up the political scene. De Correspondent: A Dutch news site raises €1 million through crowdfunding. Reboot the news: What If Publishers Could Start From… Continue reading The investigative space

First draft

Image via MorgueFile

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… Continue reading First draft

Public property

I really liked the poetry of a news/publishing company owned by its members/subscribers, but it isn’t going to happen. Put simply, the legal hoops such a company would face, from restrictions on its ability to finance itself to limits on the numbers of members, mean that creating such a creature would be an unwieldy, time-consuming,… Continue reading Public property