News  Entrepreneurs  vs.  Tradi2onal  Journalism  

Are  we  there  yet?  Susan  Mernit  Oakland  Local  SXSW  2012  

Tuesday  March  13,  2012    

2  

EDITOR Charles Waldo Bailey III, former Editor, Minneapolis Star Tribune

ENTREPRENEUR Tavi Gevinson, founder Rookie Mag

Entrepreneurship  is  being  baked  into  the  DNA  of  media  crea8ves;  Legacy  media,  not  so  much   3  

We’re still in a transition

4  

“Bloggers vs. journalists is over. I don’t think anyone will mourn its passing. There were plenty who hated the debate in the first place, and openly ridiculed its pretensions and terms.”

--Jay Rosen, Press Think, 2002

Back  in  the  day:  2002  

5  

But partnerships can be challenging with legacy media—not everyone agrees on the value exchange

Hyperlocal  news  non-­‐profit  Oakland  Local  has  strong  partnerships  with  KQED,  New  America  Media,  Yahoo!  News,  The  Bay  Ci8zen,  California  Watch,  The  Inves8ga8ve  News  Network,  The  Media  Consor8um  and  local  blogs-­‐-­‐but  not  with  the  local  newspaper  (yet).  

6  

Home page: oaklandlocal.com

7  

“We were approached by Digital First to partner with them at the Oakland Tribune. They offered us– traffic. After we stopped laughing, we asked if they wanted to buy our reported content and/or sell ads or us. Answer: No. Legacy: FAIL”

--Susan Mernit, Oakland Local, 2012

March  2012  discussion  at  Journalism  Accelerator  

8  

“Ah, the reliably lazy “Legacy Fail” argument. A more mature way of looking at it would be this: We offered traffic, and you weren’t interested. You asked for money, we weren’t interested. No hard feelings or reasons for bitterness. We just couldn’t come to an agreement.

I missed the rule that says that anytime a start up asks a legacy media company for money, we are required to cough it up.”

--Jim Brady, EIC, Digital First/ANG, 2012 (excerpt from longer post)

Note  the  emo8onal  language  of  the  response  from  Digital  First  EIC,  March  2012  

9  

Is there a connection between legacy media’s attitude & the sense new media entrepreneurs are profiting in ways traditional media are not?

10  

Note the shifting revenue streams

•  Oakland  Local  revenue  streams  

• Adver2sing  • Sponsorships  • Events  • Training  &  Consul2ng  

• Grants  

•  Tradi8onal  journalism  revenue  streams  

• Adver2sing  • Events  • Sponsored  content  

11  

Tradi2onal  media  wants  to  become    more  entrepreneurial  

But  it  takes  learning  new  skills-­‐-­‐  change  management,    ability  to  collaborate,  partner,  be  win/win—  

12  

What’s the win?

The future of news could look like this: • Regional and local sites • Collaborative partnerships • Ad networks • Share the revenue • Share the audience

But we all need to grow to get there

13  

What  do  you  think?  

Share  your  views  

Susan  Mernit  susan@oaklandlocal.com  @susanmernit  @oaklandlocal  hVp://susanmernit.com  hVp://oaklandlocal.com  hVp://susanmernit.tumblr.com  

14  

APPENDIX:  ABOUT  OAKLAND  LOCAL  

15  

News:  Mission-­‐driven  and  Not  For  Profit  

What  is  Oakland  Local?  •   Web-­‐based,  local  daily  news  &  repor8ng:  original  repor2ng  &  community  voices,  3-­‐6  stories  day  •   Local  Community  ar8cles:  4-­‐20  week  •   On-­‐going,  web-­‐based  training  programs:  serve  non-­‐profits,  community  orgs,  small  business  •   Events  &  meet-­‐ups:  Code  for  Oakland,  In  Oak  Lunch  series,  Oakland  News  Café  

16  

Our  Audience  is  Large,  Dynamic  &  Engaged  

•   100,000  visitors  to  web  site  every  month  •   2,500  newsleVer  subscribers  •   5,000+  TwiVer  followers  •   6,600+  Facebook  followers  •   700  registered  contributors  •   45+  community  contributor  pieces  per  month  

• More  2me  spent  on  site  per  visit  than  Bay  Ci2zen  or  Oakland  Tribune*  *  Knight  report,  Quantcast  

17  

18  

JOIN LOCAL COMMUNITY GETTING RESULTS

                       =    IMPACT  Oakland  Local  web  traffic:    150,000  page  views,  72,000  visitors,  February  2012  (Compare:  Alexa.com  reports  monthly  visitors  to  Inside  Bay  Area/Oakland  Tribune  at  35,485  per  month)  

Distribu8on  through:  • KQED  • SFGate.com  • Yahoo!  News  • Google  News  • The  Media  Consor2um  • New  America  Media    • Reuters  • Byliner  

AWARDS  Society  of  Professional  Journalists,  California  Grand  Jurors,  East  Bay  Press  Club  

19