Liyahbeat20four7’s Blog

    This doesn’t really have much to do with the things that I usually blog about but, it’s Mother’s Day so I thought I’d just switch it up. This video reminds me so much of the questions my mom has about computers in the “technological advancement age” as she likes to refer to it as.                                                              

Enjoy =^]

Image from Google Images.

    Alright! So for my Journalism 24/7 class our final class project was to revamp or introduce a new business model for journalism. Now, being that I’ve never taken a business class I was a little nervous and apprehensive about doing this assignment without a “business partner”. However, when I started to write up the proposal my ideas seemed to come naturally. 

Below is the proposal, take a look and see if I was on to something…

Introducing The Greene Bed:

A hyperlocal online publication that will cover the Fort Greene and Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Reporters will focus on breaking news events, community development, politics on the local level, real estate, business, the arts, and fine dining. Once a month, we will print a 40-page magazine highlighting the upcoming month’s events. This will feature in-depth interviews with local politicians, artists, business owners, and school officials.

The Readers:

Our publication will target ages 23-55, because the majority of residents in both communities are this age. Also, this age group is most likely to access our online edition frequently. A lot of these residents are artists and professionals, who are involved in community programs and interested in the local politics. Therefore, a good portion of our publication will focus on these two areas. It will also include weekly profiles of artists from NYC.

Bringing in revenue:

In order to access our articles, readers must be registered users. They are subject to a ONE time fee, which grants them full access to our website for a lifetime. The monthly magazine will be sold via the website or in local bodegas. Subscriptions for the magazine are unavailable. Registered online readers will have the option of having a free copy of the monthly magazine sent to their homes. They would be responsible for the postage fee.

Placing advertisements online that will target our readers, only makes sense. Therefore, local restaurants, nightlife, boutiques, art exhibition centers, real estate, medical centers, and pharmacies will be some examples of businesses that would be interested in advertising with The Greene Bed. We will also seek donations from organizations (donations will lead to free advertising) and hold fund-raisers as well. However, it would be ridiculous to depend solely on advertising and donations in this market, so we will experiment with a different crutch.

            Every 3 months, The Greene Bed will host a showcase dinner, where local restaurants will provide free food because, it will give them a chance to attract new customers. Local musicians will entertain, while artists showcase their art around the room.  At each dinner, a different independent filmmaker will get an opportunity to present their work. The venue can be the Brooklyn Academy of Music (which provides discounts for local businesses), or local banquet halls. The tickets will be between $20-30.

            Another guaranteed way to bring in revenue is to sale spots for the obituary page. Since, the publication is online, there is no limited amount of room to write obits, and therefore every request can be met. This is a sure way to bring in money because everyone wants his or her loved one to be remembered. If not but for one day.

** Donations from political officials will not lead to special endorsements from The Greene Bed. Therefore, donations from political-action groups are accepted with the full understanding that no advertisements will be placed online or in our magazine.

** The bodegas and/or local businesses that agree to sell our magazine from their stores, will receive five complimentary tickets to each showcase dinner.

Staffing Responsibilities:

            The paper will employ no more than 25 part-time reporters at one time. This number doesn’t include freelancers (will explain why further down). It is unnecessary to hold a large staff based on the size of the communities we are covering.

            Reporters do not have a specific beat, and are assigned to stories within a variety of fields. Therefore, they are expected to read up on everything going on in the community, and stay versed in lingo (i.e. business terms).  In addition to following the news, they must be technologically savvy. Reporters will act as photographers, videographers, and editors. They must know how to edit and upload multi-media content to the website, because we will not have a separate staff for these tasks.

            However, there will be three full-time editors, who are responsible for fact-checking and tweaking stories, who must give approval before content is posted. Managers are also essential, because they need to ensure that the 25 or so part-time reporters are given equal opportunities to cover stories.

Staff Pay:

            Reporters will be paid on a per story basis (unsure of the amount). However, no one reporter can exceed 12 articles per month (this doesn’t include obituaries). In order to alleviate competition and favoritism, management will keep a watchful eye on the number of stories editors assign to reporters.

Free-lancers, who pitch story ideas that have already been assigned to a reporter, help foster healthy competition. Who ever presents a solid and timely piece first, will have their story published.

Managers and editors are the only full-time staff and will be paid on an hourly basis.

**Yet, it is important to note that free lancers are not apart of the regular staff, and will be paid half of what a part-time reporter makes for a published story. Free lancers should be aware that they are expected to work just as hard as a staff reporter, and published articles should be used to build a portfolio.

Breakdown of Revenue Use:

            In addition to paying the staff, majority of the revenue will go towards website expenses, which include: hosting, domain name, web design and graphics development time, and website maintenance. Money is also placed aside for the production of our monthly print magazine and rental of the venues for the showcase dinners.

Timetable for Success:

            The publication is estimated to start picking up speed and making major money sometime around the tenth month of the venture. By this time, The Greene Bed will have hosted three showcases, presumably has a lot of registered readers and advertising is expected to start making steady gains. We hope that by the tenth month, our readers value the information we are providing to them, and that we could become a permanent staple in these Brooklyn communities. 

Image from Google Images.

Photo from Miami SunSpot

    At a time when the newspaper model is falling apart, because of a lack of ad revenue (all advertisers are taking their business to the internet), the broadcast stations have seemed to get a little more creative, and are thinking outside of the box.

 Do you think of the Home Depot, when you are wandering what the weekend’s weather will be? Well, for a lot of NBC news viewers, Home Depot ads have become the bright prospects of their days. NBC has teamed up with Home Depot to run ads twice a week during weather forecasts.

    Mark Dorrill, a media manager for Home Depot, said they were ceasing an opportunity to utilize prime-time exposure, and that it makes sense because the forecast is tied to home remodeling projects, like lawns and gardens. 

    The idea seems smart, but has the potential to be overkill, depending on how often NBC inserts the ads. For now, twice a week is fine, but if it becomes excessive viewers will start to complain. No one wants to think about roofing when they are just want to know whether or not to pack an umbrella in their kids’ backpack!

News Corp. offices in New York City. Photo by AP Services.

     Yesterday, chairman of News Corp. Rupert Murdoch, announced that the corporation had created a new bureau in the company dedicated to gathering and sharing information between news organizations owned by News Corp. 

    He named FOX News’ John Moody as the head of the operation, and said that this new step was like none other taken by news organizations anywhere in the U.S. 

    While they did this in part to make news gathering more efficient, it is also serving as a way to save money in a time where major newspapers and magazines are facing bankruptcy and closings. 

    I think this is an important innovation for the news business and other ones across the country may want to start taking notes. With global news expensive to report because of travel and stay for correspondents, they need to look at other ways to cut back other than slashing their staff.