B. J. Roche, Jeremy Caplan, Laura Frank and Jennifer Lord Paluzzi get set to start the session.
You Can’t Duck the Math: Entrepreneurial Journalism
Whether you’re planning to strike out on your own or spend your career working for The Woman, everybody must understand the economics of online: the market, the audience, ad vs. pay models, metrics. For traditional organizations, having entrepreneurial journalists on staff who understand the product, marketing and ad sides of the business is a huge plus. For students or others who are contemplating taking the plunge, here’s what you must know.
Session Updates (12)
Check out panelist Jeremy Caplan’s presentation on “What’s New and True in Entrepreneurial Journalism” at bit.ly/ejupdate.
More on panelist Jeremy Caplan on his about.me page:
Jeremy Caplan is Director of Education for the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism. He is also a Ford Fellow in Entrepreneurial Journalism at the Poynter Institute.
“I was a reporter at the Rocky Mountain News, and probably most of you know how that ended. (The paper shut down in February 2009.) Immediately I launched I-News“
- Laura Frank
“Imagine this as a big swimming pool. Do you tip your toe in, or do you dive right in, and get wet all at once?”
- Laura Frank, who qualified her adventures in entrepreneurial journalism as taking the toe-dipping route.
“When you turn around and within one month completely double your websites to 6 and within months have a 9-town network, that’s when your former coworkers start going, ‘Why did we lay you off again? And are you taking resumes?’”
- Jennifer Lord Paluzzi, founder of CentralMassNews.com
Talking about nontraditional revenue streams, Jeremy Caplan noted that the Texas Tribune and St. Louis Beacon have been very successful with events.
Laura Frank added that it’s smart to gauge return on investment on sexy new approaches. Every new project takes resources and time. “Run the numbers,” she said.
Caplan: “Not that it’s easy and not that it requires special effort, but I do think in some cases you’re able to generate new revenue in new ways.”
“What journalists need to do is understand that they need to go out and drag people to their websites.”
- Jennifer Lord Paluzzi on the importance of promotion
@meghannCIR
Meghann Farnsworth“Be revenue promiscuous.” Great quote from #ona11 #math session.
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“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had the thought, if the Rocky Mountain News were still open, this would be so much easier, because we could do it in an infrastructure…. If you’re in a place, try to be entrepreneurial first. It’s not an easy thing to do, because we’re not seeing very much of it.… Right now is a prime time to propose something like that within an organization.”
- Laura Frank on how to be entrepreneurial within the newsroom
“To cover your town you have to love your town.”
- Jennifer Lord Paluzzi
