Brent Sordyl's blog

How The New York Times Lost An Entire Generation Of Readers

February 3, 2010 by Brent Sordyl 0 Comments

I don’t think a paper that loses millions of dollars a year and funds itself by taking extortionary loans from plutocratic Mexican billionaires can be said to be competing in anything, Metro or otherwise. My feeling is you only get to congratulate yourself if you produce a great product and make money doing it— you don’t get any points for doing just the first half. And that doesn’t just go for you guys— I don’t think any magazine or newspaper that supports itself by sucking on the teat of some old rich guy (or his heirs!) should be giving anyone else advice.

Specifically in local, I don’t think the Times has had an original idea in years. It’s got a metro staff of what, 60 reporters, and look at all this innovation: Cityroom, which is a fairly lazy and sleep-inducing ripoff of Gothamist, and The Local, a recently closed ripoff of
(Link: How The New York Times Lost An Entire Generation Of Readers)

newspapers, tweet

Study Finds Newspapers Still Provide 95% of Media Storylines – NYTimes.com

January 11, 2010 by Brent Sordyl 0 Comments

Despite diminished resources of established news organizations, “of the stories that did contain new information, nearly all, 95 percent, came from old media — most of them newspapers,” it said. “These stories then tended to set the narrative agenda for most other media outlets.”
(Link: Study Finds Newspapers Still Provide 95% of Media Storylines – NYTimes.com)

newspapers, tweet

The Nichepaper Manifesto – HarvardBusiness.org

July 28, 2009 by Brent Sordyl 0 Comments

Nichepapers are the future of news because their economics are superior. All the Nichepapers above are “real” enterprises, with staff, offices, and fixed and variable costs. Nichepapers offer more bang for the buck: greater benefits for far less cost. Readers get more, better, and faster content — while publishers realize lower capital intensity, lower distribution, marketing, and production costs, and less risk. What is different about them is that they are finding new paths to growth, and rediscovering the lost art of profitability by awesomeness.

1. Knowledge, not news.
2. Commentage, not commentary.
3. Topics, not articles.
4. Scarcity, not circulation.
5. Now, not then.
6. Provocation, not perfection.
7. Snowballs, not sell-outs.
8. Tasks, not tech.
(Link: The Nichepaper Manifesto – HarvardBusiness.org)

newspapers

Daily Show Rips The New York Times

June 12, 2009 by Brent Sordyl 0 Comments

The Daily Show does a much better job than I did ripping the New York Times. “What’s that? A landline phone? Ha! Look at me. I’m like a reporter from the 80’s.” (Here’s the video on Comedy Central, for our international friends).
(Link: Daily Show Rips The New York Times)

newspapers

Guest Post of sorts: Nicholas Lemann at Columbia Journalism School Graduation « Clay Shirky

June 1, 2009 by Brent Sordyl 0 Comments

This is not a time for journalists to say, “We have decided that the traditional news story is the best basic form of news delivery, so we’re doggedly sticking with it.” This is, instead, and more interestingly, a time for experimentation, which also means it’s a time for listening.
(Link: Guest Post of sorts: Nicholas Lemann at Columbia Journalism School Graduation « Clay Shirky)

journalism, newspapers, Technology

What Colleges Should Learn From Newspapers' Decline

April 1, 2009 by Brent Sordyl 0 Comments

As of today, there’s no Craigslist busily destroying the financial foundations of the modern university. Teaching is a lot more complicated than advertising, and universities have the advantage of sitting behind government-backed barriers to competition, in the form of accreditation. Anyone can use the Internet to sell classified ads or publish opinion columns or analyze the local news. Not anyone can sell credit-bearing courses or widely recognized degrees. (via Chronicle.com)
(Link: What Colleges Should Learn From Newspapers’ Decline)

clayshirky, e-learning, newspapers, web2.0

Link: Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable « Clay Shirky

March 29, 2009 by Brent Sordyl 0 Comments

Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable « Clay Shirky
Revolutions create a curious inversion of perception. In ordinary times, people who do no more than describe the world around them are seen as pragmatists, while those who imagine fabulous alternative futures are viewed as radicals. The last couple of decades haven’t been ordinary, however. Inside the papers, the pragmatists were the ones simply looking out the window and noticing that the real world was increasingly resembling the unthinkable scenario. These people were treated as if they were barking mad. Meanwhile the people spinning visions of popular walled gardens and enthusiastic micropayment adoption, visions unsupported by reality, were regarded not as charlatans but saviors.

clayshirky, newspapers, tweet, web2.0