Fellowships
Bill Densmore: The information valet project research proposal
Are people willing to pay for information online? Do they truly value privacy? What kind of information are consumers looking for online? To sustain an information valet economy — and along with it both participatory democracy and journalism — the next generation Internet needs a user-focused system for sharing identity, exchanging and settling value (including … Continued
L.A. Times’ Sean Reily: Journalists must innovate, move content to mobile devices
An interview with Sean Reily as he begins his fellowship year. When the banking and real estate industries got clobbered in California, the Los Angeles Times, like every newspaper in America, felt the ripple effects. Revenues shrunk as fewer businesses placed employment or real estate ads. That meant sections shrank or disappeared, along with jobs … Continued
Building new ad revenues could start on the obit page
An interview with Stephanie Padgett as she begins her fellowship year. About five years ago, Stephanie Padgett was doing market research to help smaller, Midwestern newspapers and radio stations. It was quite clear that her research on how to reach more consumers would be useless if the media companies didn’t change their old habits. For … Continued
Journalists must learn to share information to build readers’ trust
An interview with Michael Skoler as he begins his fellowship year. When the folks at American Public Media wanted to build a better partnership with their listeners, they called on veteran National Public Radio reporter and editor Michael Skoler to lead the charge. Skoler created a new approach to news called Public Insight Journalism and … Continued
What every newspaper publisher needs to know about e-readers and tablets
Sean Reily began his Reynolds Fellowship in August 2009 just as the market for e-readers was heating up. The Kindle, which Amazon had launched less than two years earlier, still was the only e-reader wirelessly distributing digital editions of newspapers. But Amazon’s surprising success with the Kindle was beginning to attract potential competitors. When RJI … Continued
A Look at CircLabs’ plans to track your browsing to serve news (and ads)
Stealth startup CircLabs launched in late May with the goal of “sustaining” the business of journalism by bundling content, social features and ads, while giving readers a single platform for subscriptions and micro-payments to multiple publications. Now, EVP Martin Langeveld offers some details on how the company plans to do it: with a browser add-on … Continued
Firing neurons, building relationships: Washington D.C. Conference
Washington, D.C. — The Radio and TV Museum inside George Washington University displays journalism’s past: a Philco Model 42-350, a 1942 radio to first offer FM broadcasts. Its fame soon faded: the museum notes 1945-57 was “dismal,” as television ate up once-loyal FM audience and advertisers. Dusty radio relics reminded journalists, bloggers and software geeks … Continued
In his own words: A selection of Matt Thompson’s blog entries Part 2
The W-bomb Sept. 22, 2008 You can’t tell from my blogging, but I’ve gotten rather sensitive about the word “Wikipedia.” Earlier this year, after I’d written my research proposal, I was casting about for a title to communicate the core concept I hoped to pursue. I recalled a whitepaper by Shayne Bowman, Ellen Kampinsky and … Continued
In his own words: A selection of Matt Thompson’s blog entries Part 1
The timing of local news cycles May 13, 2009 Howard Weaver writes a sweet, short paean to the dailyness of the newspaper: I’ve been arguing for years that newspapers — yes, printed, daily newspapers — have a good long horizon on the value curve if they shift their focus to the value they already do … Continued
Info Valet leads to Circulate
An article about the new Circulate created by 2008 Reynolds Fellow Bill Densmore Sorry, wedding planners: happy couples will soon have a faster and cheaper way to find ads for discounted designer duds or a Consumer Reports articles on best honeymoon getaways. It’s called Circulate, a new Internet-based service that will provide consumers a customized … Continued