Victor Hernandez: 50 things we learned at RJI-Distribution

Victor Hernandez, Banjo A recent profile piece on Victor Hernandez began with the following statement, “With what he’s wearing, Victor Hernandez seems to be part human and part robot.” And while all human cyborg rumors can neither be confirmed or denied, Hernandez has developed a reputation for infusing traditional journalism leadership with new media applications. Hernandez is … Continued

Why send a newsletter at all?

E-newsletters have become a primary engagement, dissemination and revenue-generating tool for modern newsrooms. With benefits ranging from reader loyalty to audience insights to new revenue, it’s easy to see why. What’s harder to see is the “why not,” though it’s equally important. Email used to be a method for filtering the internet. Far from the … Continued

Digital services suite helps community papers become one-stop shop for merchants’ advertising needs

Missouri Press Service has launched a suite of digital services designed to help community newspaper publishers boost their relationships with ad clients while generating additional revenue.   Services range from creating websites and social media pages for newspapers’ ad clients to training newspaper staffs to sell targeted YouTube and display ads. Since MPS, a Missouri … Continued

5 lessons from Corey Ford for every entrepreneur

The following are highlights from Corey Ford’s presentation at the Collaboration Culture Symposium March 21 at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute. Ford is the co-founder and managing partner of Matter, a startup accelerator that focuses on supporting media-based companies. Its accelerators are located in San Francisco and New York City 1. Storytelling is the … Continued

Corey Ford: Using a Collaborative Experimental Culture to Drive Innovation

Corey Ford, Matter Corey Ford is the co-founder and managing partner of Matter, a startup accelerator for entrepreneurs building scalable media ventures that create a more informed, connected and empowered society. Matter invests seed capital and provides intensive support through a human-centered, prototype-driven startup accelerator in San Francisco. Prior to Matter, Ford built Runway, a pre-team, … Continued

Khari Johnson: Crowdfunding Beyond the Money

Khari Johnson, Through the Cracks Khari Johnson is a staunch believer in journalism, community, entrepreneurship and bringing underreported stories to light. He’s founder and editor of Through the Cracks: Crowdfunding in Journalism, a news website that monitors crowdfunding platforms to share stories that enable reporters and storytellers. Through the Cracks is a social enterprise whose coverage … Continued

Structured journalism puts consumers in control of news

In September I wrote about the economics of structured journalism, highlighting the potential for newsrooms to rebundle news as value-accumulating networks of structured information. But what is the market for structure? Why would news consumers want such a radically different way of formatting and consuming news? Why would customers care? Choice. Article-centric journalism has traditionally … Continued

Undergoing the great entrepreneurial pivot

Many entrepreneurs find themselves pivoting at some point during their entrepreneurial journey. Even some of the leading tech companies today pivoted in their early days: Instagram initially was a check-in service called Burbn; Facebook was FaceMash, asking users to rate which person was hotter; and YouTube was a video dating site. Whether pivoting sales strategy, … Continued