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

Newspapers, farms and Bud’s advice

When the Tribune Co. announced bankruptcy in December, I had one immediate thought: I wish they’d really bought the farm. The World’s Greatest Newspaper is broke and an uncomfortable crowd of metros is teetering on the brink. Even the New York Times is hocking its skyscraper to pay the bills. It’s a sad time for … Continued

Wikipedia-ing the news

Matt Thompson’s RJI research proposal Five years ago, blogger Dave Winer and New York Times executive Martin Nisenholtz made a bet. “In a Google search of five keywords or phrases representing the top five news stories of 2007,” Winer wagered, “weblogs will rank higher than the New York Times Web site.” But what fascinates me … Continued