So I learn something new everyday.
I didn't realize how rare it was for local newspapers to have a single owner that is not a corporation and does not own ALL THE OTHER NEWSPAPERS IN THE AREA.
I don't have a lot of information on this yet but I think this will be my next project.
I want to learn all about who owns what and how this affects independent journalism.
I've always had this pipe dream about owning my own newspaper, but that may actually be beneficial to this cause one day if I can start a successful newspaper that is owned by just me and not by a large corporation or wealthy individual who owns multiple news sources.
Stay tuned for more freak-outs about why journalism is not being endangered by technology but by corporate ownership.
Have you heard anything about the journalism co-ops popping up in some places? Prof.s Shafer & Callahan have both brought them up. This may not be the best article, but it's the first one I could find that seemed to cover the major points: http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/07/banyan-project-planning-its-first-community-owned-news-co-op/ . (He mentions NECC, which is pretty cool.) Private ownership of independent news organizations may be a dying career path, but you should keep your eye out for other possibilities that serve the same central goal (news unburdened by corporate influence) without necessarily using the mechanisms you'd previously had in mind (private ownership of a small press in a thriving newspaper market).
ReplyDeleteI attended the last meeting for the Haverhill journalism co-op initiative. You can read coverage of that meeting, which is includes the most recent update on the status of the project:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.niemanlab.org/2014/01/will-2014-will-be-the-year-the-banyan-project-finally-takes-flight/
- Professor Callahan