Our Hometown Blog

This week I discovered the Editor & Publisher Podcast, hosted by Mike Blinder, the new publisher of Editor & Publisher Magazine.

I love listening to podcasts, but this is the first one that I have discovered (besides the Our Hometown News Podcast) that focuses specifically on the local newspaper industry.

The podcast has many excellent episodes available,  but one that has stood out to me as especially on-point in much of their discussion on reader revenue and innovating in digital.

Watch the full video below

Future of Local News Media:  Hear from Experts #NewsPublishing #Editor&Publisher

The podcast featured the following guests:

James Fallows of The Atlantic

Nancy Lane of Local Media Association

Cheryl Thompson-Morton of LenFest Institute

Ken Doctor of Nieman Journalism Lab

Notable Quotations:

Ken Doctor on whether there is a future in digital subscriptions for local news:  “There’s plenty of money.  This is still the wealthiest country in the world…there are plenty of people who can pay.  Yes there are more people in pain because of the recession, but tens of millions of people have the money to pay for a subscription.  So we really have the confront the question…whether it’s the lacking money or its the value proposition that we are giving people at a local level.” [Video Clip]

Nancy Lane on the top 4 recommended focuses for local newspapers:  “Reader Revenue, Journalism funded by Philanthropy, Branded Content, and Events” [Video Clip]

Cheryl’s answer to Mike’s question on whether people will pay for local news:  “If you look at how other industries with subscriptions are doing this work…you see millennials are paying for Netflix, they are paying for Spotify, right?  They already have a structure in which you pay for access to things that you value.  So some version of reader revenue has to be part of the equation, whether it is subscription or memberships.” [Video Clip]

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