All Blog Posts (288)

Conference for Independent Journalists

Hi,

I'd like to get everyone who is bootstrapping a new media venture together or wants to in one place for a weekend conference in San Antonio to learn from one another. Who would be willing to participate? I could set up something for early October.

What do you guys think?

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Added by Laura Lorek on March 10, 2010 at 8:54am — No Comments

What's New -- Week of March 1, 2010

RJI Collaboratory provided liveblogging coverage of a March 1-2 Knight Foundation "community information needs" gathering that brought together community foundation leaders with journalism and technology experts. Check out the conference coverage from Collab manager

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Added by RJIWhatsNew on March 5, 2010 at 9:00am — No Comments

Writing a research paper on ethics for entrepreneurial journalists

Hey everyone, I don't contribute as much as I would like to on RJI, but I'm a journalism and business student at San Jose State, and I'm writing a research paper on how entrepreneurial journalists deal with balancing the editorial and advertising sides ethically. I'm also on the lookout for any academic research papers you may know of that deals with this. Four hours on LexisNexis have uncovered articles that come close but no cigar. Is this too recent of an issue to be examined academically?… Continue

Added by Suzanne Yada on March 2, 2010 at 12:29pm — 4 Comments

Liveblog coming Mar 1-2: Community foundations funding community news

Community foundations are a growing source of funding for local news and media. Understanding how community foundations work, what they want, and how to work with them can help launch or grow local news startups.
On Mar. 1-2, 2010, RJI Collaboratory co-manager Amy Gahran will liveblog a Knight Foundation "Media Learning Seminar" where community and place-based fou… Continue

Added by RJI Collaboratory on February 27, 2010 at 10:30pm — No Comments

It's All Fun and Games 'til You Get Hit With A Tax Bill

I'm not a formally trained business person, but I tried very, very hard to learn what I needed to do to make Corona del Mar Today a legit business. I hired a lawyer to create an LLC, I got my federal tax number, I applied for a business license in Newport Beach.

I struggled with the county's fictitious name filing requirement -- I haven't done this because my name is on everything, really, and it doesn't seem right that they still use the very out-of-date "newspaper of recor

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Added by Amy Senk on February 25, 2010 at 1:19pm — 1 Comment

New Way For News Sites to Get Business to Pay?

In reviewing some of the older bookmarks that have seemed to gained value with a little bit of age and marinating in my Google account, there is one idea that may work for a local news organiza

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Added by Tim Robertson on February 23, 2010 at 7:45am — 3 Comments

What's New -- Week of Feb. 15, 2010

Get a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the unpredictable reality for journalist entrepreneurs, in this remarkable "day-in-the-life" post from Collaboratory member Tracy Record, editor of

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Added by RJIWhatsNew on February 20, 2010 at 8:52pm — No Comments

Should Editors and Reporters Live in the Communities They Cover?

The Daily Pilot finally has a new managing editor after about three months. The paper ran a story about it today.

I find it interesting that the editor doesn't live in the communities the paper covers. He doesn't even live in Orange County.

I used to work in Contra Costa County, but I lived in San Francisco -- three counties and just about a universe away. S

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Added by Amy Senk on February 18, 2010 at 10:49am — No Comments

Some Questions About Covering Events, Political Fundraisers

Twice in the past week, sources have called to let me know about functions -- then asked for money from me to attend.

The first came up in my Chamber of Commerce orientation. The big group -- not the Corona del Mar Chamber, but rather the big Newport Beach one -- hosts several contests, events and banquets over the year. Some are really famous, like the Christmas Boat Parade. Others are small, like the Sandcastle Contest.

In between are things lik

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Added by Amy Senk on February 17, 2010 at 8:05am — 1 Comment

This crazy life

Reading Amy Senk's recent posts reminds me that we seldom stop down to write about how this entrepreneurial-journalism life really works. And in some cases, does not. Others, I'm sure, have told this same sort of story, but I really haven't yet, so for those who are considering this life:

As I start this, it is a rainy Saturday morning in late winter, and I know that many of our "readers" - still hate that word, they are more like "collaborators" - are NOT sitting in front of their comp… Continue

Added by Tracy Record on February 15, 2010 at 3:51am — 4 Comments

What's New -- Week of Feb. 8, 2010

Looking for the skills that will allow you to successfully launch an entrepreneurial journalism project? You might want to look into free training opportunities, such as at Knight Digital Media Center. This week, they're looking for applicants for spring workshops on skills in web publishing and news entrepreneurship.
Emerging hyperloca

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Added by RJIWhatsNew on February 13, 2010 at 9:00am — No Comments

Some Personal Fallout

I've been working really, really hard for going on a year. The more success I taste, the harder I want to work. I've really improved the site -- I used to post once a day, maybe a lost pet notice. Now I'm covering harbor patrol rescues and council hearings and Coastal Commission. I'm breaking stories -- leaving legacy media reporters following me by hours or days or sometimes, just giving up and not bothering to compete.

It's all fun and very very satisfying.

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Added by Amy Senk on February 11, 2010 at 9:25pm — 1 Comment

Dan Gillmor on the future of journalism ed

Check out this post from Dan Gillmor, on the future of journalism education. He provides a great list of suggestions, and every J-school in the country would serve their students well by adopting the list. There's something that he didn't mention, though: How do you move a faculty entrenched in legacy media to change to adopt a modern approach?

Academia has four significant characteristics that bode agai… Continue

Added by Jane Stevens on February 7, 2010 at 7:30pm — No Comments

Free training from Knight Digital Media Center: APPLY NOW!

The Knight Digital Media Center, a great resource for digital journalists, has some upcoming training opportunities that might be especially useful for entrepreneurial journalists working on niche or hyperlocal venues.

Apply by the deadlines noted below and you could win fellowships to cover all costs of this training. Deadlines are coming up soon, so apply now. Here's what's on offer:

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Added by RJI Collaboratory on February 7, 2010 at 5:11pm — No Comments

FCC wants your comments on Future of Media by March 8

The FCC recently announced a new "Future of Media" initiative, and they're seeking comments. This is a good opportunity for emerging hyperlocal and niche news outlets to influence national media policy. So if you want your voice heard, speak up by March 8.

I recently wrote a detailed explanation of this project for the Knight Digital Media Center at USC. See:… Continue

Added by RJI Collaboratory on February 7, 2010 at 4:45pm — No Comments

What's New -- Week of Feb. 1, 2010

* Encouraging signs on the niche media front from Glam Media, notes Collaboratory manager Jane Stevens. The niche news network of hundreds of sites, and with a profitable women's division, has raised $50 million in venture funding. Why does it matter? * New Collab member… Continue

Added by RJIWhatsNew on February 5, 2010 at 2:13pm — No Comments

More Orange County Media War News

In the new year, Orange County has seen the start of two different websites that aggregate local news using small community papers. First, Tribune started The OC Now. Then this week, they cooperated with the Local News Network to launch The Orange County Local News Network. (Here's a local blogger's take on it.) So now my commun… Continue

Added by Amy Senk on February 4, 2010 at 1:28pm — 2 Comments

Glam Media raises $50 million

The shift to niche marches on. In addition to this investment, according to a MediaPost article, Glam Media is going to build a Digital Media Technology Center, and, by the way, their women's division is profitable. Glam Media comprises about 1,100 niche news sites from fashion, beauty, living, celebrity & entertainment, lifestyle, health & wellness, shopping, t… Continue

Added by Jane Stevens on February 3, 2010 at 7:56am — No Comments

Open Government Data Presents New Journalism Opportunities and Legal Challenges

I would like to thank Jane Stevens for inviting me to post on the Collaboratory. I'm a staff attorney at the Citizen Media Law Project at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. We provide legal assistance, education, and resources for individuals and organizations involved in online and citizen media. We also produce research on free speech, newsgathering, intellectual property, and other legal issues related to online speech.

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Added by Helen Fu on January 29, 2010 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Take the "TAO of Journalism" Pledge -- A Commitment to Transparency, Accountability & Openness

PROPOSED: A “TAO OF JOURNALISM SEAL” By John Hamer At the sold-out “Journalism That Matters” event at the University of Washington (Jan. 7-10), over 200 people came together to “Re-imagine News & Community in the Pacific Northwest.” Mainstream journalists, community journalists, freelancers, bloggers, tweeters, academics, students and other interested parties gathered to confront some pretty tough questions, such as: Who can be trusted in the “new news ecosystem”? What media sources… Continue

Added by John Hamer on January 29, 2010 at 10:12am — No Comments