Crowd Funding & Sourcing

Inside Google Plus, a new beta social networking site, is a news gathering goldmine that holds huge potential for us news miners. “Hangout” is a 10 person video chat room that is already transforming viewer interaction in mid-Missouri. I describe a Hangout as a free satellite truck attached to a built in crowd sourcing tool.

David Cohn, 2010-2011 Fellow

This is a summary of the event that took place at the Reynolds Journalism Institute on April 17th-19th made possible by the Knight Foundation and RJI.

David Cohn, 2010-2011 Fellow

It’s time to put up a topic for the next Carnival of Journalism. And the topic is #fail.

The best explanation can be found in the video below which also has the instructions on how the Carnival of Journalism will continue as I pass the reigns to other hosts. For those that prefer text, keep on reading (but you’ll miss all the jokes I inserted into the video).

Bill Densmore, 2008-2009 Fellow

A draft consensus statement for journalist/librarian collaboration is circulating after garnering support at “Beyond Books: News, Literacy, Democracy and America’s Libraries,” a two-day Journalism That Matters symposium in Cambridge April 6-7 co-sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute.

David Cohn, 2010-2011 Fellow

From the launch of Spot.Us, I’ve always said the following:

* Anyone can tackle the crowdfunded journalism model. In fact, NPR could do it tomorrow and blow me out of the water. It’s just about being transparent and giving up control over how donation money gets spent.
* This model would have more success at the national or international level.
* This model would have more success if a known brand took the lead. (Again, I always tend to cite NPR.)

David Cohn, 2010-2011 Fellow

Harvard’s Nieman Lab asked me what I thought about the NY Times pay wall and I was really excited to see the title of their post “Please stop calling it a paywall.”

As I noted in my thoughts to them: “it’s somewhat inaccurate to call it that. It feels more like a pay-ramp.”

Before I explain further my thoughts on this much opined topic, I want to consider some of what other folks said.

To start: Steve Brill is a major proponent of this. I’m not surprised and while I respect Steve, he has an obvious dog in this race with his Press + company. He NEEDS the Times to succeed in order to get the lower end customers.

David Cohn, 2010-2011 Fellow

The New York Times has finally released some information about their upcoming pay-ramp which begins March 28th. I’m excited to see what happens but another part of me feels like there is a missed opportunity to explore new ways to change advertising so newspapers doesn’t close off to the web but can still increase revenue.

At SXSW I had the opportunity to catch up with Kurt Huang, founder of ThankThis, and test the latest iteration of his startup called “Juicy Bits.” I should start with a disclosure: I’m an advisor to ThankThis. But this post will not be a “pitch.” Rather, it’s a call for participation with a startup that has cuffed its ears and is listening for advice.

David Cohn, 2010-2011 Fellow

As my last post insinuated – I find the private conversations in the hallways or over lunch to be the best part of SXSW. The panels are fantastic, but I greatly value the chance to meet folks from other industries, mindsets here at SXSW.

I ran into Clay Shirky as he was going to get something to eat and asked if I wanted to join. How could I pass up an opportunity like that? Before you accuse me of being a Shirky fanboy, let me proclaim it myself and move on.

David Cohn, 2010-2011 Fellow

I often find at conferences the size of SXSW the more interesting conversations happen in the hallway.

This year one that keeps coming up is the recent kerfuffle at NPR, the ousting of their CEO and the ongoing political and public relations battle that the organization faces post Juan Williams and now with the James O’Keefe video making the rounds.