The Internet’S Effect On Journalism

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The internet’s effect on journalism By Bruce Saltmarsh

Transcript of The Internet’S Effect On Journalism

The internet’s effect on journalism

By

Bruce

Saltmarsh

Too many Questions

• This article pushed me to look into thinking of the new realities of the journalist.

Money on the ‘net

• This seems to be the factor that everyone come’s back to, while the internet may be stealing readers from the print media, how does one go about making money off of the internet?

Click-throughs and salary

• “the CA sells ads based on the profile of visitors to my blog, so that generates a viable income for the newspaper.

• last year, I started a personal blog that I ultimately abandoned, but while I was writing it, I linked to products on Amazon.com, and made a percentage of sales resulting from click-throughs to amazon from my blog.

• right now, the only way I am making money from my blog is via a monthly salary from the CA to continually update it. it works for me!”

– -Andria Lisle

Banner Ads and consistent posting

• “Money via my blog?• • Sure, one day maybe, but

traffic has to justify tastefully-placed banner ads and such. Bloggers that make money from their sites post entries every hour or more, and I just don't have the time right now.”– Andrew Earles

On-line store• “The money-making potential

of the I-94 Bar has never really been realized, mainly because people expect the e-zine to be free. We operate a shop but it's priced low and turnover would pay hosting costs (and feed an eBay addiction.)

• There's certainly more potential to make money from the site via display ads and the marketing of that to potential sponsors will be something for 2009 after a makeover of the site.”– Craig Regan

Pro’s of the internet

• While the internet is seemingly stealing readers, it is also making some things for writers easier –

Research

• “research is easier and faster -- fewer trips to the library or phone calls to make.

-Andria Lisle

Widening Access• “Because of "global journalism," I've gotten

more memphis-centric assignments from European newspapers and magazines. It's much easier to pitch assignments and file stories using modern technology, and I've gotten several inquiries from editors and publishers based on previous work they discovered online. If you have a specialty, it's easy to permeate a certain market.”

-Andria Lisle

“A lot of magazines take pitches from unknowns (which I am, more often than not) through e-mail, as long as I attach a formal pitch in the form of a Word doc. On a couple of occasions, I've sent cold pitches (meaning, I had no previous contact or relationship with the publication) that resulted in work (Baltimore City Paper, for instance).”

-Andrew Earle

Establishing a niche• “Blogging certainly has long-term value -- by blogging on a particular

topic, I am positioning myself as an expert, and therefore getting more legitimate assignments based on my reputation as an authority on memphis music. It's a quick, cheap way to assert my position. I have seen this work to great effect particularly among craft bloggers (soulemama, posie gets cozy) who have gotten book deals based on their ideas and the millions of visitors to their blogs.”– Andria Lisle

Con’s of the Internet

• …though it is still stealing readers and leaving writers searching.

Loss of print media• “The internet is having an

impact on the print industry. It's weeding out the mid-level magazines, like Harp (gone) and Paste (greatly reduced in size). Older print magazines are having to step up their web presence to compete with web-only sites like Pitchfork, and in a lot of cases, they just can't cut it. I've been assigned features then lost them because a magazine was cutting its physical size in half, due to the aforementioned issues.”– -Andrew Earles

Loss of Markets• “Rights-wise, it's made it

slightly harder to make money -- most publishers want to finagle print and web rights, which has caused a lot of dissent in the modern journalism market. So far, this hasn't been a major concern for me, as most stories I write for the CA are temporal.

• Also, because most work appears online, it's difficult to re-sell an article in different markets.”– -Andria Lisle

“I am now a freelance music/food/lifestyle writer for the Commercial Appeal.

Check out my blog, Memphis Music Confidential.

I am also a regular contributor to MOJO, Wax Poetics, Garden & Gun, Edible Memphis, Stop Smiling, and more.

Recent articles:Isaac Hayes and the Soul of Memphis, for the London Guardian newspaper.Patron Saint of Rhythm: the Dave Bartholomew Story, for Wax Poetics. Peachy Keen, a food feature for the Commercial Appeal”

- Andria Lisle

Music-related freelance dominates my career, though I’ve delved into (capacities: reviews, essays, features, book chapters) film, literature, television, comedy, travel, outdoor, and random pop-culture/human interest writing over the past twelve years. The first two years were more or less an unpaid stretch in the world of self-publishing. That means that I did a zine: a nagging, semi-literate tattoo on my past, whereas my blog (failedpilot.com) is more like a semi-literate, nonsensical Etch-A-Sketch of the last four years. Of course, like every other person in the grocery line, I’m also writing some fiction.

Andrew Earles

Barman's Rant- he rants, he writes, he runs the I94 Bar Craig Regan