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Beacon and Newspapers: What do you want in the future?
Hey All,
I'm working on a project aimed at helping journalists start news sites in communities with little or no news coverage.
In part, Beacon and the popularity of BCN inspired me. Also, I work at the Times Herald-Record and we often hear people over the river asking us to cover them.
In honing my goals for this project, I'd like to get feedback from the community.
Here are some questions I'm looking to answer...
Why do you think small community papers haven't succeeded in Beacon?
Does the community want more news coverage or are you happy the current resources?
Would the community support a subscriber-based online paper? (aka Community Supported Journalism) If so, at what cost: $5/month, $10/month?
What kind of news is Beacon missing? What kind of news does it want?
a: Hyper-local (city meeting/court/police/school coverage)
b: Regional (Dutchess County legislature, other county that impact Beacon)
c: Statewide (Albany coverage that impacts Beacon)
d: National (U.S. trends that concern Beacon residents)
e: All of the above
Thanks for your thoughts!
I'm working on a project aimed at helping journalists start news sites in communities with little or no news coverage.
In part, Beacon and the popularity of BCN inspired me. Also, I work at the Times Herald-Record and we often hear people over the river asking us to cover them.
In honing my goals for this project, I'd like to get feedback from the community.
Here are some questions I'm looking to answer...
Why do you think small community papers haven't succeeded in Beacon?
Does the community want more news coverage or are you happy the current resources?
Would the community support a subscriber-based online paper? (aka Community Supported Journalism) If so, at what cost: $5/month, $10/month?
What kind of news is Beacon missing? What kind of news does it want?
a: Hyper-local (city meeting/court/police/school coverage)
b: Regional (Dutchess County legislature, other county that impact Beacon)
c: Statewide (Albany coverage that impacts Beacon)
d: National (U.S. trends that concern Beacon residents)
e: All of the above
Thanks for your thoughts!
Tags: beacon, community, news, newspapers
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Birdy on -
To make a profit, you could set it up as a free website, with more details via small fee (like an account like EZ pass with money deposited into the account) e-mails. The e-mails would be clunky or someway be prevented to be forwarded. I know many people would love to see a weekly police report with details of arrests and tickets issued. Each report could be 25 cents. The editor would be the only person with a full salary. Journalists could apply for "grants" for specific projects. It would be up to the editor to decide about stories. Fluff pieces, like parades would actually pay for the more expensive projects. 50 cents or a dollar for access to the "whole parade" and half the town would pay for that.
Business stories would be very important. Many people get ideas about how to help Beacon but if you don't know the details, most of the ideas could be a waste of time and money. For number based historical accounting projects would be very very valuable. ($5 or whatever). Same with historical data on various art projects through the years.
I don't know about students, it would be a lot of extra work to ensure it was accurate, etc.
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Permalink Reply by Pat Klubnick on -
I agree....John Darcy was, and still is a remarkable person....and an incredible writer..with integrity!
Michael Fasano said:Local news, generally: detailed planning board and city council meetings, features on local people/pursuits; etc. Like the Beacon Free Press of years past, when the late Dick Shea was reporting. The Free Press, when it was run by John Darcy, was a solid newspaper.
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