March 24, 2009

How to Save the News Industry

We have written a lot about the decline of the print newspaper industry as more and more Americans find their news online. The industry seems to have been caught completely off-guard by the rise of the Internet as a vehicle for news.

There are some signs of hope, as a few news outlets and media strategists are trying to create a new business model for the industry.

The British Guardian, for example, will let anyone use the content on its website for free. How does the company plan on making money? Instead of trying to charge for content that can easily be duplicated, the Guardian will let anyone duplicate and use its content and then slap ads on top of everything.

The Financial Times of London has launched Newssift, a semantic search engine that sifts through business news across the Internet. It returns impressive results, especially for bigger companies and broader topics.

Meanwhile, social media strategist and blog author Woody Lewis, writes on five ways newspapers can avoid extinction for Mashable.com.

No comments: