The Guardian, however, is run by a team of experienced professional journalists. I think if we see more of this kind of online publication as well as sites like The Zonie Report, that’s a pretty good thing.

My conclusion:
Now we’ll begin to see a marked rise in citizen journalism. Each day we come closer to desiring real time information, something a print newspaper can’t deliver.

Citizen journalism is already happening here in Arizona. For example e-papers like The Arizona Guardian (www.arizonaguardian.com) and Heat City (www.heatcity.org).

I do worry about potential drawbacks like bias and lack of depth, but I’m also excited about the rich stories e-papers like these might produce.

We were definitely on the same page this morning.

http://tr.im/hrwE

JB

1. The Philadelphia Daily News. The smaller of the two papers owned by The Philadelphia Newspapers LLC, which recently filed for bankruptcy. The parent company says it will make money this year, but with newspaper advertising still falling sharply, the city cannot support two papers and the Daily News has a daily circulation of only about 100,000. The tabloid has a small staff, most of whom could probably stay on at Philly.com, the web operation for both of the city dailies.

2. The Minneapolis Star Tribune has filed for Chapter 11. The paper may not make money this year even without the costs of debt coverage. The company said it made $26 million last year, about half of what it made in 2007. The odds are that the Star Tribune will lose money this year if its ad revenue drops another 20%. There is no point for creditors to keep the paper open if it cannot generate cash. It could become an all-digital property, but supporting a daily circulation of over 300,000 is too much of a burden. It could survive if its rival the St. Paul Pioneer Press folds. A grim race.

3. The Miami Herald, which has a daily circulation of about 220,000. It is owned by McClatchy, a publicly traded company which could be the next chain to go into Chapter 11. The Herald has been on the market since December, and but no serious bidders have emerged. Newspaper advertising has been especially hard hit in Florida because of the tremendous loss in real estate advertising. The online version of the paper is already well-read in the Miami area and Latin America and the Caribbean. The Herald has strong competition north of it in Fort Lauderdale. There is a very small chance it could merge with the Sun-Sentinel, but it is more likely that the Herald will go online-only with two editions, one for English-speaking readers and one for Spanish.

4. The Detroit News is one of two daily papers in the big American city badly hit by the economic downturn. It is unlikely that it can merge with the larger Detroit Free Press which is owned by Gannett. It is hard to see what would be in it for Gannett. With the fortunes of Detroit getting worse each day, cutting back the number of days that the paper is delivered will not save enough money to keep the paper open.

5. The Boston Globe is, based on several accounts, losing $1 million a week. One investment bank recently said that the paper is only worth $20 million. The paper is the flagship of what the Globe’s parent, The New York Times, calls the New England Media Group. NYT has substantial financial problems of its own. Last year, ad revenue for the New England properties was down 18%. That is likely to continue or get worse this year. Supporting larger losses at the Globe will become nearly impossible. Boston.com, the online site that includes the digital aspects of the Globe, will probably be all that will be left of the operation.

6. The San Francisco Chronicle. Parent company Hearst has already set a deadline for shutting the paper if it cannot make tremendous cost cuts. The Chronicle lost as much as $70 million last year. Even if the company could lower its costs, the northern California economy is in bad shape. The online version of the paper could be the only version by the middle of the 2009.

7. The Chicago Sun Times is the smaller of two newspapers in the city. Its parent company, Sun-Times Media Group trades for $.03 a share. Davidson Kempner, a large shareholder in the firm, has dumped the CEO and most of the board. The paper has no chance of competing with The Chicago Tribune.

8. NY Daily News is one of several large papers fighting for circulation and advertising in the New York City area. Unlike The New York Times, New York Post, Newsday, and Newark Star Ledger, the Daily News is not owned by a larger organization. Real estate billionaire Mort Zuckerman owns the paper. Based on figures from other big dailies it could easily lose $60 million or $70 million and has no chance of recovering from that level

9. The Fort Worth Star Telegram is another one of the big dailies that competes with a larger paper in a neighboring market – Dallas. The parent of The Dallas Morning News, Belo, is arguably a stronger company that the Star Telegram’s parent, McClatchy. The Morning News has a circulation of about 350,000 and the Star Telegram has just over 200,000. The Star Telegram will have to shut down or become an edition of its rival. Putting them together would save tens of millions of dollars a year.

10. The Cleveland Plain Dealer is in one of the economically weakest markets in the country. Its parent, Advance Publications, has already threatened to close its paper in Newark. Employees gave up enough in terms of concessions to keep the paper open. Advance, owned by the Newhouse family, is carrying the burden of its paper plus Conde Nast, its magazine group which is losing advertising revenue. The Plain Dealer will be shut or go digital by the end of next year.

In early 2007 I lost more than 10 perspective clients for telling them they needed a YouTube and MySpace presence. They told me I was “crazy” and went with the firms with people who had not spent 10 years on newspapers prepping them for life as a PR practitioner. But they promised media coverage (most did not deliver).

These are probably the creative thinking companies who are laying people off today. It is the Peter Principle at work, not a bad economy. There’s always going to be bad economy from a dullard’s view.

Media has killed itself. Where’s the reporting that less than 30 percent of all male graduates get a college degree today? Where’s the report that women comprise 54% of the workforce, 75% of professional jobs at Maricopa Community College District, but yet are still a protected class? There was more information from Len Fernandez’ Linkedin answer than you’d read in a month from every newspaper in Arizona:

“President Obama is pissed at AIG for paying out $165,000,000 in bonus money (allegedly our tax money) to people who have sunk AIG. However, President Obama only needs to look at Capitol Hill to see an entity that is far worse at abusing its privileges.

“Obama has scolded greedy bankers, but our recession is also the result of Congressional corruption — and Congress got a raise this year. The President has also looked entirely the other way, and even lied to the American people during his campaign when he publicly stated there would be no earmarks. Those same suffering taxpayers who were hosed by AIG are getting stuck far worse from Congress. Earmarks will cost taxpayers $7 billion more than AIG’s bonus payments, which were supposedly contracts from 1.5 years ago.

“In addition to their 11% raise this year, Congress gets innumerable freebies. If the President were honest and courageous, and not beholden to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, he would have stopped the practice of earmarks. It would have given him far more credibility then just going after AIG.

“As AIG’s PR rep the trick would be how do you get the general media’s ear when they are still having a love affair with Obama and seem to be giving Congress a free hall pass on its pork-laden stimulus bill?”

Yet the media does not cover this. They’ve killed themselves. Check http://marketingsociologist.blogspot.com/2009/03/fluff-pieces-why-news-media-is-dying.html