Nov.+22


 * From the class lecture: Losses to the news industry**

Layoffs increasing: Paper Cuts (see maps) [|http://newspaperlayoffs.com]

Circulation is declining []

Advertising revenue is declining (See chart here: []) Online ad revenues are insignificant compared with print revenues

Ad revenue for newspapers fell 26% during 2009; 41% over the past three years. Local television ad revenue fell 24% in 2009, triple the decline the year before. Radio was off 18%. Magazine ad pages dropped 19%, Network TV dropped 7% (and news alone probably more). Online ad revenue over all fell about 5%, and revenue to news sites most likely also fared much worse. Only cable news among the commercial news sectors did not suffer declining revenue last year.

The number of journalists working in newspapers has fallen 25% in the past three years, from 55,000 to 41,500. [|Summary essay: State of the News Media, 2010]

The shift from high barriers of entry and monopolistic markets to intense competition and low barriers of entry shifts the business model for news organizations in dramatic ways.

On the other hand, the number of people who say they report and edit is up: The Evolution Of The Journalism Job Market: We May Be Headed Into A Golden Age http://www.businessinsider.com/the-evolution-of-the-journalism-job-market-2010-8

What does Clay Shirky mean when he says WalMart never signed up to fund the Baghdad Bureau?

How much money are you spending on news...how much would you be willing to spend? Look at numbers spent on access v. content; entertainment v. news and information

What types of revenue are being considered today to fund media? What can you think of? What seem most promising? If you had the opportunity to start a news site on a topic of your choice, what types of revenue might you seek?


 * Assignment that was due today:**

(1) Figure out about how much you spend for media every week or month -- cellphone plans, Internet access, newspapers, magazines, cable TV, etc.
 * MONDAY**

(2) Read: [|Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable] by Clay Shirky. If you have questions about the post or about media economics in general -- please write your questions here and we'll talk about them in class.

FOR WED Your group should write one concise, well-organized, clear and compelling summary of your issue, based on all the information you've gathered about your subject. Briefly describe your focus, why it matters, who the most credible sources on the subject are and the main points of what you learned. I will do my best to give you feedback over the holiday so you have time to edit them once before they're due. The summary should be between 800 and 1000 words long and should be posted on your group site (as a comment or attached as a Word file).