Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

Just a couple of highlights because I'm getting tired.

Len Apcar (NYTimes Digital): I'm ecstatic we bought About.com because it says we're not a newspaper company. It's the second largest acquisition in our history; the largest was the Boston Globe.

Dan Froomkin: We're not delivering enough value. Newspapers create little articles and then we incrementally update them. We should instead be delivering the value that's in the newsroom: Time lines, context, blogs, maps, video...We're not monetizing our value because we're not delivering our value.

Jim Kennedy (AP): We should get past the advertising model and be looking at the Amazon and eBay models.

Jan Schaffer (J-Lab): We've been talking too much about me-too journalism. There's real value in media developing exclusive content.

Now we're doing a list: What should we create.

Use the existing tools to invent new forms of digital story-telling
True Internet video
Distributed revenue infrastructure
Distributed trust infrastructure
Discover which bloggers are saying interesting things
Reputation system for individual journalists
At least one open source journalist at a major media outlet
Let us tag your articles
More niche e-newsletters, blogs, sites, etc.
Training programs for employees and audience
Really attack the cost side of article production
Create value around R&D so more will be done
Geotag everything
More contact between reporters and people, and not just online
Primers, FAQs, timelines — things that leverage the knowledge base of beat reporters
Encourage voice
RSS everything
Be transparent — show us the process as far as possible
Publish drafts and queries when it's ok
Get on the right side of the copyright fight
Open your archives because that's where the common good is
We want to talk with one another, not just comment on your stuff
If you feel constrained from blurting out the truth, what's your business about?
Be interesting, fun
Have some of your folks get involved in sw development to see what they learn
Better partnering