The benevolent virus that is saving the news media

This is from my other blog newsentrepreneurs.com

 The network effects that destroyed traditional news organizations are benefiting digital startups, which can grow virally and generate outsized impact in their communities. 

From Unimedliving

My teaching colleagues here are experts on the economics of the media industry, and we recently had a lively debate on how to reverse the financial crisis of journalism. The collapse of the industry's business model is endangering the institution of journalism-the Fourth Estate, a counterweight to power--by eliminating journalists and media coverage, especially for local media.


It's a question that was explored recently by Ken Doctor at Nieman Lab in his report, "Newspapers are shells of their former selves. So who’s going to build what comes next in local?"

Doctor details a number of initiatives by non-profit and for-profit organizations aimed at filling the gaps in local news coverage involving hundreds of media outlets. But using the standard industry metrics, it doesn't a appear to be sufficient to plug the gaps in the short term without significant changes in the way news media do business. Entire communities are losing news coverage of any kind, a pillar of democratic institutions.

We're headed for Guadalajara

Since returning from England in January, I have been awarded a second Knight International Press Fellowship to launch a digital journalism training center connected with the University of Guadalajara in Mexico.
This goal is to create a center that serves journalists from Spanish language media all over Latin America and within the U.S.

Sold the house

In preparation for the move in mid-June, we sold the house and we're unloading everything except for a few personal things. It's a big step, but the truth is that our children are scattered to the four winds and work is where the need and opportunity lie. So home is wherever we are.

People we know who have gone overseas for a few years and put things in storage all told us the same thing. When they returned they wondered why they had saved and stored all that stuff. That played into our decision.

We've been to the Yucatan and the lower Baja peninsula but never Guadalajara. It's the second largest city in Mexico and the university is the second largest in the country. The city is at about 5,000 feet above sea level and is about five hours drive directly east of Puerto Vallarta. Information for gringo tourists says the climate is so mild that homes don't need heat or air conditioning. Well.....we'll see.