Non-profit News Online

Week 11 Blog Post

Here is a link to a news site that is completely supported by donations: http://www.propublica.org/

I seriously doubt some of the stories on this site would ever be published in newspapers or on sites funded by advertisements.

When reading news stories funded by advertisements or owned by people with certain views, you are obviously reading a biased story. You will get some news, but it is arranged in such a way to promote the beliefs that the companies would like you to adopt or to promote products or companies they would like you to invest in. It is very rare just to have a raw story anywhere.

That is one of the great advantages of donation funded news sites. You get the whole story and the real story. They aren’t trying to advertise anything. They aren’t trying to change your political views. They are trying to inform you of what is going on in the world.

The only disadvantage that I see is the fact that the news site might be persuaded by large donors to print certain stories or types or types of stories. It would be hard to resist a large donation even if the donor is asking to have a biased story printed. If this were to happen, we might as well just read the regular newspaper or from the advertisement funded sites.

 

Newspapers in Crisis

Week Four Blog Post

I admit that I was not at all surprised by the findings I read about at this link :

http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2010/newspapers_summary_essay.php

The only person in my family who actually reads the newspaper is my grandfather. He is constantly talking about how thin the newspaper has become and how the articles seem to have less and less substance. Recently, he has taken up searching the web for news after reading his morning paper. It seems that the papers are printing less news articles and more articles about celebrities and sports in an attempt to capture a large audience. The articles that are news and today’s events never include all the information that he would like to know.

The other people in my family simply wait around for Sunday coupons. It has almost become socially necessary to use coupons when shopping.  At least, that is the case in my family and with family friends.

I have never read the newspaper. I was computer savvy from an early age. The homepage on my first computer was taken up by headlines and recent articles. I never went out of my way to read them, but if something caught my eye, I would check it out. It is easier, not to mention faster, to click a link on a webpage and read all the information than to sift through a paper that may or may not have what you need.

I am not sure what newspapers can do to improve their readership. As I said, I have always preferred to get my news online. I don’t know much of what is in a newspaper, so I doubt I could give proper advice. I suppose companies could try and cater to the younger generations. There should be more articles about students and their achievements or local events for teenagers. Most schools have newsletter that go out once a week or more. Maybe companies should expand upon the idea that children like to see their pictures in the paper. They like to be able to read about how their school achieved something that no other school did. Perhaps local papers should have a section about the schools in the area.