A Different Way to Pay for the News You Want
By SARAH KERSHAW
NEW YORK TIMES, August 24, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/weekinreview/24kershaw.html?ref=business
You think your local water supply is polluted. But you're getting the runaround from local officials, and you can't get your local newspaper to look into your concerns. What do you do?
A group of journalists say they have an answer. You hire them to investigate and write about what they find.
The idea, which they are calling "community-funded journalism," is now being tested in the San Francisco Bay area, where a new nonprofit, Spot Us, is using its Web site, spot.us, to solicit ideas for investigative articles and the money to pay for the reporting. But the experiment has also raised concerns of journalism being bought by the highest bidder.
The idea is that anyone can propose a story, though the editors at Spot Us ultimately choose which stories to pursue. Then the burden is put on the citizenry, which is asked to contribute money to pay upfront all of the estimated reporting costs. If the money doesn't materialize, the idea goes unreported.
"Spot Us would give a new sense of editorial power to the public," said David Cohn, a 26-year-old Web journalist who received a $340,000, two-year grant from the Knight Foundation to test his idea. "I'm not Bill and Melinda Gates, but I can give $10. This is the Obama model. This is the Howard Dean model."
Those campaigns revolutionized politics by using the power of the Web to raise small sums from vast numbers of people, making average citizens feel a part of the process in a way they had not felt before. In the same way, Spot Us hopes to empower citizens to be part of a newsgathering enterprise that, polls show, many mistrust and regard as both biased and elitist.
Other enterprises have found success with this approach, which, in the Internet age, has become known as "crowdfunding." This financing model takes its name from crowdsourcing, a method for using the public, typically via the Internet, to supply what employees and experts once did: information, research and development, T-shirt designs, stock photos, advertising spots. In crowdsourcing, the people supply the content; in crowdfunding, they supply the cash.
Charities have used crowdfunding, not necessarily under that name, for years. And one Hollywood studio, Brave New Worlds, is financing its movies by soliciting people over the Internet to pay for them before they are made.
The Spot Us experiment comes, not coincidentally, as newspapers around the country lay off reporters and editors by the hundreds and scale back their coverage to cope with a financial crisis brought about, in no small measure, by the rise of the Internet. Another experimental venture, Pro Publica, a nonprofit group led by Paul Steiger, a former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, is being bankrolled by several major foundations to pursue investigative projects that it will then offer to newspapers and magazines.
Spot Us plans to post its articles on its Web site and give them to newspapers that want to publish them. If a newspaper wants exclusive rights to an article, the paper will have to pay for it.
Critics say the idea of using crowdfunding to finance journalism raises some troubling questions. For example, if a neighborhood with an agenda pays for an article, how is that different from a tobacco company backing an article about smoking? (Spot Us limits the amount any one contributor can give to no more than 20 percent of the cost of the story.)
But Jeff Howe, a contributing editor at Wired Magazine whose book "Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business" is being published this month said: "It's not like the crowd is killing the newspaper. Lots of things are killing the newspaper. The crowd is at once a threat to newsrooms, but it's also one of several strategies that could help save the newspapers."
In an early test of its concept, Spot Us solicited ideas on its Web site and raised $250 for an article examining whether California can meet its ethanol demand. That might not pay the weekly phone bill for a lot of reporters. But for its newest project, Spot Us has raised nearly all of the $2,500 it says it will need to fact-check political ads in the coming local elections in San Francisco. "We need 12 more people to donate $25," the site said on Friday.
Jay Rosen, a professor of journalism at New York University who is working with Mr. Cohn and who began his own experimental journalism site last year using the public's collaboration in news gathering, Assignment Zero (zero.newassignment.net), has been a leading critic of the traditional model of reporting. Now, with the industry's financial troubles, he may have a more receptive audience.
"The business model is broken," he said. "We're at a point now where nobody actually knows where the money is going to come from for editorial goods in the future. My own feeling is that we need to try lots of things. Most of them won't work. You'll have a lot of failure. But we need to launch a lot of boats."
A Different Way to Pay for the News You Want
I am a journalist and a social activist with a strong rural background. I work with a national level media house that has its publication from New Delhi, Mumbai, and Patna and caters to the news need of the State. I am always willing to work for the economically underprivileged people of the nation.
bihardesk@gmail.com
ON_PUBLIC_DEMAND
Wait
I am a journalist and a social activist with a strong rural background. I work with a national level media house that has its publication from New Delhi, Mumbai, and Patna and caters to the news need of the State. I am always willing to work for the economically underprivileged people of the nation.
bihardesk@gmail.com
VICTIMS of domestic violence
Nearly 60% of married women in Bihar are victims of domestic violence, the highest in India, according to a survey by the Union Health and Family Affairs Ministry.
An alarming 59% of married women in Bihar suffer domestic violence with 50% of wives enduring physical violence, 19% sexual violence, 2% emotional abuse and 59% experiencing both physical and sexual violence.
The national average for violence against married women is 37%, according to the National Family Health survey which was released recently.
Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh jointly occupy second place with 46% spousal violence.
Manipur comes a close third with 44 per cent, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu (42%),
West Bengal and Assam (40%), Arunachal Pradesh (39%) and Orissa (38%).
The Union Health and Family Affairs Ministry, covered 3818 women and 1214 men in Bihar between April and July 2006.
--
I am a journalist and a social activist with a strong rural background. I work with a national level media house that has its publication from New Delhi, Mumbai, and Patna and caters to the news need of the State. I am always willing to work for the economically underprivileged people of the nation.
bihardesk@gmail.com
Newspaper cos Q1 net may have risen marginally
INDIA:
Newspaper cos Q1 net may have risen marginally
HT Media, which publishes English daily 'Hindustan Times' is expected to post a 2 percent rise in net profit to 349 million rupees and net sales of 3.18 billion rupees. Net sales are seen to grow 16 percent according to the poll.
The company also publishes business newspaper 'Mint' and is expanding the presence of its Hindi newspaper 'Hindustan'.Advertising will lead revenue growth for HT and its operating margins could contract 130 basis points year-on-year to 19 percent, the Prabhudas Lilladher report said.
Newspaper publishers Deccan Chronicle Ltd are likely to post a marginal rise in net profit as higher newsprint costs ate into margins during the quarter to June, analysts said.A shortage of newsprint supply because of a consolidation in the global newsprint industry and higher demand because of the U.S. presidential elections and the Beijing Olympics has pushed up prices of the raw material, analysts said.
The two events see higher advertisement and news coverages requiring more usage and demand for newsprint, analysts said."There has been a demand-supply mismatch for newsprint... these prices will have an effect on this quarter and the pressure will only increase in the following quarters," said an analyst with a local brokerage, who declined to be named.A shortage of waste print used in China's newsprint plants, rising fuel prices and a volatile rupee during the first six months of 2008, which pushed up import costs, also affected newsprint prices, analysts said.Newsprint cost has increased by 45 percent in the year to the beginning of July to $975 a tonne from $675 a tonne, brokerage Pradhubas Lilladher said in a report.Deccan Chronicle imports all its newsprint requirements while HT media imports 70 percent of newsprint requirements, a report by brokerage Motilal Oswal said.Deccan Chronicle is expected to post a net profit growth of just 4 percent to 872 million rupees while net sales will grow 43 percent to 2.48 billion rupees in April-June, according to a Reuters poll of brokerages.
Deccan Chronicle has launched a Bangalore edition of its English daily Deccan Chronicle and financial newspaper 'Financial Chronicle' in Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai, resulting in margins getting squeezed by launch expenses, analysts said.Deccan Chronicle is to post its results on July 29.Going forward, the newspaper companies will also face a possible slowdown in revenue growth because of slowing economic growth, said the analyst at the local brokerage.In the September quarter, margins will be squeezed further by newsprint costs, analysts said."It (newsprint prices) will remain at this level or go up 3-4 percent. It will go down once the Olympics end and demand starts coming down," said another analyst also declining to be named.
SOURCE: IN.REUTERS.COM
Mr Rakesh Praveer is senior journalist based in Patna.
Newspaper cos Q1 net may have risen marginally
HT Media, which publishes English daily 'Hindustan Times' is expected to post a 2 percent rise in net profit to 349 million rupees and net sales of 3.18 billion rupees. Net sales are seen to grow 16 percent according to the poll.
The company also publishes business newspaper 'Mint' and is expanding the presence of its Hindi newspaper 'Hindustan'.Advertising will lead revenue growth for HT and its operating margins could contract 130 basis points year-on-year to 19 percent, the Prabhudas Lilladher report said.
Newspaper publishers Deccan Chronicle Ltd are likely to post a marginal rise in net profit as higher newsprint costs ate into margins during the quarter to June, analysts said.A shortage of newsprint supply because of a consolidation in the global newsprint industry and higher demand because of the U.S. presidential elections and the Beijing Olympics has pushed up prices of the raw material, analysts said.
The two events see higher advertisement and news coverages requiring more usage and demand for newsprint, analysts said."There has been a demand-supply mismatch for newsprint... these prices will have an effect on this quarter and the pressure will only increase in the following quarters," said an analyst with a local brokerage, who declined to be named.A shortage of waste print used in China's newsprint plants, rising fuel prices and a volatile rupee during the first six months of 2008, which pushed up import costs, also affected newsprint prices, analysts said.Newsprint cost has increased by 45 percent in the year to the beginning of July to $975 a tonne from $675 a tonne, brokerage Pradhubas Lilladher said in a report.Deccan Chronicle imports all its newsprint requirements while HT media imports 70 percent of newsprint requirements, a report by brokerage Motilal Oswal said.Deccan Chronicle is expected to post a net profit growth of just 4 percent to 872 million rupees while net sales will grow 43 percent to 2.48 billion rupees in April-June, according to a Reuters poll of brokerages.
Deccan Chronicle has launched a Bangalore edition of its English daily Deccan Chronicle and financial newspaper 'Financial Chronicle' in Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai, resulting in margins getting squeezed by launch expenses, analysts said.Deccan Chronicle is to post its results on July 29.Going forward, the newspaper companies will also face a possible slowdown in revenue growth because of slowing economic growth, said the analyst at the local brokerage.In the September quarter, margins will be squeezed further by newsprint costs, analysts said."It (newsprint prices) will remain at this level or go up 3-4 percent. It will go down once the Olympics end and demand starts coming down," said another analyst also declining to be named.
SOURCE: IN.REUTERS.COM
Mr Rakesh Praveer is senior journalist based in Patna.
I am a journalist and a social activist with a strong rural background. I work with a national level media house that has its publication from New Delhi, Mumbai, and Patna and caters to the news need of the State. I am always willing to work for the economically underprivileged people of the nation.
bihardesk@gmail.com
Newspaper cos Q1 net may have risen marginally
INDIA: Newspaper cos Q1 net may have risen marginally
HT Media, which publishes English daily 'Hindustan Times' is expected to post a 2 percent rise in net profit to 349 million rupees and net sales of 3.18 billion rupees. Net sales are seen to grow 16 percent according to the poll.
The company also publishes business newspaper 'Mint' and is expanding the presence of its Hindi newspaper 'Hindustan'.
Advertising will lead revenue growth for HT and its operating margins could contract 130 basis points year-on-year to 19 percent, the Prabhudas Lilladher report said.
Newspaper publishers Deccan Chronicle Ltd are likely to post a marginal rise in net profit as higher newsprint costs ate into margins during the quarter to June, analysts said.
A shortage of newsprint supply because of a consolidation in the global newsprint industry and higher demand because of the U.S. presidential elections and the Beijing Olympics has pushed up prices of the raw material, analysts said.
The two events see higher advertisement and news coverages requiring more usage and demand for newsprint, analysts said.
"There has been a demand-supply mismatch for newsprint... these prices will have an effect on this quarter and the pressure will only increase in the following quarters," said an analyst with a local brokerage, who declined to be named.
A shortage of waste print used in China's newsprint plants, rising fuel prices and a volatile rupee during the first six months of 2008, which pushed up import costs, also affected newsprint prices, analysts said.
Newsprint cost has increased by 45 percent in the year to the beginning of July to $975 a tonne from $675 a tonne, brokerage Pradhubas Lilladher said in a report.
Deccan Chronicle imports all its newsprint requirements while HT media imports 70 percent of newsprint requirements, a report by brokerage Motilal Oswal said.
Deccan Chronicle is expected to post a net profit growth of just 4 percent to 872 million rupees while net sales will grow 43 percent to 2.48 billion rupees in April-June, according to a Reuters poll of brokerages.
Deccan Chronicle has launched a Bangalore edition of its English daily Deccan Chronicle and financial newspaper 'Financial Chronicle' in Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai, resulting in margins getting squeezed by launch expenses, analysts said.
Deccan Chronicle is to post its results on July 29.
Going forward, the newspaper companies will also face a possible slowdown in revenue growth because of slowing economic growth, said the analyst at the local brokerage.
In the September quarter, margins will be squeezed further by newsprint costs, analysts said.
"It (newsprint prices) will remain at this level or go up 3-4 percent. It will go down once the Olympics end and demand starts coming down," said another analyst also declining to be named.
SOURCE: IN.REUTERS.COM
Mr Rakesh Praveer is a senior journalist based in
HT Media, which publishes English daily 'Hindustan Times' is expected to post a 2 percent rise in net profit to 349 million rupees and net sales of 3.18 billion rupees. Net sales are seen to grow 16 percent according to the poll.
The company also publishes business newspaper 'Mint' and is expanding the presence of its Hindi newspaper 'Hindustan'.
Advertising will lead revenue growth for HT and its operating margins could contract 130 basis points year-on-year to 19 percent, the Prabhudas Lilladher report said.
Newspaper publishers Deccan Chronicle Ltd are likely to post a marginal rise in net profit as higher newsprint costs ate into margins during the quarter to June, analysts said.
A shortage of newsprint supply because of a consolidation in the global newsprint industry and higher demand because of the U.S. presidential elections and the Beijing Olympics has pushed up prices of the raw material, analysts said.
The two events see higher advertisement and news coverages requiring more usage and demand for newsprint, analysts said.
"There has been a demand-supply mismatch for newsprint... these prices will have an effect on this quarter and the pressure will only increase in the following quarters," said an analyst with a local brokerage, who declined to be named.
A shortage of waste print used in China's newsprint plants, rising fuel prices and a volatile rupee during the first six months of 2008, which pushed up import costs, also affected newsprint prices, analysts said.
Newsprint cost has increased by 45 percent in the year to the beginning of July to $975 a tonne from $675 a tonne, brokerage Pradhubas Lilladher said in a report.
Deccan Chronicle imports all its newsprint requirements while HT media imports 70 percent of newsprint requirements, a report by brokerage Motilal Oswal said.
Deccan Chronicle is expected to post a net profit growth of just 4 percent to 872 million rupees while net sales will grow 43 percent to 2.48 billion rupees in April-June, according to a Reuters poll of brokerages.
Deccan Chronicle has launched a Bangalore edition of its English daily Deccan Chronicle and financial newspaper 'Financial Chronicle' in Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai, resulting in margins getting squeezed by launch expenses, analysts said.
Deccan Chronicle is to post its results on July 29.
Going forward, the newspaper companies will also face a possible slowdown in revenue growth because of slowing economic growth, said the analyst at the local brokerage.
In the September quarter, margins will be squeezed further by newsprint costs, analysts said.
"It (newsprint prices) will remain at this level or go up 3-4 percent. It will go down once the Olympics end and demand starts coming down," said another analyst also declining to be named.
SOURCE: IN.REUTERS.COM
Mr Rakesh Praveer is a senior journalist based in
I am a journalist and a social activist with a strong rural background. I work with a national level media house that has its publication from New Delhi, Mumbai, and Patna and caters to the news need of the State. I am always willing to work for the economically underprivileged people of the nation.
bihardesk@gmail.com
PITATH Banyan Miracle-- the boy who saw the tree getting up
Dear Friends
The links below are of the recent photos posted on the PHOTOBUCKET site.
For any other informations pl call +91 9835071205.
The below link is of the boy who saw the huge tree trunk getting up on its own and he ran away for safety. But it is MIRACLE
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/1215968533.jpg
The below link is of the father and son who sold the dry tree for five thousand and the great trunk was to be lifted within a day or two but the MIRACLE happened. Earlier the small branches which were used for baking brick by the 'nonias' were of no use as not a single brick got ready. It was futile attempt. Now the poor fellows come with flowers and prasads to offer and are happy as they feel their fate will change for the better. The old man in picture is around eighty plus and his great grand father planted the tree. He was told by his grand father by that time the tree was big enough to cater to the needs of the passersby.
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/1215968534.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968699.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968703.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968701.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968696.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968557.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968553.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968556.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968549.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968552.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968545.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968538.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968542.jpg
The links below are of the recent photos posted on the PHOTOBUCKET site.
For any other informations pl call +91 9835071205.
The below link is of the boy who saw the huge tree trunk getting up on its own and he ran away for safety. But it is MIRACLE
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/1215968533.jpg
The below link is of the father and son who sold the dry tree for five thousand and the great trunk was to be lifted within a day or two but the MIRACLE happened. Earlier the small branches which were used for baking brick by the 'nonias' were of no use as not a single brick got ready. It was futile attempt. Now the poor fellows come with flowers and prasads to offer and are happy as they feel their fate will change for the better. The old man in picture is around eighty plus and his great grand father planted the tree. He was told by his grand father by that time the tree was big enough to cater to the needs of the passersby.
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/1215968534.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968699.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968703.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968701.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968696.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968557.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968553.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968556.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968549.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968552.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968545.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968538.jpg
http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn286/pitath/?action=view¤t=1215968542.jpg
I am a journalist and a social activist with a strong rural background. I work with a national level media house that has its publication from New Delhi, Mumbai, and Patna and caters to the news need of the State. I am always willing to work for the economically underprivileged people of the nation.
bihardesk@gmail.com
FLYING FOR YOUR PEACE_I am tired yet I fly for U
If peace is here why should we get tired.
Sorry we are trying our best
अब प्रयास ही न कर सकते हैं
लोगों से कह सकते हैं
रेकुएस्ट कर सकते हैं
चलो यार हमलोग कुछ तो कर रहें हैं
उनलोगों से तो बहुत अच्छे हैं
जो लोग मेरी सिकायत करते हैं मेरे पीछे
व्हो कार्स वे फॉर वर्ल्ड एंड उनिवेरसे इस फॉर उस।
पास विल काम ओने डे
वे अरे वेटिंग फॉर थे ग्रेट डे
अरे यू
Sorry we are trying our best
अब प्रयास ही न कर सकते हैं
लोगों से कह सकते हैं
रेकुएस्ट कर सकते हैं
चलो यार हमलोग कुछ तो कर रहें हैं
उनलोगों से तो बहुत अच्छे हैं
जो लोग मेरी सिकायत करते हैं मेरे पीछे
व्हो कार्स वे फॉर वर्ल्ड एंड उनिवेरसे इस फॉर उस।
पास विल काम ओने डे
वे अरे वेटिंग फॉर थे ग्रेट डे
अरे यू
I am a journalist and a social activist with a strong rural background. I work with a national level media house that has its publication from New Delhi, Mumbai, and Patna and caters to the news need of the State. I am always willing to work for the economically underprivileged people of the nation.
bihardesk@gmail.com
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About Me
- BIHAR DESK
- I am a journalist and a social activist with a strong rural background. I work with a national level media house that has its publication from New Delhi, Mumbai, and Patna and caters to the news need of the State. I am always willing to work for the economically underprivileged people of the nation. bihardesk@gmail.com