Monday, December 01, 2014

Who will pay for the news? … by gimleteye

Eye On Miami has a simple decision: whether or not to invest in upgrading our website and archive from this stolid Wordpress format.

We've been blogging since 2007, where Miami news media fear to tread. We freely offer critical analysis of the sacred cows; from Big Sugar, to FPL, to the lobbyist class and Great Destroyers, to the Miami Herald itself. The operative word is "freely".

The news is advertiser driven. Without profits, there is no one to man the keyboards and printing presses. Or, just the keyboards.

David Carr, in the New York Times yesterday, lamented "When the Forces of Media Disruption Hit Home".

Most newspapers have migrated to an online subscription format, but coping and competing with web based sources of news -- and "citizen journalists" like Eye On Miami -- remains a major frustration. News staffs shrink dramatically, quality (where it existed) is under constant threat. And in many cases -- the Miami Herald, not the New York Times -- publishers have simply given up on training a spotlight on the creepy crawlers that have deformed our democracy.

I've written this before: that a wise democracy would not have sold wireless broadband licenses without exacting a price from buyers in order to support print journalism. There has to be a way, even to satisfy the claims of competing ideologies, while holding up viable investigative journalism at a high standard.

I won't get into details, because the only detail I'm wondering about now: whether or not to spend a few thousand of my own money in an internet format for Eye On Miami when -- at least at present -- there is no prospect of return. For the co-bloggers, Eye On Miami has been a labor of love. How long can that go on, or should it?

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

A few thousand dollars? Stop being coy and ask readers to pledge contributions for this upgrade. Many of us value your work. I'm in for a little piece.

Anonymous said...

I'm in for a hundred. Who do I make the check out to and where should I send it?

Geniusofdespair said...

How about we talk to the Knight Foundation? If Matt Haggman would answer my calls I would ask him. Who can call him for me?

Geniusofdespair said...

For the record this isn't a labor of love, it is a labor of necessity. No one follows the County.

Anonymous said...

Agree with the first and second Anon above. I'll write a check for $500.00.

Anonymous said...

Until your blog stops criticizing Alberto Ibarguen, Matt Haggman won't return your calls.

Anonymous said...

You may be wasting your money.

Anonymous said...

That is the way a lot of people feel about print news like the Miami Herald.

Anonymous said...

I'd also throw in some $. Add a donate button.

Or better yet, add a/some very small Google ads. Those should pay for a good chunk of your needs and yet not be too annoying. They also wouldn't imply endorsement if they are random Google or retargeting ads.

Anonymous said...

Google ads will not help much, return is much less than believed because click through rates are so low. No reason to trash website with ads that are unproductive anyways.

Your work is important.

If less clannish and more open to all that support your mission, you would receive more support in all forms, including financial.

Santa Claus said...

You have been a good boy this year.

Santa Claus

Anonymous said...

Eye on Miami is an important community resource for serious observations about local news albeit one that isn't easily monetized. Few blogs (like Andrew Sullivan) can get enough readers to chip in $ to make it a economically viable gig.

I see the state of local and even national news as sensational, about celebrity and focused on partisan shout-fest food fights. The best news outlets (at least at national level for serious televised journalism) I find are primarily foreign-owned with international focus like BBC and (believe it or not) Al Jazeera America (which is superb).

Eye needs a rich benefactor!

Geniusofdespair said...

Give me a break.... if all we've gotten is a few hundred dollars in the gazillion years we've been doing this, I don't have any false expectations. I am waiting for bribes not to write.

Anonymous said...

Hello again. I'm the anon above who said that he was willing to contribute $500.00. I'd actually contribute $1,000.00 - happily - if I understood exactly what the need was. While I've only started reading your blog in the last 24 months (and the Crespogram too), I don't recall ever seeing a request for financial support. But this is not why I'm re-posting - I'm re-posting because I'm intrigued by what one of the others anons meant when she or he suggested the blog should be "less clannish." If you're still out there and monitoring these comments, could you elaborate? I think I know what is meant by clannish - appealing only to one's "tribe" - but I don't know that the criticism is applicable here. If there's a consistency - and it's an admirable one - it's a consistency in approach to policy and policy advocacy. But that preferred policy cuts across all races, ethnic groups, socio-economic classes and is intended to create a higher sustainability tide to lift all parties, no?

Anonymous said...

I'm happy to contribute a few bucks for web hosting or chip in design work pro bono, but if you are asking for a salary then you need to get an editor and a business plan.

Anonymous said...

Crowdfunding and similar online tools can be added to your blog temporarily or permanently ie. Kickstarter. Give it a shot, you will be surprised with the result.

Anonymous said...

I'm in for a few hundred. Give us the details on sending a contribution. There are few places in the blog sphere where I can rail against the City of South Miami's Mayor Stoddard and his hand-fed, Chia-pet, City Manager Steven Alexander. Make that $250.

Anonymous said...

It's not much I know but I'm in for $50. I live in one of the more working class cities to the south. Let me know how to contribute.

cheap crap from china said...

People have plenty of money to stand in line for hours to buy cheap crap from china, but they don't want to pay to keep a free and fair press. Americans get the government they don't bother to vote for and they really aren't interested in paying attention to what the government they didn't bother to vote for is doing. SAD indeed.

I enjoy and appreciate the work you do and would be willing to contribute to keep it running. I hope you will continue this blog for those of us who like to stay informed and vote accordingly.

Anonymous said...

Ads? How about running some ads? You work too hard to have to have to lose money every week. I do not mind ads. Of course, the Knight Foundation should just underwrite your entire operation but that might be be realistic?

Anonymous said...

No one writes like you guys - I am in for $100
Tell us where to send the check

Anonymous said...

EOM is actually at the height of its influence, yet the national election was bad but now u have your own Miami Dade BCC. If only you were big time lobbyist, you could cash in big tie like so any others out in the Stephen Clark center of fair contracts and open process...