Buy the People and Force the People or By the People and for the People?

Here we are at the end of another year. For me, 2010 passed by like a closed rest step on the side of the highway when you really need a place to pull over and stretch your legs and contemplate the next part of your journey. There is good news, though, fellow journalists.

The front lines (and the guerrilla war behind enemy lines) are both going well as people begin to wrestle power from the corporate Overlords.....Wait. It’s the end of 2010. That stage is over. Good things are about to happen, however, as Cleveland Free Press starts up.

Crossing AlpsWebsites as War Elephants

I’m done with playing angry young journalist, and I’ve been quietly working on solutions. The focus has been money for just over a year and the results have been pretty good. From toys to military photos to televisions to robots, it’s all about niche content.

Newspapers and other big media companies should be putting these out a lot more. Hire more writers. Hire more photographers. And so on. While the History of Televisions or Toys Timeline websites aren't ground-breaking journalism by any means, they do make profit with little investment.

There are some of us starting to plan the stages of hiring mercenaries - barbarians or merely content creators the “real” journalists call them. Although if you look at what AOL Patch is doing - they’re hiring (you can’t really call it that at the rates they pay) citizens to produce the “news.”

Quick story. I was dealing with the “press room” at Mitsubishi the other day about why they don’t think online journalists are worthy of their valuable information. I never got a real name from them. Just some sort of “desk” that I was emailing back and forth with. In the back of my mind, I could picture their laughter and mocking tone.

Instead of angry young journalist anger, I simply said, “Cool, the public will be okay without your information, I’m sure.”

I still don’t know what the problem was. I gave examples of “real” journalism. Just because I no longer dabble in print (at the moment), I’m no longer a genuine journalist? Who among you has taken a test or passed some sort of necessary certification? J-school?

Anyway, the point is that the future of media is looking bright. Even with AOL Patch trying to invade the Cleveland, Ohio area. In fact, that makes the next stage of my journey a little more exciting and important in a few ways.

As I head to Northern Ohio, I have already begun to gather allies that want to help save journalism - for the people. As the United States heads toward 2011, I am more excited than ever before about the prospects for grassroots journalism - for a better media in this country.

Grassroots JournalismGrassroots Journalism in 2011

Throughout history, the best journalists have come from many different fields, bringing many different viewpoints and opinions to big J journalism. There I go again - big speeches with still very little to show. However, if you must know, I am perhaps keeping silent on purpose. I like to give updates here and there - notes for the book scattered on the web - but I've been quiet about the successes. And now here we are...

The year of Our Lord 2011 is almost here and things are continuing to improve. As I mentioned, the niche sites are taking off. This is with no overhead, no daily staff (yet), but raw determination and a ragtag band of new media rebels out there working the grind - ALL THE TIME. From toys to televisions to health to robots, I have spent time building up content online.

The equation for success? The Internet + Hard Work / Over Time = $ and of course the profit does not come easy or simple, but there is a very obvious model once you look. The thing I don’t understand is the waste at the large corporations. If I had a fraction of their resources, I can’t imagine what I would be able to do. Okay, maybe I do - perhaps even storming the gates of Rome herself to topple once and for all the old guard aka Big Media?

(Is Gannett Rome? Or is it the whole current system of media ownership?)

Don’t get me wrong. Journalism is still going to be important, but hopefully all the really talented journalists WILL BE WORKING FOR THEMSELVES. Massive amount of mini-collectives - working together. All it takes is one man to step forward and begin to put the pieces in place. The lean years of learning are just about over.

The plan of attack, the route over the Alps has been committed to memory and destroyed lest too much information is leaked to those in the Glass Towers reading spreadsheets and drinking coffee.

That’s not to say there aren’t great newspapers and media outlets still out there - big ones even - but the nation - the United States of America, I must sadly say, is chock full of mediocre, half-ass newspapers running on auto-pilot. The small and medium-sized print dailies are cash cows used to perpetuate the madness of the modern media machine. And don’t get me started on lame attempts like AOL Patch and why they are NOT shining beacons that are going to save journalism.

Some of the elephants (websites) I have with me may be lost trudging over the Alps, but the element of surprise is crucial to be able to effectively begin to dismantle the broken media outlets in this country. Perhaps not every journalist and person with a mission (or a passion) will work for themselves in the years to come, but many more are going to and they are going to need (or want) information from someone who has been in the trenches doing it for over half a decade.

I’m tired. Really. Exhausted. I work too much. My Oma worries about me, but I trudge forward, against the cold winds, knowing that crossing the Alps may be the only way.

The lessons learned in the medium sized markets in the Midwest will be very helpful moving into larger cities. The momentum is building. The networks are coming together and merging.

The clouds are forming, the storm is gathering, the people are typing and the words will always be there in one form or another.

Saving JournalismAOL Patch in Cleveland? Hannibal on the Move?

If you haven’t heard by now, AOL Patch is trying to move into the Cleveland area in a big way. They have already started. To me, this is not good news or bad news really. It means there’s never been a better time maybe to return to my city, bringing the knowledge I’ve gained over the years.

AOL Patch - in my opinion - is BUY THE PEOPLE, FORCE THE PEOPLE rather than By the People and for the People. The two are close, of course, but the former is not going to be good for the people of the greater Cleveland area.

Cleveland.com (Plain Dealer, Sun News and others), AOL Patch, the Lakewood Observer and many, many others are in Cleveland now, some even doing really great things - the Lakewood Observer and the The Chubby Cook for example. In my mind, however, there’s never been a better time to join the fray and stake out my claim - for the people of the greater Cleveland, Ohio area.

While Anderson Free Press is still not where she should be at this time, I have decided to set my sights on a larger city to see if I can take the successful model I have in Indiana and transplant it to Cleveland, Ohio via Cleveland Free Press.

Is it a wise move? Wouldn’t Indianapolis, Indiana make more sense? After setting up Cleveland Free Press the weekend of 12/3/2010 and promoting it for a few weeks, the results are very positive. I have come into contact with friends old and new who are willing and able to help with Cleveland Free Press.

How does this differ from AOL Patch? For one, it’s bottom-up instead of top-down. The big media companies ARE the problem. There’s a solution that I’ll share in the years ahead, but for now know that big media ownership is why AOL Patch in Cleveland, Ohio and many other areas is going to fail - in a big way. (Akron anybody? McLean, VA? EveryBlock/MSNBC?)

Of course, some of the smaller players (like me) have failed in big and small ways over the last four or five years, but lessons are being learned. I still don’t claim to have all the answers, but I’ve learned that it is possible to create something online - a living, breathing community. And, maybe more importantly, multiple and sustainable revenue streams.

Once I can prove that my “model” for grassroots journalism can be transplanted from one location (two small cities in Indiana) to another (one large city in Ohio), things are really going to start moving more quickly.

So far, results have been very, very positive - even from a remote location. This will be a cash strapped attempt at starting something up in a large city, but I ask everyone out there to consider the resources AOL has when comparing their efforts with mine in 2011. By Q3 or Q4 2011, things should be really interesting.

For now, take a look at Cleveland Free Press - if you have friends, family, or even enemies in Northern Ohio, please pass on word about the site.

I’m going to try to contribute more to NewAssignment.net in 2011.

Remember, the future is online and non-linear.

Until next time,
keep up the good fight,
K. Paul Mallasch - Publisher
http://www.kpaulmedia.com

Dear World:

I’m coming up on four entire years out here on the front lines of the media revolution being waged across the nation, across the world. In that time, a lot of other similar sites (some with millions of dollars of cash injected into them) have fallen. A lot of other sites continue to thrive, though, all over.

Personally, my first site was Muncie Free Press. The launch was ok and I got the traffic up to around 20,000 visitors a month. A couple years after starting it, I also launched some other sites for nearby counties. One, Anderson Free Press, has, in less time, overtaken MFP - both in traffic and, more importantly, participation.

I’ve talked about AFP here before, I believe. Since then, though, I’ve made a lot more progress. It started last summer. I was able to put together (on my own, using photoshop and email) an 8-page tabloid prototype for the AFP website. I mailed to three zip codes - around 17,000 copies. I’ve never really been good at sales, so I hired someone (with a low, low salary and high commission) to sell ads for the next issue. Sales were … ok. I only had enough to pay him for 10 to 20 hours a week, which really isn’t enough.

The second issue came out, though. Then the third - mostly supported by the local political campaigns. The fourth issue I still lost money, but it was very, very close. With a little more effort - and a sales team or full time salesperson - I’m sure it can be done. The easy money dried up after the elections, so I stopped printing. The process taught me a lot, though. I took it all back to the drawing board. (The publisher of the Herald Bulletin called it a “rag,” but I’m not sure if he knew I know it was a term of endearment. Maybe. Heh.)

For one, I learned I’m not going to be able to do it all on my own. I need other people. So, I’m working with the local Small Business Administration to come up with a business plan to shop around for a local investor. That may never happen, but with even 1% of what some of the other community journalism start-ups have gotten, I’m sure I could get the ball rolling, in motion.

Even if I don’t get funding, there are other ways I’m looking at to get at least a quarterly or bi-monthly printed edition out. Even if they don’t pan out, though, the website is what it’s really about. In fact, a few have privately told me to forget about print and concentrate more on the website.

Doing the printed edition, though, I saw my traffic quadruple. Not only that, people started to sign-up and participate. By this time, the user started “Scanner News” thread had become one of the most popular features on the site. The local journalists at the CNHI owned The Herald Bulletin may look down their noses at it, declaring it “non-journalism,” but you know what? It’s information. It’s pure and raw and unedited mostly (at this time!), but it’s information.

Anderson Free Press has become known as the website to go to first to see what’s breaking, what’s happening. The Herald Bulletin lumbers along hours later usually to do the full story, but people know AFP is where to get it first - most of the time. There was a fire New Year’s Eve that came over the scanner. Within minutes, dispatchers, EMTs, and everyday citizens were contributing whatever information they had. Hours later, the next day, The Herald Bulletin rolled into action and covered the story “properly.” A couple weeks later (during the day), we hit our front pages with the news about the same time. AFP even had an amateur photographer go out and get shots of the fire, though.

An interesting thing that was pointed out by members of AFP is that since the Scanner News thread is so popular and so talked about, The Herald Bulletin has started running little mini-stories - “Just heard on the scanner…” types of things. They’re getting better at closing the gap and are more frequently beating AFP to the punch with at least an acknowledgment that something is happening. They are watching AFP and trying to adapt, but being a Stegasaurus, they’re too slow and they just don’t “get” online, imho.

For example, in December, they decided to close down their public forums. Yup, you heard that right. Their editor said it was an ethical responsibility, but the word on their forums and AFP was that it was either because they were afraid of being sued, or were too lazy to moderate their forums. Whatever the reason, I couldn’t believe my ears. After it happened, I emailed the HB publisher and thanked him, telling him that closing their forums was the best Christmas present I’d gotten that year. I told him my offer for a lunch meeting was still open. He replied with a simple Thanks. (You see now why I hit the ceiling early in my corporate career? Smile.) This was the third great wave of new users on the site.

Oh, I’ve matured a lot out here in the front lines of the struggle, but it’s still fun, still about more than just the money. If you have time, check out this video. In it, Anderson Mayor Kris Ockomon takes The Herald Bulletin to task for an editorial they wrote about his administration. Before AFP, he might not have had a voice to respond. Earlier in the video, I ask him about a local landfill battle going on. I received an email thanking me for asking the question other local media wasn’t asking because it was a county issue rather than a city issue. To me, these are wonderful things that make me want to keep going.

Hopefully hammering out (finally) a real business plan and getting a little more organized, I can really take this to the next level. I invite you, though, to stop by Anderson Free Press. Either to just look around at all the activity or better yet, sign-up and engage the community, asking them what they think about AFP.

Anderson Free Press still has a long way to go, but all the numbers continue to rise - little by little. I just wanted to send a little “note in a bottle” to the intrawebs (thanks, David) to let others know that it’s working, that the media landscape is changing in America. We still have a long way to go, but it’s happening. (The spot.us idea is really cool, btw ;)

If you’ve ever been so tired of your local media that you wanted to start your own, now’s the time. It’s a hard, long road, but as more and more of us early pioneers (some have been at it longer than me), as we learn how to make it work, the knowledge will filter down and a thousand or more grassroots journalism efforts will bloom across this nation. That’s when things will really start to get interesting.

As I mentioned, I’d love you to stop by Anderson Free Press and let me (and the local community if you want) know what you think about what we’re building here in the Midwest.

Ever the dreamer,

K. Paul Mallasch - Publisher

http://www.kpaulmedia.com

As I sit in my apartment, reflecting on almost three years of struggle trying to build something with nothing, I have to say the good outweighs the bad. Building something with nothing is the American Dream, I guess, but the reality is it’s very difficult to make money without having start-up money.

Almost three years ago, I was let go by Gannett (for whatever reason), but I had a choice. I could have sold myself to another corporation. I made a decision to try something else, though. Sitting here now, I’m glad I made the choice and have stuck with it. Things large and small let me know daily I’m on the right track if I can just hold out a little longer while the work put in so far begins to pay off.

For example, a few months back, I finally managed to track down a childhood friend I’d known 17 years ago (pre-Internet!) and we had a chance to catch up a little. When it came to my turn to let her know what I’ve been up to, I ended with the statement that I’d started my own newspaper. She didn’t sound surprised, just laughed told me that sounded like something I’d do. Heh. Even seventeen years ago I’d be known for a stunt like this?

Many other examples abound (the people who I’m around online or in real life every day - thanks to all of you, my whole network.) And it’s the little things like this that give a man hope in a world where there’s very little hope no matter where you turn.

Deliverance:

Out here on the front lines, there are more and more little pieces of the puzzle coming together. Take Anderson Free Press (dot net - long story/short novel) - it’s a sister site to Muncie Free Press, launched many moons afterwards. Something happened, though. Big media dropped the ball. (And to this day I don’t think they’ve realized it yet. Their pride will be their downfall?)

A-10 year veteran of their online forums was banned by someone at The Herald Bulletin. Now, there are disputes as to why the poster was banned, but this banning came at the end of a long, heated political campaign that led to the Anderson, Indiana Mayoral problems that went national a little.

A friend of this person (who lived out of state, but is a vibrant member of numerous online communities, including the CNHI owned (but not operated?) Hey Martha forums), contacted me and let me know AFP (as it soon became known) was kinda lame but that a group of people were looking for a new home.