Please Do Now:
- Read the responses of Nicholas Lemann and Joel Kramer: http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/battle-plans-for-newspapers/?hp
- Explain Lemann’s comment: “What’s essential right now is that we be precise about the social function we need to strengthen, and creative and non-doctrinaire about how to strengthen it.”
- What are some of the business models highlighted by Lemann and Kramer? Are any of these models relevant for The Beachcomber? How?
Today, students will:
- Verify all team changes.
- Receive feedback from section editors and alter gameplans slightly.
- Finalize gameplans with me.
- Begin planning documents.
Tonight’s homework is:
- All planning documents are due on the Representative AND Alternate’s blog by 1 PM Friday. You should comb these documents from the blogs of your other groupmembers. If one group member does not post something they are responsible for, say so in your blog posts.
30 responses so far ↓
patrickquinlan // February 12, 2009 at 6:06 pm |
When Lemann said that, he meant that newspapers need to improve their function, and that they should not set any rules because then they might become outdated again.
Lemann and Kramer discussed raising prices on newspapers, which we can’t do, as we are non-profit. In addition, they proposed that the newspaper should complement the online newspaper, which we could very well do.
kevins2011 // February 12, 2009 at 6:08 pm |
“What’s essential right now is that we be precise about the social function we need to strengthen, and creative and non-doctrinaire about how to strengthen it.” Lemann is trying to explain that we need to be creative and find ways to make the newspaper stand out to the consumer. It needs to have things beyond just the news because that can be obtained online. A business model they share is to add things in the newspaper that cannot be attained online. Kramer said you could also make it available online but you could charge for it. It is not relevant to our situation because we are not losing money from the internet.
biancac2010 // February 12, 2009 at 6:09 pm |
What Lemann is trying to say in his comment is that the journalism industry needs to improve the way they give the news. They need to find a “creative and non-doctrinaire” way to strenghten it, which may take a lot of effort. Newspapers and their writers need to find a way to save this business in a manner that will benefit the employees and readers.
Lemann suggests that charging for content on newspaper Web sites, establishing new sources of revenue, cutting production and distribution costs, etc is a beginning step in acquiring the strength it needs. Exterior help from other organizations or businesses is also a good idea. Kramer has started a regional journalism Web site based on a not-for-profit model. He believes that journalism is a community asset, not just a consumer good. By emphasizing what he believes, he is doing something that will help journalism. These models are not bad ideas, but since the Beachcomber is very limited to its readers, the problems arent as serious.
nadineg2012 // February 12, 2009 at 6:10 pm |
I think Lehman meant that newspapers need to identify exactly what their function is and go about fufilling it in an out-of-the-box way.
Lehman suggests that newspapers
Kramer sugegsted that local newspaper had the best shot at being profitable online because they offer local information that can not be found elsewhere.
allisonnovack // February 12, 2009 at 6:10 pm |
In the article, Leman tries to explain that the news and articles in newspapers need to be more unique and brought to the reader in a more creative, innovative way. He also says that funding is important and many local newspapers are being helped out by non profit organizations. We need to think about what our readers want and what they would read. Some sort of action needs to be taken place to fix the issue, and I believe it does apply to the Beachcomber since we need to look deeper into what we are reporting on and maybe take more time and effort to come out with someone truely well done.
LyssaG2011 // February 12, 2009 at 6:11 pm |
Lemann suggested either using “pure business strategy” by charging for content on newspaper Web sites, establishing new sources of revenue, cutting production and distribution costs OR becoming non-profit organizations.
Kramer suggested dramatically raising the prices of newspapers and incereasing quality to balance it out. His assumption was that, though sales would decrease, the profit per paper sold would make up for it.
I don’t really think these suggestions work for our newspaper because The Beachcomber isn’t made to make money; our problem is just that we don’t have enough to print in the first place. We don’t charge for the paper, so increasing prices obviously is not an option.
The quote “What’s essential right now is that we be precise about the social function we need to strengthen, and creative and non-doctrinaire about how to strengthen it” explains what we discussed last class–how it may be advisable to improve the “value added” like Features pieces and focus more on that. This again is not quite the issue with our paper. What we need is to find advertising and sponsors to pay for printing.
gwenxawesome // February 12, 2009 at 6:11 pm |
What Lemann meant was that, they should be more precise with the news and the usual things which they need to try and make stronger, and try to solve the problem in a more creative and interesting way.
hkramer14 // February 12, 2009 at 6:12 pm |
“What’s essential right now is that we be precise about the social function we need to strengthen, and creative and non-doctrinaire about how to strengthen it.”
This quote means that newspapers need to strengthen altogether. It needs to be soon; its essential. The idean needs to be creative, and it has to be relatively social. It has to deal with the customers.
They suggested raising the prices of the newspapers, which we can’t do because people don’t pay for it. We make them by donations, advertisements, etc. Putting them online might be a good idea, but what high school student wants to spend their Saturdays on their school website, looking at their school news? (no offense Mr. Weiss).
allisonnovack // February 12, 2009 at 6:12 pm |
i mean something.
RayL2012 // February 12, 2009 at 6:13 pm |
Lemann is saying that newspapers need to improve their social function and that there should be no rules that restrict it, so that it can strengthen and grow.
Lemann and Kramer talked about raising the price of newspapers and putting them on line. However, if the newspapers were online the subscriber pays for a couple of sections, not the whole paper.
Since the beachcombers is non-profit, we cant raise our prices. However, we can try to set up an online paper so that maybe we could get more readers.
jessicaw2010 // February 12, 2009 at 6:14 pm |
I think Lemann’s comment is well thought and logical. He realizes what is needed and makes a plan before actually jumping into the issue trying to solve it. Lemann acknowledges what he needs to do, trying to establish a solution for his problem.
There are business models highlighted by both Lemann and Kramer. One of Lemann’s is to charge for newspaper contents on websites. I dont think this can apply to the Beachcomber or would be a good solution to our problem. Kramer says to rely on the readers for the revunue. This too can cause problems and not get rid of the one occuring because being too dependant on the readers isn’t a good thing. Although the readers should support the newspaper they read, being too dependant without other sources won’t get rid of the problem. Kramer also says to charge more, which would keep quality high. This would motivate there to be more readers and will encourage more people to buy the paper. I think that this however is more relevant for the Beachcomber.
7y13r // February 12, 2009 at 6:14 pm |
It seems as though Lehman was trying to point out that newspapers need to figure out what exactly their purpose in society is and go about strengthening that purpose in whatever way they can. Lehman suggesting charging for online content, and Kramer suggested charging more for each newspaper. The Beachcomber cannot do either, because we don’t charge at all at the moment.
xkatastrophe // February 12, 2009 at 6:15 pm |
Lemann’s comment basically said that we need non-standard methods to get high quality news back out there, and a society that actually cares for it.
They both pretty much said to raise the prices on newspapers but that is stupid for several reasons 1) we’re nonprofit 2) even if we werent, we are in a recession 3) most people outside of beach high do not really care about what’s going on, and if they did they more than likely would not pay for it if you can get the same information via phonecall or online. Kramer mentioned putting it online wouldnt work well because theres no ad revenue, or very little if any. Because we are non-profit, our best bet is to put the paper online. This is the age of technology so more students would read it, money would be saved as well as paper, and the information still gets out there. We could also poll students around the school to see whether they would prefer the paper to be online and if they would read it if it was. Also, Kramer brings up the point of being more in-depth and analytical about writing the writing, but mentions such high quality writing shouldnt be put online. I think that if the writing is more in-depth and analytical it should be put online. Since we’re not doing the paper for a profit, the goal should be to have the student body well informed and I see no downside to putting it online.
madisonjsanders // February 12, 2009 at 6:15 pm |
When Lemann comments “What’s essential right now is that we be precise about the social function we need to strengthen, and creative and non-doctrinaire about how to strengthen it.”, he is explaining that it is necessary to strengthen vital parts of the press instead of making it a little better everywhere. The way by which the press will be improved is by creativity and wit. Kramer created a regional journalism site based on non-profit model this would be beneficial to faculty and administration more-so than students at Beach High because the Beachcomber has a limited audience.
gwenxawesome // February 12, 2009 at 6:15 pm |
What Lemann meant was that, they should be more precise with the news and the usual things which they need to try and make stronger, and try to solve the problem in a more creative and interesting way.
One of the business models that Lemann mentionde was to charge for content on the newspaper website, which instantly installs new revenue while cutting the cost of distribution and production.
laurenpeterson1 // February 12, 2009 at 6:15 pm |
Lemann suggests to either use “pure business strategy” and charge people for the content on newspaper Web sites, , cutting production and distribution costs or becoming non-profit organizations. I think that Lemann meant that newspapers need to identify exactly what their function is and go about fulfilling it in an out-of-the-box way.
Kelsey Sumalla // February 12, 2009 at 6:15 pm |
When Lemann said that, he meant that newspapers need to improve their function, and that if they were to set any rules the news papers would be outdated again. Raising prices on newspapers was a major topic of discussion amongst the two, however, as we are a non-profit organization we are not able to have prices on it.
brittanywaserstein // February 12, 2009 at 6:15 pm |
I think that Lemann meant that the newspapers need to be aware of what is happening now and in order to strengthen the problem they need to find a “creative and non-doctrinaire” way to do so. Newspapers need to think about a way that can help employees and the readers. It is important to know what the readers want to read.
Some non profit organizations will help newspapers, such as the organization ProPublica. Other organizations, such as Global Post and MinnPost will help the gap in independent reporting about the public.
sebastianh2011 // February 12, 2009 at 6:16 pm |
Lemann’s comment is sort of a call for action for news papers to reevaluate and strenghten the function a newspaper serves.
Both Lemman and Kramer bring forth the idea of reporting as a social function and a community asset, and Kramer’s idea of receiving donations is interesting and highly feasable for the Beachcomber.
Personally I am against going web-only news because I believe on the relevance of printed press.
sebastianh2011 // February 12, 2009 at 6:16 pm |
Lemann’s comment is sort of a call for action for news papers to reevaluate and strenghten the function a newspaper serves.
Both Lemman and Kramer bring forth the idea of reporting as a social function and a community asset, and Kramer’s idea of receiving donations is interesting and highly feasable for the Beachcomber.
Personally I am against going web-only news because I believe on the relevance of printed press.
sebastianh2011 // February 12, 2009 at 6:16 pm |
Lemann’s comment is sort of a call for action for news papers to reevaluate and strenghten the function a newspaper serves.
Both Lemman and Kramer bring forth the idea of reporting as a social function and a community asset, and Kramer’s idea of receiving donations is interesting and highly feasable for the Beachcomber.
Personally I am against going web-only news because I believe on the relevance of printed press.
alicel2011 // February 12, 2009 at 6:16 pm |
What Leman means is that the newspaper should increase. We should our readers quality over quantity. What good is writing about what we need to do and what is happening if no one is going to read the paper. Lemann says we should they should enlist to non profit organizations for help. This can also be done here with the BeachComber but with a few tweets to it. Instead of asking the help of organizations we could aske the students for help. We could ask for any donations that they would like to give. We could also ask the parents for donation to the school newspaper. What Joel Kramers is very clever. By selling news papers at a higher price you would only get the peolple who are truely interested on the news. I don;t know if you coukd apply it to the BeachComber though.
molliee // February 12, 2009 at 6:16 pm |
In this article, Lehman talks about how newspapers and news articles need to improve their function and identify what their function is. Lehman says “What’s essential right now is that we be precise about the social function we need to strengthen, and creative and non-doctrinaire about how to strengthen it. “
Kelsey Sumalla // February 12, 2009 at 6:17 pm |
It’s Helen, for some reason I’m logged in as Kelsey…
When Lemann said that, he meant that newspapers need to improve their function, and that if they were to set any rules the news papers would be outdated again. Raising prices on newspapers was a major topic of discussion amongst the two, however, as we are a non-profit organization we are not able to have prices on it.
hrynor // February 12, 2009 at 6:18 pm |
Much better!!! Sorry that I posted it three times… I just wanted to make sure that you knew it was me (Helen).
When Lemann said that, he meant that newspapers need to improve their function, and that if they were to set any rules the news papers would be outdated again. Raising prices on newspapers was a major topic of discussion amongst the two, however, as we are a non-profit organization we are not able to have prices on it.
Kelsey Sumalla // February 12, 2009 at 6:49 pm |
Lemann’s comment: “What’s essential right now is that we be precise about the social function we need to strengthen, and creative and non-doctrinaire about how to strengthen it.” means to improve the paper by adding more articles with “value”, like features articles, instead of information that everyone reports about
Some of the business models highlighted by Lemann and Kramer were making the article quality higher and raise the prices on the paper. “Raise the quality. Make it more in-depth, more analytical, to complement the immediacy of your free Web site, and do not make that deeper, more insightful coverage available for free on the web.”Lemann said to charge for content on newspaper Web sites, establish new sources of revenue, and cut production and distribution costs. Also, non-profit organizations can fill up empty article spaces that would otherwise have been left empty.
rachelcoller // February 12, 2009 at 6:58 pm |
Business plans:
charging for content on newspaper Web sites, establishing new sources of revenue, cutting production and distribution costs
(we cannot due this considering we do not have a website)
Another plan suggested was to raise the price of each copy of the newspaper, however, because we do not charge for our paper, we cannot due this.
Use non-profit organizations for info
This quote was referring to that newspapers “What’s essential right now is that we be precise about the social function we need to strengthen, and creative and non-doctrinaire about how to strengthen it.” means that newspapers need to be creative, and adapt to the community’s needs.
jessekirk11 // February 12, 2009 at 6:58 pm |
Lemann’s comment convey’s the importance of making the social considerations of the disappearing newspapers understood. These social considerations include that formal reporting would go away.
Lemann and Kramer each give important business models that can be followed by The Beachcomber, such as how to fund a newspaper.
Alexandra Barberio // February 12, 2009 at 6:59 pm |
What Lemann ment in his quote was that newspapers need to strengthen their circulation and do it creatively in a way that people will still buy it.
One of the buisness models brought up was selling certain sections to people for a lower price than buying the whole newspaper. This would not work for the beachcomber because we are non profit.
nadineg2012 // February 14, 2009 at 9:44 pm |
Lemann means that newspapers need to strengthen the parts of their papers that are not available online, like in-depth reporting, and and do so in creative ways, such as by finding new sources of revenue, cutting production and distribution costs, and enlisting the reporting help of nonprofit organizations wishing to spread information about their cause.
Kramer offers two suggestions. The first is to run a not-for-profit website with regional news on mainly on donations from people who care about news. The other is to improve the quality of the newspaper, but not its online complement, which would justufy charging more for it. While sales would decrease, it would still be a profitable business.
Out of these suggestions, charging for the paper and enlisting the reporting help of non-profit organizations may be relevant. By charging for the paper, while we would sell distribute fewer copies, we may be able to make enough profit to make the next issue free. Maybe we could rotate like that? We already use reporting from outside organizations and continue to do so as long as we keep in mind that some organizations are biased.