Please Do Now:
- Go back to this article: http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/battle-plans-for-newspapers/?hp
- Read the responses by Brill and Overholser.
- Do you think a charge model (newsstands, subscriptions, paperboy) is viable for The Beachcomber? Why? What would you suggest for implementing a pay model?
- Overholser tells us to scan our local media and newsreporting organizations and ask the question, “what needs are not being met? And what can my paper alone do best?” What do you think this answer is for The Beachcomber?
Today, students will:
- Discuss input from J2 planner reviews.
- Report articles.
- Work on notes and quotes
- Begin First Drafts
Tonight’s homework is:
- Notes and Quotes due Thursday.
- First Drafts due Monday.
20 responses so far ↓
sebastianh2011 // February 17, 2009 at 6:03 pm |
The needs that are not being meet by other media are already the one’s we are covering (Extremely local issues, all related to Beach High) and I could not think of any issues being left out by other media that are viable for us to cover or that we are not already covering.
The charge model is inherently not feasable for The Beachcomber since it is ulikely that (even if our target demographic has the highest rate of disposable income) people would pay for the newspaper.
hrynor // February 17, 2009 at 6:13 pm |
I believe that a charge model would not work with The Beachcomber, because as it is we don’t even have enough money to get the paper out once a month, some times not even once every TWO months.
However, if we got enough money to get the paper out on a more regular basis than this plan may work and pull us through our bankruptcy, but once through that I believe that it would not be as effective and should be dropped.
I suggest that the paper costs a very low amount like a quarter, because that would mean that the people buying the paper actually want to read it, and we see how many people buy, and start making that amount. Also, school clubs should begin putting ads in the newspaper, advertising for an upcoming event, or just to congratulate those that made it to state. In this way we will be making more money, and the clubs would receive more recognition.
I think that we need to improve on the stories we are writing about, because several of them are uninteresting and no one reads them, they just take the newspaper and throw it away. However, I think that we have good writing style for the newspaper making it more enjoyable to read, however without good stories no one will even take a second glance at the story, and read it.
biancac2010 // February 17, 2009 at 6:14 pm |
A charge model would not be viable for the Beachcomber. Although the newspaper is very well put and totally informative, i dont see many students wanting to pay for it. It will be read by the vast majority of the school if it is free kind of thing. If a pay model were to be used then i think it would be best to pay for a newspaper individually, that way students can buy as many as they want. Also, they wouldnt be tied down like they would be if they had a subscription. The best part of the Beachcomber is the way that they present information that is relatable and not boring. It is teen friendly and many of the issues covered are either from the school or from very close, so everyone has some sort of idea of whats going on. Readers being able to understand what they are read is a very important component.
7y13r // February 17, 2009 at 6:15 pm |
The needs that other papers are not meeting that we can are extremely local stories. Stories either specific to Beach High or the local businesses and places. As it is, our paper is free and still does not net as many readers as it should. Charging would not be wise, as it would cause a steep drop in ther number of readers we have.
jessekirk11 // February 17, 2009 at 6:16 pm |
Charge models might not work of for the Beachcomber. This is so because it is likely that it would cost more to hire people to work as paperboys or to buy newsstands than the paper would return. A subscrtiption wouldn’t work because we only come out with a maximum of 5-6 papers a year, and even this number is unreliable.
The Beachcomber is not meeting the needs of people who want consistent news, because our papers only come out every two months. Also, the paper is not meeting the needs of the illiterate or blind. Our paper can give the best information relating directly to Beach High’s athletics, academics, events, etc.
lenac2011 // February 17, 2009 at 6:16 pm |
I think a newstand would be helpful for the paper. I am not quite sure where the best possible place for it would be because if it were outside then students would either not even look twice at it or they would pick it up and then throw it on the ground 2 seconds later. If it were in the main office it would be good but a lot of students don’t really pay much attention to the things in there but it would let a lot of people that come in and wait read the paper.
Newspapers are definitely relied on by the public to find out about local happenings. Many people use the newspaper to find out about festivals or other things in the community. It is true though that a lot of this information is online and some people have sites dedicated strictly to these things. The primary use that people have for the newspaper though is to find out about things going on in the world and to find out useful information about things. A lot of people need information provided in the newspaper to find out about things. The purpose of the Beachcomber is to let the readers know about things going on at Beach High and things that high school students find interesting. I think that the paper needs to be careful about not going to far with information and trying to keep it local.
alicel2011 // February 17, 2009 at 6:17 pm |
A charge model for Beach High might and might not work. It would all depend on how much the charge of it would be? If it is given at a low price it might be probable that more people would buy. The one that would make more since for the Beachcomber is if we could have a paper boy. Actually it would be like five or ten paperboys. The charge of the paper could be 25 cents. Supscriptions would not work because not many people are interested in the Beachcomber. The needs we could do like what patrick said and make it more features like. Other than that we do everything else a normal news paper does. We cover it more locally thought but other than that, that is it.
hkramer14 // February 17, 2009 at 6:19 pm |
The charge model would not work for The Beachcomber. I don’t think people would pay for the newspaper. I think we should still rely on the donations for the advertisements we get. If we wanted to sell our newspaper, we would make many copies, but they would all go to waste because no one would buy them.
I think we are meeting needs because it IS a school newspaper, so all of our topics are school related, unless it has to do with the county.
patrickquinlan // February 17, 2009 at 6:19 pm |
1. I don’t think that a “charge model” would be effective for the Beachcomber, because then hardly anyone would ever read our newspaper. To get money, we could try and advertise on our website, but also make it more appealing to advertisers by putting a larger number of articles about more recent topics (maybe by putting up J1 articles).
2. The beachcomber is probably the only newspaper in the world that cares about our tiny high school, so we would have exclusive access to Beach-High related topics
lenac2011 // February 17, 2009 at 6:19 pm |
I didn’t really answer the question above about the charge model so my answer is:
I don’t think people would want to pay for the paper at Beach High because to say quite frankly, a lot of students are just not interested in the paper. Also other businesses like getting our paper for free and if there was a price on it, they probably would not pay for it.
Kelsey Sumalla // February 17, 2009 at 6:20 pm |
1. I’m not sure but I think we already have subscriptions and I think those would help get money for the newspaper. A paperboy might also help. We could have someone walk around telling people to read the paper. This will increase interest for the newspaper which could increase subscriptions. A newsstand might be a waste of money. Most students don’t care about the newspaper unless something REALLY interesting that they don’t know about is in it. Most students would go to pay for the newspaper or waste time and effort walking to go get the paper. I think the reason most students read it is because its handed to them. Overall, I just don’t think our newspaper is popular enough to be charging students money for it. If we had a website most students wouldn’t go and visit it either.
2.
Overholser tells us to scan our local media and newsreporting organizations and ask the question, “what needs are not being met? And what can my paper alone do best?” What do you think this answer is for The Beachcomber?
I think our paper needs to be more interesting for the students. A large population of our school doesn’t care about things like the budget cut. We should figure out what parts of the newspaper students like best, what parts they dont, and why. Then improve what needs improving in order to gain the interest of the students. Then, they may be more excited to read the newspaper and would maybe pay for it or subscribe.
Overholser tells us to scan our local media and newsreporting organizations and ask the question, “what needs are not being met? And what can my paper alone do best?” What do you think this answer is for The Beachcomber?
LyssaG2011 // February 17, 2009 at 6:20 pm |
We can’t charge for the newspaper because I’m pretty sure nobody will pay for them, except for only a small handful of caring parents or teachers. The largest population of the school, the students, will not pay for the newspaper, though, so the plan is essentially worthless.
What the The Beachcomber can do best is write about Beach High, something nobody else will do. Still, as unfortunate as it may seem, if The Beachcomber were to stop printing news, the community would be able to continue without it.
gwenxawesome // February 17, 2009 at 6:20 pm |
I honestly think that a charge model would be a pretty good idea, I think that with a charge model the demand might be greater. the idea of a newsstand sounds like it would be the better choice ( for a charge model). There are many people that are here at Beach High, and they do not even know that we have a school paper. So, by installing a newsstand obviously, everyone would notice. The needs of the Beachcomber, I believe are being met, mostly everything that happens (in the school, & around the beach area) is being reported and in a good fashion.
The Beachcomber covers important things, that we actually care about. which is saying alot, because it is hard to report about something that is going on, and at the same time have it be something interesting.
rachelcoller // February 17, 2009 at 6:25 pm |
Do you think a charge model (newsstands, subscriptions, paperboy) is viable for The Beachcomber? Why? What would you suggest for implementing a pay model?
No, I do not think that enough people are willing to pay for a newspaper. Most people at our school bring enough money for lunch, a round trip bus ride, and maybe a pastelito. Most students are tired of learning and reading by the end of the school day and will not want to pay money so they can learn more about what is going on around them.
If a pay model was implemented at the school (although I do not think it would go over well) Then maybe about a week in advance we begin to announce that newspapers will be on sale in x number of days. Then we should set up a stand during lunch that newspapers will be sold (this could go on for about 2-5 days). There would be a schedule so that every person would sell at least once. For example: Person A, B, and C would sell on Monday from 12:15- 12:50. Person D, E, and F would sell on Tuesday from 12:15-12:50 and so on.
Overholser tells us to scan our local media and news reporting organizations and ask the question, “what needs are not being met? And what can my paper alone do best?” What do you think this answer is for The Beachcomber?
Most news stories in the Beachcomber are truthfully only interesting to parents and staff member…aka adults. Because it is a student run newspaper, the Beachcomber staff really needs re-evaluate the stories we write so that they would be interesting to the students.
jessicaw2010 // February 17, 2009 at 6:39 pm |
I dont think a charge model would be viable for the Beachcomber. I dont think that the student body would want to pay for the newspaper. If the students were to be charged for the newspaper, I’d say that it would have to be a very small amount like a quarter; something students can put together with the spare change in their pocket. Some of the stories that are written int he newspaper are very interesting and many readers read it but there are other stories that don’t interest the readers. These stories are the ones that need to be improved on and made more interesting. There should be activities and personal stories (gossip columns, etc.) that connects with the readers. Things like this will make people want to buy the newspaper and read it.
brittanywaserstein // February 17, 2009 at 6:42 pm |
I dont think that a charge model is viable for the Beachcomber because students arent going to want to pay for the newspaper even if its as little as 25 cents. There are so many people now that dont even read the newspaper when it is free so why would people even read the newspaper now. I think that the Beachcomber is not reaching the needs of important news in the world but instead it focuses on what is occuring in our school. This helps people gain new knowledge by finding out many new things. I think it is important to improve on a lot of the stories we read because many students who write for the Beachcomber write stories that are not interesting to the people who are reading them.
Lauren Peterson // February 17, 2009 at 6:54 pm |
I believe that a charge model is not viable for the Beachcomber. I believe this only because it is a school newspaper. Several stories in the Beachcomber are uninteresting and no one reads them, which is a waste of money. We don’t have enough money to issue a paper every month, and it is sometimes a struggle to issue one every 2 months. Our newspaper is excellent with the data portion of a newspaper, yet we often write about things very few people find interesting. I think our paper needs to be more interesting for the students. A large population of our school doesn’t care about things like the budget cut. We should figure out what parts of the newspaper students like best, what parts they dont, and why. Then improve what needs improving in order to gain the interest of the students. Then, they may be more excited to read the newspaper and would maybe pay for it or subscribe. I think our paper needs to be more interesting for the students. A large population of our school doesn’t care about things like the budget cut. We should figure out what parts of the newspaper students like best, what parts they dont, and why. Then improve what needs improving in order to gain the interest of the students. Then, they may be more excited to read the newspaper and would maybe pay for it or subscribe.
RayL2012 // February 19, 2009 at 4:09 pm |
I believe that a charge model would not work with The Beachcomber, because we don’t have enough money to get the paper out once a month. So im not sure how we would be able to have a charge model because people dont want to pay for newspaper. we dont have the write viewers. I also believe that people wont by it becasue we have to make it more fun
nadineg2012 // February 22, 2009 at 6:42 pm |
I think that a charge model is not viable for the Beachcomber. While it is very informative and well-written, most students at the school are probably just not interested enough in its content to justify paying for it. If we were to try to charge, however, I think the best option would be to print fewer copies and sell them at lunch when students are walking around with change for food. We would also have to do a good job marketing during the week before publication.
Local media sources lack news, sports, and opinion coverage of Beach High news, which constitute most of our articles. While we are certainly the best candidates to write articles about the school, I don’t think we should discard our more national/global news articles entirely. Unlike those of larger papers, they are often written in simple terms and tie into our community. If we were to implement a charge model, however, we would need to substitute some of these “boring” articles for more average-student-oriented material, like horoscopes, quizes, etc.
xkatastrophe // February 22, 2009 at 11:00 pm |
Sorry for the late response, I was absent the day of the do now.
I do not think the charge model would work for The Beachcomber because we are in a recession so people are forced to be more frugal, meaning money for a highschool paper just isnt going to happen. Also, the paper is written formally and many of the stories in it don’t particularly interest students. It may be great that the PTA did this and that, but on a larger spectrum not many people care. Students are more interested in gossip than quality journalism, sadly, but that’s just the way it is. I honestly do not think there is a way to appeal to the student body enough for them to pay for the paper without sacrificing the quality.