Nieman Foundation at Harvard
HOME
          
LATEST STORY
What will a conservative National Labor Relations Board mean for news unions?
ABOUT                    SUBSCRIBE
Feb. 3, 2009, 6:59 a.m.

Morning Links: February 3, 2009

— Henry Copeland argues that the doom-mongering predictions of a 40-percent drop in advertising revenue…might be optimistic. Pay attention to this line:

With supply doubling and demand stagnant or down, advertising prices are headed to zero for any property that doesn’t deliver VERY compelling value to advertisers.

That’s the key I’ve repeated over and over: Even if the amount of what we would call “journalism” continues to grow, there’s no way it will grow faster than the total amount of content. And while the advertising market gives some added value to high-quality content, that equation fundamentally pulls advertising prices to zero.

— Speaking of: A Microsoft exec argues that “scale is more important that ever” online — to make money, you have to generate traffic in the gazillions. Of course, someone from Microsoft would say that, but Hearst’s Lincoln Millstein has argued something similar.

— Ryan Sholin writes about using wikis in news.

Joshua Benton is the senior writer and former director of Nieman Lab. You can reach him via email (joshua_benton@harvard.edu) or Twitter DM (@jbenton).
POSTED     Feb. 3, 2009, 6:59 a.m.
Show tags
 
Join the 60,000 who get the freshest future-of-journalism news in our daily email.
What will a conservative National Labor Relations Board mean for news unions?
“If you want something out of your crappy news company, you’re going to have to go fight for it yourself out on the picket line.”
How young Kenyans turned to news influencers when protesters stormed the country’s parliament
A recent study shows the country’s news ecosystem is shifting towards alternative sources. This trend might shape journalism in the years to come.
Are you being tailed? Tips for reporters concerned about physical surveillance
“As a profession, you’d hope reporters would be good at reading people, situations, scenarios. So how many do you think spotted the spotters? None.”