– The free lunch is over

News publishers are sick of picking up the tab for readers and financing newsrooms to churn out stories offered for free on the web. They’ve persisted till now, deceived by brown cardigan dogma about advertising returns, which have so far failed to eventuate. Charging for content is the only choice. But it’s been tried before and people didn’t like it and clicked on other news outlets still hoping for the great online advertising windfall. Read more…

– Long live PR

PR’s abstractedness and lofty service aspirations can make it tough for people to buy. Just how do you go about buying stakeholder goodwill and corporate reputation management? What might it cost? Can I see it first?

As important as these things are, commercial reality often narrows the buying spotlight to news media publicity. For some, in fact, for many, a PR agency’s only redeeming value is unlocking the door to ‘free’ publicity. Read more…

– We don’t need newspapers, but we certainly need journalism

The economics of conventional publishing are being bulldozed by the internet and the ease of information sharing.

But the new digital age of freewheeled information only serves to raise the importance of masterful storytellers and a system rewarding their endeavor.

Commentator Clay Shirky puts it so: “Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is journalism. Read more…