A News Startup Fails To Get Traction In Denver
Here’s another datapoint in the struggles of news organizations to get people to pay for news online: 200. That’s how many people were willing to chalk up $4 a month to access premium content on Rocky Mountain Independent, a Denver local news startup that debuted in early July; the site will no longer be updated as of Monday. This was take two for the site’s staffers, who had previously worked at another online Denver-area news startup, INDenver Times, after losing their jobs at the Rocky Mountain News, which closed down in late February. INDenverTimes — which is still live — was considered a failure because it attracted 3,000 subscribers, instead of the hoped for 50,000.
The Rocky Mountain Independent tried to distinguish itself by emphasizing “original” content, instead of aggregation, but the strategy apparently did not work. Editor Steve Foster tells the Denver Westwood, “I still believe that subscription memberships online are essential to the quality of news. But right now is a very tough time to ask for it. People just aren’t used to paying for news.”
Failure means they given up on their objectives, it does not mean the model they pursuing is a failure.
It is the same recurring theme that I keep laughing because of the denial.
There was a privileged culture in the newsroom providing content disconnected from their customers. It was driven by the writer ego and underwritten by advertisers and forced upon people to read daily.
For example, the Chicago Tribune decided to focus their front page on hyping the Olympics for Chicago instead of the problems going on in Chicago – this is the type of disconnect and denial causing these newspapers to sink
J.S. Huntlands author of the 'Nick Twisted Minds' series (domestic violence) and the 'Me and My Best Friend' series (interactive children's books) is now said to be in the top 50 up-coming authors…….
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