-- Christine Comey is an account executive at Solomon McCown & Company. She can be reached by email at ccomey@solomonmccown.com
Monday, April 06, 2009
Blog Rally to help the Boston Globe
We have all read recently about the threat of possible closure faced by the Boston Globe. A number of Boston-based bloggers who care about the continued existence of the Globe have banded together in conducting a blog rally. We are simultaneously posting this paragraph to solicit your ideas of steps the Globe could take to improve its financial picture:
We view the Globe as an important community resource, and we think that lots of people in the region agree and might have creative ideas that might help in this situation. So, here's your chance. Please don't write with nasty comments and sarcasm: Use this forum for thoughtful and interesting steps you would recommend to the management that would improve readership, enhance the Globe's community presence, and make money. Who knows, someone here might come up with an idea that will work, or at least help. Thank you.
(P.S. If you have a blog, please feel free to reprint this item and post it. Likewise, if you have a Twitter or Facebook account, please add this url as an update or to your status bar to help us reach more people.)
4 comments:
I think the paper should seek nonprofit status and receive grant funding in addition to membership support (like NPR).
What if there were a way for Globe employees to form a co-op and buy back the paper from the Times. Once it went public, it changed everything...and not for the better.
The first thing I think everyone can do to show their commitment to the paper is to subscribe to the print edition- make those numbers soar at least emphasizes its importance in the community if it doesn't save it. Charging more may help (I would certainly pay more) and eliminating Saturday's could also alleviate some of the burden. Aren't there any white knights out there that can save it?
I think the first mistake the Globe made was not charging for some, if not all, of their online content right from the get-go. If Boston.com had been a paid service since its inception, then I think its readership would have just assumed that's the way it was going to be. Unfortunately they didn't 'protect' their content and now they have dug a deep hole in terms of trying to convince readers to pay for what's online.
Personally I prefer reading a hard copy and don't like lots of text on my computer screen. But the majority of people demand receiving up to the minute information electronically.
Oh, and slashing advertising rates to make them more affordable wouldn't hurt.
Mission Recognition
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