Here’s to Homicide Watch DC: a success story that’s closing

Businesses don’t last forever.

I come from the newspaper business, where I worked for papers that boasted of roots in the 19th Century and visited a Digital First newsroom that traced its lineage to Benjamin Franklin.

In that context, you might think of Homicide Watch DC as a failure when founders Laura and Chris Amico announced its closing last week:

To our readers: Homicide Watch DC will close Jan. 1 http://t.co/AEoZjjxM7x Thank you for everything.

— Homicide Watch DC (@homicidewatch) November 5, 2014

I think of Homicide Watch as a success story and will continue to cite it in classes and workshops where I discuss media entrepreneurship.

Here are some ways Homicide Watch succeeded:

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Have you contributed to Homicide Watch yet?

Today is my day for blogging about other people’s blogs. This time I’m recommending that you read Clay Shirky’s post about why we should save Homicide Watch. If you need more of a nudge, read my TBD post last year about Homicide Watch and an earlier crowdfunding effort.

If you need more of a nudge, check out Homicide Watch. It’s one of the best examples I’ve seen of a local journalism startup. I want it to survive and I hope you’ll contribute to its Kickstarter campaign (I have) to keep it going while founder Laura Norton Amico is at Harvard on a Nieman Fellowship. She needs almost $14,000 more in the next week to reach the $40,000 goal.

I want to see quality journalism thrive. I want to see Laura’s vision, enterprise and innovation rewarded. I want to see crowdfunding grow as a revenue source for quality journalism. Let’s make this work.

We have 1 week to save the amazing @homicidewatch. Give them $50 kck.st/PnC0jk If you can’t, give $5. Here’s why goo.gl/Cekgb

— Clay Shirky (@cshirky) September 5, 2012

There’s not much time left to save @homicidewatch, so heed @cshirky and give a little bit if you canbit.ly/NdmxVO

— Mandy Jenkins (@mjenkins) September 6, 2012

 

Save Homicide Watch by Clay Shirky, who explains why this site is so innovative and why it needs your help. bit.ly/TigCRG

— Jay Rosen(@jayrosen_nyu) September 5, 2012

Homicide Watch needs $16k in 8 days. Their Kickstarter: kck.st/R0YObL @cshirky on why it matters: bit.ly/Q3QwBr

— O’Reilly Media (@OReillyMedia) September 5, 2012

 

Clay Shirky on why Homicide Watch matters and why we all need to help save it:shirky.com/weblog/2012/09…

— Mathew Ingram (@mathewi) September 5, 2012

Read this: @cshirky on one of the most important reporting projects in America. It needs your helpshirky.com/weblog/2012/09…

— Anjali Mullany (@anjalimullany) September 5, 2012

 

Folks: @homicidewatch, founded by my fellow Nieman, the extraordinary @lauranorton, needs support. @cshirky explains: bit.ly/Q3QwBr

— Jen McDonald (@jenbmcd) September 5, 2012

Give a bold journalism experiment a chance. Back Homicide Watch DC. I just put some money in. kck.st/PnC0jk bit.ly/OpCQfo

— Gideon Lichfield (@glichfield) September 6, 2012

 

Homicide Watch vanishes in 1 week if you don’t save it kck.st/PnC0jk. Why you should care: bit.ly/TmfFI4.

— Jennifer Haro (@orahdj) September 6, 2012

You know what today is? A good day to support @homicidewatch. nie.mn/OsWPO3

— Nieman Lab (@NiemanLab) August 30, 2012

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David Cohn served journalism by developing a crowdfunding model

David Cohn

David Cohn has decided to leave Spot.us, the crowdfunding project he launched in 2008.

I am blogging this from a conference room of the American Society of News Editors convention (a group that would really benefit from Dave’s presence and membership). I don’t have time to blog at length, but I will say this:

• I think Spot.us might be the best community engagement startup I’ve seen in journalism. Without question, it’s one of the best.
• Journalism needs people like Dave who combine digital savvy and journalism ethics with a commitment to quality journalism. I can’t wait to see what he does next.
• Dave was a guest speaker by Skype with my American University entrepreneurial journalism class last year. He was generous with his time and provided both useful insight and inspiration to the students.
• Every time I have crossed paths with Dave at News Foo, the Reynolds Journalism Institute and digitally, I feel smarter and uplifted because of sharing his creativity, insight and energy.
• I enjoyed our “Generations in the desert” blog exchange in 2010. Dave is one of the reasons I am optimistic that his generation of journalists will serve our nation and our communities in outstanding ways.

I can’t wait to watch the next chapter of his career unfold.

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American University launches master’s degree in media entrepreneurship

Congratulations to the American University School of Communications on the launch this fall of its new master’s degree program in media entrepreneurship.

The MA/ME program will offer students a master of arts degree starting this fall, with 10 courses presented over 20 months. I will be an adjunct faculty member, scheduled to teach in the final course for the first class of students, spring of 2014. The program is a partnership with the Kogod School of Business, with courses designed and scheduled for working professionals, meeting evenings and on Saturdays.

Congratulations to Amy Eisman and her AU colleagues on the development of this program.

 

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News Foo Camp: Not fully open, but certainly not secret

I tweet a lot from journalism events. I think I can say that few people tweet as much about journalism as I do. I didn’t tweet much from News Foo Camp last weekend.

But other campers and I tweeted enough that our tweeps wanted more.

1. 
   howardowens It’s easier to find out what Hilary Clinton said about some third level diplomat from China than what #newsfoo is. 06 Dec 2010 from web

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News Foo Camp: where TBD is ‘mainstream’

In another context, I might have protested being labeled part of the “mainstream media.”

We launched our website in August. We’re trying to be innovative and edgy in our mobile apps, use of social media, breaking-news coverage, blog network and other respects. If I were at an American Society of News Editors convention, I would be one of the digital upstarts. But at News Foo Camp, the label actually fit. Sort of.

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Lessons from a successful journalism entrepreneur: Craig Silverman

Entrepreneurial journalism may not mean bootstrapping a single venture. For some journalists, it may mean building a personal brand that brings income from a variety of sources.

Craig Silverman

Craig Silverman is a great example. I can’t remember when I first learned about Craig, but I’ve followed his “Regret the Error” work for several years and was quite excited earlier this year when he wanted to interview me about some things we were doing at TBD. My recognition of him and the esteem in which I held him before even meeting him reflect his success in building his brand through multiple efforts.

When Craig was coming to Washington in October for the Online News Association conference, he offered to present an accuracy workshop for our TBD Community Network. We finally met and chatted about his various ventures. I shared his story with my entrepreneurial journalism class and decided to blog about it as well.

I want to do two things here: Tell a story about an interesting journalist whom I like personally and pull from his story some lessons for my students and other journalism entrepreneurs. The lessons will be boldface headings, scattered through the story at appropriate places.

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‘Good enough’ and ‘value-added’ work together in entrepreneurial journalism

Howard Owens gives a great explanation of what makes his journalism venture successful. But he mistakenly extrapolates to some rules about what other entrepreneurs should not do.

I recommend reading Howard’s post Forget “value-added journalism” — Think, disruptive innovation and Kevin Anderson’s post Journalism: What added value will add revenue? Howard was responding to Kevin, so I suggest reading Kevin first, then Howard, then coming back and finishing this.

Howard understands correctly that his venture, The Batavian, is succeeding with a simple formula of providing lots and lots of community news. He isn’t “adding value” with many feature stories or investigative journalism that would take considerable time. Instead, he says, he is following Clayton Christensen’s disruptive innovation formula by providing just “good enough” quality, but lots of it.

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Entrepreneurial journalists need to master social media

Our entrepreneurial journalism class at Georgetown will be discussing social media the next two weeks. Of course, you could do a whole course on social media, which offer some of the most important tools an entrepreneurial journalist will use, so this will be an overview more than a deep dive.

Social media can be part of the solution for all three of the key challenges an entrepreneurial journalist faces: content, distribution and monetization.

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Resources for fighting the local battle

Today I’m a discussion leader for the American Press Institute’s Digital Delivery seminar. The morning program I’m involved in is The Battle for Local: Crowded, Competitive, Hyperlocal. I’ll be mentioning several resources for the seminar participants, and I’ll share them here.

Of course, I’ll be discussing TBD at some length.

Of course, I will be talking about the Complete Community Connection.

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Entrepreneurial journalists should pursue several revenue streams

Entrepreneurial journalists make a mistake if they think advertising is their only potential revenue stream.

Our entrepreneurial journalism class at Georgetown University will focus tonight on exploring possible ways to make money beyond display advertising. I doubt that many organizations would want to pursue all these possibilities. Particularly if you’re a small organization or an individual, you will need to pick your shots carefully and decide which have the most potential and which are worth the time and money it would cost to try them. Some of these opportunities are tailored for the sole proprietor. Others work better for a larger organization or at least for an entrepreneur or team with specialized technical skills.

Here are some revenue streams we will discuss in class:

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A key decision for entrepreneurial journalists: What’s your content plan?

If you’re an entrepreneurial journalist, your success starts with your content plan.

Today’s class session in entrepreneurial journalism at Georgetown University will cover content, one of three key factors we are examining in the course (along with distribution and monetization) determining the success of an entrepreneurial journalism venture. (Those aren’t the only factors, of course. Each of those factors raises technology issues and you need to provide a successful user experience.)

A content plan should consider at least three aspects:

1. Focus
2. Format
3. Acquisition

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