bbc

There are 2 posts tagged bbc (this is page 1 of 1).

Tech Bloggers should sell their articles

tl;dr – Tech bloggers should sell articles to News companies, much like Reuters and AP have done in the past.

GigaOm Pro is an interesting service. While most of the tech blogging industry is ad-supported, it has a subscription based model. It’s not unheard of, but surprises me that it works. I don’t have any numbers, but the fact that the industry pays good money to read and listen to GigaOm Pro analysts seems to point to a healthy business model. Why does GigaOm Pro work? Because it is attached to a name, that of Om Malik. That name carries weight in tech reporting circles. People care about what he has to say.

Why is this relevant? Because good writing is always rewarded. Newspapers around the world have always depended on wire services like Reuters, AP and BBC, to name a few, to fill their columns and inform their readers of news from around the globe. This makes sense for two reasons – it is cost-effective and companies such as Reuters and AP can be trusted to do the right reporting in a timely and impartial manner. I have seen news reports being replicated in different newspapers without any change simply because the headline was followed by a reporter’s name and a small (Reuters) mention.

Today, the Internet, in its goal to be an open sharing platform, has skewed this reporting standard. Companies such as ABC News and NYT often quote a blog post or a tweet and wrap their own story or analysis around that. This works so long as the original writer isn’t a paid professional writer, like when I write on this blog. But when the quoted links are tech blogs and independent writers who lose out on page views; and thus ad revenue, this becomes a lousy proposition for the bloggers.

I believe that tech blogs should become similar to Reuters and AP in their reporting. Traditional news companies cannot afford to send reporters to every tech event, nor are they invited to do so. Tech blogs have reached the level where if you’re not writing well or covering the latest topics, you’ll get laughed off the Internet quicker than it takes to set up a Tumblr blog. So, instead of keeping in-house writers, news outlets can take articles from tech blogs for a fixed price, along with deeper analyses and more contextual content. They could do this without compromising the quality of the writing. Not every tech blogger would qualify for a payout, but those who have proven their worth will be able to earn more than just page views on such a program.

Why would this work for news companies? Right now it’s a free-for-all. They can quote anyone, attach a link and bet that no average reader will click on it, all for free. The benefit of paying up? Syndication. Right now, tech news trickles down from everyone who was on the scene and this means that everything links back to the tech blogs. By offering to pay for their writing, media companies will be able to get their hands on exclusive content without having to link to any blogs and without having to worry about legal issues related to trackbacks.

The negatives for tech bloggers are not negligible. The first is that many companies will require bloggers to officially become journalists to protect them in case of First Amendment issues. This will require that the following question be addressed – is a blog post talking about a recent event a news report or an opinion? I myself believe that it is an opinion, since the writer does not necessarily have the required training to be impartial to the subject. This debate has often played out against bloggers. The other issue is that upon paying money, the company will require the blogger to not publish the article on their own blog, as this would duplicate the syndicated article. This hits the blogger exactly where it hurts. Tech bloggers write on their own platform for the single purpose of gaining popularity; which can then be converted into money using the traditional means of sponsored posts or advertisements. The work around would be for tech bloggers to either accept less money in exchange for permission to post the article on their blog after a fixed period of time or write a short article on their own blog while syndicating a longer, much more detailed version for the news media. The final problem is that this move would take us away from the open nature of the Internet where RSS feeds and pingbacks allow a level of sharing that doesn’t exist on any other media platform. I do not know how negatively this will affect the Internet, but it would not be a small change.

In conclusion, I believe that tech bloggers should strike deals with traditional news media to provide them with syndicated news feeds. This can mean that tech bloggers do not need to depend solely on advertisements on their own platform to earn a living. This will benefit news media outlets because they will get accurate, real-time news and analysis from people who are in the field and understand the context very well. There are still a lot of issues that need to be resolved before such a step can be taken, but the idea is worth looking into.

Interesting sub note – The Wikipedia page for Syndication lists print syndication as “where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips” but web syndication as “where web feeds make a portion of a web site available to other sites or individual subscribers”. In web syndication, there is no mention of licensing, money or purchase of rights. This is what Riptide has concluded to be the problem with news reporting on the web.

Editor: Anna Tarkov [ADN|Twitter]
Note: I’d love to thank Anna for her help in editing this article. She provided me with invaluable help in getting the message across and pointing out some of my idiosyncrasies. Anna is a journalist from the Chicago area and she’s steeped in the digital life. She runs a personal blog here.

Doctor Who and a new adventure

Image Courtesy BBC

I’m writing a story about Doctor Who. But first, a disclaimer – I’m watching the Doctor Who series and I’m up to the Tenth Doctor’s episodes. Those who don’t know what or who Doctor Who is, please check out the BBC website or the Netflix page for Doctor Who and you’ll find a pretty neat story about a Doctor (believe me, I’m trying not to drop any spoilers here!) who keeps saving Britain and the Earth. I’m writing some fan fiction around him. Here’s a synopsis –

 

The Doctor and his new companion Meera find themselves in a new world. It is the same old Earth but in a different Universe. The most amazing thing is that the Earthlings seem to know a lot more about the Universe than the Doctor anticipated. This is because in this Universe, they have been given the gift of  extensive knowledge by an alien entity. The Doctor, from a different Universe, is asked to look into the issue of the dying entity and to help them save it. As always, the Doctor is able to use his intelligence and infinite knowledge to resolve the issue.

 

So, how’s it coming along? Well, I’ve hit a writer’s block. I know what the story is and how to execute it, I’m even half way through it. The issue is that I’m stuck at around a point in the story where I’ve irreparably changed the story line to something I did not want initially. I’ve kind of even found a way to fix the issue, but the right words are eluding me.

I’ve been writing stories since I was a little boy. I’ve enjoyed writing original, inspired and even fan fiction stories over the years and if I’m ever able to execute the whole thing in one fell swoop, there’s no one more glad than me. So, I’m mighty irritated that I’m stuck here. The last time I hit this kind of writer’s block, I ended up leaving the story in the middle, with no ending (I’m sorry Sherlock Holmes). But not this time because I’m intent on finishing this story no matter what happens. I’m too far into the story to quit now. Let’s see what happens.

This was my update for the day. Once I’m done with the story, I’ll post it here.