Doom and gloom be damned

Polish editors tired of U.S. journo’s sob story Don’t let the demise of the U.S. news industry fool you, or the endless chatter about what caused it and who’s to blame. That conversation, while it may be important for historical analysis, for defining new opportunities and for cathartic relief, ignores a much bigger one: Around […]

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Dube named head of ABCNews.com

Congratulations to Jonathan Dube, formerly of MSNBC and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., and newly named VP of ABCNews.com. Dube is also president of the Online News Association, an organization for journalists working in online media, and publisher of CyberJournalist.net. Andrew NachisonAndrew Nachison is founder of We Media. He lives in Reston, Virginia. www.nach.com

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A new way to rate the news: how does it make you feel?

Aggregation of news headlines and user ratings is so commonplace it’s hardly worth a second thought. Except, that is, if you’re interested in the business of news, or in improving the way we experience and act on news. Common as they are, headlines remain the bedrock of online news, so we see a continual flow […]

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In search of passion, purpose and positive change

What’s the purpose of journalism, media, art – or communication of any sort? Your goal may be to build a business, or to prevent one from crumbling. Both are tough and worthy goals. But are they a purpose? Here’s a purpose: help an anorexic woman tell her friends about her disease; or raise $500,000 for […]

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W8 a minute, then LOL: Texting is good for you

Just when you or your favorite school teacher thought there was no way in hell the English language could survive the abomination of text message shorthand, aka textese, a British linguist has thrown a bucket of cold water on the world’s SMS malcontents. David Crystal writes in his new book, Txtng: the Gr8 Db8, that […]

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12 weeks, 9 companies, 7 lessons from an incubator fund

One of our partners, LaunchBox Digital, is an early-stage Internet startup incubator fund. It’s similar in structure to TechStars in Boulder, Colorado. Startup companies – or founders with ideas that could become companies – apply to participate. The projects selected for the fund commit to spending the summer working with the fund’s founders and their […]

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Rising: Journalism from everywhere, funded by nonprofits

Two related announcements today from a U.S. journalism institute reflect the changing nature of how journalism is produced, distributed and experienced globally – and also the expanding role for non-profits and philanthropy in paying for U.S. journalism. Andrew NachisonAndrew Nachison is founder of We Media. He lives in Reston, Virginia. www.nach.com

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Failure is an option

Sometimes Internet startups have a business model. Sometimes they don’t – and the story typically boils down to “we’ll figure it out” or “we’ll sell.” For consumer media and information services, more often than not “figure it out” means build a large enough audience to sell advertising around it. For platforms and tools, founders aspire […]

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Help Wanted: WeMedia Correspondents

WeMedia.com is the new home for the We Media conference, awards and community – and for news, analysis and community-organizing around the global We Media movement. We’re seeking to build a corps of correspondents and editors to provide reports, links and analysis on innovations and current events in media and communications around the world. Correspondents […]

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