What Google Can Do for Journalism

Via Romenesko, I see Google CEO Eric Schmidt telling Fortune's Adam Lashinsky that he wants to help newspapers survive - he just doesn't know how.

"What if the newspaper industry does go down?" Lashinsky asks.

Schmidt replies: "To me this presents a real tragedy in the sense that journalism is a central part of democracy. And if it can't be funded because of these business problems, then that's a real loss in terms of voices and diversity. And I don't think bloggers make up the difference. The historic model of investigative journalists in any industry is something that is very fundamental. So the question is, What can you do about this? I think it is a fair statement to say we're still looking for the right answer."

There may indeed be nothing Google can do to boost print circulation. But there's plenty Google can do to help the news industry, which is terrified about the loss of print circulation primarily because it hasn't yet found a way to comparably monetize its journalism online. There's also plenty Google can do to maintain or even increase the amount of quality journalism available on the Internet.

Off the top of my head:

* "Adopt" a handful of newspapers, and help them build technologically-sophisticated Web sites, with an emphasis on micro-local and business-to-consumer relationships. For instance, local papers need ways to database local advertising, local content, and information on local readers -- then serve up ads based on psycho-graphic and geographic information. Newspapers can't seem to figure this out by themselves. Then make the technology available to others.

* Create and endow an independent nonprofit; put esteemed journalists on its board; let them buy newspapers from owners who are wringing them dry and run them as nonprofits.

* Create an open-source journalism wire service, hiring excellent laid-off reporters to do great narrative and investigative work that's free for the picking.

* Fund a short-term project to hire laid-off journalists from across the country, connect them virtually with hot programmers, and see what they come up with.

* Create a journalist-mediated repository of citizen journalism. Hire professional journalists to "accredit" excellent citizen journalism and train citizen journalists.

* Create "endowed chairs" for bloggers who can then quit their day-jobs and do actual reporting as well as blogging.

* Contribute to nonprofit journalistic ventures and foundations, i.e. ProPublica, the Center for Public Integrity - and NiemanWatchdog.org (where I am deputy editor and where this post first appeared.)

Got more ideas? Post them below!

Comments

[Brian Chorley]

I am involved in a project that has a nation-wide network of online newpapers already in place. This network has been set up to allow one online paper for every zip code in America. As a jounalist, all you have to do is pay a small franchise fee for your exclusive zip code and you get to keep 100% of the local ad revenue. You also get access to any news stories or articles on the entire national network. This model is great for the business minded journalist who can connect to his/her community in a way that generates devoted local readership. You would be amazed at how loyal readers can be when you cover their local news and events. Send me a message if you want more details.

[Henryk A. Kowalczyk - Huffpost Blogger]

Another option, create a business concept that profit could be generated by providing people information they need.

Look around, and you might find people having these ideas already.

BTW, I have one concept on hand myself. I just need an investor willing to risk about $1 million dollars.

I bet that there are other ideas around. Instead of charitable actions suggested by Mr. Froomkin, we need entrepreneurs and cash.

[carlene101]

Great ideas Dan! Love to see you posting here, thanks for being the one consistent journalist I've turned to the last 8 years to get real news and all the best links.

[profligat1]

These are fine ideas -- but what, other than money, makes Google the ideal institution for handling these initiatives? In many ways, the most powerful internet company in the world is uniquely ill-suited for furthering the cause of speaking truth to power.

If Schmidt wants to save journalism, the idea he should consider -- and that his company is particularly well-suited for -- comes not from Mr. Froomkin's post, but from the commenter twofish. He suggests creating a Web-based program that facilitates "fraction-of-a-cent charges per page viewed."

In other words, let readers sign up with Google to pay for content at a rate at which even the most voracious of news consumers wouldn't be spending more that a few quarters, each day, to receive news from thousands of participating content providers. Google debits and distributes the cash based on how many clicks each site received.

As an example, my paper netted 143 million clicks last year. At a penny per click (and who wouldn't pay that, if it was simple to do so?) that's $1.43 million into the paper's coffers. That won't even cover our payroll, but it's a nice start.

Of course, newspapers would need to protect their copyrights better. Let bloggers and other news sources refer and link to stories, but not reprint the entirety of an article. (The New York Times does this well.) Google's broad and sophisticated search capacity could be helpful in this aspect as well.

[Morcego]

Micropayments (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micropayment) seem to work only when the buyer is convinced that he/she cannot obtain comparable goods for less. Right now we're experiencing a sort of negative bubble in the news economy where news providers will offer their goods for free in order to attract readers and 'buy' market share. Ads (priced according to expected or actual page views), as obnoxious as they are, are the only thing that brings any economic sanity into this and it does not penalize cash-poor readers unfairly. Perhaps someone can tackle the consumer-preference issue (i.e., serve me up with a daily digest of news based on an analysis of my stated preferences and prior viewing habits) and prove that there is enough value-add to attract paying viewers.

[thevoicereason]

Let them fold. They have done more to harm democracy than to help. The go-to example of investigative journalism, the Watergate investigation, the journalists were just funnels for a well placed whistle blower.

[goodstoryteller]

not much good reason in your voice.

[miamia]

Great ideas.

[andre]

great ideas, Dan!

[MFreebass]

All are reasonable and thoughtful suggestions. The trick is how to provide financial support for out-of-work journalists or allow bloggers to quit their day jobs in a media where the business model depends on folks providing the fruits of their talents for free.

[twofish]

Investigative journalism is a tricky business. If it's government funded, it's suspect of being propaganda. If it's privately owned, it can be a captive of the economic interests of the owners. The way to guard against that is to make sure there are lots of voices, so even if all have a bias they tend to cancel each other out. So, Google should lobby for antitrust enforcement on media companies.

Ads and purchase price of the paper used to support the work of journalists. Celebrity gossip drives a lot of clicks, so those sites should charge for access, but let the investigative/political stories go on being free. I don't know that Google can encourage this model, but they can refrain from discouraging it. They might help it by advancing the software that allows fraction-of-a-cent charges per page viewed to bring some income to web sites without requiring bank or charge card transactions. What ever happened to that project?

Good article.

[pmorlan]

Great ideas! I especially like this one:

"Create and endow an independent nonprofit; put esteemed journalists on its board; let them buy newspapers from owners who are wringing them dry and run them as nonprofits."

I hope Google is listening.

[charliemoor]

Seems pretty obvious and simple: If he's serious, let news organizations keep more from search advertising.

[Roseberry]

Those are great ideas. Especially the ones that employ out-of-work or underworked reporters to do investigative stories. There is a real dearth in investigative reporting already. Budgets for it have been slashed for years.
I'd also like to add an idea: Unemployed or underemployed newspaper copy editors, writers, and other such spelling and grammar geniuses should be let loose on the Intertubes to some cleaning. What self-respecting Web site owner or creator would not gladly pay such an expert just to be sure they were not presenting a bad image to the public? (Lots of them sure are..)

[IGNSTHMD]

If there is something about newspapers or viable news printing on the internet that sets it apart or accesses its intrinsic value to the recipiant; say like a nostalgia, membership, content specialization, or perhaps quality in contextualization and frenetic integrity then yeah there is plenty reason to and facilitation for the preservation of the most powerful tool this side of currency.

[IGNSTHMD]

mabey create a national newspaper that features writers instead of stories; since so many writers will be and are out of work. Also, I recently read a blog that highlighted the writers work program they had during the depression some great work came out of that. I myself was at the library reading a reference book when I realized that somewhere around 1850-1920 history shifts from reporting from a personal stand point to an institutional one. Perhaps a line of boiblographies from where the progressive Era began or other such applicable concepts.