hivenews.co.nz

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Linuxluver

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#138108 19-Dec-2013 22:55

Journalist and commentator, Bernard Hickey, is experimenting with alternative news delivery models.

I've subscribed to hivenews.co.nz to support a worthwhile alternative to the foreign-owned news companies dominating our media.

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networkn

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#955184 19-Dec-2013 23:21

Wow $30 a month, I'll be passing.

freitasm

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#955213 20-Dec-2013 07:06

$30 is about right in my view. It's $1 a day and I guess a lot of people spend more than that on coffee alone.

People complain about the current state of the mainstream media and how they would support a more investigative style of journalism, but when options appear they go off on the price.

Indie journalists are trying different things. For example Bill Bennett on Digitl. He's writing about current day tech affairs, things that impact technology users/consumers. We're syndicating his articles here on Geekzone.

At some point Bernard will find some other journalist covering politics and add to the fold, and then some sports and so on. That's how the current darlings of the media started in the US.

wakaridnnz

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#955237 20-Dec-2013 07:45

Isn't this latest attempt just a reincarnation of www.journalism.org.nz

Fred99

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#955266 20-Dec-2013 08:31

freitasm: $30 is about right in my view. It's $1 a day and I guess a lot of people spend more than that on coffee alone.

People complain about the current state of the mainstream media and how they would support a more investigative style of journalism, but when options appear they go off on the price.

Indie journalists are trying different things. For example Bill Bennett on Digitl. He's writing about current day tech affairs, things that impact technology users/consumers. We're syndicating his articles here on Geekzone.

At some point Bernard will find some other journalist covering politics and add to the fold, and then some sports and so on. That's how the current darlings of the media started in the US.

IMO, perhaps the news subscription model vs "free" news is a symptom of a super wicked problem .

Yes - $30 isn't much, but if you have occasional wish for "in depth" news on a wide range of topics, then you might need many $30 subscriptions.
Subscription models only increase the digital divide.

I wish I could offer some suggestion for solutions, but I see it as just getting worse - with no solution, ever. It's like watching a dark ages descending.

Linuxluver

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#955269 20-Dec-2013 08:33

networkn: Wow $30 a month, I'll be passing.

The Herald costs the same or more.

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Linuxluver

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#955273 20-Dec-2013 08:40

Fred99:
freitasm: $30 is about right in my view. It's $1 a day and I guess a lot of people spend more than that on coffee alone.

People complain about the current state of the mainstream media and how they would support a more investigative style of journalism, but when options appear they go off on the price.

Indie journalists are trying different things. For example Bill Bennett on Digitl. He's writing about current day tech affairs, things that impact technology users/consumers. We're syndicating his articles here on Geekzone.

At some point Bernard will find some other journalist covering politics and add to the fold, and then some sports and so on. That's how the current darlings of the media started in the US.

IMO, perhaps the news subscription model vs "free" news is a symptom of a super wicked problem .

Yes - $30 isn't much, but if you have occasional wish for "in depth" news on a wide range of topics, then you might need many $30 subscriptions.
Subscription models only increase the digital divide.

I wish I could offer some suggestion for solutions, but I see it as just getting worse - with no solution, ever. It's like watching a dark ages descending.

If enough people subscribe then the cost of each additional reader should go down. At $30 / month this is early days: small user base generating enough revenue for a small operation to survive. But if 50,000 people subscribed, then that's $1.5M..and hivenews might then have 10 people....and be able to drop the price to $25 or less.If that brings in another 25,000 people then the revenue is just under $2 million....and you can hire a couple more people and drop the price to $22.....and so on. At that point, you've got a reasonably substantial news organisation in NZ terms and you're paying about 60 cents / day for it.

If you then consider many journos may be stringers and not full employees the contribtors might well number in the many dozens and be spread over a much wider area (topics and geography)...and the price be even cheaper.

I haven't discussed advertising revenue, which would be gin to be relevant once enough eyes of the right sort were looking at the outlet concerned....making potentially even cheaper overall.

But we have to start somewhere....and build. Maybe this is it. Maybe it's us.

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Fred99

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#955313 20-Dec-2013 09:32

Linuxluver:
Fred99:
freitasm: $30 is about right in my view. It's $1 a day and I guess a lot of people spend more than that on coffee alone.

People complain about the current state of the mainstream media and how they would support a more investigative style of journalism, but when options appear they go off on the price.

Indie journalists are trying different things. For example Bill Bennett on Digitl. He's writing about current day tech affairs, things that impact technology users/consumers. We're syndicating his articles here on Geekzone.

At some point Bernard will find some other journalist covering politics and add to the fold, and then some sports and so on. That's how the current darlings of the media started in the US.

IMO, perhaps the news subscription model vs "free" news is a symptom of a super wicked problem .

Yes - $30 isn't much, but if you have occasional wish for "in depth" news on a wide range of topics, then you might need many $30 subscriptions.
Subscription models only increase the digital divide.

I wish I could offer some suggestion for solutions, but I see it as just getting worse - with no solution, ever. It's like watching a dark ages descending.

If enough people subscribe then the cost of each additional reader should go down. At $30 / month this is early days: small user base generating enough revenue for a small operation to survive. But if 50,000 people subscribed, then that's $1.5M..and hivenews might then have 10 people....and be able to drop the price to $25 or less.If that brings in another 25,000 people then the revenue is just under $2 million....and you can hire a couple more people and drop the price to $22.....and so on. At that point, you've got a reasonably substantial news organisation in NZ terms and you're paying about 60 cents / day for it.

If you then consider many journos may be stringers and not full employees the contribtors might well number in the many dozens and be spread over a much wider area (topics and geography)...and the price be even cheaper.

I haven't discussed advertising revenue, which would be gin to be relevant once enough eyes of the right sort were looking at the outlet concerned....making potentially even cheaper overall.

But we have to start somewhere....and build. Maybe this is it. Maybe it's us.

Oh - it's "us" all right - no doubt about that.
But I wouldn't sign up to provide Bernard Hickey with $360 pa - "seed capital" in the hope that in some future time I'd be able to have a "one-stop" comprehensive news site for only $1/day.
Follow your argument above through - that increased total revenue through more subscriptions means lower cost per subscription - and you end up back where you started, with "free" subscription (subsidised by advertising).
The subscription model needs a "hook" - the ability to provide information that you can't get elsewhere. That's a very big ask - as any "scoop" is twittered/facebooked and blogged instantly. Or the "news" is opinion pieces which almost demand to be controversial if they hope to stand out against the background of clutter. They're seldom "balanced editorial" - but preaching to the converted (or to stir-up those holding strong opposing views in the hope of generating even more publicity) and polarising public opinion - whatever that is (as that is often measured by polls with extremely dubious validity on the very sites which are telling us what our opinions should be). People don't seem to like "balanced editorial" - it's wishy-washy, it doesn't stir up emotions over a few beers, it doesn't demand response by phoning some talkback radio station, blogging, etc. It won't pay the bills.

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gzt

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#955455 20-Dec-2013 13:01

Employees of selected companies are entitled to trial subscriptions and some corporates may have already subscribed on an org level:

https://www.hivenews.co.nz/organizations

Seems to me hivenews is targeted to financial institutions for the present time.

Good on him - he doesn't give up easily does he? : ).

Satch

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#955456 20-Dec-2013 13:04

Linuxluver: ...and hivenews might then have 10 people....and be able to drop the price to $25 or less
....and you can hire a couple more people and drop the price to $22.....and so on.

I've snipped a couple of statements from your post which make no sense to me at all. Since when would hiring more people reduce a business's cost? I must be totally missing your point. People would be the single biggest cost to this business...

gzt

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#955465 20-Dec-2013 13:23

Well, you might have missed the sentence mentioning $1.5M in revenue.