The Future Of Journalism is Here – Now

by Ron Bartels

Join the Revolution – Now – Spare Time

Newspapers and Traditional TV News are Shrinking

November 19, 2008 – Our World is Constantly Changing

As America’s newspapers shrink and shed staff, and broadcast news outlets sink in the ratings, a new kind of Web-based news operation has arisen in several cities, forcing the papers and sometimes even the local television news outlets to follow the stories they uncover.

“These new journalists are really doing significant work, driving the agenda on local developments and some other areas, putting local politicians and businesses on the hot seat,” said Dean Nelson, director of the journalism program at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. “I have them come into my classes, and I introduce them as, ‘This is the future of journalism.’ ”

That is a subject of hot debate among people who closely follow the newspaper industry. Publishing online means operating at less than half the cost of a comparable printed paper, but online advertising is not yet robust enough yet to sustain a full blown newsroom. However, subscribers pay no subscription fees and can access the local news through RSS feeds to their desktops on their computers at home and at work. They can also have live access via PDA’s such as Blackberry and web-based mobile phones.

Like Justice Times, some are financed entirely out of the pocket of their originators. That may change in the near future. For example consider the Voice of San Diego and its peers mimic public broadcasting, not newspapers. They are nonprofit corporations supported by foundations, wealthy donors, audience contributions and a little advertising.

NOTE: Justice Times has a different business model which does not rely on wealthy benefactors. Justice Times is in the process of deploying nation wide including Puerto Rico and will be translated into many languages according to the demographic makeup of each zip code covered.

Wealthy people can purchase certain intellectual property rights from Justice Times and receive a perpetual income from there on out and that income comes right off the top of the advertising revenue stream just like the fee that a credit card processing company charges.  Therefore, the revenue stream, that investors receive, is NOT double-taxed as in standard corporations not subject to distribution after profits are earned.

Investors in Justice Times Intellectual Property Rights, can donate the revenue streams to a charity of their choice or receive it directly themselves.  They can change it at will.  The intellectual property can be made part of an estate.  That is the owner’s choice.  The intellectual property rights owner does not control Website content nor manage the day to day operations, they benefit from off the top fees derived from advertising dollars.

There are a limited number of investment opportunities and as they are sold off to fund the growth of Justice Times the value will increase.  So if you want to purchase these income stream rights, you will have to purchase from a willing seller at whatever price is agreed upon by the parties involved.  We call it the free-market system.  Intellectual Property Rights are headquartered in 1018 MSA’s and each MSA has a finite number of zip codes so when they are all owned you will have to bargain with whoever owns those rights to obtain them if the owners are even willing to sell them.

Justice Times will cover not only the small towns, but even small local neighborhoods. This business model relies in most cases on part-timers and in doing so fills a niche financial need that generates income for stay-at-home parents, seasoned citizens and even the income needs of youth who are willing to learn on the job.  Many sharp stay-at-home entrepreneurs could very well earn a 40 hour income in 5-10 hours per week in the Justice Times Business Model.  Justice Times has no stock holders to pay and no large bureaucracy to maneuver through.

A reporter at Justice Times does not have to please their editor as that is the old structure.  The editor can have several different reporters from different points of view.  The person a reporter has to please is the reader.  For example, if a reporter is pitching the over though of our government, that reporter will not prosper very much because who wants chaos?  The best reporters will earn the most revenue and that is the true American way.  Americans do not want a controlled media.  They want it open and fair.  The prevelant bias in the main stream media is just killing itself off.

New nonprofits without a specific geographic focus also have sprung up to fill other niches, like ProPublica, devoted to investigative journalism, and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, which looks into problems around the world. A similar group, the Center for Investigative Reporting, dates back three decades.

But some experts question whether a large part of the news business can survive on what is essentially charity, and whether it is wise to lean too heavily on the whims of a few moneyed benefactors.

“These are some of the big questions about the future of the business,” said Robert H. Giles, curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. Nonprofit news online “has to be explored and experimented with, but it has to overcome the hurdle of proving it can support a big news staff. Even the most well-funded of these sites are currently a far cry in resources from a city newspaper.”

That will change as more people deploy a business model similar to Justice Times which may very well have more resources than a local newspaper but at much lower expense. That part of the business plan for Justice Times is confidential but over time, you will notice the difference. The high dollar methods of gathering and deploying the news in the past has lead to newspaper consolidations and in cases outright collapse.

Just like the telegraph systems of the past, the handwriting is on the wall for big city newspapers and even local television news crews as technology and expertise advance. Small business owners have to target specific local markets and can’t get a sufficient return on their advertising dollar to justify spending scarce ad dollars in major news outlets.

The justice Times model can focus on the zip code level which is something that television and big newspapers cannot. Every local business can afford to invest their scarce ad dollars in the Justice Times business model because they will get a profitable return on their dollar.

Last point for this article; more people now read news online than subscribe to local newspapers or listen to a local television news report. Many folks are just too busy to sit still for a local news broadcast. The 24 hour news on demand cycle is here to stay.

If you are a small business owner/operator, contact ron@justicetimes.com for a special guaranteed return on your advertising dollar.  If you are interested in joining Justice Times as a source of income, we may have just the opportunity you need.

Our nation is also changing in many major ways.  What you will see happening over the next decade will be gradual but significantly different.  Politics will go from national to local as more people tune out from traditional news sources.  Justice Times will offer multiple points of view on the same subject.  No longer will a news consumer have to digest single points of view like you see on MSNBC.

Pick you own point of view and you will soon have a reporter covering it that way and you will be able to see the same story covered from several different points of view.  The monopoly of view is in the process of breaking apart.  Now, you can choose to read or listen to Liberal, Conservative, Libertarian or other viewpoint on a growing number of news and issues.  In many cases you will be able to read and listen to the news in languages other than English.  All news will be sponsored by your local business owners and operators at affordable rates.

That is why we are focusing on four specific political ideas whose time has come.

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This is why we need the following three solutions as soon as possible:

1. Fair Access Amendment
2. Fair Tax Act
3. Read The Bill Act
4. One Subject at a Time Act

If you are concerned about our nation, please decide how you can participate.  At a minimum, please submit your thoughts and comments:  We are looking for a PHP programmer who can help us design a one click plug in for people to be able to contact their elected officials.  Please advise if you know of someone who could do this in exchange for an equity position with Justice Times.

Please consider joining our small group of investigative writers.  You can research and write in your spare time and share the advertising revenue.

We are also considering investors who would like to be paid off the top from all incoming revenues instead of the typical business model of “if there is any profit, we will share it with you unless we vote to keep it.”

“If you’re threatened with a lawsuit and can’t afford a lawyer or aren’t sure you can trust the lawyer you have, visit Jurisdictionary® to get step-by-step tips and tactics for winning with or without a lawyer.”

Tags: Fair Access Amendment, fair tax act, One Subject at a Time Act, read the bill act