Silicon Valley blog to develop online journalism with partnerships

Posted by John Burke on November 16, 2005 at 10:03 AM

"What happens if we lose much of the old media before the new media business models are formed?"

Former Fincancial Times reporter and Silicon Valley Watcher, a tech/media blog, founder Tom Foremski is worried that old media is losing its journalistic capabilities and influence faster than new media can make up for it. In an essay on his blog, he sums up the situation and throws out some ideas of what could be done.

Most of old media's problems, according to Foremski, have been caused by the overwhelming success of Internet companies and the advertisers that have been migrating towards them.

But he also notes that most Internet advertising is not working as well as it could be and not well enough to support online journalism that is theoretically going to replace or complement traditional journalism. So Foremski, has decided to do something about it.

"Over the next few weeks Silicon Valley Watcher will announce partnerships with tech companies, with PR companies, and maybe even with an advertising agency, to help figure out the online business models that can support a robust and healthy online media run by media professionals who make their living completely from online journalism."

Some of his ideas as of now include junking website banner ads and filling the empty space with lists of headlines from PR firms or advertisers. More are certain to develop with time.

It will be worth keeping an eye on this project. It could turn out to play a major role in the future of journalism.

Source: Silicon Valley Watcher