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[BN] Blitz, Media, Pay Walls, Journalism Survival, etc...


SDS

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There is a 100% legal way to bypass the pay wall. If you have a library card you can read the archived stories for free. The Erie county library puts all the stories up on their website everyday. You pay for this service when you get an Erie county library card.

 

 

Edit: sign into the library website and go here: http://www.buffalolib.org/content/research

 

You should be able to find any article that was in print.

Edited by Fingon
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Everyone holds up Tim graham as if he's Pulitzer reincarnated. I don't see it.

Not trying to convince you that he is good at what he does, but I feel like he is. My feeling is based on stories like the ones on Beane and McDermott, Bjorn Nitmo, Darryl Talley. TBN gives him the chance to get indepth with really few word limits and column inches and he makes the most of it. Yes he left TBD in a huff and probably shouldn't have responded...but I feel like he is good at what he does and is worth $3 a month. Kimberly Martin is off to a fast start to in my book. She seems to build relationships where she gets more than the normal quotes out of players.

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I 100% agree. I have said it a million times, if you are too sensitive to read an article that is critical of your beliefs well you just arent ready for the real world. A mature adult should read pieces that are critical of their beliefs, articles that arent critical of their beliefs; all in the name of professional development.

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At the end of the day, I don't need well-written in depth news articles on a sport. Give me recaps of scores, transactions, and injury updates. This industry has grown into a lot of people patting themselves on the back for what amounts to talking about men playing a kids game.

Yep. Sports news is ridiculous. It's like reading a soap opera transcript. I wouldn't mind one bit if they all went out of business and all we had was team sources of sports news.

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I don't understand why this discussion keeps devolving into "I don't like the BN writers, so I'm not giving them my money." Fine, don't give them your money. Just like if you passed an actual newsstand and saw a copy of the BN there, you don't have to buy it if you don't want to read it.

 

This is about the expectation that you should read BN stories for free. These people's work shouldn't be free. If you like it enough to want to read it, go ahead. Just pay a really little bit of money for it, so it will always be there for you.

 

If nobody likes the BN, it will go away. If some people like it but nobody pays for it, it will go away. If you're fine with that, more power to you.

 

I'm not fine with it. Even though I despise Bucky and Sully and their constant crap, I still like the other writers. And I also like some of the other non-sports writers at BN. Jerry Zremsky is one of the best journalists in the entire country. I moved away from Buffalo a long time ago, but I subscribe online because I keep coming back to BN articles and I want to see that resource survive. I also subscribe to three other newspapers, one here in Salt Lake and two others online, because I keep coming back to their content and I appreciate it, and I want to see good journalism survive.

 

Nobody is forcing anyone to pay for something they don't like. But if you like even some small part of it and want to see it continue, it's time to reconsider.

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I would like to point out again, similar to what Rubes said above, the purpose of my thread was:

 

1. To inform readers that just because you run ads it doesn't mean you have a healthy, sustainable business.

 

2. To inform readers that after 15 years of free, that there is going to be a TREMENDOUS push to go back to a subscription model. This is because chasing pennies per click has failed local newspapers. Readers will need to adjust their opinions on what should be free and what will no longer be free.

 

3. That the grousing over $3 is absurd. You don't have to pay, but stop pretending this is some major imposition.

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The admins here must be paid by the Buffalo News or something. They are deleting posts that reference the fact that all this content is available, for free, if you own a library card. Using your tax payer funded resources IS NOT stealing a companies product. THE ERIE COUNTY LIBRARY PUTS ALL THIS STUFF ONLINE FOR ANYONE THAT HAS A LIBRARY CARD!

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The admins here must be paid by the Buffalo News or something. They are deleting posts that reference the fact that all this content is available, for free, if you own a library card. Using your tax payer funded resources IS NOT stealing a companies product. THE ERIE COUNTY LIBRARY PUTS ALL THIS STUFF ONLINE FOR ANYONE THAT HAS A LIBRARY CARD!

 

There is really only one "admin" here in that regard. I am not being paid. I left your post. A moderator saw it differently and removed it. I restored it. Thank you for alerting me.

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About 90% of the links at two Bills drive are all links to Buffalo news. Are you paid by them? I'd post a screenshot, but some diversity of sources would be nice. And no, I won't ever pay to read the crap.

Another Norman Einstein. Maybe it's because the hometown newspaper posts the most content?

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This happens all the time in business - companies get stuck in a certain way of thinking and then get bit in the behind when the times change. Business school case studies have numerous examples of this - Sony with the Walkman. Blockbuster with the video store. Kodak with film. Hell the company I work for, Microsoft, got killed in the phone business by Apple because they failed to adapt.

 

I mean, do you have any examples demonstrating that newspapers have tried revenue streams other than ad-supported revenue and subscription-based revenue? These are the same wells they've been tapping since the dawn of the newspaper. Most of these papers are controlled by large groups like Hearst or Gannett, neither of which seem eager to change.

 

To make money in the media realm nowadays, you have to be creative. Newspapers still think they can survive by printing stories from 8PM the previous day on physical paper, delivering to homes each morning, and supplement that with online subscriptions. That's just not going to work in 2017, and the financials of the major newspapers prove that.

 

Again, I'll reiterate... give me a media pass for $20 good across most newspapers and media outlets across the nation, let me pick and choose articles I want to read at whatever price you want to attach, say $.25 per view... and then I think you'd see some traction. Micropayments are all the rage right now. Or, team with one of the big media companies that has captive customers (like Comcast or Charter), and offer their customers access to your content for a cut of their fees. That's what ESPN3 is doing right now.

You nailed it. Be creative, compete or die!

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Another Norman Einstein. Maybe it's because the hometown newspaper posts the most content?

so there are no other outlets in Buffalo i.e. WGR? None in Roc or Cuse? I would post a screenshot if I could, and it would be 10 Buffalo News links in a ROW!

 

So it seems like you are paid by them, and why not if they are charging themselves.

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