A New York Times article on the vulnerability of the billable hour, which is how lawyers price their services, got me thinking about the search for new business models in the news industry(though one could probably fill in the blank with any number of industries). As the NYT article notes, the billable hour, which clients have often felt worked against their interests, is how lawyers assign value to the time they, and sometimes dozens of others in their firm, work on a case. The Times quotes a consultant who observes, “When not paid by the hour, lawyers’ approach to their work changes.”
Most discussions on the need for a new business model to support newsrooms proceed as if the news business will be able to continue with its own basic assumptions about itself once the new business model is in place. Leaders are currently in search of models that allow them to continue what they’ve been doing. There’s little acknowledgment that many aspects of journalism, from its tone to its coziness with the status quo to its blind spots when it comes to recognizing on-the-ground change, need changing, too. One of the more apt quips on this point came across Twitter this week. In response to a NYT op-ed in which two endowment experts suggested that such nonprofit financing could provide a new model for journalism, Jay Rosen, known for his persistent efforts to demythologize journalism for journalists and the public, wrote:
Nonprofit ownership of newspapers, an idea with buzz in certain sectors of journalism right now, would require a different relationship with the public, one that would cause journalists and those they serve to examine expectations and more explicitly address what it is journalism is or should do. Any change in a business model would have to do that, making more conscious what was previously taken for granted, or seen as a right. People don’t give up on old business models and the privileges it gives them that easily, even when those models are failing. But it’s difficult to decouple the business model and the practice (law or journalism) it sustains without having to ask difficult questions about the role of the profession and what it owes society. Everybody’s talking about “business models” these days, but their problems are bigger than that.
Most discussions on the need for a new business model to support newsrooms proceed as if the news business will be able to continue with its own basic assumptions about itself once the new business model is in place. Leaders are currently in search of models that allow them to continue what they’ve been doing. There’s little acknowledgment that many aspects of journalism, from its tone to its coziness with the status quo to its blind spots when it comes to recognizing on-the-ground change, need changing, too. One of the more apt quips on this point came across Twitter this week. In response to a NYT op-ed in which two endowment experts suggested that such nonprofit financing could provide a new model for journalism, Jay Rosen, known for his persistent efforts to demythologize journalism for journalists and the public, wrote:
Striking how this Times op-ed on endowments for newspapers (a new social
contract) expects nothing new of the journalism. http://is.gd/hxg4 8:24 AM Jan 28th
Nonprofit ownership of newspapers, an idea with buzz in certain sectors of journalism right now, would require a different relationship with the public, one that would cause journalists and those they serve to examine expectations and more explicitly address what it is journalism is or should do. Any change in a business model would have to do that, making more conscious what was previously taken for granted, or seen as a right. People don’t give up on old business models and the privileges it gives them that easily, even when those models are failing. But it’s difficult to decouple the business model and the practice (law or journalism) it sustains without having to ask difficult questions about the role of the profession and what it owes society. Everybody’s talking about “business models” these days, but their problems are bigger than that.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment