Chicago is Da World

Studies & Research

The Residents’ Journal is a fine example of a local news media here in Chicago serving folks who would otherwise be forgotten

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Here is a well-written piece from the Boston Globe on the problems facing some of the nation’s ethnic media:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/03/05/the_danger_of_losing_the_ethnic_media/

As we ponder the mark that will be left by the mortgage crisis, it pays to look back to the housing upheaval that took place not so long ago in Chicago. Here are reviews of a book that examines the problems that black families faced in their quest for decent housing in Chicago.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/books/review/Arsenault-t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=%22family%20properties%22&st=cse

from another review in the New York Times:

“Ms. Satter, chairwoman of the history department at Rutgers University, balances personal stories, including moments of great bravery, with painstaking legal and historical research. She persuasively and devastatingly argues (turning conventional wisdom on its head) that the true cause of black ghettoes in Chicago was financial exploitation — not the “culture of poverty” or white flight. She goes further, linking this kind of financial exploitation to today’s subprime mortgage crisis, an earlier example of greedy lenders pushing people “to take on more debt than they could handle” and charging inflated interest rates.”

“The saddest echo of the bad old days, she adds, is that “between 2004 and 2006 the American city with the most residents holding subprime loans was — Chicago.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/books/18garn.html?scp=3&sq=%22family%20properties%22&st=cse

http://www.Bronzevilleonline.com is a website that offers a good history of some of the neighborhoods touched by this history.

Who are we? Where are our roots? This section offers some ways to look at the population roots for the Chicago area.

This is from the Arab-American Institute. Go to the section on Illinois:

http://www.aaiusa.org/arab-americans/22/demographics

Surviving in today’s crisis economy. Why business plans matter. What works better.

Here is a valuable post about the need for small news media to find business plans that work.

Local news media needs dual business models, not dueling business models

I own and run a hyperlocal site www.sunvalleyonline.com. While we’ve managed to be one of the few pure-play local Internet media ventures to eke out a profit, the financial returns aren’t anything to write home about. This resulted in a minor epiphany when it comes to thinking about the viability of local media.

If you think about what made newspapers viable for so long it was the fact that they had two products/businesses that were largely unrelated but delivered by the same organization. Newspapers have had a news-and-information business monetized by display ads and a classifieds business monetized by classified ads. The classified business was enabled by the distribution and audience of the news franchise. However, it’s been clear that that second revenue stream doesn’t translate on a sustainable basis online.

To date, most local Internet plays have struggled to make it work relying solely on display ad revenue. I’ve come to the belief that it’s going to take a similar dual business model to support local media (we’re working on doing that ourselves). Unfortunately for many local news organizations, it has been more about dueling business models (i.e., worries of cannibalization) than recognizing that what they need is a dual business model to make their online business much more successful.

So the question is what will be the accompaniment to the display ad business? We’re seeing a few different approaches explored. For example, micropayments and non-profit/foundation support are oft-discussed. I don’t believe those have much opportunity to scale beyond some exceptional situations which are terrific but hold little promise for most media organizations.

Then there’s the problem of transitioning from a for-profit to not-for-profit model which typically begins by laying off the entire staff and getting the investors to agree to donate all of the assets of the enterprise into the new nonprofit entity. My friend Jonathan Weber expanded on this in his Endowed and Out piece. There are a number of other potential second business models but I think the Search-related model is a viable “other” business model.

The interesting and loose parallel with the classifieds being enabled by the news distribution historically is with those sites selling online directory solutions bolted on to a news site. Since most local news sites have the highest PageRank in their area, the PageRank is a form of “distribution” advantage that the news sites have and usually don’t recognize. One could argue when we see the demise of newspapers like the Rocky Mountain News that one of their most valuable assets in a liquidation is their high PageRank. When you have a high PageRank site with a leading directory solution, the businesses in that directory should show up very high in SEO and thus the news site has some unique value they are adding to those local businesses competing to be found.

The challenge remains setting up a winning sales model to capitalize on this. I wrote a couple of pieces for David Cohn’s and Jeff Jarvis’ NewsInnovation.com site expanding on this.

• Five Fatal Flaws that are killing local Internet plays
• Ten Point Plan to (Re)Building a Successful Local Media Salesforce | Networked Journalism Summit

The approach I’d espouse is much closer to Dell than it is a traditional local media sales force, which is generally ill-equipped to sell these new products. When I was at Microsoft and focused on the local space (I was part of the founding team at Sidewalk), we often thought that the biggest asset that the incumbent newspaper and yellow page companies had was their local sales force and relationships. Having gotten closer to “the last mile” of the Internet, I’ve come to observe that in most situations the local sales organizations of the incumbent media is more encumbrance than asset.

Consequently, the smart incumbent media should setup a parallel tele-sales based model that are filled with “hunters” and leave the existing “farmer” sales force to harvest the longtime advertisers as long as they can. It is important to note that this outbound tele-sales organization is dramatically different than the typical “call center” that newspapers have for classifieds. Thus, thinking that that group will have success is a long shot. The sort of tel-esales organization that exists at a place like Dell is able to prospect and close business into the low six figures. In other words, it’s not taking a $150 classified order over the phone.

The sooner local media businesses recognize it’s critical to have dual business models rather than dueling business models, the sooner we’ll see hiring rather than firing being the storyline of local media.

Related stories: ad sales, business models, entrepreneurial journalism

http://www.ojr.org/ojr/people/dchase/200903/1666/

And this is just a great music video in Spanish. Cheers

http://www.joost.com/082018b/t/Buika-New-Afro-spanish-generation-video-clip#id=082018b

Here are some interesting thoughts about the fate of Spanish-language newspapers:

Nielsen: Spanish speakers in the U.S. are young and plugged in. Los Angeles’ La Opinion says young readers (ages 18-34) dominate its online readership. If it can maintain reader loyalty and continue to attract young readers, that bodes well for continued growth.

It’s worth noting that many Spanish-language newspaper readers are looking for news from their communities as well as news from Latin America. In January, I visited El Universal’s newsroom in Mexico City. El Universal is one of Mexico’s largest daily newspapers, referred to by one researcher as, “the Mexican Washington Post.” That paper is so tech-savvy it already has an iPhone mobile site.

It will be interesting to see whether online readers gravitate toward the super-slick sites like El Universal, rely on the online platforms of their local Spanish-language newspapers, or spend time with both.

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=58&aid=161183

Here are some truly interesting studies on ethnic news media and news ways of reporting from Los Angelese

http://www.metamorph.org/

And this one too:

http://vozmob.net/

This is a student project of great reporting potential

http://www.intersectionssouthla.org/

In case you doubted that Chicago is the world, here’s proof from Smithsonian magazine that we are global diners. I wish they had noticed some of the innovations too.

Here’s their story:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/Destination-America-2009-Chicago-Eats.html#

This is a study of what works best for community news media. The lessons are worth learning.

http://www.benton.org/benton_files/CMReport.pdf

So, too, here is a lengthy description why community and ethnic media serve a role. This is from Colors NW.

http://tinyurl.com/qnssqd

And this article from the Philadelphia Weekly tells why Latino newspapers are surviving, although as it also points out, nobody every is doing that well

http://tinyurl.com/o8qhk5

This article raises the question why there are so few Latino reporters in prominence in Washington

Latino Commentators Scarce on Sotomayor
By Richard Prince, Columnist
Journal-isms (Maynard Institute) (May 29, 2009)

President Obama and Vice President Biden with federal appeals court
judge Sonia Sotomayor. “Should somebody’s ethnic background be a
consideration in such a nomination?” broadcaster Terence Smith asked.

Hispanic Journalists Missing From Sunday Talk Shows

“Manny Medrano is a reporter for KTLA News in Los Angeles, and a
former Supreme Court/Legal Affairs correspondent for ABC News in
Washington, DC, where he provided legal analysis for all ABC News
broadcasts and wrote a legal blog,” Medrano’s station bio begins.

“Mr. Medrano has also worked for KNBC in Los Angeles, where he was a
general assignment reporter, focusing on legal issues for NBC4’s
‘Channel 4 News.’ There he provided legal analysis and commentary for
the station’s comprehensive coverage of the trials of O.J. Simpson,
the Menendez Brothers, Reginald Denny and Rodney King, among others.
His coverage of the Simpson case earned him an Emmy Award and Golden
Mike Award.

“Prior to joining KNBC, Mr. Medrano was a trial lawyer at the law firm
of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal in Los Angeles, where he specialized
in complex civil and white collar criminal litigation. He also served
as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s
Office, where he successfully prosecuted the 1985 kidnapping and
murder case of DEA agent Enrique Camarena. Mr. Medrano never lost a
jury trial. He received the U.S. Department of Justice Award for his
performance on the Camarena case.”

Medrano sounds like the perfect choice to comment on and analyze the
choice of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. But his name is
missing from Sunday’s list of the national talk show commentators.

In fact, there are no Latino journalists on that list.

It’s not just this Sunday. In an analysis of the four Sunday broadcast
shows this year through April 12, Media Matters for America found that
black Americans had been on the Sunday shows 40 times.

“Media Matters also measured the number of Latino guests or panelists
on ‘Meet the Press,’ ‘This Week,’ ‘Face the Nation’ and ‘Fox News
Sunday’ this year for the same period,” wrote David Bauder of the
Associated Press, which commissioned the study.

“The count?

“Zero.”

Hispanic journalists can be modest in evaluating their importance in
shaping the story.

“I’ve been the point man for my station on our Sotomayor coverage.
I’ve also been doing TV/radio hits for other media outlets on
Sotomayor and how it may affect the makeup of the high court,” Medrano
told Journal-isms.

“Of course any and all journalists versed on legal issues should be
covering this matter extensively. I believe being a Hispanic
journalist is a plus, as that brings to the table a unique perspective
that adds texture and nuance to an incredibly important news story.”

Similarly, Maria Peña, Washington correspondent for the Efe
Spanish-language news services, said, “I have not been approached by a
mainstream outlet on this issue, but I have discussed with other
Spanish-language media colleagues during a weekly radio program.

“I think Latino journalists would definitively have a distinct
perspective on the Sotomayor choice, because we’re much more
intimately aware of the issues affecting the Hispanic community and
we’ve taken the pulse of its reaction to the nomination.”

“The Diane Rehm Show,” which originates at WAMU-FM in Washington and
is broadcast over National Public Radio, provides some examples of the
difference the Latino journalists might make.

On Tuesday’s show, right after Sotomayor’s nomination, a well-meaning
guest host, Terrence Smith, formerly of the PBS “NewsHour,” asked,
“Should somebody’s ethnic background be a consideration in such a
nomination, or is that simply part of the world we live in today?”

There was no one to say that ethnic background has always been a
consideration, but it was simply unstated when the nominees were
white.

On Friday’s reporters’ roundtable, Andrew Sullivan, senior editor at
the Atlantic, made personal an exchange about this week’s California
Supreme Court decision upholding a ban on same-sex marriage. Being
both white and gay, “I understand how privilege works and also how it
doesn’t,” he said.

It’s not that non-Latinos cannot articulate the concerns of those who
value diversity. They can, and have. On the same Friday show, Ceci
Connolly, a white Washington Post reporter, relayed conversations she
had had with others in her newsroom. “Why is it that the white male is
the base line from which everyone else is deviant?” she asked. “When
John Roberts went through his conformation, I don’t recall too much
questioning about his comfortable life of privilege and how this was
going to affect his life on the court,” she said.

Still, Ivan Roman, executive director of the National Association of
Hispanic Journalists, on Friday was able to name nine Latino
journalists with Washington experience who could comment knowledgeably
about the Sotomayor nomination.

Surely, we in the national audience should be able to hear at least
some of their perspectives.

Betty Winston Bayé, Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal: Sotomayor’s
unlikely ascent from the South Bronx

David Brooks and Gail Collins blog, New York Times: Sotomayor’s Life Matters

Esther J. Cepeda blog: U.S. Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor is a
superstar judge who just happens to be Hispanic

Mary C. Curtis, AOL Politics Daily: Are You Smarter Than a Yale Law Grad?

Mary C. Curtis, AOL Politics Daily: Don’t Male Judges Have ‘Feelings’?

Ben Feller, Associated Press: White House: Sotomayor says she chose word poorly

Brian Gilmore, ebonyjet.com: Sonia Sotomayor: The Politics of the Pick

Emil Guillermo, Philippine News: Embrace the race issue: Judge
Sotomayor is an affirmative action success story

Sherrilyn A. Ifill, theRoot.com: Should Blacks Be Disappointed About Sotomayor?

Sherrilyn A. Ifill, CNN.com: Judge Sotomayor is not a racist

David Paul Kuhn, RealClearPolitics.com: Obama, Sotomayor, Ricci and
White Male Privilege

Clarence Page blog, Chicago Tribune: Right goes berserk over Judge Sonia

Pamela D. Reed, thedailyvoice.com: It is high time for a Black woman
on the high court

Here is a link to very good advice on how to write social media:

http://www.ejc.net/magazine/article/seven_simple_writing_tips_for_social_news/