Author Topic: Start yer own newspaper!  (Read 33317 times)

Offline archy

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Re: Start yer own newspaper!
« Reply #15 on: May 04, 2006, 02:15:19 PM »
No confusion. Forum makes the change retroactive.? ;D? So, all your previous posts say PaulWy

So, we could ALL change our names to Paul? If we really wanted to....
I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet. After I realized he had no use for his shoes, I took them, and then I felt much better about myself.

Offline archy

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Re: Start yer own newspaper!
« Reply #16 on: May 04, 2006, 02:27:36 PM »
Later as things develop, and we get a real "reporter" we can go into actual news. Also early on we will start covering city council meetings and such.

You are invited to read a piece of mine from the WorldNetDaily magazine and decide whether it's *real reporting* or not, though I despise being called a *reporter*- and *editor* is worse. And don't blame me for the title they hung on it; an editor did that.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=16782

By the way: the derivation of my screenname *archy* can be found at the following link; it is my tribute to a very wise man, who once said:

       Upon entering the newspaper business all the troubles of my earlier years disappeared
              as if by magic, and I have lived the contented, peaceful, unworried life of the average
              newspaper man ever since.
[/i]

More about Donald Robert Perry Marquis and archy here: http://www.donmarquis.org/



 

http://www.donmarquis.org/
I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet. After I realized he had no use for his shoes, I took them, and then I felt much better about myself.

Offline Space Cowboy

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Re: Start yer own newspaper!
« Reply #17 on: May 04, 2006, 03:19:41 PM »
Crook County has a few papers. Hullet, Moorcroft, and Sundance all have their own paper. Sundance being the biggest (and relatively) the best. Next biggest "local" paper is the Gillette paper and then the Casper Star.

If you wanted to start a paper, Pine Haven would be an excellent place to start! It doesn't have  it's own paper yet, it's one of the fastest growing towns in CC AND it's one of the most affluent. Several new businesses have recently started and would be ideal for advertisement revenue. It is also a very heavily visited recreational spot (Keyhole).

I would also be very interested in writing a science column!
You shall judge a man by his foes as well as his friends
~J. Conrad

Offline PaulWy

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Re: Start yer own newspaper!
« Reply #18 on: May 04, 2006, 07:28:04 PM »
I noticed that the masthead of the Moorcroft Leader proclaims that it serves Moorcroft _and_ Pine Haven. Humph...

Not to tip my hand (I can't keep a secret so no one should ever think I can), but I am thinking of a tri-county newspaper declared to serve Campbell, Crook and Weston counties (get it, _CCW_). It would only serve about ten thousand households, and since everything from the western edge of Campbell county to the eastern edge of Rapid City seems to be considered one market, I think people would accept it. Of course, this paper would need at least one reporter/phtographer local to each community.

PaulWy
It is easy to stop one person, difficult to stop one hundred, and impossible to stop one thousand. Jack Stack

Offline kylben

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Re: Start yer own newspaper!
« Reply #19 on: August 29, 2007, 10:49:14 PM »
I was driving up to Sundance today, and grabbed a few newspapers on the way up, and my first thought was that even here, even in small towns like Lusk, they are still liberal rags.  My first thought after that was that this was an opportunity for someone.  I had a couple thoughts on the way that I'll throw out here, just in case they are any help. 

Any newspaper should have real news, and be as objective about the facts as possible, with editorial content clearly labeled as such.  That does not mean it can't have a free market, small government slant, but it has to provide real news.  People won't read a propaganda paper, but they will read something that provides them real value, even if a little propaganda is mixed in. 

The paper should be sold, not free.  Every city I've lived in has had its alternative free paper.   Everybody picks one up, but I don't think most people actually read them.   People don't value what they get for nothing.  In addition, this provides solid circulation numbers for real advertisers. Worse, with the type of ads the free papers attract,  they become known as the place to look if you want to hire a stripper or call-girl, but not much else.  Nobody thinks twice about the fifty cents or a dollar the paper costs, it's the symbolism of having to open the wallet or dig for change and pay something that makes them committed to actually reading it.

A regional paper might be more useful than a city paper.  I get the feeling that people out here are interested in more than just what happens in their city.  For instance, many things in Newcastle might be of interest to people in Sundance, and happenings in Gilette probably affect people all over that corner of the state. 

I have an unofficial motto:  "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing for profit".  That's not as crass as it sounds, and of course it does not apply to everything.  But if you believe in the free market, one of the implications of that is the belief that the market is a source of discipline and also a feedback mechanism to assure you that you are providing real value to your customers.  If you do it for free, or only as a "labor of love", you might not find out that you're doing it wrong until it's too late. In addition, if it is something valuable to people, your profit allows you to spend more time and resources providing as much value as you possibly can.

Take this for what it's worth, I'm no expert.  And if I ever do get out here, will you hire me to do some writing?

--Kyle Bennett


Carpe Libertas!
An Agorist Manifesto in 95 Theses: http://www.humanadvancement.net/blog/index.php?itemid=247/

Offline JenS

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Re: Start yer own newspaper!
« Reply #20 on: August 30, 2007, 01:47:23 AM »
I think you have to take the population size into account. Here in NC the Rhinoceros Times & Creative Loafing has had success in their own niches, and they cater to only one city, but the size of the cities here are quite polulated, comparatively. They are however, free. They thrive only off of ads placed.
Artist, Writer, Lady of Liberty, girlfriend to the most fabulous man

Offline SilenceDoGood

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Re: Start yer own newspaper!
« Reply #21 on: September 01, 2007, 09:50:46 AM »
Kylben, absoluetly; sole reliance on advertising income is tricky: ads may be pulled at any time, should sponsors disagree with a publication's contents. Depending on the sucess, the quality of advertising backing can have an enormous affect on the publication.
It's also important to keep in mind who your target audience is; most free weeklies are aimed at bargin hunters, being ad- heavy, as in the Buyer's Guide in Stevens Point, Wis., where cash- strapped folks seek rummage sale ads, food basket distribution points and foreclosure auctions. The Portage County Gazette, on the other hand, targets the rural community, discusses the winner of the squash contest and costs $.50, thereby oft- attracting the elder population in the community.
Any publication that does not charge, either per piece or subscription, usually attracts a less informed individual, and less settled and more sullied reader. A publication's attracted audience, rather than it's intended audience, directly reflects the publication itself and all those working for it.?
I'd certainly hope our core message of freedom doesn't get lost in the politics of quarreling: this happens all too oft in the business!

"Women cannot complain about men anymore until they start getting better taste in them." ~Bill Maher

vonu

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Re: Start yer own newspaper!
« Reply #22 on: June 16, 2008, 01:07:42 PM »
I used to work at a radio station in Texas that put out a half legal size newsletter 5 days a week, mostly as an advertising vehicle.
I wound up the editor and distribution manager by default because there wasn't anyone else who wanted to carry on with one of the owner's pet project. Since I was signing on the station and doing the live morning newscast, I got drafted.
After getting the automation programmed and the cartridges loaded in the carosels, I'd do the news, then using a leading local story, type the copy onto a legal size master which would then be photocopied back to back, cut in half (to double the copies), and then distribute them by leaving copies in several local coffee shops, restaurants, etc.
The small boxed ads on the left and right margins brought in a remarkable amount of revenue, more than paying for all production costs.
This might work to start, could tie in with the radio network I've proposed elsewhere on this forum.

Offline jonathangreen

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Re: Start yer own newspaper!
« Reply #23 on: August 04, 2008, 09:03:37 PM »
As a reporter at the down-the-road Thermopolis Independent Record I'm a bit shamed to admit I've not read the Enterprise with any regularity. But I've been doing newspapers for awhile now, as well as radio, and would like to help any way I can.
Jonathan Green
Thermop, Wyo
307-221-9309
jonathan.e.green@gmail.com

Offline GeronL

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Re: Start yer own newspaper!
« Reply #24 on: July 31, 2011, 09:42:46 PM »
So, did you guys ever start your own small weekly newspaper?

Offline Don Wills

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Re: Start yer own newspaper!
« Reply #25 on: July 31, 2011, 10:15:28 PM »
Nick and Candice De Laat started one in Gillette to take on the long established pinko newspaper.  $1 per week.  No internet version.  http://www.campbellcountyobserver.net/

Offline MamaLiberty

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Re: Start yer own newspaper!
« Reply #26 on: August 01, 2011, 08:46:08 AM »
Nick and Candice De Laat started one in Gillette to take on the long established pinko newspaper.  $1 per week.  No internet version.  http://www.campbellcountyobserver.net/

A surprisingly good little paper, actually. I'm subscribed, even though I don't live there. Wish they'd broaden their efforts to more than Campbell county and hope they will eventually. If those from other areas help support them, maybe they will.
It's not that people are dumber, it's that stupidity used to be more painful.

Offline John

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Re: Start yer own newspaper!
« Reply #27 on: August 01, 2011, 04:55:19 PM »
I wish Nick good luck, and I've bought the paper to support him.  Wow, though -- it is *very* pro-gov't as far as local gov't.  And all it reports on is local news (motto on the masthead: if it doesn't have to do with Campbell County, we don't care!).  So, that means as a practical matter it's pro-gov't, period.  It just prints out full articles that are like regurgitated (or perhaps just word-for-word copied) press releases from various branches of the local goon bestiary.  Let's all conserve water like the Official Bureau for Water Control has decreed and let them helpfully explain in excruciating detail how to comply.  Let's all cheer this or that event that the Bureau for Mind-Bogglingly Useless Tax Parasitism put together for our benefit.  Yeah, thanks, let's all do that.  Not.

Glenn Wood's editorials are generally decent, though.

Offline MamaLiberty

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Re: Start yer own newspaper!
« Reply #28 on: August 02, 2011, 05:10:46 AM »
I wish Nick good luck, and I've bought the paper to support him.  Wow, though -- it is *very* pro-gov't as far as local gov't. 

Yes, I've been quite disappointed to see it go that way. The first few were not. I learned of the paper because one of their reporters wrote to me and asked for information about FIJA. She wrote a pretty good article about it in one of the very early issues.

The limit to Campbell county makes it difficult, but anyone who lives there might consider writing a regular column for them on some liberty subjects. They keep asking for writers and material. I did offer... but since I live here... oh well.
It's not that people are dumber, it's that stupidity used to be more painful.

Offline John

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Re: Start yer own newspaper!
« Reply #29 on: August 02, 2011, 02:49:17 PM »
Nick says he doesn't want columns to have "opinions", though, just facts and to just be positive.  Well, I'll try to think if I can come up with something to write about that would be good.  It's a hopeful development to have a second paper, I just wish the paper was biased in a libertarian direction.