

INDenverTimes Troubles May Signal Difficulty of Replicating Newsrooms   - mjfern
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=162416

======
CalmQuiet
Well, but troubles at INDenverTimes do _not_ mean it's impossible... only that
some _business_ savvy as well as journalistic savvy is necessary.

For real possibilities see the award-winning San Diego Voice, relying largely
on (online) donations: <http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/> [ though I don't
think they expected to have some "50,000" subscribers before a product even
appeared online :/ ]

------
shafqat
These guys had it all wrong from the beginning. I sound like a broken record,
but newspaper organizations that want to reinvent themselves online _have to_
run their businesses like startups: lean, agile, bootstrapped. Trying to
guarantee $250,000/month before even starting, or having a team of >30 people
before the website is even up is certainly not the way to do it.

I really wished they succeeded, but it was just so wrong on so many levels. I
hope they take a step back, refocus, and start rebuilding from the ground up.
Take a handful of people, release early and often, and iterate. Build up from
there.

