Scribe: Holly Cooper Convener: Brent Finnegan Location: Artful Dodger Time: 12:15pm
Attendees: Chris Edwards, Robin McNallie, Bruce Lundeen, Bruce Ritchie, Brent Finnegan, Holly Cooper
Sustainable Media
Harrisonburg Sustainability Summit
To start a conversation about sustainability in community media.
As funding for local news becomes scare and newspapers across the country scale back or close altogether, who will report local news five to 10 years from now? What can we do to create a sustainable news network?
Potential courses of action:
* Local news media may succumb to this trend—local news source gone or outsourced
* Do nothing
* Form steering committee
Possible business models:
* For profit LLC
* Make Hburgnews.com subscriber only or ad supported (not preferable)
* Nonprofit (501 C3)—own, or incorporated under another nonprofit umbrella; example—Minnpost.com, created by editors, sells ads on site, covers statewide area; Knight Foundation grant funding (for nonprofit)
What might be included:
Website
Twitter
Facebook
Monthly print update
Latino/immigrant news
Breaking news (with a paid editor or reporter)
Community-submitted news (video, photo, story, Tweets)
Satellite versions (Broadway, Elkton, Bridgewater editions or sub-pages)
What we need:
Steering committee (media professors, teachers, contributors, businesspeople, lawyers, nonprofit workers) to create mission statement, executive summary
How to do it:
First meeting to be held Thursday, June 11, 6 p.m. at Clementine
To attend, or be notified of meeting changes:
