Michael Stoll, MGP2006 alum, writes in an April 23 email post: The Public Press www.public-press.org [2] is a concept for the next-generation daily newspaper. We're organizing a group of journalists, technologist and nonprofit managers to organize a new newsroom for... Bill Densmore

MGP2006 alum Steve Garfield, the Boston-based videoblogging expert, conducted a test over the last few weeks illustrating the viral/distributive power of the Internet -- if you know (as Garfield does) how to package it. The lesson: Short-form videos that can... Bill Densmore

MGP/JTM alumna Jaci Clement, who runs the Fair Media Council out of Briarcliffe College in Bethpage, N.Y., is sounding an alarm about talk the Long Island daily "Newsday" may be sold by Tribune Co. Read her concern at: http://mediasavvybyjaciclement.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-price-for-local-news.html Bill Densmore

Paul Grabowicz at UC Berkeley's j-school sends along a reminder that the April 11 deadline is approaching for applying for the Knight Digital Media Center multimedia training workshops at UC Berkeley in May, June and July. There are 20 fellowships... Bill Densmore

The Knight Foundation funds multimedia reporting workshops for "professional journalists" conducted at the University of California at Berkeley. MGP2006 alum Paul Grabowicz ) who runs the weeklong workshops, sends along this posting notice with a Feb. 8 application deadline: ----... Bill Densmore

A host of MGP2006/JTM alumni are coming together to host "New Pamphleteers/New Reporters: Convening entrepreneurs who combine journalism, democracy, place and blogs," on June 4-5, 2008 in the McNamara Alumni Center at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. DETAILS: https://www.123signup.com/event?id=tzfmb... Bill Densmore

MGP2006/JTM alumna Jan Schaffer sends along email about the McCormick Tribune New Media Women Entreneurs (NMWE) initiative -- competitive grants to spur new ideas in the world of news and information. Winners will be given $10,000 in funding to launch... Bill Densmore

As an ongoing resource, this blog spotlights the work of Media Giraffe Project/Journalism That Matters alumni that fosters participatory democracy and community -- starting with "MGP2006" -- the event "Democracy and Independence: Sharing News & Politics in a Connected World"... Bill Densmore

rs When Richard Anderson came to mid-coast Maine in the mid-1990s, he became the interloper . . . the disruptor. Now that he's mainstream, will he continue to innovate? Proving that local online news can be a valuable business weapon... Bill Densmore

rs When Richard Anderson came to mid-coast Maine in the mid-1990s, he became the interloper . . . the disruptor. Now that he's mainstream, will he continue to innovate?

Proving that local online news can be a valuable business weapon against legacy media, the owner of Maine's VillageSoup.com is acquiring six weekly newspapers he has been battling competitively for more than 10 years.

Anderson's Village NetMedia Inc. -- two award-winning local community news websites and two weekly tabloid papers -- are acquiring the six other weeklies, four of them direct competitors, from Crescent Publishing Co. LLC, of Greenville, S.C., headed by William deB. (Bern) Mebane, a former Gannett Co. Inc. executive.

AUDIO STREAM: >

(or: DOWNLOAD PODCAST)

In Media Giraffe Project interview, Richard Anderson predicts his business victory is a harbinger of things to come -- an indication that once-dominant local media interests must cease thinking of themselves as primarily print businesses or face effective, even overpowering, competition.

Even the seller agrees. "We have adopted the VillageSoup model for our remaining newspapers in Alabama," says Mebane. "We competed with Richard up here . . . and he realized that he was the real deal . . . this is a marriage between the traditional titles and trademarks and franchises of print with the recognition that it isn't just print any longer. It's the three-legged stool of learn, share and shop. News doesn't come down on high."

Anderson said about 26 positions will be lost in the merger and consolidation, in which three flags will be shuttered, leaving a total of five publications in five Maine locations, two existing VillageSoup web communities, and 92 employees. Anderson said the company will launch two new websites to lead and support the print publications it is acquiring.

"With the declining revenue of traditional newspapers -- both in circulation and advertising, the 10-year VillageSoup experiment is finally being recognized in the industry," Anderson said in a statement. "Our approach helps transition traditional community newsppaer companies into community host companies, and that's the future of the industry."

Liste to a 17-minute interview with Anderson by clicking on the left carat of the bar below, or downloading an audio podcast (4MB) for offline listening. A four-page news release about the transaction may be downloaded as a PDF (source: Village NetMedia Inc.)

Michael Stoll, MGP2006 alum, writes in an April 23 email post:

The Public Press www.public-press.org [2] is a concept for the next-generation daily newspaper. We're organizing a group of journalists, technologist and nonprofit managers to organize a new newsroom for the San Francisco Bay Area that would produce a Web site, daily print newspaper and collaborations with nonprofit news-gathering organizations locally and nationally. We've built a simple Drupal 6 site that we will be growing in the coming weeks and months, and we plan to start publishing on the Web using this platform.

[2] http://www.public-press.org

Read more: http://groups.drupal.org/node/10941 Post reply: http://groups.drupal.org/comment/reply/10941#comment-form

Kennesaw State University Prof. Len Witt (MGP2006/JTM2007) is going public with his "representative journalism" idea. To learn about it, watch this short flash video (click on carat to left of bar underneath the picture) or go to Len's web-page primer... Bill Densmore