NGOs as credible news sources: This one says absolutely

I've been interviewing some interesting people lately on the topic of foundation-funded journalism (or philanthropy-funded journalism). The occasion is the one-year anniversary of a meeting in New York sponsored in part by the USC Center on Communication Leadership and Policy.

As we know very well, A LOT has happened since then, so I'm going to be writing a report soon on what participants make of the non-profit journalism world these days.

As part of the project, I'm going to blog about some of my interviews as I go. Last week I blogged about a proposal by Alex Jones of the Shorenstein Center that would establish a $2 billion endowment for PBS' "NewsHour." (One hour of very high-quality journalism available to everyone with a television.)

Today I blogged about a conversation I had with Carroll Bogert of Human Rights Watch on the idea of NGOs as new sources of journalism. Carroll believes that organizations like Human Rights Watch will become more credible sources of news than traditional news organizations are today. Interestingly, a bigger question for her is pushback from researchers at Human Rights Watch who are nervous about having part of their shop turned into a news organization.

Next week I'm planning to blog about another nonprofit niche -- national investigative reporting organizations.

Tonight, a look at the creation side of creative destruction

In class tonight we'll talk about the vast array of news sites now operating in the United States -- and of the pace of growth. I'm struck by how much is out there and how quickly the universe is expanding.

A group met recently in Washington to talk about the state of journalism jobs. One presenter, University of Maryland journalism professor Leslie Walker, said she's "completely confident" that in 15 or 20 years there will be more online journalism jobs than there are in newspapers today.

One man's guide for operating a news site

Despite the fact that Jonathan Weber's Web site, NewWest, hasn't made a dime of profit in its four years of existence, he's an adamant believe in the for-profit model. Staying 100 percent exposed to the free market will be the only way he and other Web site operators will be able to survive he says.

In a new post, Weber offers up some basic guidelines on how a community news site could survive and thrive. One key Weber has pioneered: sponsorship of conferences and meetings that charge $150, $300 or $500 for attendance. It's a way to build revenue without having a hand out, as well as a good building block for creating community.