Newspapers’ business model topic of research

Research group examines weekly newspapers’ business model
Finding business model solutions for weekly newspapers is the top priority of 2022 for a multi-state team of journalism researchers, state newspaper association directors and journalists.
 
To do so, they need weekly newspaper publishers from across the nation to fill out this 5-minute survey giving input on what they think the industry's future business model should be. The link to the survey can be found here.

Those who complete the survey can enter a drawing to win a $100 gift card. Please reply to the survey by Jan. 23.
 
The research team is led by Teri Finneman, a journalism professor at the University of Kansas, and also includes the South Dakota Newspaper Association, the Kansas Press Association and journalism researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, University of Minnesota and University of Tennessee.
 
Finneman, who studied how COVID-19 impacted community journalism in the Midwest, said the upheaval of the pandemic was a turning point in needing to address the industry’s business model problem.
 
“The time for talk is up. It’s time for action,” she said. “We believe it’s critical to have academia and the industry working together to come up with some workable solutions to help save community journalism.”
 
The team will spend the next year working on surveys and focus groups for publishers and readers to create sample business model strategies. Funding to support their work has come from the SNPA Foundation, the University of Kansas School of Journalism, the North Dakota Newspaper Association, the South Dakota Newspaper Association, the Nebraska Press Association and the Kansas Press Association.
 
Finneman said it will be important for weekly publishers to fill out the team’s survey.
 
“We know there will not be a one-size-fits all solution, which is why it’s critical that we hear from as many publishers as possible to know what can work and what can’t,” she said. “We have a stellar team that knows community journalism working on this project and hope we can make a difference.”