As media critic Dan Kennedy has watched newspapers fold over the last decade, he's been trying to figure out what might successfully replace them. In his new book, The Wired City, he proposes an answer: independent, online local news sites like the New Haven Independent.
Kennedy, who teaches journalism at Northeastern University, doesn't think newspapers will disappear soon but notes that some states are losing them faster than others. Take Connecticut, where the major papers have gone bankrupt in recent years.
"As a result, we've seen the New Haven Independent and a number of other online projects kind of rise up to do some of what the newspapers used to do," Kennedy told Emily Rooney on Greater Boston.
The business model for the non-profit site resembles public radio's, with foundation grants, donations from readers and sponsorships from local universities, Kennedy said.
"And their costs are very low," he said. "This is where the online-only model really matters because you're not paying for paper; you're not paying for distribution. They are living a kind of hand-to-mouth existence in a way. At the same time, almost all the money they raise is able to go into the journalism."
On Greater Boston, Dan Kennedy also talks to Emily Rooney about the for-profit media model, Patch's viability, and ownership of The Boston Globe.
