A
Eulogy For The NewStandard
By Steve Anderson
04 May, 2007
Coanews.org
It’s official, as of Friday
April 27th 2007 The Newstandard
(TNS) officially ceased operations. This is a significant
loss for both the independent media ecology, and for citizens who use
independent media to stay informed about current events and social issues.
Living up to it’s
name The Newstandard truly redefined what independent media can be.
For several years TNS made good on its’ mission to provide “bold,
hard-hitting daily news coverage, providing a vetted forum for the voices
and issues often ignored in the establishment news arena…(while)
managed by a collective of journalists and published by a reader-funded
nonprofit organization”. A closure look at this mission reveals
the multifarious ways TNS broke the independent media mold.
Hard News:
The independent media ecology
is dominated by commentary, opinion and analysis, much of it from the
same well-known figures. The reason for this preponderance of interpretation
is quite simple; producing commentary is much cheaper (often free) than
producing investigative hard news. It also doesn’t hurt that there
is significant demand for these recognized commentators. Recognizing
that independent hard news was almost impossible to find, TNS focused
exclusively on hard news. In addition to providing a well-rounded news
website, and weekly radio show, TNS produced at least one (often several)
hard news pieces every weekday. At COA News we try to put emphasis on
hard news ourselves, and we found The NewStandard to be an indispensable
resource.
Reader Funded:
If focusing on the most labor
intensive news production wasn’t enough; TNS also remained 100%
reader funded for the entire three years of operation. Considering the
quality of journalism they produced coupled with the fact that TNS was
run by young people, they would likely have little trouble getting foundation
money. For most of us in the independent media world foundation money
is highly sought, yet TNS refused to even consider it. The TNS collective
members remained defiant until the end, refusing to go after foundation
money, as they believed it would take away a degree of their independence.
In fact TNS also for most part avoided fundraising through merchandise
sales as well. To my knowledge, TNS is the only media organization in
North America to have several full time staff (although perhaps underpaid),
and receive 100% of their resources through membership dues.
Non-profit Non-Commercial:
Despite financial pressures
TNS also remained non-profit non-commercial. Many Independent media
organizations have this quality as well, but more than a few have commercialized
their websites and other operations when faced with resource shortages.
Many independent media organizations (particularly some of the recent
start-ups) have gone with a for-profit model. One reason for this trend
is that it is easier to marshal capital if you are a for-profit entity.
It’s easier to get investors for a for-profit project since there
is the possibility of getting a positive financial return investments
(whereas non-profits depend on donations). Recognizing how that would
impact their organizational and editorial independence TNS steered clear
of this option from the begging and never wavered. The recent decision
by the OurMedia.org board of directors to transfer (without consulting
members) what was a non-profit project into a for-profit private corporation
is notable on this point.
Egalitarian:
Despite espousing progressive
values some independent media organizations (as well as many NGO’s
more generally) are run as highly hierarchal enterprises, with cultural
and other forms of capital concentrated at the top. In contrast, at
TNS; “All staff participate in ‘balanced job complexes’
which provide a mix of tasks that reflect various levels of empowerment,
from managerial to content production to administrative and clerical.
All receive equal pay for comparable work and participate fully in collective
decisions.”
In our society where hierarchy
has been internalized by most, keeping an egalitarian organization going
for three years is a success story in itself.
In their announcement to
readers, The NewStandard was relatively mute on their reasons for closing
down. They simply said they were not satisfied with their level of audience
penetration or financial support. TNS has some explaining to do: why
not continue to struggle? Why not try accepting a small grant? Why not
merge with another project to alleviate some of the administrative work?
Are there any future plans for the members of TNS? Any reflections or
advice for other independent media makers? TNS did imply that further
reflections from the staff would be forthcoming.
As TNS passes into history
it is put upon those of us who feel passionately about independent public
service media to reflect on how we can avoid further attritions. While
we do so lets keep in mind that this is more a trend than an isolated
incident. In just the past year two other independent media projects
closed their doors; LiP Magazine and Clamour Magazine. Now is the time
to analyze this critical situation, and answer important questions;
what is causing this trend to occur? How can we advance mechanisms of
support for independent media?
These are questions that
some have been writing about for some time, most notably Michael Albert,
Don Hazen, Jeff Chester, Danny Schechter, Jessica Clark, and Tracy Van
Slyke. We need to widen this discussion, so that we have more voices,
more ideas, and more opportunity to find a model that works. After all,
this is about saving, reviving and bettering not just our media system,
but also our democracy.
I can think of nothing else
more deserving of our attention.
Steve Anderson
is the publisher at COA News,
and founder of The Center For Information Awareness .
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