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This is why (college) old media is failing

collegian.psu.edu

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Re: This is why (college) old media is failing

#11

Post by shaddi »

adelevie wrote: post #7
shaddi wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh. They're not all like this. My college paper pays their web folks, and their online editor actually took it upon herself to learn some programming so she could help out and understand the technical side. I was pretty damn impressed actually.

That's very refreshing. What paper is this?

UNC, Daily Tar Heel.

Re: This is why (college) old media is failing

#12

Post by jsb »

adelevie wrote: post #5
brezina wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

jesh. I went there. That is my college paper. And this disappoints me. It is a good reflection on the newspaper industry

I'm still a student at Penn State and I used to work at that paper. The demanded skillset has increased while the stipend has cratered to zero. ps: I'm aware of your accomplishments. You make the Penn State startup community proud! Best of luck with Xobni!

Part of the trouble is also that the decision makers in charge of adding staff and directing the digital version(s) of the Daily Collegian are not well versed in the technology themselves. They probably just copied and pasted the job post from last time and added in whatever new they needed, without knowing that these can be extremely diverse skillsets. "Let's make an iPhone app! Add it to the job description!" A lot of people think if you're "good with computers," you can do it all.

Re: This is why (college) old media is failing

#14

Post by brandnewlow »

Why the heck is it still so hard to make iPhone applications? You'd think some smart HNer would realize that every publication on the planet wants to have its own iPhone app. But few of them can afford to pay someone $10k to build one. I bet a lot of them could afford to pay $500 bucks though...

Re: This is why (college) old media is failing

#15

Post by rohin »

Most college newspapers actually outsource the content management and hosting for their websites to a company called College Publisher (owned by Viacom).

College Publisher takes 100% of the advertising revenue in exchange for hosting the site and providing a CMS for "free". It's a small but lucrative niche for Viacom.

By not giving up 100% of its online advertising revenue, this paper is actually well ahead of its peers.

Re: This is why (college) old media is failing

#16

Post by adelevie »

rohin wrote: post #15

Most college newspapers actually outsource the content management and hosting for their websites to a company called College Publisher (owned by Viacom). College Publisher takes 100% of the advertising revenue in exchange for hosting the site and providing a CMS for "free". It's a small but lucrative niche for Viacom. By not giving up 100% of its online advertising revenue, this paper is actually well ahead of its pe…

In this regard, you are absolutely right. The decision not to use College Publisher a few years back was very smart. However, the system is relatively old and tough to extend. These are solvable problems, assuming you have a capable web staff to handle it.

Re: This is why (college) old media is failing

#17

Post by DavisShaver »

brandnewlow wrote: post #14

Why the heck is it still so hard to make iPhone applications? You'd think some smart HNer would realize that every publication on the planet wants to have its own iPhone app. But few of them can afford to pay someone $10k to build one. I bet a lot of them could afford to pay $500 bucks though...

There are a bunch of companies (check out Scoble's YouTube feed for a few) that do this for a few hundred dollars.

Re: This is why (college) old media is failing

#18

Post by DavisShaver »

adelevie wrote: post #5
brezina wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

jesh. I went there. That is my college paper. And this disappoints me. It is a good reflection on the newspaper industry

I'm still a student at Penn State and I used to work at that paper. The demanded skillset has increased while the stipend has cratered to zero. ps: I'm aware of your accomplishments. You make the Penn State startup community proud! Best of luck with Xobni!

I didn't know Xobni was made by a Penn State grad!

Re: This is why (college) old media is failing

#20

Post by adelevie »

DavisShaver wrote: post #18
adelevie wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still a student at Penn State and I used to work at that paper. The demanded skillset has increased while the stipend has cratered to zero. ps: I'm aware of your accomplishments. You make the Penn State startup community proud! Best of luck with Xobni!

I didn't know Xobni was made by a Penn State grad!

Penn State has given birth to several prominent startups: YNOT Advertising (LionMenus), Xobni, and Weebly (YC). If you want, you can add FanGamb (DreamIt) to the list :)
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