The funding for journalism is changing as news becomes available to more people

through the Internet. Some newspapers will have to change to increase readership.
Professor Eric Meyer, University of Illinois Journalism Professor and President of Hoch
Publishing Co. Inc., spoke to a crowd of 150 students at Roger Adams Laboratory
about how journalism funding has changed over time. Professor Jennifer Follis
hosted the lecture on Monday afternoon to give her Journalism 200 students an
opportunity to practice writing news.
(Economics) helps us understand where we are going, Meyer said. Sometimes to
understand where we are going and why, it is useful to look at something different
(from Journalism) rather that something that's exactly the same.
Meyer said that the funding for the entertainment industry has changed over time.
Initially, there used to be four television channels that people would watch for free
in exchange for watching commercials. Next, people paid subscription fees for a
premium source of programming. Currently, Meyers said that we have a
disaggregation of television packages where one can buy smaller packages of
only the television channels one wants instead of a bundle of channels.
Entertainment is different than news, Meyers said. But there are some
similarities (in terms of funding) with what is going on with entertainment.
Meyer said that journalism funding has also changed over time as newspapers were
initially only for the rich. In the 1830s the penny press decreased the price of
newspapers so that the news was affordable to everyone. Meyers said that
nowadays people tend only to read news about their local community as well as
their social and professional niche. He said this current method hurts the major
metropolitan areas because people inside those areas have nothing in common.
Gary Pirono, senior in Business, said, I get a lot of my news from Facebook posts
that link me to my local newspaper about stories happening in my community.
Meyers said that there were two main approaches to funding journalism: firewall
and metered approach. The firewall approach works by preventing readers access
to a news story unless they pay for a subscription. The metered approach allows
one to access a certain number of articles for a certain period for free. If one
exceeds a specific limit, they will be prompted to pay for a subscription to the
journal to read more articles.
Vincent Abejuela, senior in LAS, said, I noticed the metered approach on sites like
New York Times, but I always just change my browser after I reached my limit to
read more articles. Meyers said that the two approaches work in different markets.
He said the metered approach works best for general information while the firewall
approach works best for specialized information.
Meyers said that as the news on the internet become available to more people, one
of the best ways to increase online news readership is to focus on a specific niche.
He said that online journalism will focus mainly on news based on people
professions and local communities. He warned that journalism needs to continue to

serve as a watchdog of the government and major organizations and include these
stories in the niche newspapers.

Sources
1. Gary Pirono, 9253246487, pirono2@illinois.edu

2. Vincent Abejuela, vabejue2@illinois, 847-454-4493