Posted on 09/21/2003 4:12:17 PM PDT by Chad Fairbanks
How To Start An Independent Newspaper
First off, let me be blunt: The last time I was involved in anything like this, was during the 1980s when I helped create and distribute a ‘newsletter’ – a cheap little ‘paper’ printed by a friend at a local print shop in the middle of the night, and distributed by hand in school during the day.
As such, I am posting this article from a perspective having a distinct lack of experience, in order to spark discussions, to learn from others more experienced than I, and to hopefully spark some creative ideas, solutions, and information from other FReepers.
So, without further ado, allow me to lay out some ideas, concepts, and such in order to begin the discussion.
What is an Alternative newspaper?
An Alternative Newspaper is a newspaper that provides news, opinions, or information that one would usually not find in the many mainstream daily newspapers which are published in cities and towns across the country. The term ‘Alternative’, is a word in modern parlance that is now devoid of any true meaning. What was once considered ‘alternative’ is now part of the mainstream culture. For our purposes, the word ‘alternative’ means something that is different than the mainstream liberal publications, as it pertains to print media.
Why would I want to start one?
Have you ever been at a bus top, subway station, or a music store, and seen free, independent ‘alternative’ newspapers sitting in racks? Have you ever noticed how often they are left-wing publications? Other than being more extreme, they are often not all that different from the mainstream newspapers. Wouldn’t you like to see one that espouses a conservative viewpoint for a change? Well, that’s not going to happen by itself. Someone needs to step up to the plate and get involved.
You may love to write, or perhaps you want an outlet for other creative ideas, such as cartooning. Perhaps you are tired of the local mainstream daily newspaper ignoring stories of local importance, or covering it with an obvious bias?
The simple answer is simply, “Why not?”
What should I do first?
Plan, plan, and plan some more. Creating, publishing, and distributing a newspaper is not any easy job. You must create a plan that will help you determine your goals, what you hope to accomplish, and how you are going to achieve what you set out to do. Much like a Business Plan – not only will this plan help to keep you on track, it may also help to secure funding.
Find a group of like-minded people in your area to help you. As you begin to plan, determine what skills they have, in order to determine what their responsibilities and duties will be. Each person will bring unique abilities to the table, and you must find a way to tap into those strengths.
What will your paper be called? What will its focus be? How often will you publish? How will you fund the publishing and distribution? How will you distribute it?
All these question, and many more, will need to be answered in your plan.
How will I pay for it?
Without a secure reliable source of revenue, you will never get your paper off the ground. The best plan in the world will not help you, if you are unable to implement it. So, how would you go about securing the funding necessary to launch your newspaper? There are many ways, and how you go about it may be different than how others do. You may choose to raise money through bake sales, or by approaching small businesses in your area to run ads. You may secure grants through sympathetic foundations or organizations, through donations from private individuals, or by paid subscriptions from readers.
How you intend to fund the venture should be a major part of your plan.
How will I publish my newspaper?
How you choose to print and publish your newspaper is important. Anyone can run to Kinko’s and run off 100 copies of a piece of paper. Actually publishing a newspaper, on the other hand, requires a little more work and planning.
One option is to approach a small local newspaper, and pay for a printing job. Many small newspapers perform third-party printing work in order to make extra money. You will be required, usually, to provide a camera-ready work for them to print. There are some software packages that can assist you in preparing a camera-ready work. An example would be Quark XPress, which can provide camera-ready artwork in PDF format.
How you prepare your newspaper copy will be determined by your printer. Many will have specific requirements, and when choosing a printer it is important to determine what their requirements are and whether you are able to meet those requirements.
How will I distribute my newspaper?
The manner in which you distribute your newspaper will again vary, depending on your needs, circumstances, and locality. You may be able to negotiate a deal by becoming an insert within another published paper. Another option would be to pay for placement through a company in your area that provides this type of service. The next time you are in a supermarket, or at a bus stop and you see the newspaper racks, check it out and find the information about the company that provides the racks and the space. Contact them and find out about placement for your paper.
Another option would be mail-order, home delivery, or you and some friends could hand them out to passers-by at a local shopping center.
When distributing, be creative. The more you distribute, the more people you will reach with your message.
A word of warning: Liberals, being intolerant as they are, have been know to steal and destroy as many copies of conservative papers as they can get their hands on. Depending on your area, you may need to take this type of activity into account. Secondly, they have also been known to slip inserts into other newspapers. Again, this may be something you need to watch for.
What are the legal issues involved?
This is a good question – one that I have relatively few answers for. The obvious one, which revolve around Libel, is something that I hope any lawyers here can answer. Other issues may include incorporating, LLCs, etc. which vary from locale to locale.
When distributing, be creative. The more you distribute, the more people you will reach with your message.
Finally, what is your main goal for this project? The modern day Hearst? If that is the case, I doubt you'll make it immediately. (more like long term growth and valuation.) or are you in it for more lofty goals, other than making money? This should drive your business plan and working solutions.
So, if you want to expand the readership base, there is a way to do it: keep it simple, honest, and (with the writers's who are professionals rather than lil' DNC robots!) with the least amount of bias possible. (This would require a couple of good editors.) This will build a strong readership base, and also sell papers/get people to pick up the paper.
If you choose to get started with rookies, keep this in mind:
Most kids going through J-school are being indoctrinated into media bias, and aren't even taught that they have the biases, and how to deal with them. I grew out of mine, and write better because of it. So, getting a mix of rookies and professionals (who could be mentors) would be sufficient, in the eventuality you expand.
Finally, the biggest driving force of a paper is integrity! If a paper isn't credible, or has a habit of printing gossip, or fabrications, then the readership will suffer, and so will cash flow (namely, advertisers!) (See the NYT as a prime example. They've lost upwards of 10% of their readership, and 10% of their advertising revenue, for a loss of 6% this quarter. Sure, they blame the advertisers and cash flow, but if the paper you're selling doesn't have the credibility, then what makes people want to read it?
Finally, (and this is a personal pet peeve!) when you are getting quotes for articles, don't publish with anonymous sources. This ruins credibility, and it gives the next person supplying information a carte blanche for the same thing.
Another thing to consider will be: how are you going to get writers for the paper? College students on a per-word basis, interns, or community members who submit articles on consignment?
Well, right now, as I stated before, I'm researching - However, could you imagine if every FR Chapter published a paper in their community? Just an idea tossed out there LOL...
Interesting proposal. I like a person who has a dream and is looking for ways to implement it.
I've scanned the responses and thought I'd add some of my own.
You're right. Most of the "freebie" papers are very liberal in nature. Politically, I'm to the left of most folks here at FR, but to the right of the general public. When I pick up most of the "freebies" I'm often shocked by what I read. One paper in my area is devoted to gay issues, another centers on the performing arts but has Dr. Ruth type column that would shock a sailer. And let's face it, most performing arts and artists are far to the left. But you're right. They are loaded with ads. But look at the ads they carry. The paper I referred to carry's ads for the local "head shop" (I wonder what those rolling papers are really used for), lots of 900 numbers for dating (straight and gay) and tons of "Booby Bar" ads. Is that the type of advertising you want supporting your conservative paper? But then again, who else would you get? Those places seem to make money and have money to advertise.
Second, who are you going to get to write for your paper? I don't care what the people say here on FR, copyright is copyright. And people like Coulter, Will, and others are under contract by their syndicates. Print their stuff and you'll have a law suit faster than you can say Washington Post/LA Times. Same goes for copy from the major news and wire services. And yes, even the lib papers pay to print the Onion. So that leaves you with the also rans (and some of them are great writers who just haven't received the right promotion.) Yet at some point in time, they too will want $$$. You'll have to have someone, if not yourself solicit for advertising, do payroll, pay for distribution and distribution racks, compose and print.
It may be a wonderful labor of love that may blossom.
Regarding the internet, I think the same would hold true. I've seen numerous sights linked to from this site that are similar to what you are proposing. Many have languished. Why did FR, Drudge and Lucianne prosper? They served a niche when a niche was needed. Right place, right time right set of circumstances.
When there is no niche needed, it's very difficult. The others languish because that special niche hasn't been called for and they are also rans of FR, Drudge etal. There are probably 20 other conservative news forums, yet FR is tops. There are several News link websites, yet Drudge is tops.
Best of luck. If you have a dream, don't let anyone get in the way. Even if it fails, it will be a learning experience.
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