Where are the business models for content?

News of dying newspapers and print magazines have been making the rounds. But also some well-established and respected blogs are closing, or struggling.

Mlle A. of Handmade2.0 recently commented on a design blog’s call for donations:

It’s not just print mags that face hardship. Meaning, blogs that started out with an unpaid version and that are now shooting stars among the design-spotting blogs have a serious problem: keeping up the level and quality, expanding the team AND being able to pay their editors, while at the same time people expect blogs to be completely free of charges. It’ll be interesting to see how this develops.

It’s not just online vs. print. It’s about new business models for content.

More than ever we need good and independent journalists, who have time to research and follow up on stories.

I noticed that some digital photography blogs have been bought by large online shops, e.g. Amazon bought dpreview.com in 2007 and another digital photography blog war recently acquired by a big player. Can’t think of the name. It was mentioned on a TWIP podcast and I remember thinking that it is a great example how content can help drive traffic to a site. Before buying a DSLR I spent a disproportionate amount time on photography equipment blogs.

But what about the less gadget-orientated news? The Watergate kind of journalism. News about local politics in your home town. How will that evolve?

Lots of questions, while I dive into the next chapter of “Principles of Business Economics”.