The Good, The Bad and The Unfunded

Organised jointly by theMediaNet and Christians in Journalism, there were certainly some bemused faces at BBC Radio's spiritual home, All Souls Church in Langham Place, on Saturday morning of February 19th.

"It is time we were all weaned from the begging bowl and started to earn our keep," began the wake up call.

"The tyranny of positive thinking is definitely not what is required from Christian do gooders in this age of economic austerity. Compulsory funding, grant stalking and donation dependence are all things of the past. It's time we learnt to stand on our own two feet..."

So proclaimed radical media investor Duncan Williams at the recent UPLOAD: Standing Together conference held in Central London.

Mammon and God have never been easy bedfellows and in the provocative talk by Williams which followed, entitled simply, "Money, money, money!", there were sure to be a few ruffled feathers amongst a flock of Christians all too used to receiving donations and charity for their good works and public service.

Williams stormed in with the suggestion that; "Go to any beauty contest and what do you hear the contestants proclaim?... That they want to help the poor, educated underprivileged children and work toward world peace... So what? We all want to do that!" he snapped. "The real skill is in being able realistically actualise and FUND that vision."

"Creating worthy projects and charities that do not have a self funding dimension in this age is simply contributing to the problem. All too often you unwittingly or otherwise are designing a debt machine which is not a public service at all, whose primary function is leak a salary to a small clique of, so called, 'charity' workers or employees."

By this point a stunned silence had broken out. Then suddenly questions were being fielded thick and fast. Even event co-ordinator Andrew Graystone felt compelled to remind the speaker that donations, service and giving freely were cornerstones of the Christian faith.

Undeterred in making his point, Williams insisted that; "The genius of someone like Bob Geldof is that he saw a problem and had provided a workable answer. Creating an offshoot of good works in the process. Good causes that do not have a sound and sensible business plan in order to successfully raise their funding source are redundant and ultimately damaging."

One voice spoke up at the back. A fitting comment considering the location; "What about the BBC? That is a public service that has successfully found a way of providing funding for itself..."

Another moment of uncomfortable quiet. At a time of multi-channel, multi-platform, multi-everything media, the justification of a compulsary licence fee is being seriously questioned.

Andrew Graystone himself had been employed by BBC religion for over a decade.

Duncan Williams is known to advocate the introduction of commercial funding and pay per view faith channels.

Perhaps this debate would be better held at another time and in another place? Hallowed ground and within earshot, criticism of BBC funding is still regarded as a sacred cow.


(Pictured at top: Duncan Williams and Andrew Graystone )

What Makes a Good Media Business?

Want to be your own boss?

Back in September, we reported that the City University of New York (CUNY)was opening a centre of 'entrepreneurial' journalism at its Graduate Journalism School. The idea of entrepreneurial journalism, as opposed to a more traditional model of journalists working through large, established outlets, doesn't seem to be going away. As many media professionals find themselves made redundant by shrinking papers and production companies, the idea of setting up a business is becoming more and more mainstream. But what is a good idea? Adam Westbrook, author of '10 New Ways to Make Money in Journalism' has kindly let us reproduce his top tips.

Fill a gap

Any concept (entrepreneurial or otherwise) has to service a need that a large enough group of people have, in order to survive and thrive. So a good place to start is to ask ‘is there a product or service which is not being provided right now?‘ Murdoch’s much anticipated iPad only newspaper The Daily can be viewed in these terms. The iPad’s been around for just over a year, and yes, there are plenty of magazines and publishers with their own iPad apps…but there is no single dedicated iPad news product. It’s a gap. And News International appear to be trying to fill it.

Scratch an itch

Great business ideas ‘scratch an itch’, by which we mean solving a problem that a group of people have. The best place to identify an itch is on your own body. What’s bugging you right now? What do you see which can be done faster? Cheaper? More accurately? More locally or more beautifully? TheBusinessDesk, a successful online news startup in the UK, clearly scratched an itch its founders had: there was no good source for regional business & finance news. They scratched their own itch, and in doing so created a thriving business. Scratching your own itch has a big advantage: because it’s your itch, you are best placed to tell whether your solution is scratching it properly.

Improve something

If that doesn’t work, why not try improving on someone else’s idea? There are plenty of magazines, websites, services we all use which get us grumbling. “This coverage stinks!” “Their infographics are rubbish” “They could have done that website so much better!” If there’s something out there which is not up to scratch – make your own, improved, version.

Begin with you

Instead of looking for a business idea straight away, start with you and your strengths and passions. What do you love doing? If you could wake up tomorrow morning and commit one act of journalism, what would it be? Designing? Writing? Data interrogation? Once you’ve identified that, you want to wrap a business around it. Look for markets for your passion, and build a business from there. This philosophy sums up the approach taken in my book Next Generation Journalist, which starts with a look at your real interests. After all, there’s no point in pursuing a business idea you’re not interested in, just because it looks like a workable idea. I have a brilliant idea for an environmentally friendly kettle. But am I going to make it? No. Because manufacturing, retail and, err, kettles, don’t do it for me right now.

Start making something – right now

Finally, once you’ve got an idea – or maybe if you still don’t – start creating, right away. Ideas are one-a-penny, but they don’t count for anything until you’ve turned it into something tangible. So if you’ve got an idea for an online magazine, get the webspace and domain, upload a WordPress theme and get creating. Why? Because you’ll only know if your idea is any good once it’s real. If you don’t have an idea yet, then start creating anyway. Whatever it is you feel like. If you think you’d like to start a business making infographics but aren’t sure what gap it would fill or itch it would scratch, keep going. Start designing infographics and put them online. See what the feedback is. Are people biting? This way you can develop your business idea organically. Only once you’re making something can you know whether it’s got legs.

Have you got a business idea not you're not sure where to go with? Would you like to link up with others and play with ideas? Then come along to UPLOAD//Standing Together on the 19th February and attend the strand session 'Money Money Money: Being Commerically Christian'. You could also contact other members through their profiles, write a blog asking for input or contact your sector connector.

"The successful multidimensional media project needs financial profitability, as well as a beneficial message, as a key ingredient... To invest means to increase outlay. In monetary terms this ought to be investing money for good willed purposes so as to reap further dividends. Money and goodwill need not, and must not be alien. The alignment of the two is the right use of financial expertise."

Duncan Williams - Christian Media InvestorSpeaking at UPLOAD : Standing Together - Christians in Journalism and theMediaNet.org

More details of the 'Money, Money, Money' strand of UPLOAD and a full list of the contact information is attached in the link below:

www.box.net/shared/ygfilrypvr
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