Here are notes taken by Richard Anderson of the Thursday afternoon session which posed this question: “What is news that matters, and will anyone pay for it?” Session convener: Bill Densmore. Present, Bill, Richard, Jim Shaffer, Cecily Burt, Scott Hall, and Brian Beveridge joined later.

1. There is information that impacts civic affairs, matters to the civic system”
a. Education
b. Politics
c. Governance
d. Taxes
e. Corporate
f. Health

2. There is information that is close to home, matters to the individual
a. School lunch menu
b. Weather
c. Is an event sold out yet
d. Food
e. Music
f. Art
g. Health
h. Crossword
i. Children events
j. Money
k. Crime
l. Personal passions

3. How do we know it matters?

a. People spend time
b. People spend money
c. People exhibit passion
d. We can measure by
e. Circulation
f. Unique visitors

4. What impacts the demand for information?
a. Creating new market (packaging a problem?)
b. Conveys relevance
c. Story, not fact driven
d. News always “bad”
e. Offer empowerment
f. Offer ways to control
g. Offer ways to make a difference

5. Who Pays?
a. Social investors, not looking for a market rate of return
b. Iconoclast publisher
c. Foundations—set up, seed, ongoing
d. Government?
e. Users
f. Advertisers

6. CHALLENGE —How do we make media support “cool” or “socially responsible”?
a. Recognize a movement and seek investment
b. Seek investment in experiments
c. Focus on values, not egos
d. Should be decentralized, community focused?

7. What sort of structure would we envision?
TO BE CONTINUED