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Ken Davis
Journalism savior?
Ken Davis chuckles when we ask him to evaluate journalism in Chicago—a town swirling with rumors about the looming collapse of both daily newspapers—in terms of medical states (e.g., critical condition, DOA). “I’m not a doctor,” says the former program director of and current contributor to WBEZ radio, “but I’d say serious condition.” Spurred by conversations with fellow reporters “freaked out” by recent widespread layoffs and severe cutbacks, Davis invited more than a dozen high-profile journos—including Carol Marin, the Tribune’s Eric Zorn and the Reader’s Michael Miner—for a little public therapy session: the Chicago Journalism Town Hall. “Journalism is going through some major transitions,” Davis says, “and it’s going to look very different—healthy but different—when it emerges from the hospital.”
Time Out Chicago: Why is the once-profitable news business death spiraling?
Ken Davis: News organizations have been relying on online ad revenue to support offering free Web content. Now the ad revenue has dried up, and they don’t know how to start charging for content. There was a cover piece in Time [last] week that poses the idea of a hybrid model—a combination of iTunes and your CTA card; every time you’d click a story, you’d get charged two or three cents. I read yesterday that if every unique visitor to The New York Times website paid a dollar per month, they’d raise $240 million.
TOC: So what then is keeping news organizations from charging?
Ken Davis: The problem is simply that no one invented the mechanical process for it. Nobody came up with the iTunes model for newspapers. If newspapers had concentrated on this ten years ago, people would’ve just accepted it: “Duh, you have to pay for news content.” Now people really believe that you shouldn’t have to pay for news. But look at Napster. An entire generation honestly believed that you shouldn’t have to pay for music. Yet when good ol’ Steve Jobs came up with an easy, seamless method, enough people went honest that it almost single-handedly rescued the music business. It’s about breaking people’s bad habits. [Laughs] News organizations aren’t giving us an easy way to be honest, so we aren’t.
TOC: So if the issue is business model and logistics, why does the town-hall panel consist mostly of working or former journalists?
Ken Davis: True, we don’t have anyone on the panel from the management side. We wanted to bring those people in as an audience, who can, in the future, propose funding models.
TOC: What possible funders have you invited?
Ken Davis: Several of the big agencies—the Community Trust and Polk Bros. Foundation, and companies like Boeing. The funding community gives a lot of money to arts organizations and communications groups, so why couldn’t there be a nonprofit Chicago journalism shop that has the same stature as the Art Institute or the Chicago Symphony—these large, heavy-duty nonprofits endowed by philanthropists and corporate money that offer what’s often thought of as a cultural service to the city?
TOC: If Boeing, for instance, were a newspaper benefactor, shouldn’t there be concern about reporting bias?
Ken Davis: There would be full disclosure at all times about where the money is coming from. If people raised questions—“Wait a second, the MacArthur Foundation supports the Chicago Symphony and you’re writing a story about how great the symphony is”—then that could be explored as another story.
TOC: Is there a Chicago publication that’s doing things right?
Ken Davis: Geoff Dougherty and Chi-Town Daily News just got a huge grant [to fund the site’s free content]. They actually just finished hiring reporters. Rich Miller at the Capitol Fax Blog has a hybrid business model; you can get a lot for free, but if you want the good stuff you have to pay for a subscription.
TOC: What problems arise when a city’s news media is weak?
Ken Davis: Well, we live in a city that needs a very aggressive press to keep an eye on things. As corrupt as things are, they’d be a lot worse if there weren’t a dozen really dogged reporters staying on those stories every day. That’s the thing we have to worry about losing. That’s the civic emergency. Now who’s going to pay for that?
Limited seating is available to the Chicago Journalism Town Hall, 1–4pm Sunday 22 at the Hotel Allegro (171 W Randolph St, 312-236-0123). R.S.V.P. at mail@chijournalismtownhall.com.
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