‘Internet Daily’ : Lawyers win as line between newspapers and blogs blurs

Former editor and publisher at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Joel Kramer, is launching MinnPost, an Internet based daily newspaper.

And he’s not doing it alone. Andrew Cleary at TPMCafe, my source for this post explains ‘He has pulled together contributors from across the region who have served the Star Tribune, the Pioneer Press, City Pages, and Minnesota Public Radio.’ Kramer’s also raised over a million dollars from local sources and from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

With this kind of support, it begs the question: how does an internet daily, run and staffed by former newspaper editors and reporters, fit in the usual continuum bounded by traditional newspapers at one extreme and self-published bloggers at the other?

Necessity appears to have been the mother of invention. Cleary explains:

In May, the paper announced it would be cutting almost 150 jobs, including about 50 from the newsroom. It offered some columnists the choice to become reporters, and offered many others buyouts. Film, arts, architecture, and fashion writing was cut or eliminated. And it all came after two dozen writers, editors, and support staff took buyout offers when the paper was sold to Avista Capital Partners in March.

The release of scores of professional and pedigreed journalists into the local jobs market led some other outlets to catch what they could. But weeklies and web portals can only absorb so much, and so the remaining editors and reporters were apparently left with an alternative: banding together with Kramer to start their own source.

Two points for lawyers who blog. First, your ability to interact with news daily’s of tomorrow is going to allow you to do your own PR work. And it’s much better PR. No more self serving press releases with hand crafted quotes. You’ll now got the opportunity to work with reporters, editors, and publishers you’ll know by name, email and LinkedIn connections. Each of you helping out the other.

Second, niche information and commentary from lawyer blogs is the type of content that will be sought by the ‘new Internet daily.’ Kramer, speaking with Minnesota Public Radio, warned that not all blogs are interesting. ‘A lot of it is just pontificating and I’m more interested in informed commentary as well as hard-hitting news gathering.’