How Upstart Online Newspapers Are Redefining How the News is Reported and the Potential (Small) Benefit for Trailing Partners

The New York Times recently published an article on how some entrepreneurs are trying to redefine online newspapers by culling articles from the masses, or people willing to sign up and submit articles, rather than maintaining a newsroom with regularly salaried reporters.

These masses are willing to get paid by the page view or a percentage of online advertising revenues generated from the submitted article. Average pay is about $15 for an article. To reach a "$60,000 annual salary, an online journalist needs to generate a whopping 1.8 million page views a month."

Outside of the ramifications for our news industry, many trailing spouses that have decided to take on a writing career may find writing for some of these papers as resume builders, and a way to almost finance a morning latte ritual.

"Over the last few months, there has been a palpable uptick in both advertising and the journalism job market. The iPad, and its applications that restore magazines and newspapers to something like their traditional format, was greeted within the industry like the sight of a ship from a deserted island." 

Some online newspapers that are accepting articles under this model, as listed in the New York Times article:

http://www.demandstudios.com/

http://www.globalpost.com/

http://www.theawl.com/

http://www.associatedcontent.com/

http://trueslant.com/

http://thefastertimes.com/

If you have any other resources or experiences, please share!

Image of newspaper from www.artsjournal.com