[mholmes680]

I was toying around with a similar idea, but figured a local newspaper should provide local services -- hyper data-gathering at the local level. Like I'd love to see a dollar-by-dollar breakdown of where my [specific] property taxes are going, so I can be more informed when voting locally. Make it a special feature, and charge $5 per sub. Gets their $72k to $84k (say half your subs can't refuse @ $5) easy. (assuming i can trade one of those journalists for a data scientist)

I also think "local ads" needs a whole new approach, for a variety of reasons. You have local business associations shooting themselves in the foot every time a fellow business is not somehow advertised in any other member store.

Also, syndicate [free-ish] articles from bloggers who can help your community better itself. Also, extend into the schools - get a HS writer to report the sports there to pick up more subs.

OK, I'm not covering all the expenses yet, but that's just a few ideas...

[tempaccount1]

I'm a journalist turned developer and I had a similar idea a while back. I feel local news orgs are missing a trick because aggregation is something journalists can do very well due to the nature of their job (pulling info from disparate sources, fact-checking etc). With so many sources of general data and info you can easily provide value by giving it local and regional context.

Btw - this a throwaway account. Having trouble logging in with my username carlmungz.