IP Democracy: When Journalists Become Their Own Bosses

David Carr has this interesting piece today on journalists and how they are creating their businesses on the web. Carr focuses on Nina Monk, former Fortune writer and author of the AOL myth-destroyer “Fools Rush In,” who, while still pursuing her business writing career, runs a web-based business Urbanhound.com.

But, Carr also raises the examples of Om Malik and Rafat Ali.

Content may or may not be king, but it’s mighty valuable. Journalists, who know a thing or two about its creation, are beginning to build sites that help them maintain custody of the content and, if all goes well, reap the rewards. Om Malik, a former writer for Business 2.0, has received backing for GigaOM.com, a technology news Web site that has broken a number of stories, and Rafat Ali, the former managing editor of The Silicon Alley Reporter, recently received funding for his company, which publishes PaidContent.org, a site that covers digital media news.

“A lot of journalists are going to have to rethink what they are doing if they are going to survive,” said Mr. Ali. “If you stand back and do nothing, what are you going to do with the rest of your life? The newspaper you are working at could go away and then you won’t have a place to work.”

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on July 24, 2006 7:02 AM to IP Democracy