One of the biggest challenges facing many newspapers, programs and publishers is how to profit from their reporting and work. Increasingly we find that quality news is available everywhere online for free, so why would anyone pay for it?

One of the biggest examples I can think if is the millions of people who have Google news set as their homepage. When they wake up each morning and turn on their computer it’s the first thing they see. They can immediately catch up on all the top stories from sources all over the world. It’s also interesting to note that Google does not engage in any news reporting itself but rather acts as a news cultivator, simply collecting the best and most recent news stories from around the world.

I suppose many of us can now look back at earlier decades and call them “the good old days of real journalism”, an era when true, authentic journalism was still alive, still dangerous, still adventurous. Much has changed since then, paper has turned to digital in a nutshell.

There will always be a great need for news stories, information after all is one of the most valuable things on earth. We must always strive to find the truth and fight to expose powers that abuse their duties especially elected powers. One sector of news reporting has remained largely untouched over the years and that is local news publications. Here we have highly professional and dedicated people who simply love news reporting, love journalism and love the scoop. More often than not, these publications are still in paper format and released on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis. How do they make money and survive? There are two principal reasons…

The first is relevance. This is local news not available on Fox or CNN for example.

The second is advertising. Local businesses survive by the business they receive from the community around them. Advertising in local newsletter publications gives them a very direct way of reaching their prime market and customers.

You see, getting into this game requires a lot of realistic expectations. It’s fine to have a passion for news stories but you must also deal with the cold hard facts of making it work as a viable business. Depending upon your budget you may have to do much of the work yourself when it comes to printing, writing, designing, advertising etc… but should your publication become profitable you’ll have the platform to expand and take other people on. There are many multimillion dollar news businesses which started with just one person in this way.

One of the most important things you’ll need to come to terms with is distribution. How will you deliver your magazine or newspaper and where will it be available for people to pick up? There are many aspects to consider when running a news business. Concentrate on getting the big elements right first and the rest will be easy. Above all, have a passion for what you do and put love into every step of it. That’s how to create something truly valuable.