So how does content bankruptcy get you out of this mess?
Under the terms of the content bankruptcy plan, City Paper has 120 days to reorganize its content and craft a plan to make money.
What does reorganized content involve?
You.
Gosh, I’m just the answer for everything, aren’t I?
We’re trying not to be too demanding here. We’re mainly hoping that you’ll lower your expectations somewhat. Sometimes we’ll feature a deeply researched, elegantly written story about an element of District life that’s gone unreported by other media. Other times, though, the cover slot will be filled with something slightly less substantive—-say, “The Best of Creative Commons-Licensed Flickr Uploads Relating to Washington, D.C.” or “Thanksgiving Sudoku Frenzy!” or “Listings.”
That sounds like a crummy content model.
Then you should totally complain about it! All we’re asking is that if you must complain, complain on our Web site. If you must complain elsewhere, please make sure to link copiously to our site. If you happen to be, say, at a bar complaining about City Paper, please make sure to mention our URL as often as possible, even writing it down on a napkin, using a pen with our URL on it. Swing by our offices. We have plenty.
This sounds dire. Does content have a future?
Absolutely. This is what everybody is doing. Look at Huffington Post. Look at Yahoo. Look at Google. Look at Drudge. Or Yelp. Or the Daily Beast. None of these places are spending much energy on making their own content—-they’ve just gotten good at parlaying others’ content. With a new model of others’ content, we can find our way in this brave new world together.
But if everybody is just using content from everybody else, where will the original content come from? ?
That’s a very good question! Would you consider posting your thoughts on this on our Web site?
