Meg Heckman Article

I found Meg Heckman's article "Optimism Reigns at Hyperlocal News Confab" to be inspiring seeing as it directly relates to what is probably the main focus of this class. It's about people taking their journalism and writing skills, mixing them with business, and creating a great publication. As Doug Miner said in the article, "I'm a journalist, but it's really got to be a business. If not, you can't do it."

I like the idea of having a group such as LION, Local Independent Online News Publishers, because it's a great way to bounce ideas off others and receive feedback. I like the community aspect of it because all of these people are striving for the same goal in their own way. This kind of reminds me of the thing that John Herman told us about, the NH Media Makers meetings that are held each month. I like LION better though because it's a bigger group and it's always the same people. The community can really grow and people can form relationships and be able to help each other. It reminds me of class and the way we talk to each other about our ideas. It's nice to have people who understand what you're trying to do (since they're working on something as well) because they tend to have some really good ideas that you may not have thought of. Overall, I really am in favor of groups like this. They're definitely a step in the right direction when it comes to saving journalism.