Mark Finklestein

The class lecture by Mark was kind of eyeopening in some ways. Although I have read about issues with revenue and such on blogs and some of it can also be logically deduced, I had never realized exactly how much goes into starting your own independent blog, especially after reading and hearing about so many that have become so successful, because it is far less studied the ones that begin and then don't continue to grow but fade away. Hearing Josh Marshall speak a couple of years ago was also intriguing to me. I was fascinated that readers of such blogs are so willing to donate, just how much money he raised astounded me (around $100,000) which he said was enough to hire a couple of journalists for a year as well as renting an office space. Thinking about things in this direction really shows someone how powerful the independent media sector can be, which can also be a frightening thought for some, especially those involved with mainstream media, or those still relentlessly devoted to it.

Mark's story still portrays success in the independent media industry, although not in some areas. To me, this shows that it is growing and there are opportunities out there even if one or possibly more of your opportunities fails. The advertising realm of independent bloggers I also find intriguing. Not only is journalism taking a step in a different direction, but it opens up another realm of the advertising industry. More and more people are relying on bloggers to deliver the news as well as give them an opinion or translation of the news, that it is becoming a more popular place for advertising, and possibly more effective, which could prove to be a win win situation for bloggers and advertisers.