When did business become sexy?
As evidence, I’ll cite the popularity of Dragon’s Den, the circulation of The Economist (over a million a week), even the popularity of business courses at university (our faculty is the size of some universities and still growing strongly).
Is it the fascination with money? Was it the quality of the stories, from Dot Com to Google to Enron and Northern Rock?
David Parkin of The Business Desk spoke to us this evening, and his story wasn’t really ‘the death of print’, a title he tried to blame on the sub-editors. His story was about the entrepreneurial urge.
You’ve been the well-known business editor of a long-established regional newspaper for seven years. Then you get the itch… Could I become one of the entrepreneurs I’ve interviewed? Could I get funding for my idea? Would I risk the job security for the thrill of running my own show?
The funding took two years to secure, but the service launched last November and he’s been recruiting staff, subscribers and advertisers ever since.
His initial market niche is timely regional business headlines, an obvious advantage over a daily newspaper. But it doesn’t stop there: video interviews are coming soon, and there’s scope to expand into lifestyle coverage and into other regions.
The big change is in tone of voice. An entrepreneur has to be a believer (if he doesn’t believe in his idea, then who will?); a newspaper reporter has to be a sceptic, able to separate the substantial wheat from the over-hyped chaff. Now that he’s an entrepreneur and an editor he has a respectful relationship with the public relations industry. We’re his sources, his subscribers and his connectors, mavens and salesmen who can recommend the service to others. ‘PR people are in a strong position’, he says.
Print isn’t dead; nor is news. But it’s very apparent that the students I teach no longer gather their news from the morning newspaper. The internet enables different means of production and distribution, and different relationships with readers. On a traditional news desk, there’s not much feedback. On the web, statistics are readily available. Parkin recited the number of subscribers, unique visitors, their locations and average time on the site. He even speculated on our average incomes and spending habits. He’s now speaking like an entrepreneur.
PR Studies 
I would like to say that I was the student who put their hand up when asked if “you read newspapers daily”, which I do.
However I am using the internet alot more for gathering news, but the daily newspaper gives me something internet news cannot…….the crossword!
I enjoy reading newspaper as well. That is different from online news. However, I know where you can play the crossword. The answer is … BBC Learning English –http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/quizzes/crosswords/index.shtml
^^
It’s true, the crosswrod can’t be beat! However, I’ve found Closer offers you world news and Sudoku!
I’m clearly going to go futher in PR because of this! lol
It is true that the web as the main news gathering source turns things upside down. I also get most of my news info online, though I don’t mind the missing crossword.
Being a part of junior entrepreneurial community myself, the urge to do something on your own just tops. 🙂
Sorry Richard but this is a totally unrelated comment as I couldn’t find the CONTACT option…..or maybe I didn’t look hard enough but I just want to say hi…Im an ex-student of Stirling University…and now back in Vietnam working in a PR agency…..and it’s still an infant….
Really just want to say hi….Internet is my only connection to the UK…apart from my friends…..so hope to read more goodies from you.
Cheers