As a journalist, I have been following the revenue crisis scything through the newspaper industry worldwide with understandable interest.
The river of gold from print classifieds has dried up as readers flock online to download for 'free' both the news, as well as search for the jobs, property, and used cars they once found in bulky newspaper supplements.
Two major metropolitan newspapers have already folded in the US, while the owners of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Philadelphia Inquirer have all filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Almost 5,000 newsroom jobs have been shed across the US. In Australia, Fairfax has already washed away a sea of staff, including a number of my friends, with further retrenchments across the local media sector expected.
A new economic model for online journalism is needed.
Yet earlier this week I was still a little taken aback to hear that one of Seattle's two major dailies - the 145-year-old Post Intelligencer which has a circulation of over 120,000 - has stopped the presses and gone entirely online. Nearly 90 percent of its editorial staff was sacked.
It is a high-risk move. And the new website is a big experiment. It will provide a “great opportunity for us to try out many of the theories journalism professionals and academics have been throwing around for the past few years,” admitted Michelle Nicolosi who has been appointed to run the new SeattlePI.com site. “Is it possible to run an online-only local news site that serves a city’s readers well while turning a profit? Is a digital news product a viable solution for cities whose papers can no longer afford to operate?” she asks.
My dilemma
This week's announcement brought home the dilemma that will crunch us at Anglican Media in a matter of months.
Given the overall declining revenue streams cause by the GFC, how do we maintain our premier revenue sources which account for more than 60percent of our income (Southern Cross advertising and sales of our DVDs like The Christ Files) while also being able to afford to invest in the future (ie the internet)?
Our media ministry is clearly at the centre of a scorching GFC hotspot.
Parish GFC hotspots
So how does the looming Global Financial Crisis (GFC) look for all of you in parish-based ministry?
Fascinating research was also released this week that could give you a heads-up about the shape of your ministry over the next few years.
It shows the areas of Sydney and Wollongong that are likely to be most dramatically impacted by unemployment. And it won't necessarily be the parishes you think.
Interestingly some of those parishes given the lowest level of risk such as Newtown, Glebe, Darlinghurst and Bondi Beach may have been thought of as areas of homelessness and need.
While parishes in relatively affluent areas such as the CBD itself and the outer coastal fringe should prepare for high unemployment, parishes affected will include all those in the city of Sydney; parts of the Sutherland Shire such as Menai and Cronulla; and the northern suburbs including Dee Why and St Ives.
New housing areas such as Shellharbour, Harrington Park, Rouse Hill and Kellyville are all on the list of parishes rated with an 'amber alert' for moderate to high risk.
Of course as I argued in a previous blog, the ministry demands of a high unemployment context mean these parishes must resist the understandable temptation to become risk-averse and conservative.
Perhaps the same advice applies to me and Anglican Media?
Parishes with predicted worst unemployment hotspots
(listed alphabetically)
Albion Park
Blacktown
Cabramatta
Campbelltown
Fairfield
Glenmore Park
Dapto
Hoxton Park
Port Kembla
St Andrew’s Cathedral/Christ Church St Laurence (ie Haymarket/Chinatown)
Sadleir
Smithfield Road (St John’s Park)
Parishes with lowest unemployment risk
(listed alphabetically)
Austinmer
Balmain
Clovelly
Cremorne
Darlinghurst
Darling Street (Rozelle/Balmain/Lilyfield)
Darling Point
Greenwich
Kirribilli
Lavender Bay
North Sydney
Turramurra South
Willoughby
Woollahra
