It took a year and a half before I could concentrate on just online, but was still operating by myself, taking care of half a dozen websites. I wrote dozens of business plans over the next five years, calling for an online staff and showing how much money we could be making. They all ended up in the trash can. I was so depressed, I went back to the print side for a few years.

But a couple of years ago, they lured me back. I saw the promise of things like blogging, open-source journalism, we media, and was excited again. Finally, Internet was the main topic of discussion at my company’s strategy sessions. It’s where the promise is.

Of course, I’m still alone, taking care of all these websites with little help, writing more business plans to no avail. They will talk Internet, but they will not open their wallets, not even a sliver, to fund anything. Mention blogging and they sigh. Talk open-source journalism and they cringe. Tell them they have to be part of the conversation, and they say that’s what letters to the editor are for. Tell them the Internet is a threat, and they agree, which is why they won’t fund it.

It’s sad. There is so much potential, and so many journalists I work with are excited to contribute online. But there is no investment in infrastructure, so there is no improvement. Local bloggers laugh at us, or curse us for our failings. We could be the best site in town, but no, that would require commitment to something my bosses, deep down, despise. Change is hard.

We need the journalistic equivalent of 9/11 before they will wake up. Maybe a metro like the SF Chron will go down, with a helping hand from Craigslist. Perhaps that would not only get their attention, but open those deep pockets.

Until then, I’m just hanging on, fighting the good fight. I don’t know how long that will last. My wife complains every week about how little respect I get despite the 10 years of work and all the projects I’ve done pretty much on my own. She now makes more than me, doing a job that doesn’t even require any college.

I’d go work somewhere else, but I was born into this business. I’m determined not to die with it.

When would a young person read a newspaper. Except for inner city commuters people can’t read during the trip to/from work. Over breakfast at home? Who does that anymore – take out Starbucks or the like. After getting home with slippers and a pipe? I think Ward Cleever was the last one to do that.

The problem is not the organization of the paper, the content, or the design of the newsroom, it’s that they are selling buggy whips.
Jeff: When you get your CUNY project going why don’t you ask your students about their news sources?