the.billdc

Radio features are definitely alive! Tuesday's offerings were incredible - from a portrait of an Irish powerlifter to an hour-long piece about recalling what it meant for a friend from school to die - some 40 years ago. Not to forget a beautifully evocative piece from the Czech Republic exploring how society continues to evolve in a former ethnic German area in the country's northern borderlands. A great day for radio.

I think the real issue is how to create a new business model for professional journalism. I don't think it's a useful durable model in a democracy to just depend on user generated content. Schechter said the first step in a new business model was to hunt for someone with a lot of money to start a website. But what happens next? How can you expect people to make a living? It's vital to all of us who want to live in countries with well-informed citizens that we find a way to support true journalism - including editorial writers and content analysts. Donations are part of the answer, perhaps subscriptions (paid) are part of the answer, perhaps government support - or license fees - for journalist networks are part of the answer. But surely we need something. A pity that we didn't get more into that discussion last evening.