Out With A Bang

Way back when – September to be more precise – we floated the idea of launching a ‘VIP Club’ – the Very Independent Publishers Club.

http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=140

Since then, of course, not a lot has happened. Or at least not as far as the VIP Club is concerned.

Now, however, we have a first date. And a venue. And a purpose – well, of sorts.

The wheres and whens in a mo.

First, some thoughts. And a slight change of tack since we first threw open the doors of our proposed VIP gathering.

Because I strongly suspect that one of the showpiece political moments of this spring will be the Government’s unveiling of their vision for ‘Digital Britain’ – and how that could yet see Brown and Co embark on some grand ‘public works’ mission to install a French-style, super-fast broadband network through the towns and cities of this country.

Or, at least, that’s what our Pete’s expecting. And it chimes with much of what you hear and expect from the likes of Tom Watson and Co….

http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/mediamoney/2009/01/06/digital-britain-gordon-brown-and-lord-carter-begin-dance-of-the-seven-veils/

Whether that then means that GreenUn TV is going to be coming to a PC near you at twice the speed of sound is another matter…

Because for the traditional newspaper industry, such developments merely deepen their dilemmas; how do they ever reconcile the opportunities such a super-highway would offer for the near-instant delivery of local news with a business model that, even now, rests all-too heavily on the services of a delivery van and a bicycle?

Likewise, install a nationwide network of fibre-optic cabling across this country with a view to launching a Digital Revolution whose social and economic impact is hoped to be on a par with the coming of the railways and the need, surely, has to be for a new, nationwide local news platform that both mirrors and exploits said network…

… a platform for local news gathering and distribution that isn’t split into the 501 medieval circulation fiefdoms that the ailing provincial newspaper industry appear intent on bequeathing a less-than-enamoured nation.

‘It’s alright Gordon, we’ve got Bristol covered; just not sure what we’re doing with South Wales…,’ say Northcliffe/DMGT.

‘Ah, yes, now about Colchester…’ say Newsquest as the axeman cometh to the Evening Gazette’s offices.

Which is where, hopefully, the VIP Club might come in.

Because, for me and for others of our green-shoot ilk, a historic opportunity could be looming – if we can get the platform right.

One that, for example, could be made to work for every postcode in this country. And not end at TS10.

One that, for example, could empower those lost armies of town and village correspondents with a new range of news-gathering tools and revenue earning devices.

So, for example, ‘Back-chat’ could – with the appliance of a little, postcode hash-tag science – be the conversational tool that publishes local road closures, school boiler breakdowns… Twittered in off villagers’ mobiles… with the head chatting back to the fed-up parents forced to take a day off work again…

The same mobile phones that – with a bit of iPhone app magic – could become the local reporters’ ‘notebook’; one that’s actually fit for the 21st Century – one that delivers a podcast at two flicks of a touch screen; delivers a vid-cast with the local headmaster in three.

All then relayed and replayed onto a flat screen in the local library, the waiting room of the doctors’ surgery… and all with pin-point, Government-led advertising driving a revenue stream from day one…

Pie in the sky? No.

It’s all out there; we just need to pull all these ideas together and find ourselves a platform.

Find the platform, build the starter-pack with all these new, journalistic tools now at our disposal – and we set the people free; empower local communities to furnish themselves with their own news.

A starter-pack apiece… Here’s one for TS10… You want to do NR14, no worries…

The VIP Club is to meet for the very first time on Wednesday, January 28, at the home of BestBefore TV – 109 Maltings Place – the old Sarsons vinegar factory at 169 Tower Bridge Road, SE1. Kicks-off at 6pm.

Here’s the tricky bit – and why it’s a VIP Club.

Entry to the first event is limited to just 30.

And it’s not bring a bottle. It’s bring a digital tool. Or a mobile device.

One that you can drill down to a postcode; one that you could happily bolt on to a local news platform – and then simply repeat for every town, village and super-highway connected postcode in this country.

Let’s see what’s out there; what kind of ’starter pack’ can we actually build right now, in the spring of 2009 with a bit of collective thinking?

For now just drop us an email at rickwaghorn [at] aol.com if you’re interested; and, apologies, space is limited…