It looks like Los Angeles Times publisher Tronc is eyeing a contributor model
- While some publishers question the contributor model, others seem to be embracing it.
- Tronc - publisher of the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times among others - is considering launching a contributor network, an investor presentation suggests.
- The presentation, given on Thursday, appears in stark contrast to other publishers including HuffPost, which announced that it was shutting down its contributor blogging network.
For years, contributor networks were seen as a proven way for publishers to scale quickly and affordably. Then they went out of fashion.
But Tronc - publisher of the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and the Baltimore Sun among others - is considering launching a contributor network, an investor presentation suggests. The presentation, given on Thursday, was also tweeted out by Matt Pearce, a national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.
According to a slide in the presentation, the company is going to seek out "experts" with self-distribution and promotion capabilities as it looks to shift its emphasis to "more audience-targeted, self distributed and cost-effective models."
The move appears in stark contrast to other publishers, several of whom have veered toward chasing quality over scale lately, moving away from contributor networks. In fact, just this morning, HuffPost announced that it was launching two new products - Opinion & Personal - and was shutting down its contributor blogging network.
It also follows reports of a union drive at the Los Angeles Times, which has been propelled in part by related concerns over the commitment of the paper's leadership to its journalism and its financial soundness, according to NPR. Federal regulators plan to announce the result of the vote over whether a union would be recognized at the newspaper on Friday.
Business Insider has reached out to Tronc for a comment but had not heard back at the time of publication.
The Future of Media by Henry Blodget and the BI Intelligence Research Team.
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