Welcome to the home of Noah Brier. I'm the co-founder of Variance and general internet tinkerer. Most of my writing these days is happening over at Why is this interesting?, a daily email full of interesting stuff. This site has been around since 2004. Feel free to get in touch. Good places to get started are my Framework of the Day posts or my favorite books and podcasts. Get in touch.

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Should Pro Sports Bailout Newspapers?

A few weeks ago Mark Cuban suggested it was time that professional sports league pay for local beatwriters.

It’s actually one of the more interesting reads in the category of “people coming up with crazy ideas to save the newspaper industry” (in part because Cuban actually owns a pro sports team and theoretically has the influence to help make something like this happen). Anyway, Cuban basically argues that pro sports can’t afford to lost newspapers because it’s the only inexpensive way to reach the casual fan. “The cost to reach those fans in a newspaperless world over the next 5to 7 years will cost us far more than working with newspapers today to try to help them,” he explains. (Not quite MediaisThriving material, but still nice to see new ideas.)

February 3, 2009