UserName

It's all well and good some people saying "don't buy the rag" because it's an enemy of the community (Oligarchy propaganda), but doesn't the Art of War say "know thine enemy" (or something like that)?

How are we supposed to keep an eye on it without buying it?! No good getting a stack of second-hand ones each week from a friend/relative/neighbour "for the pet cage" because I'd miss events that are only notified a day before, etc.

What's the answer? When will someone produce an online alternative?

How do the JEP get hold of all those little "in brief" items about accidents and other incidents? Do the police give out press release summaries available to anyone, or is that reserved purely for press contacts? If so, why?

Surely it can't be hard to compete, with the right resources? The BBC are under-resourced for it and wouldn't be able to take advertising, but what about Channel 103? They have a newsroom and journos, a website, commercial advertising all set up - why can't they take the initiative?

Someone should provide an online way to keep us all informed - it should be very lucrative if done properly. So why has no-one leapt at the opportunity yet?

JSY

That is not a bad idea Username i wouldn't take to much effort to set up, could we have something on this site?

UserName

The mistake most "online newspapers" make is to try to run a website like a newspaper, breaking things up into linked sections, on different webpages, etc.
This is why it fails - it takes too much effort for the reader to navigate around, they get lost, the 'mental map' of the layout is hard to understand, they can't be bothered to click links and wait, etc.

The best alternative to a Real World dead tree newspaper would be a PDF format, one daily download. Something that resembles an actual newspaper, with articles and ads mixed together, in a simple page by page format that we're all used to.
Reading it would be a simple matter of scrolling down page by page, letting your eyes scan what's before them. Ads get seen.
Yet this seldom seems to happen, online! It's very odd, abandoning a page by page format we're all used to, for a b'stard child electronic website alternative that is too annoying to bother with.

I'm totally conviniced a daily download of a PDF file would be a very readable solution that people *would* bother with, if it had all the content of the JEP. That means big news stories, little news items, comment features, what's happening, adverts, the gazette, etc.
Most of these things could just as easily be done by The Citizens, and it would only need a small editorial team to fit it all together. The ad revenue would pay for that easily, once the circulation figures make it a goer.
And the advantage is that you could provide links to webpages for additional content. A news item could link to a static webpage with more pictures, and reader's sent-in pictures, comments and forums. etc. There would be no limit to the number of reader's letters, although the editing team would put their choice of the best in the actual PDF download.
Frankly I'm just amazed it hasn't been done yet, if it's not too hard to get the news tidbits information from police releases? Once the project has aquired sufficient momentum it would keep itself going, as readers contribute content willingly. The whole thing could easily be supported by ad revenue far more successfully than the number of failed dead-tree newspapers that have come and gone over the years. It doesn't require paper, printing and distribution costs....... just set up a webserver and away you go!

mystic

You can read the free online version of the rag. I am very very anti the rag, and even more so now that they have been exposed on Stuart Syvret's blog (Senator Stuart Syvret Blog: GOTCHAAAAAAAH!) for the fake letters to the editor which many of us know has been going on for years. I urge everyone to stop buying the rag. Read it online if you have to look at it, don't give them your money! Read it here This Is Jersey News, Sport and Information from the Island of Jersey and remember, don't believe half of what you read in it.

As for setting up an online version, I wish I had the time. It really would be profitable, especially something that advertises itself as opposition to the rag. Online advertising would bring in a lot of funds, and it would be easy enough to set up, however it would need time and dedication to keep it going. I think it won't be too far off seeing a print newspaper in competition, that will wipe the rag out in one foul swoop, and then the Jersey people can get the real, unbiased news that they deserve.

If you just want a few daily headlines, I have them on live feed on one of my websites, however I apologise for the design which is very amatuer, I do not do web design, I do SEO and SEM. News headlines are fed to my site from Google, which picks them up from all around the net. Take a look and if you wish here; Your Search Engine Pro - Jersey

Please remember, do not give your money to the rag, by doing so you are supporting them.

__________________
www.bingonewsvine.com/
www.casinonewsvine.com/
www.pokernewsvine.com/

-im-jersey-eh-

When the emegency services had their radio system changed to Tetra,
all the interesting news sources dried up, as they were all listening in with radio scanners
and knew when something of big interest was going on in the island to follow up,
but now things are hushed over at the will of the authorities and only the info they want us to know about is allowed out, it's not possible to buy a scanner for Tetra and if you were able to obtain one of the official radios to listen to, there is a self destruct command that can be transmitted to stop the unit from working once they discover it was missing.

crono

As far as i know you can get Tetra scanners now, you may have to get your scanner opened up to it but it can be done without any trouble.

-im-jersey-eh-

I must disagree with you Crono,
as the scanner would have to handshake with the base station in order to swop incription packets of the alogrithm data and scanners dont transmit, so it would not be possible to get one or modify an existing scanner to hear any codec generated speech from Tetra without syncronising with the codes in some way.

Les Platons

Not a hope, Crono, -im-jersey-eh- is right.
It's practically a private mobile phone network of their own (with instant call setup and one-to-many calls), with even more secure encryption than that. There's no way it will ever be cracked, and if I ever have to eat my words (I believe I'm safe no matter how much faster home PCs get) they'll just replace it with something better anyway.

Compare and contrast with The Land of the Free where if you pay for a public service you have a Freedom of Information kind of right to listen in!