K. Paul Mallasch - Publisher / Editor Muncie Free Press http://www.munciefreepress.com kpaul@mallasch.com or kpaul.mallasch@gmail.com>

- other phone pending

Q: Describe your professional/educational background.

A: I was born in the town of Medina, OH. I grew up in Cleveland, OH, in a neighborhood somewhere almost exactly between the slums and the suburbs.

After graduating from Muncie Central High School in 1990, I wandered around for a few years, writing a couple novels and lots of poetry. Then, in the mid 90s, I enrolled at Ball State University, taking a lot of English, Journalism and History classes.

Toward the end, I got a job at The Star Press, the local newspaper. At first it was part time in the newsroom, helping them with their website in 1998, but soon I was doing a lot more. I dropped out a few classes shy of a degree and concentrated on my career at the newspaper. By the end of my almost seven years there, I was the head of the online department and reported directly to the publisher. Sure, the online department only consisted of me, but ... ;)

Anyway, while at the newspaper, I was slowly demoralized by the reality of the modern newspaper business, with the emphasis on business. Sure, it was where the journalists worked (many, many, many hours for free, off the clock), but I became, over the years, disillusioned by the edicts coming from 'corporate' out East. I carried on, though, with the thought that I'd eventually save up some money, quit dramatically, and start my own 'newspaper.' Luckily, maybe, Gannett finally gave me the push I needed by eliminating the only online position at the Muncie newspaper. Now, two people would simultaneously run the Marion and Muncie newspapers.

Anyway, I've had the book learning, I've done my own self-publishing thing before, and I've worked closely (sometimes too closely for my own taste) with other departments in the newspaper world. Those years were all building up to when I finally launched my baby, Muncie Free Press, on July 4th, 2005, with a last minute rewording of the Declaration of Independence (from Big Media) going out to the Poynter list.

Looking back, that email will probably haunt me one of these days, but it was something, I think, that needed to be said. Yes, I'm a college dropout in some podunk Midwest town, but I can and will take on big media in this town.

Why here? Well, Muncie is interesting, I've learned, because it has a rich history of sociological studies - most famous the Linds Middletown Studies in the 1920s. In a lot of ways, Muncie is still a 'typical midwest town' in many ways. (Some days I think that's a scary thing, though. ;)

Q: Who owns the Muncie Free Press and funds it? Provide some metrics of usage, a sense of scale. Is it all web? Is there a print, broadcast or other-media component?

A: I haven't formed the LLC yet, but will soon. At that time, most likely, I will have an attorney friend who will 'own' 25% of it in exchange for office space, services and other things. It will be funded by advertising and reader donations. The money isn't pouring in (yet), but that isn't the point. You don't get into journalism to get rich - OR to get other big companies rich.

Muncie Free Press is for the people - a news 'community' or conversation that is as much theirs as it is mine.

We're web only at the moment, but plans are moving toward an eventual print weekly. Not sure of the format or specifics yet, but this is moving forward and I expect it to be launched sometime before July 4th of 2006.

We are doing a lot now with audio and plan on doing more with video in the future.

Q: Is the project mostly about DOING something directly (a direct service for the public) or about HELPING others to do something or about TEACHING or LOBBYING in an educational or political sense?

It's a blend, I think, with maybe more emphasis on the Teaching aspect - teaching the citizens how best to tell their own stories and participate in a community online. I'm also very interested in what I, as a publisher, can do to get people more involved in politics. Our voter turnout for the county is something like 17%.

Now, admittedly, I've been willfully ignorant of politics up to this point in my life. I think this helps, though, because I'm coming at the whole process with 'fresh' eyes, seeing things sometimes that those who have been involved in local politics for years and years can't see anymore.

So, it's a learning process (the politics) for both me and the community - we're helping each other maybe.

Q: What are you doing and why are you doing it. We are especially interested in your PERSONAL MOTIVATION and sense of MISSION, as well as the overall project motivation. We would like to really focus on understanding motivation. How do you convey that sense of mission to others around them?? How about examples of that?

I'm starting a media revolution. Why? Someone needs to do it.

My personal motivation would be Jesus and his teaching that He said summed up all of the law and the prophets - Love God and love others as yourself. I want media more interested in me than money and I think people deserve that.

As I said (either before or after this, I'm answering this one last ;) when I look back at my life, it's like it was all preparation for this time period of my life.

As to sharing the mission, saving journalism for the people, I routinely explain to any and all what I'm doing - what this nutty thing called Citizen Journalism is.

When I tell them their voice is more important than mine, they sometimes do a double take (ok, maybe not ;) but I can tell they like what they hear. I try to humble myself, let them know they're why I'm doing it.

To jump around a little more, it was after one of these talks that I started having people (local business owners) tell me to come to them later to talk about advertising. They want to support what I'm doing.

I think I'm failing here, though, writing this w/out the passion I usually put into it. I'll save it for a voice interview later, though. I promise. ;)

Q: What is the business model? Is your revenue from sales, donations, or a combination? Does your project rely upon volunteers? Is the business model sustainable? Is it changing?

To be honest, I haven't written it down officially yet. It's in my mind constantly, though, and has been for several years now. It changes week to week, though, as I interact more with the community. This method has its pros and cons, but it's working for me.

So far, two and a half months into it, I've sold two ads, traded a few out, and have received several monetary donations in appreciation of what I'm doing at some of the Town Council meetings that aren't covered by the local newspaper anymore.

I'm relying on volunteers at the moment, but I have plans to pay (or reward) for good content once more money starts coming in. And remember, I don't have to worry about fatty profit margins - most will be put back into the company, back into the community.

Is the model sustainable? Not yet, but it will be, I think. And once I have all the first hand experience, I plan on compiling all the lessons together and releasing it for free or really, really cheap. Hopefully, it will spread and hundreds of other sites will start to sprout up.

To help that 'model' - I'm trying to do this as barebones as I possibly can. And by bare bones I don't mean 'just a million or two...' I mean, a lot, looootttt cheaper. ;) The lower the bar, though, the more people that will be able to try this in their own town.

This will help the media revolution spread. I probably won't get rich doing it this way, but that's not the point.

Q: Please talk about your sense of innovation and entrepreneurship, especially in comparison to other things you have done or other competitors/collaborators? Who or what is similar to what you are doing?

I have a terrible business sense. ;)

When I look at the citizen journalism 'scene' though, I see two camps of people who aren't Big Media - 1) those who are going at it like a big media company would - a corporate model and 2) those who are more grassroots.

Of course, this simplifies it too much - maybe it would be better to have a Citizen Journalism 'grid' with four quadrants that we could place each start-up attempt in depending on how they operate.

I do like H20town a lot - ever since I saw the video she did for her site. It reminded me right away of the Beat Movement for some reason. I liked it, a lot.

Pegasus News is also interesting, even though they haven't launched yet. They're one that seems to be in between the two main camps I mentioned.

I think I'm one of the very few (if not the only?) one doing Citizen Journalism on my own in the Midwest...

Q: Tell us how you are teaching others to do what you are doing? We want to know if your project is REPLICABLE. Is it usable by the general public?? How are others able to contribute?

This is one of my biggest problems at the moment - still the technological barrier. Those who know the technology well (the younger crowd) are generally apathetic while the older crowd is interested, but is confused by the site.

This is high on my list of priorities - better usability testing on teh site.

At the moment, I'm meeting with people in person (in their homes or with a laptop in public wireless access spots around town) to show them how to use the site.

Can it be replicated? Yes. Is it easy or profitable? No.

Again, though, covering expenses is important, not necessarily huge profits.

By the end of year one, I should know if this idea can work in other areas and how to set it up more efficiently, not making the same mistakes.

Q: What aspects of personal, professional or financial RISK are there to what you are doing? Please be specific. How do you cope with those risks? Will it get easier?

Well, with my strong opinion about the state of the media landscape, I'm sure I'll find it tough getting a (good) job at any of the big media companies (you know who I'm talking about...) The personal risk is also large in that most of my time is now spent devoted to the site or scraping up side jobs to survive.

I withdrew my pension to help pay for some of the expenses for this venture.

How do I cope? . . . If I fail? Well, I'm trying not to think about it. It might happen, but I'm trying my best (most days) to insure that it doesn't.

And yes, it gets easier as I'm out there in public, talking to people and they've all been really supportive of what I'm doing. It's funny, but I was covering a council meeting about a local Ag Park that was going in, and outside I ran into one of my old profs at BSU - an earth sciences professor - anyway, I got his opinion on the Ag Park, then explained to him what I was doing. He said I was really sticking my neck out, which kinda threw me for a minute. (and reminded me to get to this interview...)

Another time it really 'hit me' and kinda overwhelmed me was right before I launched. I emailed JD Lasica to let him know and he wrote back and asked if I had any help, said it was ambitious, that I needed more photos, etc. After reading that, it hit me how big this was and the potential for failure. It's good to have moments like that, though.

I try not to think about it much, though.

Q: In what sense is what you are doing "fostering participatory democracy or community"? What do those words and ideas mean to you? What specifically do you achieve this arena?

The thing is, we have all these great tools online now to build virtual communities. No one's really giving these tools to the people, though. I want to give them the tools (and direction and encouragement) to tell their own stories. If they don't have time to make it to one of the small town meetings but can read about it online (or listen to it even) at Muncie Free Press, they're better informed and can start to participate in their community, if even remotely. 'm still waiting for the community to grow, but I've come to realize that maybe you don't want to rush the process - that it's better for it to be slow and steady growth, especially if i'm studying it.

I'm giving people information they don't get anywhere else (at least for a lot of the small towns) and interacting with them personally to help make their communities a better place.

Q: Do you have views about what is wrong with our media, our democracy, our journalism? What is right about each? How do we preserve the best and fix the worst? Who else do you recommend we look at as examples?

For the love of money is the root of all evil. I believe that. And no, there's nothing wrong with profit. For journalists, though, it should be about just 'covering expenses' and not squeezing profits out of local communities. People are apathetic. Why? I blame it on the media - for giving monologues and diatribes instead of communicating with the communities they serve. Once it stops being about money first and foremost, I think there's hope for Big Media.