“Que vean que la tierra No se trago cualquier cosa”
Aug 6th, 2009 | By Michel Marizco | Category: Chismes, General News
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THE BORDER REPORT
As you’ve plainly been able to see, I’ve pulled back on BorderReporter throughout much of the past two months. There’s a few reasons for this, some good, some not so much. No, I’m not asking you for money, relax.
I started this Web site about four years ago now because I’d left the world of daily newspaper reporting to work on my own projects but wanted to continue writing about the border. The dynamics of the drug trade fascinated me and even then, before the border exploded, back when Nuevo Laredo and Acapulco were the principal flashpoints, I’d sensed that this was a place I wanted to keep writing about.
That hasn’t changed. What has changed is the reality of maintaining a news Web site in an economic climate that has decimated journalism and kept my freelancing and field producing employments at a minimum. You’ll allow me to elaborate, and, as usual, to raise some questions. That’s what we do best here, you and I, we ask questions and look for answers; it’s inherently far more honest to say, “I don’t know,” than it is to come up with some fool’s notion of an answer.
Border reporting is not cheap; unlike most beats, the border is a scattered divergence, with miles in between cities. This is not a beat that can be covered by telephone. It’s why most news organizations won’t invest in border reporting beyond parroting what federal government officials have to tell them. It’s also why, I suspect, the immigration beat evolved from border reporting. It’s cheaper to cover immigrants within the community than to spend time and resources at the source. When I moved to the Southwest a decade ago, there were a good dozen border reporters from San Diego to Brownsville. These days, there are two in Arizona, two in California, none in New Mexico and a smattering of coverage by the Texas newspapers. One result of this is waking up to see my stories appear in the mainstream press, which is fine; I’m not complaining. It works both ways; I lift from them, they lift from me.
There’s a few ideas I’ve thought about to sustain independent reporting on the Web site. The idea of donations is repulsive and weak. I don’t know when people started thinking journalism needs to be treated like the vague necessity of a pet shelter, but that’s where many are leading to and that’s sad. I’m not risking getting my ear shot off in Culiacán for the sake of a dollar donation. In a more practical sense, it’s also unsustainable.
Putting the site behind a pay-wall is an idea I’m willing to explore. The question becomes how many readers would be willing to pay for access to the site. My focus in such an endeavor would, again, be sustainability. If I could get, say, 300 committed readers at $3 a month, I’d go back to making the site a full-time endeavor.
Advertising is another option and here there’s two problems. The first, obviously, is the economic climate. I’ve had a good half dozen companies approach me about putting up an ad on BorderReporter and that’s fantastic. They subsequently pulled away when they realized I wasn’t selling ads for ten dollars a month. I have no interest in you clicking madly on my ads like some sort of meth addict. I do have an interest in you helping me to propagate the site’s audience. That leads me to a solution.
Until I can find a way to sustain independent reporting on the site, BorderReporter needs to be a collective effort between you and I. If you find what the Web site provides useful, then you need to shop links around; to Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Fark, Drudge, anywhere you can put them. We’re at about 1,300 to 3,000 unique visitors a day; it wouldn’t take much from a tenth of you to expand the readership. We’re talking about mutually-fulfilling symbiosis. It’s tricky; I’ll be honest about that. The topics we discuss here and the information I provide is not pleasant. If Paris Hilton bared all in Tijuana, we’d be on Gawker in a second. A dozen decapitated souls in the foothills of the Sierra Madre, not so much. The media, though I don’t think the public, is squeamish.
Now you gotta temper what I’m saying because what I don’t want to see is a burst of activity throughout the first week; the key is sustainability; walking down the hill toward the cows, not charging at them.
BorderReporter is not going away. When I hear of chismes, good tales or simply have a question, you can continue to look for them here. I’ll continue allowing unmoderated comments (so long as they don’t piss me off). And when there’s breaking news, I’ll put that up as well. But I’m going to greatly reduce the amount of time I spend on the site; I don’t yet know for how long.
So that’s where we’re at. As always, I’m open to ideas.
michael, why don’t you do something like Live Leak it’s doing? they allow people to upload videos of news and stuff like that, in there, you can open an account for free and people can upload videos of 100mb per upload, but if they want to upload in higher quality and longer videos, they sell you a premium membership and that way they allow you to upload 500mb per video, they sell memberships per month, if you buy a six month membership you get one month free, they give you two months free with a 12 month membership and they also sell a lifetime membership, i mean, i’m not saying that you have to do exactly what they are doing, since the border reporter it’s about news only, so the uploads would be only about news, and people could have the oportunity of commenting on those videos about, (is not like gay ass youtube) that method is really working for Live Leak, you should go to their site and check it out.
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$900 bucks per month is your goal…way to shoot for the stars you anti-capitalist!!! I’m in for $3 a month dude, but at least try to get half of your unique vistors a month dude, reward for your work, don’t sell yourself cheap man.
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You start charging..you lose half your visitors, but the ones that stay and pay up..and $3.00 is on the low scale..are the ones that have followed your writings con mucha anticipidad. I know personally that your site is spreading to the type of people who would not mind subscribing. There is no other border blog, writings , or chisme page like yours. Don’t get me wrong, I love free sites pero si la calidad esta presente – ay te voy. If you put in the time like you used to, and my guess is you will when you see the support, you will forget you worried about it.
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[...] in the same way one might say “I had to get up to change the channel?” Sigh … “Que vean que la tierra No se trago cualquier cosa” – borderreporter.com 08/06/2009 THE BORDER REPORTAs you’ve plainly been able to see, I’ve [...]
Why not get some donations from the Caro-Quintero org? Better yet I’m sure El Chapo wouldn’t mind paying a small fee for all of the exposure he gets here. Hell, he’s on the Forbes list.
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I’m in, I will pay. Do what you gotta do…..
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Everytime a site like this slows or goes ,they win, by they I mean the big Goverments,Narco org .Without the little guy who tells the real story,the masses haven’t got a clue,3 bucks is cheap
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I agree, I would pay the 3 per month, that is very inexpensive to get the information you give. I have a house in Mexico (Puerto Penasco) and live up in Phoenix, so you provide great info on what is really happening, in order for me to find this info, I have to hunt all over the internet and translate site into English (yes bad me I cannot speak Spanish), we need people like you to do the “real reporting” ….count me in if you go that way too….
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im in….but what about for those of us that live off the grid……i need to enter a pre-paid visa/MC card!!!! and what is it lately with people being sensitive about comments lately????
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I’m IN!!!!
Maybe you can ask some mexican Journalists to write some stories for Border Reporter…….the kind of things that they know but cant publish in Mexico. Obviously under an alias!!!
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For startes put up a paypal link so we can start pitching in with whaterver we can!!!
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I think $3 is too cheap. It even sounds cheap. I would make it maybe $25 and really deliver and make it bigger and better.
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YO!!! Elizabeth…….SSSSHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
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there goes my subcription!!!! :~(
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I’m in……
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Ilegal, hahahahhahahahaha
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BAMBAAAA pa la ELIZABETH!!!!!!!
Michel make her buy 12 subscriptions!!!!!!
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I’m in
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Hey Michel,
I have been following your blog since Christmas right before I went with my at the time girlfriend to Reynosa and if it wasn’t for your reporting I would of had no idea what to expect. Ever since I have checked your site daily to check for new content and I have been disappointed lately. BUT I AM HOOKED AND WILL PAY WHAT EVER YOUR CHARGE to get the quality of news, rumors you offer. Please reconsider your decision, I feel you have a great product with an enormous opportunity to gain capital for your endeavors.
IM WITH YOU
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I am willing for 5 a month, Michel like the others said dont sell yourself cheap…….alot of people corroborate information with your website,a and these people can surely afford more than three a month especially with their “GS” salaries……………haha keep up the good work and lets continue to fight the good fight!
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Silencio Chavela!!
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I have to say out of all the blogs I read, this one is probably the one I would pay an actual monthly subscription to help it keep going. It is a fantastic source of info.
Re: profitability, some places have gone over to free site/paid email combos, i.e. shorter synopsis go on the website to draw folks in, but the real stories go out in paid email. So there’s another model to consider.
Techdirt also recently worked up a patronage-esque model (Google ‘Techdirt connect with fans’) but it is still a very new experiment and I don’t think they have published any numbers re: income yet.
Metafilter’s model (website is open to all, but there is a $5 bar to entry to make comments/post stories/participate) is another model to consider. But since it’s a onetime fee, you have to hit very high signup numbers to keep it working, which can be hard to maintain.
Consider also banging out a book – or two – and using the site to drive sales that way.
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Count me in for a subscription. The quality of border reporting that happens here does not come close to anyone else out there.
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If your kicking around ideas Michel, how about this….$49.99 (odd amounts always get it) for a 1 year subscription. This would help get you kick started as you wait for more to join and pay down the way.
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I’m going to explore some of these different options; I’m liking the idea of putting the site behind a paywall more and more.
Basically, if I could focus on the site and let that earn what I’d need to cover the costs of reporting border news, that’s what I’ll do.
Reader-funded news; hunh; what a concept.
Looking at one news site that’s trying this, The Arizona Guardian, I notice they’re charging $30 a month per individual reader and $150 a month for professional accounts. http://www.arizonaguardian.com/az/index.php?option=com_jcs&view=jcs&layout=form&Itemid=54&sid=6,7,8&id=6,7,8
I guess I could charge Homeland Security agents, reporters and Sinaloa cartel associates $150 a month. We’ll give Teo’s people a break at, say, $100 even since he’s just starting out. Numeros gotta kick down; Zetas and Justice Department agents get the individual rate until they get it together. That sound fair? …
Okay, okay …
One thing to consider is the price. Yes, $3 a month is too low (eat it, Gallo. And LOL. And ilegal. Chale, que codos!).
We need to consider a fair price, one that allows me to sustain the site and allows readers to budget in.
In the meantime, we need to help the site grow. This is my Web site but your community. If I lose, you lose, it’s that simple. You gotta link, you gotta drop stories into the mainstream press, onto Web site aggregators, onto your Twitter and facebook accounts, anywhere you can. I’m serious about that. I’m going to start my Webmaster on templates for the paywall but I can’t move it forward it if I only have 30-40 people committing to pay. Unless you each wanna kick in $100 a month. Then, don’t worry about it.
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There has to be a Hunter S Thompson ‘gonzo journalism’ grant for stuff like this… (?)
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mike, you forgot about La Familia Michoacana, but since they are having some troubles $ right now, it looks like you are the one who’s gonna have to give them some cash, el derecho de piso, lol!!!!
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Dude. I said 3.00 was too low. You got the honey I got the money. Get to work and put the shit out. Were starving out here.
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At $3/month, dame dos.
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I have been reading this site for over a year, I find it very informative unlike papers like the repuglic. LOL had a good point, broaden your site to include the journalists that cant speak freely in Mexico. With donations towards this site and your hard work that would be awesome … I would pay
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i will also pay
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I’m in for 5 a month.
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Hola Michel, just a “voyeur” here – and an fyi comment to you personally to say that I appreciate the extent of your narco coverage (although as a human it often disheartens me to see how low humanity values itself and others). I’ve always gotten the feel from your voice in the reports how much you value Mexican culture/people (as do I) but find this new element to be, while mordidly fascinating, a threat to all of us on both sides. So kudos to your reporting and entourage. Not sure where I’ll be regards to subscription but just wanted to add that because I understand how diffcult logistically and financially these things are….welcome to motherhood! wink, wink…once you start something there is always something else to worry about.
To the other readers/regulars, I do enjoy your comments and hope that deep down your appetite for this type of news is tempered with your repulsion for what is means at a human level for all connected. Again, thanks for thorough reporting and please keep yourself safe no matter what new path your blog takes. The information helps keep perspective to potential travelers who might otherwise be unaware of what lurks where rich culture, nuturing madres and unique atmospheres formally did….the old Mexico had it’s issues but these days, ay Dios Mio, tanto viene del pinche diablo.
Que tengan buen camino todos ustedes. Buenas noches,,,Leticia
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If you establish a fee, be sure to include an option for more than $3.
I’m in for at least $10.
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Jack, I’ll see your $10. and raise you $2.
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I will pay.
Thank you for your insight and please be safe.
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I’m down to pay, but I need value. The more you charge the more material I want to see. The Homeland Security and ICE stories are good, but I need inside news on the narco frontlines. This is like the italian mafias of the late 80′s early 90′s and I don’t want to wait for “Goodfellas” to come out to get the stories. This site is great. My friends and family go to Mexico all the time and when I show them the stories and photos that this site provides their jaws drop. This site brings journalism that NOBODY else can provide. Ever since Obama went to Mexico back in April, local and national news has ignored what is happening down south. This is a great free site, but if your charging my expectations are going to change as well. However is goes, thanks for what you have done… Great read
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as a former long haired penchi pocho who dabbled in the bizz back in the day running smoke with back packs and 450 desert master husquvarnas across the deserts of az,nm and tejas. its intresting to me to see how things have changed from long haired independents and the free mexican airforce to the blood lust of today. well you cant put the geni back in the bottle and who knows what the real answer is. but your web site is with out a doubt my fav. I still travel from nor cal to Nayarit and Michocan and BAJA enjoy the surf, people and the country I feel a certin kinda freedom in mex that I dont feel in the states anymore. and yes the DEA ended my carear. all though I feel some of them are just as crooked as the people they deal with. I could tell you some good storys, time served and lesons learned moveing foward. and as for the pay site well not all of us are made of gold but I would be willing to pay a little something. but most of all BE CAREFULL some of those people have no sence of humor down there. keep up the good work and Im sure things will work themselves out. peace.
PS Ive clicked on your avertisments but I guess that wasnt enough bummer.
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I like this website. I am new to it. I am from Tijuana, BC. I have read a few of the articles, great journalism. Keep up the good work.
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Hola Michel, Me too…what they said. Well, not about paying $25, but your plan is a good one and you’re doing a good job.
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Holy crap – now I want to see an interview with El Surfer
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You do amazing work with what you have. You need a 2-3 man operation to pump out the content in sufficient volume to make people want to pay. Also, I wouldn’t dismiss the idea of fundraising from your readership. I think subscribers would be just as hard to come by as donations once a quarter or so. Quarterly haranguing to a big enough audience might raise enough to keep you going. I would also think about fundraising around specific projects. You could plan a series on the Beltran Leyva Bros’ choice of private school for their children or some such storyline and harangue until you meet your $10,000 budget required to produce it. The only success I have had in raising funds was when I had a specific project that I could pitch and people could respond to on a personal level. As if they were personally invested in producing and consuming the project …
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i used to read el narco but this site is better, i enjoy ur articles and if u charge 3 bucks im in, just remeber some cartels dnt like to much exposure be careful KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND BE SAFE!!!
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