What Florida newspapers could learn from Peter Schorsch
08/27/2013
While Florida newspapers are struggling to woo back
advertising, newspaper owners and editors remain oblivious to the obvious. Some
of them might want to have a chat with Peter Schorsch.
Schorsch has just launched Context Florida – basically a website featuring columns from a wide variety of Floridians. He did not have the idea first. Instead, he picked up the pieces of Florida Voices, an ambitious effort that ultimately failed because the founders struggled to find enough advertisers.
In that failure, Schorsch sees opportunity. He has kept many of the original writers and editors. And he is adding more. He also has a track record for bringing in advertising.
This is not the first time that Schorsch has capitalized on someone else’s idea. Not long ago he created Sunburn – a daily compendium of political news stories that are emailed free to subscribers. It is a nearly an exact copy of the popular Politico Playbook by Mike Allen. Schorsch even chatted with the folks at Politico about his idea to offer a Florida version.
The cornerstone of Schorsch’s mini internet empire is SaintPetersBlog. Through sheer pluck, he turned that blog into a must-read in the St. Petersburg area. He later pushed hard to make himself a presence in Tallahassee.
He is shameless. He is brash. He is combative. He apparently never sleeps.
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