Jeecamp: The future of news is DIY

Kyle McRae

Knowing “when to pack up and when to grind on”. Two of the lessons passed on to journalism entrepreneurs by Scoopt founder Kyle McRae.

Kyle’s keynote speech at Friday’s Jeecamp  event went through the rollercoaster story of how his attempt to break into the picture agency market by giving users a one-stop service for selling their pictures to national newspapers. In what was the first high-profile attempt to monetise UGC, the agency was later bought (then closed) by the giants in the field, Getty images. While selling the business had been Kyle’s business plan all along, it was a bitter-sweet success leaving Kyle frustrated with lack of power he had to develop the site.

This desire to be in control, to shape the future and develop your own site/blog/service/app or whatever was the driving force behind the many projects discussed at the event.

Jeecamp

There were hyperlocal initiatives aplenty and even one print newspaper offering (yes paper!) bravely making an appearance in this largely digital environment.

Events such as Jeecamp give those of us concerned about finding ways to ensure journalism remain relevant going forward with the chance to learn from others’ successes and, perhaps more importantly, failures.

But there’s always a risk that too much introspection and hand-wringing can push us into an ever decreasing spiral of gloom, unable to look up and spot the opportunities opening up all around as the established order is thrown into flux.

As Kyle so succinctly put it, “I’m still convinced there’s lots of opportunities  in journalism to build something. I’d say remove yourself, stop following Jeff Jarvis and all the other pundits.

“I’m not sure there’s a choice other than to be an entrepreneur in journalism – it’s probably the best, and possibly the only, opportunity.”

Perhaps now’s the perfect time to burst out of the bubble.

• An aggregation of all the Jeecamp coverage can be found here - and well done to all the Birmingham students who liveblogged throughout, quite a marathon.