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Huertas: Developing the next generation BOGOTA, Colombia -- Independent news media in Latin America often lack the financial resources to act as a counterweight to the political powers and multinational businesses in the region. But these media, many of them digital natives, have found that by banding together they can multiply their scarce resources and magnify their impact beyond their borders to challenge these powers. One example is a platform for journalists interested in investigative journalism, Connectas.org, based in Bogota, which organizes training and operates a collaboration hub for investigative journalists (in Spanish, ConnectasHub), offers grants of up to $3,000 , and publishes investigative projects from all over the region. Versi�n en espa�ol The founder and director of Connectas, Carlos Eduardo Huertas , told me in an interview that the goal of the platform is to "pull together a new generation of journalists with training in practical methods of doing in-depth...

Forget about the big numbers of total page views per month or unique users per month. Fans are engaged and willing to give their time and money. Those numbers are misleading and meaningless. They had meaning only in the days when the media business depended on mass media , massive audiences , and products aimed at the masses . That was when the news media depended on advertising. Today the business of media is all about touching potential customers with personalized, customized messages. It's about identifying the small number of people who are truly fans of your publication or the stars on your team. It's about strengthening the emotional attachment people have to your brand and its mission. How the big numbers mislead us In their very successful campaign to reach 1 million paid subscriptions for their digital-only edition, the Washington Post learned that the users most likely to subscribe came to their site three times a month . Read more �