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Maybe Dave Eggers Can Save Newspapers

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

Posted Jun 9, 2009 5:10 PM CDT

(Newser) – Dave Eggers, author, editor, and professed lover of print, is hatching a plan to save newspapers. Or at least a modern version of them. Eggers tells the Rumpus that he and his crew at McSweeney's will publish their version of a daily newspaper in September. It will exist for one day only but will include a business plan that can be replicated by others across the country. The general idea: Small paper, high quality.

"The business model will be a bit different than some of the bigger papers, but the emphasis on investigative journalism, and great writing, on the best photography and design—all that will still be there," says Eggers, who's also got a non-fiction book coming out about Hurricane Katrina. Zeitoun follows the story of a Syrian-American who stayed in the city during the storm and helped others afterward via canoe.

[Images (1)]

[Quotes (1)]

Author Dave Eggers in 2001 file photo. (AP Photo/Susan Ragan, file)

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My admittedly strange opinion is that we need to try harder with print. ... Inevitably there will be some loss of newspaper readership, but even that will stabilize. Not everyone wants all their news online.
- Dave Eggers

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 3 comments

Nwambe

Jun 9, 2009 11:26 AM CDT

Well see, the problem is that Dave Eggers is an untalented schlemiel. His "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" was an overexaggerated, self-indulgent piece of crap. I tried reading it but I couldn't get past the martyr complex of the writer. With that in mind, is he necessarily the best to be saving newspapers?

polstroad

Jun 9, 2009 10:24 AM CDT

papers need two things to survive: subscribers (buyers) and ads, lots of ads...how does DE plan to get ads?

kokuaguy

Jun 9, 2009 10:21 AM CDT

I read the source piece just because I was curious to find about "the Rumpus." Every opinion and initiative helps.

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Eggers also has a movie out
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Lifestyle • Media

Hurricane Katrina • New Orleans • publishing • McSweeney's • Dave Eggers • newspaper industry • print • Zeitoun

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