The argument over the utility of open source has one more voter in the yes camp. This time, it’s the Journal Register Company, a U.S. newspaper chain with 170 publications.
Calling it the Ben Franklin Project, the company tried open source for a month. Things went so well it decided to make it permanent and company-wide for its 18 daily newspapers and their websites.
In a somewhat cutesy press release, the company declares its “independence from proprietary publishing systems.”
Newspapers have seen a sustained drop in readership, and therefore in revenues, over the last half-decade. The ability to cut cost on something as elemental as production, by dropping expensive proprietary software, is exciting. But so is watching a company in an allegedly change-resistant sector see the light bulb go off over its head.
“The Ben Franklin Project not only proves that websites and newspapers can be freed from the restraints of legacy, proprietary publishing systems, but also heralds the potential of an open and transparent news-gathering process. The Project allowed audience members to help shape editorial story budgets through crowd sourcing.”
Ben photo by Mark Skrobola
