According to
Universal Hub, Former EIC of the now defunct
BostonNow,
John Wilpers, is seeking global bloggers for
GlobalNews Enterprises. As GNE’s Director of Global Blog Development (fancy sounding, eh?), Wilpers is teaming up with local TV exec and
NECN founder
Phil Balboni and former Globe publisher Benjamin Taylor, among other
notables, to form the “first fully web-based news organization to provide daily coverage of international news.” They plan to get 70 bloggers on board from around the world. While their site won't be up until early 2009, you can
register in the mean time as a future subscriber or contributor. Don’t be intimidated by GNE's impressive Nova-esque graphics; if you’re interested in writing, contact them.
Wilpers is known in Boston for his work with
TAB,
Metro, and
AOL's Boston CityGuide and has also worked with the Washington
Examiner. He was EIC for BostonNOW for its first eight months in 2007 and then served as a consultant. The paper went under in April of 2008 when its main Icelandic backer, Baugur Group, pulled the plug due to poor foreign credit markets (a little bit of foreshadowing that hits close to home).
Although BostonNow was frequently
slammed for its outrageous, often
tabloid content and antics, it was the
first US print paper to publish local blog content and to seek out and recruit bloggers. Even with the paper’s random and disjointed organization, its influence is undeniable. Since the publication's brief run excerpts from blogs are now printed in many papers, including Metro and The Boston Globe to name a few. Many heavy-hitter
publications even have their own staff blogs (cough cough, Fringe?). BostonNow, despite its flaws, played a part in that.
I’m interested to see how GNE develops and whether it will be successful as BostonNow once planned to be. You can read more on Wilpers' thoughts on the evolution of blogging and its importance in the print world
here.
What to do with all those rejection slips? I know—bathroom wallpaper, bird nest offering, papier-mâché craftastic something-or-other, ugh. Or, you could send ANY 10 of those hoarded rejections (I know you're saving them for some sadistic reason because I am too) to Marginalia with $1 and receive an (almost free!) issue of Marginalia Magazine for your perusal. It's like positive publishing karma. Thanks to Brevity for the tip.
