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To say the least, 2008 proved a difficult year for newspapers in many nations. Rising printing and distribution costs, waning circulations and fragmented audiences continued to challenge a business model that seems increasingly outdated. And despite many promising advancements made by newspaper companies in Internet and mobile, revenues remain far behind those of print.

But the news is far from all negative. Below is some food for thought for newsroom executives everywhere, ways in which newspapers began adapting to the modern media landscape in 2008 that will continue through 2009.

INTERNET TRENDS BECOMING NEW TOOLS FOR JOURNALISM
2008 saw the continued proliferation of social and professional networking sites Facebook and LinkedIn, with newspapers and journalists, with newspapers and journalists, such as the New York Times well-known columnist Nicholas Kristof, creating their own profiles, applications and connecting with new audiences. User-Generated Content (UGC) continued to gather speed as well, with CNN's iReport in the US and LePost in France among many others around the world. A December report by the Bivings Group also noted that 58% of US newspapers now use some form of UGC.

But the biggest social media revelation to journalists came in the form of 140 characters. The social site, Twitter, which allows users to post short messages for all to see, officially became a widespread tool for journalists in 2008. For example, journalists covering the US Presidential Elections took live notes from conventions and rallies that readers could follow and that also helped to shape those journalists' main story. During the Mumbai terrorist attacks, "tweets", or Twitter messages, appeared as the first news of the attacks. Twitter feeds can also be aggregated, bringing all angles of those covering a certain event into one, comprehensible, instantly-updated record.

Another Internet trend is the "Personalized Web", evoked by newspaper experiments such as MyTimes and start-ups such as Netvibes that provide customizable pages based on RSS feeds and widgets. Arguably the boldest example of personalized news is the BBC's revamped homepage, released in March 2008, which allows users to create their own page based on the BBC information they use most. But personalized news seems to be picking up more slowly than social media. For one thing, Internet users are used to getting the information they seek from many Web pages and may not yet be ready to create their own pages. Secondly, search engines still rule, meaning that traffic to most news sites continues to come through Google, its competitors and their various news and alerts functions. So a customizable homepage like the BBC created, which could ultimately prove a competitor to search engines, remains to become a habit of the general Internet public.  

Personalized news and social media are just two examples of all of the innovation that is occurring in digital media. As technologies continue to rapidly develop, how are journalists and publishers going to keep up? Is it worth learning to use all of these tools if six months down the line they prove to be a fad? Are these technologies hurting or helping newsrooms gather and report news?

Chances are, in 2009 journalists everywhere will continue to experiment with the latest digital fads, and smart newsrooms will set aside R&D funds to play around with new ideas. Who knows? Despite predictions that 2009 will be a difficult year for newspapers, with a lot of hard work, calculated risk and a bit of luck, the industry could find the online golden egg that it has been seeking.

PROLIFERATION OF ONLINE-ONLY NEWS SITES
Perhaps filling in for the difficulties of the print product, more high-profile Internet-based sites began popping up in 2008. Perhaps most notably, The Huffington Post, launched in the summer of 2005, has already jumped to one of the US' top-30 news sites, bolstered by the US Presidential Elections, according to Nielsen Online. Media pundit, entrepreneur and Rupert Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff trumpeted the late-'07 launch of his news aggregator Newser as a "revolution in how people get their news." One year after Wolff's launch, he gained a competitor in Tina Brown, a former Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor, who launched her own, rapidly growing online-only site, The Daily Beast, a mixture of aggregated and original articles. And these are only the high-profile, American examples.

The relatively low overhead costs of launching an online-based site combined with the ease of aggregating content and news commentary means that this trend will surely continue in 2009. But there is one problem with the sites mentioned above. Aggregation and commentary can only go so far: in an online environment, what happens to the investigative journalism that newspapers have provided for the past two centuries?

NOT-FOR-PROFIT JOURNALISM
Investigative journalism is expensive to produce. Money-wise, it has always been a loss-leader for newspapers. But with modern-day information ubiquity, investigative journalism is just a loss. Whereas once newspapers could claim ownership of a groundbreaking piece and sell papers and advertising around it, now readers are often unaware of the original source of the story they are reading on the Web. So what is going to happen to the type of watchdogging we need for democracy?

Several non-profit start-ups have begun to answer that question. In late 2007, former newspaper editor, Joel Kramer, took his print expertise and moved it online with the launch of the non-profit Minnpost.com. Former WSJ editor Paul Steiger did something similar with ProPublica. The Voice of San Diego, and other similar sites around the US, are making a name for themselves as "serious, original reporting by professional journalists," with the New York Times declaring the sites "stand out" amongst Internet news sites. Crowdsourcing site OfftheBus, a partnership between the Huffington Post and the non-profit NewAssignment.net, helped capture the 2008 Elections and the Knight News Challenge winner Spot.Us is collecting donations from the public to fund investigative stories. Even former Merrill Lynch newspaper analyst Lauren Rich Fine backed the non-profit model in 2008.

With this in mind, are the days of major metropolitan and national newspapers digging up the dirt on businessmen and politicians over? For the time being, no. But newsrooms everywhere are under extreme economic pressures and have been cutting core staff, making it even more difficult for newspapers to conduct the type of investigative journalism their communities need. Don't be surprised if more non-profit (no dividends to shareholders), Internet based (low operating costs) ventures spring up to fill the gaps.

COMPETING NEWSPAPERS PARTNERING UP
As many newspaper newsrooms are cutting staff, wire services should be in greater demand than ever. But 2008 saw a backlash against the world's biggest news agency, the Associated Press, by its members. Several publishers handed in their notice to the non-profit agency partially in response to price hikes and complaining of low value for their money.

In response to the AP mini-exodus, some papers, even those in competition with one another, began joining forces. Papers in Ohio and Florida whose geographical coverage overlaps are swapping stories and even combining bureaux. Not only will this help the papers save money, but it frees up time for reporters to cover issues not being covered elsewhere. In the current economic climate, this trend will continue, but not without its effects on the industry.

Some traditional news hounds would argue that two papers covering similar stories in a certain region add depth and uncover more facts that may otherwise be lost to readers. This may be true. But is it really worth having two reporters on the scene to gather one or two more different pieces of information when there may be other stories elsewhere? And what about the multitude of photojournalists that different organizations send to press conferences and like events where the story subjects don't move much? Is it really worth sending all of those photogs? Couldn't photos just be shared? Without a doubt, these are questions that cash-strapped publishers and editors are asking themselves right now. Expect to see more cross-corporation cooperation in 2009.

IS PRINT REALLY THREATENED?
We've said it before and we'll say it again: print is not going to die. But, considering the trend of the past year, print's reach will be considerably reduced, at least in Western nations.

During the last few months of 2008, publishers' struggle to maintain the high costs of printing and distribution has become apparent. In October, The Christian Science Monitor, a beacon of quality American journalism, announced that it would stop printing its daily edition. In mid-December, the Detroit Free Press, which recently won a broadcast award, decided to limit home delivery to Friday's and weekends while trimming the daily single-copy sale paper to one section. Most recently, the American Society of Newspaper Editors is considering dropping "paper" from its name.

What do these cuts mean for the news"paper" industry? As circulations drop across the Western world, it could mean substantial savings. Weekday papers often make a loss to begin with, so cutting the costs of printing those papers should cover any lost advertising revenue in those same papers.

Perhaps the question publishers should be asking themselves is "Do cutbacks on the paper product matter to readers"? Well, cutbacks will certainly change the face of the newspaper industry. But in the end, media houses are in the news "distribution" business, not the news"paper" business. As long as their news is published, media houses will have completed their service to the public.

With the evidence growing that readers want customisation instead of pre-packaged portfolios, the newspaper sector is challenged to develop alternative publishing formats (see Part 1 and Part 2 of our eReader series). A recent McKinsey survey (August 2007 newsletter) revealed the growing habit of 'brand promiscuity', with consumers using up to 16 different news sources weekly. Moreover, readers classified internet as much more useful compared to established media such as print. Modern news junkies go for convenience, comprehensiveness and timeliness rather than the traditional quality standards.

Is the print industry taking up the challenge? Not really. When it comes to using the Net, many newspapers feel more comfortable with direct transfer of existing copy onto the new medium. Companies like NewspaperDirect make a business out it; from next year on this company will start its PressDisplay news portal for delivery of associated papers on e-readers, tapping directly into the pre-print workflow and keeping the trusted appearance.

Not surprisingly, the innovative formats come from media outsiders. These startups have one thing in common, they believe in the electronic newspaper as a composite product, made up of a variety of professional and non-professional sources, tailored to the requirements and profiles of the individual news consumer. The New York-based start-up Daylife, which experiments with new editorial and financial models for online news, offers a mix of traditional and innovative formats for news distribution. A range of reputed titles is already using this platform for additional content delivery, but the site itself features an attractive and constantly updated news overview, produced by an amalgamation of contributors. Already closer to the network-driven medium of the future is FeedJournal, an RSS syndicating newspaper producing a digital daily building on defined user preferences. A comparable initiative, but now based on profile-steered net-crawling, is Newser. This service delivers summaries of hot news from across the globe and links to the original stories. The Radus New Media Platform follows the same philosophy, be it that additionally social networking sites are integrated: Personal highlights blend in with world events.

The aggregation game is on - so much is clear. But these applications don't change the content itself. Ultimately, the very nature of news needs to be reexamined and adjusted to the principles of digital delivery. Research at the Poynter Institute pointed out that alternative story forms are more effective than classical narrative, especially in an electronic information context. An equally interesting study was conducted by Associated Press. AP worked out 'A New Model for News' after observing the reading habits of a group of young-adults, the generation that has meanwhile grown up with or migrated to the Net. The study demonstrated that consumers are accessing the news from a range of different entry points, as much by chance as by design. The need for multiple entry points challenges the conventional container approach and article architecture. The AP model moves news into a new space - a universe of stories made up from different spheres, each ranging in size and scope (facts, updates, back stories, spin offs) - and readers interacting with story particles from different entry points and platforms. What these 'spheres' exactly should look like needs to worked out in practice.

One project exploring the journalistic formats for multi-entry news is the Dutch MePaper project. In a design studio jointly manned by journalists and researchers, key concepts are being developed and tested with proofreader panels. The project uses the term 'collection' to describe the journalistic raw material of the digital era, a loosely defined and ever changing combination of story elements. Quite a contrast with the well-defined nature of the standard article. News collections can be combined into news clouds, according to readers' general preferences and actual reading habits. This leads to four types of newspapers based on:
1. the editor's choice
2. the personal profile
3. the reading pattern of the preferred social network
4. the most read stories at a given time.
While reading, you can switch from one type of newspaper to another. The traditional line up of story titles is replaced by revolving cylinders in which stories, pictures and video are grouped according to theme or genre. In the test groups, the net-native proof readers almost intuitively roamed the presented information space.

Clearly there will be more solutions and design principles popping up. The main thing is that newspaper publishers stop with the easy repackaging and start digging for authentic formats which fully exploit the vast opportunities of electronic news delivery. Things can only get better, eh?

Director of the Euorpean Centre for Digital Communications and long-time journalist, Jan Bierhoff is currently conducting studies on e-reader technology and the consumer trends that will define their use.

De Telegraaf, one of the Netherlands' leading newspapers, is aggressively moving ahead with its multi-platform publication strategy with the launch of a new Java application on 15 December and a new real-time stock quote service.

Lara Ankersmitt, Telegraaf.nl's Publisher, contacted the Editors Weblog to talk about De Telegraaf's new offering, charging for content, and attracting female users in The Netherlands.

Java application - building on growth

De Telegraaf has seen approximately 40% growth in the number of users accessing its mobile content over the past year since it redesigned its mobile site. Ankersmitt firmly believes that improving the user experience on the mobile platform is crucial to its success: "At the beginning of this year we redesigned the whole mobile site to get a better user experience and that has really worked. After the redesign we saw a growth in users and the time they spent on the site. People were reading more and more."  To maintain this momentum, De Telegraaf is launching a new Java application - after several months of testing - to improve the user experience on mobile and expand on the content provided.

What is also assisting this rapid growth in mobile take-up is mobile operators' introduction of a flat-fee subscription for the Internet on mobiles, costing approximately €10 a month. This reduction in cost has democratised the consumption of mobile content, moving it away from being a tool for just business people. "A few years ago most of the mobile traffic accessed financial news and came from Blackberries and that kind of device. However, since the mobile flat fee was introduced we have seen more normal phone traffic - such as Samsung and Nokia - and more traffic to our entertainment and news sections. The user group is expanding... Finance is still the most important user group, but this is changing."

The Java application will undoubtedly improve the user experience as it will make reading De Telegraaf content on a mobile similar to the user experience on the Internet. With this new application, people will be able to surf and navigate rather than simply scroll. It will contain all the same content as the Internet and digital version of the daily newspaper itself without cost (barring internet and an initial one-off cost).

However, there are legitimate concerns about how consumers will react to this new application. Users will have to request an SMS from De Telegraaf in order to download Java before they can access the new Java platform, furthermore they will have to a pay for the SMS on top of the usual cost of Internet access. These may seem like small issues, but they could prove to be significant. The Internet platform has been popular because it makes getting your daily news fix very easy. Consumers may find downloading Java too fiddly or time consuming for something that they can already get on their laptop or PC. Ankersmitt is aware of this, and it is part of the reason that after the initial one-off cost, the service will be free.

Gaining the technological knowledge

De Telegraaf works with an outside mobile consultancy company - Service2Media - and Ankersmitt believes that this is vital. Service2Media built the site, hosts it, and gives the newspaper knowledge on mobile. She reports, "We of course know everything about bringing people the news and we know what our readers like and dislike, and (Surface2Media) brings the technical expertise and shows us what is ahead for mobile. They help us with the strategy: when we should launch and when a technology will move into the mainstream" This relationship helps De Telegraaf plan strategically for the future and plan what its next move for its mobile platform will be. "Working with them helped us see the possibilities of mobile."

How do users consume mobile news?

De Telegraaf has been analysing user activity of its mobile platform, and has noticed significant differences between its mobile and website. The mobile platform usage peaks during the evening and is relatively flat and consistent during the day. On the website usage peaks during the day and declines during the evening. This study into user activity resulted in De Telegraaf keeping its website not only continually updated during the day, but also well into the evening.

Attracting female readers in a difficult market

Newspapers in The Netherlands do not traditionally tailor content for female readers, but De Telegraaf last year launched a magazine called "Woman" and following this launched a section on its Website dedicated to female readers. Other news providers who have launched this Java application are attracting approximately a 5% female readership, but De Telegraaf is already attracting up to 30%. This data reflects that De Telegraaf is rapidly moving towards attracting the same demographic split on its Mobile site as on its Website and print edition (approximately 54% male readership and 46% female readership). This female content will also be made available this week on the mobile platform.

Real-time news service

Alongside the introduction of the Java application, De Telegraaf is launching a real-time financial news service, whereby bond and share prices and graphics will be updated in real-time from all bourses.  This information will be available on the mobile site in the first quarter of next year, but it was launched last week on the website. Reuters is providing this information to De Financial Telegraaf (DFT).

The future - can news providers charge for content?

The big question facing all news organisations is how to monetise these new platforms. At this stage it does not look like advertising revenue will generate enough income to support the operation of running a newsroom: so what can newspapers do? De Telegraaf is considering testing the charging-for-content waters early next year. "We are thinking of launching some iPhone applications and maybe we will charge for these if we see success on the Java application. The user experience at the moment is OK. It's not brilliant because mobile is so small and there is a lot of scrolling for the user. There are two things: we want to get as many people as possible to download the Java application and we want to see if, and how, people are using it so w can learn from this. We will then use this knowledge to introduce something further down the line for the iPhone." Ankersmitt reports. Ankersmitt feels that there is scope for charging on the mobile platform if the user experience is good enough, but De Telegraaf has no plans for charging for its website content. Ankersmitt says on the issue, "I don't think it is realistic to charge people for the Website news because news they can get everywhere for free. So it is no use to us to charge people for reading our news. We have to make money from advertising."

Lesson learned

De Telegraaf moved into the mobile arena back in 2001, the whole process has been a steep learning curve for the broadsheet but it has so far navigated these uncharted waters successfully. To other newspapers considering entering the mobile arena, Ankersmitt says, "Think of how you can extend your brand with this new platform and find a good partner who can serve you for all the technical needs. It is vital to have a good and knowledgeable technical partner, we have one person focusing on the mobile platform, but our partner had 40 people focusing on it. They are always ahead of us technically speaking. Really think what you want to bring to this platform and what kind of news you want to present."

James O'Shea, ex-editor of the Los Angeles Times, believes that future of newspapers depends on public trust.  He believes that newspapers will continue to exist, but that the real question is "what kind of journalism will we have in the newspapers that manage to survive the current wave of circulation and advertising declines plaguing the industry."

He brings up a recent interview with Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell who believes that "the newspaper industry truly still doesn't understand that it is in a business with customers and the business must reflect the needs and demands of the customer. And to the extent that we don't do that, we will disappear."  O'Shea does not believe in Zell's philosophy because of "how that vision is applied in newsrooms he controls."

Helium is an online company that describes itself as, "the online spot to learn what you need to know and share what you know." It combines citizen journalism with peer rating in order to provide a plethora of articles on just about any topic.

Helium brings together a system of news and information combined with a place to submit articles. It even has a "marketplace" where publishers can post topics for people to write about - sort of like a publishers à la carte classified space.

It is a place for readers to find articles that interest them, writers to write about topics that they know and understand, publishers to find articles and non-profits to voice their issues.

It is a unique system of sharing content, ideas and knowledge. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Helium, if the current system will hold up and retain its credibility.

The Editors Weblog interviewed Peter Newton, the VP of business development at Helium.com to get a better idea of how the site works and what their goals are for the future. Newton has worked at Monster.com and The Boston Globe where he was the vice president of advertising.

EW: What is your selection process for articles and writers?

PN: Helium represents the first true meritocracy in the publishing industry. Helium welcomes anyone and everyone to join its community of writers.

We don't select writers; they naturally come to the site and write to areas in which they have an interest (in many cases, a passion) in sharing their knowledge or opinion. Once members join, their work is evaluated by other members though our peer-review rating system.  In essence, Helium brings order to the chaos of user generated content. Its patented peer review rating engine elevates the best quality articles.

After a writer submits an article, he/she is presented with two anonymous articles in the same topic area to rate in an "A versus B" comparison. Through the wisdom of the crowds, the best articles rise to the top, resulting in a rank-ordered list for every topic.

The end result is that the best writers are promoted, recognized and rewarded for their work.

New titles are introduced onto the Helium site through members, partners and directly by Helium staff.

EW: Where do you draw the line between journalist and citizen journalist?  What about between citizen journalist and blogger?

PN: Citizen Journalism is a very awkward term. Quality journalism demands its participants to be objective, ethical and methodical. Research, fact checking and skillful interviewing techniques are critical to the art. It's not obvious that what we are starting to call citizen journalism possesses any of these traits. I'm certain that the Columbia School of Journalism doesn't teach that the art of being a world class journalist is to be in the right place at the right time. Citizen Journalism seems to be migrating to each individual's "15 minutes of fame" and further and further away from journalism. It might be fun to watch - but so were the lions and Christians in the Roman Coliseum.

With that said, Helium is not really concerned with categorizing or labeling different types of writers.  We have created a platform for people to express themselves in writing across a wide variety of topics in a civilized and substantive way, and then have the community sort for quality.

Helium is a site for writers that fills a unique role in the publishing industry. In doing so, we are representing a new classification of online writers.

Our community of members includes professional writers, freelancers, subject matter experts, students and the expert next-door.

We are not attempting to replace investigative journalism or time sensitive reporting. Instead, Helium attracts and produces individuals who have the skill and insight on specific topics that they wish to share with others.

EW: Do you feel that the status of being an "expert" or a "professional journalist" is becoming less important?

PN: No, there will always be a need for professional journalists, especially in covering breaking news or conducting investigative journalism, and Helium is definitely not out to undermine established journalists or copywriters.

Instead, we are trying to expand the ranks of paid writers to include part-time talent that otherwise would be sitting fallow.

Our media solutions product offers newspapers a way for them to supplement what remains of their editorial staff, but is in effect driving down their content-creation costs. We are merely tapping into the notion of "social publishing," in which publishers ask their readership to contribute content.

EW: Do you apply any regulations for topics? style? content? etc...

PN: Yes, Helium has established regulations for topics, style, and acceptable content.

Beyond providing clarity to our members, the community is self moderating. Every new article submitted to Helium is rated by other members. The best content rises to the top. Our members often message each other with advice as to how to improve articles and items that don't fit the standards of the site are removed.

EW: Do you see a shift towards more citizen journalism in news reporting? Both online and print?  How will this affect the future of professional freelancers? Is it going to put a dent in the freelance market?

PN: When you say "news reporting", let's be clear that our focus is not breaking news or conducting investigative journalism.  With that said, there is a growing paradigm shift in content creation; publishers are increasingly sourcing content, not writers. As for how this will impact freelancers no one can say for sure but one thing is for sure-there will always be demand for quality writing.

EW: Can a person make a living from putting material on Helium the same way a freelance gains income?

PN: The short answer is no.  But with that said, there are thousands of Helium members who earn from $40-$100 each month, which is much more than chump change. In fact, some of Helium's highest earning members have made more than $3,000. It really depends on how much members use the site.

Earlier this month, Helium announced upfront payments for all new articles being written by starred writers on Helium.com. This change to Helium's Terms of Service is a move to reward the site's highest quality writers and to promote quality content at Helium.com.  In addition, the company's popular Marketplace product - used by publishers looking for top-notch content for their publications - now offers special access to the site's best writers. The move will improve content for Helium's publishing partners and help ensure that the site's best writers will be seen by those publishers.  

Many web 2.0 companies offer opportunity for incremental income. With these changes at Helium, highly-rated writers will have an opportunity to earn larger sums for sharing their expertise with the Helium community.

"Helium has grown by leaps and bounds these last two years; it has earned the respect of people and writers around the world," said Petra Newman, a 3-star writer on Helium.com "With the sky falling on our economy, Helium has again found a "pièce de résistance" for people who already have a passion for writing. Increasing the earnings for well-written articles is a win-win situation for both Helium and writers."

EW: What newspapers or websites do you work with?    

PN: Currently Helium is working with GateHouse Media's State Journal-Register(SJ-R) in Springfield, Ill. SJ-R recently begun using Helium's "Media Solutions" product to source writers for its op ed section-there are currently over 700 additional papers in the active funnel.

We also provide content for a wide a variety of other newspapers, magazines, online-only sites, etc.

EW: What about your competition? Who are they?

PN: As a producer of content and as a publisher of content, we compete with thousands of companies, yet in most ways, we have no competition.

That said, we really don't see anyone that directly competes with us, in terms of delivering a scalable solution to engage a community to produce high quality content.  

EW: Where do you see yourself in relation to news organizations such as the AP or the New York Times?

PN: The New York Times is the New York Times. Helium is not attempting to create a competitor to breaking news.  

EW: Where does a site like Helium envision itself in the future? How do you grow / expand ?

PN: Helium is rapidly building the world's largest community of writers. We plan to grow and expand the business in a number of ways over the next five years:

• Become the partner of choice to the publishing, non profit and broadcast industries for generating quality content at a low cost, while helping engage their audience in the process.

• Become the content source for any entity needing quality content.

• Expand internationally; international business represents 60% additional market opportunity

• Create a community of micro publishers

By now the world knows who was elected the 44th US President - they may have found out online or followed television coverage throughout election night. However, the following morning, it was newsstands that made the headlines, selling more copies of newspapers than had ever been sold previously.

While publishers realized that there would be an increased demand, they didn't realize how much. Major newspapers were forced to rapidly order more copies, selling out in the early morning.  Is this a sign of things to come for the print business, or is it just a sign of the significance of the election and nothing more?