Editors Weblog: Search Results

Not on the wires - mobile and online journalism project launch

Posted by Helena Humphrey on February 3, 2010 at 3:45 PM

Journalism.co.uk reports that the website for not on the wires, a digital reporting social enterprise, has now gone live.

The multimedia cooperative of five journalists believe their chances of success and depth of involvement in covering event-based news stories are increased by working in collaboration - individually they are accomplished freelancers with varied areas of expertise.

French press distribution company to get government subsidy?

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 19, 2010 at 4:08 PM

The French government is considering subsidies for France's number one press distribution company Presstalis, Le Figaro reports.

French Prime Minister François Fillon has assigned the delicate task to Inspector-General of Finances Bruno Mettling. He will consider the conditions under which exceptional state support could be granted.

'Run, Poland, run!' and 'Poland rides a bike' - How a newspaper could put a nation on the run. And make some profits

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 15, 2010 at 11:16 AM

When newspapers run community events, it's important to stay committed to the convictions of the paper, says Marcin Gadzinski, editor of Sport.pl/Gazeta Wyborcza in Poland, speaking at the WAN-IFRA conference 'Using sports news to optimise your revenues'. Get that right first, and profit will follow, he adds.

His paper, which runs some sporting events, is no. 2 in Poland in terms of circulation, and likes to get involved in social issues and public advocacy campaigns. People all around Poland work for the paper, so it's helpful to use their contacts to organise activities.

They were not very successful when putting sports content on the web, he says, so in 2007 Sport.pl was launched, a strictly internet sports brand. They added online-only features rather than seeing it as a way to promote newspaper content. In 2009 the paper jumped from the number 5 to the number 2 sports website in Poland, with 5 million unique users a month. Plus, every Monday the paper publishes a Sport.pl-branded section.

How to manage sports betting for a media group?

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 15, 2010 at 9:20 AM

Sports betting is a very fashionable topic, says Christian Kalb, the founder of CK Consulting, France, speaking at the WAN-IFRA conference 'Using sports news to optimise your revenues'. Sports have always hoped to benefit from new sources of revenue and sports betting is one opportunity to do so, he adds.

He points out that gaming revenue, the total amount of money that people have bet, is not all profit. Gaming operators have to pay taxes, and these vary widely between countries. When this is taken into account, total sports gaming revenue is around €400-500 million globally.

Today, thanks to the internet, there are no borders, he says. People can gamble in a more interactive way with more forms of betting, including live betting, which enables bets to be placed even after the game starts. The number one target is young urban active males, a little more affluent than others and more likely to bet. Even in the most evolved markets, though, gaming operators can reach no more than 13-14% of the population. Only one country is higher - Finland at 20-30%.

More strikes in French newspaper industry

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 8, 2010 at 1:10 PM

Newspaper readers in France have been disrupted this week, after distribution company Presstalis blocked the distribution of papers to different parts of the country two days in a row. In response to the action, one newspaper has refused to publish an edition today.

It was northern France and part of central France that went without their national daily newspapers on Wednesday. Papers were distributed normally in the east, west and south. Le Monde made a PDF version of that day's paper available for free on its website.

On Thursday, distribution was interrupted in the east and south of the country. By contrast, the north of France, including Paris, received its newspapers mostly as normal. Only Le Figaro and France Soir suffered a smaller distribution than normal in this area.

Why your website should be using Facebook Connect to attract visitors

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on December 18, 2009 at 1:03 PM

Two thousand and nine was undoubtedly the year of the Social Network. In a world of loose economic foundations and falling advertising revenue, the social aspect of the Internet became even more important in the lives of many people.

The largest name in social networking has some mind-blowing statistics behind it: Facebook just hit the 350 million user mark; the average member spends 25 minutes a day on the site; there are over 90 000 apps on the site and an astounding half of all users go to the site everyday.

So how can newspapers take advantage of this social boom?

One of the easiest, and more effective ways is to install Facebook Connect on their websites. Facebook Connect allows for user interaction from a larger source than a typical site or blog is capable of creating for itself. Facebook has the fifth highest level of traffic on the web; that's a lot of potential uniques waiting in the wings.

The only problem is how to direct all of those users to a site off of Facebook, and this is where Facebook Connect comes in to help. According to the Washington Post, over 80 000 websites have now installed Facebook Connect and more than 60 million Facebook users use the service each month. The universally available tool has heaps of potential to bring traffic to a site as well as spread the proverbial word virally across Facebook. Yet many sites, particularly those of newspapers, are not taking advantage of the free publicity. Why?

WHAT FACEBOOK CONNECT CAN DO

Once a blog or site has installed Connect, readers can log in to the site through their Facebook accounts. Users can then leave comments, have discussions, and post the link to the page directly to their news feeds through the plug-in. The links will be seen on Facebook by the user's friends, who can then click through to the site because of the link. This is how the majority of traffic from social networking sites is generated. The cycle continues to become even more viral when the friend posts the same link to his wall, and a third friend clicks through.

The reason that Connect increases interaction on a third-party site is because it cuts down on formalities and allows virtually instant access to a comment field. Most blogs have an individual screen that users must fill out in order to comment on the site. Many are lengthy or invasive, and then there is always the annoyance of having to remember which e-mail you used to sign-up for which site. By the time someone's logged it, they may well have completely forgotten their comment and lost interest.

Using Facebook Connect, however, will allow the user to log-in to Facebook instantly and will also carry over a log-in from another window. If you've already checked your Facebook that day, you're instantly ready to comment on Vimeo or to Digg something. Most comment boards will even show the user's profile picture next to her log-in name. (Though all Facebook privacy settings continue over to third-party sites: if your profile picture is only viewable by friends on Facebook, it stays that way on all other sites as well.)

Most notably, Connect is free. No money is exchanged between the social networking site and the sites or blogs that install Connect. Yet, according to Facebook, Connect increases traffic to sites and makes users up to 15-20 percent more active once they are on the site. According to Joost, as quoted on the Facebook Connect site, "Connected users watch 30 percent more videos, enter 15 percent more comments, and invite 38 percent more friends." That's more pageviews, more uniques, and more content. And it's free.

One of the most important advantages of Facebook Connect is the information about the users that is provided by the service. Once someone has logged into a third party site through Connect, that site can gain valuable information about the user. Their names, locations, genders, ages and even photos become fair game for the site. This can make an enormous difference in regards to advertising. If the third party site is privy to detailed statistics about its commenters, then it can use this information to coax potential advertisers looking for a specific demographic. For example, MTV is not going to be looking to advertise on sites where the commenters are primarily in their 40s, but would be much more anxious to put an ad up on a site with a high level of teenaged activity. The use of data from Facebook Connect is an invaluable survey of the most active users on any given site.

The use of Facebook Connect can also help to monitor comments as well. Because the users are logged in under their real names, it is easier to ban people for inappropriate comments or harassment. Additionally, most people are more cautious of what they write when they are required to take credit for it; thus, inappropriate comments would decrease thanks to the required log-in.

SOME EXAMPLES OF IMPLEMENTATION

Some newspaper sites have already begun to take advantage of the benefits that Facebook Conenct has to offer. An early partner, The San Francisco Chronicle, has used Connect on its web site, SFGate.com, since January 2009. In that time, the traffic to the site has grown exponentially. Between early 2008 when first creating a Facebook page and July of this year, SFGate experienced a 1597 percent growth in pageviews, with 397 percent just between June and July.

The ability of Facebook to drive new users to sites is undeniable. One of the most successful implementations by a news site has been by The Huffington Post. The site officially partnered with Facebook in August with the launch of "Social News," in which the HuffPost aggregates stories that Facebook friends of a user have recommended or commented on. It can also post the same info about the user on his Facebook profile.

Of course, as expected from the HuffPost, the launch had a two-pronged intention. At the time of the launch, HuffPost CEO Eric Hippeau said, "our goal is to make HuffPost Social News the go-to place for Facebook users to share news--both the stories they love and the stories they hate--with friends. It should also appeal to marketers interested in reaching passionate, savvy readers who care about the news and who want to share their interests with friends."

The integration aimed to bring in pageviews as well as advertisers: something it has most definitely done. Since integrating Facebook Connect, the HuffPost has seen an increase of 500 percent in referrals from Facebook, and over 15 percent of all comments to the site come directly from Facebook. According to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, "with the integration of Facebook Connect, HuffPost Social News is now leading the way to make news even more of a social experience, giving people new ways to share and filter news and current events through their networks of friends on Facebook." This is an example other news sites might do well to follow.

USING CONNECT WITH OTHER SOCIAL NETWORKS

The New York Times uses Facebook Connect, but in conjunction with its own social network, TimesPeople. The network, which went public in September 2008, allows users to log in on the site and then share articles, collect friends, join networks, and even publish to Twitter. The network has an application on Facebook that allows for integration between the two social media, and once a user is logged into TimesPeople, he can use Facebook Connect through the Times' site. This uploads all of the user's contacts from Facebook who are also on TimesPeople instantly onto the user's page. Users can also import contacts from Gmail, Twitter, and other sites. Although usage numbers were unavailable (the most recent was the year old report of 100 000 users), the recent integration of Facebook Connect and Twitter into the mix is likely to have greatly increased usage.

The Independent recently launched its own social network site as well. Plotstar provides readers with information about "where to go and what to do near specified locations, see what deals local companies offer and plan events with their friends." Plotstar is accessible through the Independent's website as well as the mobile site.

Once a user is logged in, he can use Facebook Connect to send invitations to events to friends or post an exciting happening on his profile. Through it, users can buy tickets for events or make reservations at restaurants. These additional services involving purchases, along with the added advertising on the site, will help to raise extra revenue. This not only brings new users onto the site, it also helps to increase brand awareness and encourage the purchase of subscriptions.

WHY (NOT) CONNECT?

So why don't more sites use Facebook Connect? Some do, but not nearly as many as would be expected. Why is this? Why are many papers denying themselves free promotion and guaranteed pageviews? Especially in the current economic climate and state of publishing? It could be a lack of knowledge. The program is still only a year old- many editors may still be in the dark about the possibilities that are out there and the things that Connect can do.

Many sites already have a Share on Facebook button installed and may feel that that is adequate for promoting themselves on the social networking site; however, with Connect installed as well, the interaction on the site would rise along with the amount of shared links. Isn't this a can't lose situation: more pageviews, more visitors, more publicity?

Sources: MediaGuardian, Newspaper Association of America, Washington Post, CNET [1] , CNET [2], TheNextWeb.com, InsideFacebook.com, ClickZ, newmediaage,

Murdoch sends staff seasonal greetings and looks to the year ahead

Posted by Helena Humphrey on December 16, 2009 at 4:10 PM

In a seasonal greetings email sent to US and UK branches of News Corp International, Rupert Murdoch has praised his staff for weathering a difficult financial year and pointed to the "steps" the company is taking today which will "define the character of our company for many years to come." - Namely Murdoch's intentions to protect all News Corp produced content behind paywalls, as well as removing these articles from Google's search index. Both the Huffington Post and the Guardian have published the full email, the contents of which is posted below:

Two American editors step down

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on December 9, 2009 at 12:26 PM

Two American editors-in-chief have announced that they will be stepping down from their current positions. Sandra Mims Rowe, editor of The Oregonian since 1993, will be retiring from her post at the end of the year; Janet Coats, executive editor of the Tampa Tribune, will be finished on 18 December.

Rowe reportedly made her decision to retire over the Thanksgiving holiday in an altruistic attempt to spare other employees' jobs. In an email obtained by Portland-based Willamette Weekly, Rowe stated, "It became clear we would have to shed about 70 jobs total from the newsroom staff. As we have gotten much smaller as a newsroom, it is also clear we have too many editing positions concentrated at the top of the organization. Over Thanksgiving I wrestled with the number of layoffs we would need and determined it was best to start by removing my own salary from the budget. I informed [publisher N. Christian Anderson III] of my decision last week. Doing this preserves other jobs."

France: Staff at Le Parisien reject further strike action

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on December 9, 2009 at 12:05 PM

Staff at French daily newspapers Le Parisien and Aujourd'hui en France have reiterated their opposition to their management's planned job cuts, but rejected plans for another strike.

At a meeting of staff on Monday, a motion declaring opposition to any job cuts was adopted in unanimity except for three abstentions. The management has refused to comment on the motion.

The Netherlands: Government to finance 60 new jobs for young journalists

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on December 8, 2009 at 12:56 PM

In an innovative project from the Netherlands, the Dutch Minister for Education, Culture and Science has managed to gain support from the Parliament for more funding for journalism.

It's not in the form of government subsidies for newspapers, though, which have been criticised by various industry insiders including media mogul Rupert Murdoch and editor Frédéric Filloux. Instead, the Dutch government will finance two-year contracts for 60 young journalists across 30 titles in the country's press, reports Media Trend.

France: staff at two newspapers strike to protest job cuts

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on December 7, 2009 at 10:46 AM

In a move that saw two daily newspapers absent from news stands in France, editorial staff at Le Parisien and Aujourd'hui en France have gone on strike.

Last week, staff were protesting against management's restructuring plans, which would include cuts to 35 staff. The newspapers did not publish a Wednesday edition, but were back on the stands on Thursday.

USA Today and Fark.com: an unlikely combination in an unorthodox deal

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on November 26, 2009 at 10:57 AM

Fark.com, the website known for its snarky take on news aggregation, has found an unlikely partner, USA Today. The partnership was announced yesterday, reports The New York Times. America's best selling paper will collaborate with the crowdsourcing news site in sponsorship of its Geek Page, which specializes in non-news in the fields of science, technology, and gaming. The odd paring, however, may be exactly what each party needs.

Fark.com has become notable for its choices of stories as well as its accompanying sarcastic headlines. Originally used to show the fluff that it believed did not actually constitute news (local 'crime' stories, useless scientific studies, animals doing silly things), the website has evolved far beyond the original concept. It is now a major social networking site and influential crowdsourcing site.

Users who want access to all of the content and commenting privileges even buy a subscription ($5 a month, $50 a year) for the full experience.

Many US papers to raise cover prices for Thursday

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on November 25, 2009 at 5:38 PM

There are exceptions to every rule, even in regards to the current epidemic of declining advertisement revenue. The United States' busiest shopping day, commonly called Black Friday, is the day after Thanksgiving. The day leading up to it is also the largest selling day for newspapers. This trend has caused many newspapers to decide to take advantage of shoppers' lust for the sale pamphlets stuffed into the Thanksgiving editions. Thus, many papers will be charging the Sunday price for the Thursday edition.

It is indeed a rarity that a business is able to charge a larger fee due to an increase in advertising, but for many consumers, the sale inserts pay for themselves many times over.

Spot.us article featured in New York Times

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on November 12, 2009 at 2:42 PM

An article in Tuesday's edition of the New York Times did more than just raise awareness of the pollution islands in the Pacific Ocean, it involved a revolutionary form of journalism. Lindsay Hoshaw was able to write the article thanks in part to funding provided by Spot.us, a San Francisco based site which solicits donations from the public to fund stories on local issues of interest. The site collected $10 000 from more than 100 donors to sponsor Hoshaw's research for the story, during which she spent a month aboard the boat featured in the article, the Alguita. During her month on the boat, Hoshaw collected research for her story about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the effect the growing levels of toxins that the patch produces is having on the local marine life.

Last year, Spot Us won the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation's Knight News Challenge which gave Spot.us founder David Cohn a $340 000 two-year grant. Cohn sought to use the models of the campaigns of Barack Obama and Howard Dean, which raised small amounts of money from a large number of people, to help the journalism industry. This idea has come to be known as crowdfunding.

"My Free Newspaper" launched for youths in France

Posted by Jennifer Lush on October 28, 2009 at 1:57 PM

French Minister for Culture and Communication Frédéric Mitterrand officially launched the program "Mon journal offert" « My free newspaper » yesterday, which offers readers aged between 18 and 24 a free yearly subscription to a newspaper of their choice.

It had been known for some time that the French government has been considering a proposal to offer free newspapers to youths as part of wider scheme to help boost newspaper readership and attempt to bail out the industry.

Stats confirm social media drives traffic to news websites

Posted by Jennifer Lush on October 22, 2009 at 11:58 AM

Jumping on the social media bandwagon might not be such a bad move as statistics revealed by Huffington Post CEO, Eric Hippeau, show that Facebook referrals to the aggregation website were up 48% since its launch, and has accounted for 3.5 million visits.

The news comes shortly after the suprising announcement that the Huffington Post had topped the Washington Post with the number of unique visitors to its website last week.

Meet 'QUE', Plastic Logic's soon to be launched e-reader

Posted by Jennifer Lush on October 20, 2009 at 10:59 AM

The buzz surrounding Plastic Logic's highly anticipated e-reader was renewed yesterday with the release of an official name for the device, and more importantly, an official launch date.

QUE (pronounced "Q"), the super-slim, lightweight, wireless e-reader is Plastic Logic's first 'proReader' designed for business professionals and will launch on January 7, 2010 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

September ABC figures are in

Posted by Helena Humphrey on October 16, 2009 at 5:17 PM

The Audit Bureau of Circulations figures for September published today show circulation increases for both The Observer and The Sunday Times. On average The Observer sold 385,617 copies each weekend, up 6.59% on August's figures. The Sunday Times' circulation increased by 3.63% to 1,207,141.

During August publishers expect to shift fewer copies owing to the holiday season. All in all however, both papers are still recording year-on-year declines.

Similarly The Sunday Telegraph saw a rise in sales, albeit by an average of just 249 copies each weekend. The paper's circulation remained below the 600,000 mark at 599,380, a year-on-year drop of 3.58%.

No sale: Times Co. keeps Boston Globe

Posted by Jennifer Lush on October 15, 2009 at 11:53 AM

The rollercoaster ride has come to an end for The Boston Globe employees with the New York Times Company finally deciding against selling the newspaper. Yesterday it released a statement saying "that after careful consideration and analysis, it has terminated the process to explore the sale of The Boston Globe, Boston.com and related businesses and they will remain within the Company."

The move comes following a turbulent few months of bidding and even the possibility of closing the 137 year paper.

In a memo to employees, Chairman Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. and CEO Janet Robinson said finances had "significantly improved": "All along, we explicitly recognized that a careful restructuring of the Globe was one possible route and, thanks to your hard work, that is precisely what has been done.

A large part of this restructing came in April when the Globe's largest union, the Newspaper Guild, approved a package of $10 million in wage and benefit cuts after the company had threatened to close the paper if $20 million in savings could not be made. Six other smaller unions representing the paper's staff had already ratified concessions totalling $10 milion.

NYT metro desk cancels newspaper and magazine subscriptions

Posted by Nestor Bailly on October 13, 2009 at 2:30 PM

In the latest cost-cutting measure at The New York Times, the metro desk has canceled subscriptions to newspapers and magazines not offered through their Ebsco server. The saved money has been proposed to be put towards paying freelancers.

Staffers were advised to buy their own periodicals if they wanted to scope out the competition, and were encouraged to share any publications they might buy.

Here's the memo sent by metro administrative manager Gloria Bell:

Latest biz buzz and tech rumours in e-reading

Posted by Jennifer Lush on October 6, 2009 at 12:55 PM

Reporting by Cecilia Campbell:

Speaking at the 2nd WAN-IFRA conference on e-readers in Paris last week, Stig Nordqvist, Group Director Emerging Digital Platforms and Business Development from WAN-IFRA updated everyone on the lastest buzz and tech rumours in e-reading.

Nordqvist, who has worked in-depth with e-reading for IFRA since 2002, described his view of what the new platform of e-reading will mean for news publishers. He stressed that the type of experience e-readers offer is much more relaxed than that offered by other devices, such as mobiles and laptops, which are usually used 'on-the-go'.

FT's How To Spend It goes online

Posted by Helena Humphrey on October 5, 2009 at 11:14 AM

This weekend saw the launch of the Financial Times' latest venture; a website version of the glossy supplement which appears alongside the newspaper 28 times a year - How To Spend it online, the Guardian reported. Launch sponsors for the standalone site include top end brands Rolex, Krug and Harry Winston.

The content of the unashamedly indulgent magazine has been replicated on the site in suitably stylish and innovative digital format thanks to its design partner, Razorfish. Gillian de Bono, the magazine and now online editor said:

"How To Spend set the benchmark for luxury lifestyle magazines 15 years ago and now we want to establish the brand as the benchmark for luxury lifestyle websites too. To this end, the print and online operations are fully integrated, produced and edited by a single in-house team using the same top tier writers, photographers and illustrators. The site will feature larger-format ads to appeal to luxury advertisers."

CNN and The Spectator charge for applications

Posted by Jennifer Lush on September 29, 2009 at 1:05 PM

CNN and The Spectator have announced this week that they will both charge for the use of their new iPhone applications. With news organisations far and wide scratching their heads over how to generate revenue in the new digital age, both publications have taken different approaches in setting up their paid app subscriptions.

The Spectator, which paved the way for it's application by restricting some of the free content available on the magazine's website- is charging 59p for access to it's weekly issue as well as a searchable archive of 200 older editions, the BBC is reporting. Users can choose to pay 59p each week, or subscribe for thirty days for £2.36.

Introducing the new Sony e-readers

Posted by Christie Silk on August 5, 2009 at 6:38 PM

Sony is set to launch two new e-reader models next month, which should act as rival products to Amazon's Kindle, the biggest name in the scene, and the forthcoming slim-line Plastic Logic.

The Sony Reader Pocket Edition has a 5-inch display and is priced at $199, which according to a Sony statement, makes the product the least expensive device on sale. The Reader Touch Edition, which boasts a touch-screen, will be sold at a $299. Sony's current e-reader devices are priced at $279 and $349. The pricing is obviously of immense importance for the commercial viability of the product, particularly as it seems that its "affordability" is being used as its greatest asset in comparison with the dominating Kindle. Amazon last month cut the cost of the standard model to $299, while the larger screen Kindle DX costs $489.

Artistic licence or technological advancement: should news photographers go for effect or just show how it is?

Posted by Christie Silk on July 29, 2009 at 12:51 PM

Suspicions of exaggeration and embellishment are reactions that journalists strive to dispel in their writings, yet as photographs are increasingly used as complements to printed and online stories, or sometimes as the story itself, the spotlight of scrutiny is now on their authenticity. Readers, it appears, are today more sensitive and sceptical to the visual "proof" that is put in front of them, and are raising these concerns to the editors.

The Los Angeles Times reports a noticeable increase in the number of reader inquiries into the authenticity of its published photographs. A recent reader query about the physical realities of an urban landscape has prompted the paper to discuss the reasons for this rising reader distrust. In this incident, the doubts over whether the photo had been altered were quashed with the photographer's clarification that he had used a long lens, which "compresses the view", thereby fitting more features into a image than a standard lens would allow.

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