Editors Weblog: Search Results

Greg Dyke in running for new Independent editor?

Posted by Trafton Kenney on March 4, 2010 at 11:42 AM

Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev is stepping up his search for a new editor at the Independent after talks with Rod Liddle collapsed early last week, MediaGuardian reported Wednesday.

With a deal for the daily newspaper expected to be reached with Independent News & Media by the end of the week, Lebedev, who also owns the London Evening Standard, has now set his sights on some of the heavyweights in the industry, including Greg Dyke, former director general of the BBC.

Lebedev to pay token pound for the Independent

Posted by Helena Humphrey on March 1, 2010 at 1:55 PM

Payment of £1 will see the owner of London's Evening Standard and ex KGB agent Alexander Lebedev at the helm of the ailing Independent, the Sunday Times reported yesterday - that's the same price as one copy of the newspaper from any newsstand, and as the token price he paid for the Standard.

Since its launch in 1986 the Independent has lost more than £10m year upon year. Billionaire Lebedev is expected to plunge millions into the operation, trying to resuscitate the publication into generating a sustained profit, although the first move is predicted to be a slashing of the cover price.

Source: Sunday Times

Rod Liddle no longer candidate for Independent editor

Posted by Trafton Kenney on February 22, 2010 at 11:30 AM

Sunday Times columnist Rod Liddle will not be the new editor of the Independent after its acquisition by Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev, the Guardian reported last Friday.

The decision to look elsewhere for new leadership was taken by Lebedev and Simon Kelner, editor-in-chief and managing director of the Independent, last Thursday after more than nine months of negotiations with Liddle.

AOL set to launch more hyperlocal blogs

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on February 18, 2010 at 3:28 PM

AOL plans to expand its network of hyperlocal news blogs, Patch, from 30 sites to hundreds by the end of the year, Business Insider reports.

Patch is a fast-growing service. In October 2009 it focused on 12 communities in New Jersey and Connecticut, then announced plans to expand to another 11. It currently covers around 30, mainly in small towns in New York and New Jersey, and features the kind of local news and announcements that are not often reported by overstretched local media. Substantial growth, though, will still be needed to create a network of hundreds.

Redundancy terms for Independent staff to be halved?

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on February 17, 2010 at 11:33 AM

Redundancy terms for staff at The Independent may have to be cut to ensure the newspaper's sale to Russian businessman Alexander Lebedev goes through, The Guardian reported.

Terms are currently considered generous at four weeks' pay for every year of service but their legal status is unclear as the terms were never placed in writing.

The packages appear to be an obstacle to Lebedev's purchase of The Independent and Independent on Sunday. "We have had a gun held to our heads - if we don't agree to reduce our terms from four weeks to two weeks per year of service the deal with Lebedev is off," an unnamed journalist told The Guardian.

UK quality dailies see circulation declines

Posted by Emma Heald on February 15, 2010 at 6:21 PM

The Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Times and Independent all reported year-on-year circulation percentage declines in the double digits for January, Media Guardian reported today. The declines come as most have ended bulk distribution.

Last month, the Daily Telegraph's year-on-year circulation fell 11.76 percent (to 691,128), the first time it has dipped below 700,000 since the Audit Bureau of Circulations began its record in 1962. The Times saw a year-on-year circulation drop of 17.69 percent (to 508,250), the Guardian saw a year-on-year decline of 15.76 percent (to 302,285), and the Independent's year-on-year sales were down 13.78 percent (to 185,815).

For more on this story please see our sister publication www.sfnblog.com

Update: Egyptian businessman denies involvement in Independent talks

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on February 4, 2010 at 10:53 AM

Egyptian billionaire Samih Sawiris has denied that he is in talks with Russian businessman Alexander Lebedev over the purchase of the Independent newspapers, The Guardian has reported.

Editor of the Lebedev-owned newspaper the Evening Standard, Geordie Greig, has also denied that Sawiris was a part of the talks.

The Guardian yesterday reported that the two businessmen were in discussions about forming a partnership to purchase the Independent and the Independent on Sunday. Lebedev is in exclusive non-binding talks over the purchase of the two papers, with a deadline of 15 February, although that is likely to be extended to mid-March.

Lebedev to bring in billionaire partner for Independent deal?

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on February 3, 2010 at 10:51 AM

Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev, in exclusive talks to purchase the Independent newspapers, may attempt to bring an Egyptian partner into the deal, according to reports in The Guardian.

Lebedev is trying to persuade Egyptian billionaire Samih Sawiris to join him in investing in The Independent and Independent on Sunday, according to sources close to the deal. The details of the proposed agreement are unknown.

More freesheet speculation as Lebedev's purchase of The Independent more likely

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 20, 2010 at 12:41 PM

Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev's purchase of The Independent is likely to go ahead, although a month later than planned, according to Media Week.

The two parties are in exclusive talks with a February 15 deadline, which is likely to be extended to mid-March as some aspects are yet to be agreed upon.

Printing contract issues are still being resolved. The Independent holds a long-running printing contract with Trinity Mirror.

Another point of discussion is that Lebedev is considering dropping The Independent's £1 cover price and making the paper free, according to unnamed sources cited by Media Week.

Update: Adam Leigh to become Independent deputy editor?

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 14, 2010 at 10:50 AM

The Independent's executive editor of features Adam Leigh is set to become deputy editor of the paper, should the sale to Russian businessman Alexander Lebedev go ahead, The Guardian reports.

Leigh has been overseeing the features operation since 2003 and also assists with production of the news coverage. Having worked at The Independent and The Independent on Sunday for 15 years, he has recently been planning a redesign for the paper.

Will Rod Liddle become editor of The Independent?

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 11, 2010 at 11:09 AM

If the sale of The Independent to Russian businessman Alexander Lebedev goes ahead, outspoken columnist Rod Liddle is in line to become the next editor, The Guardian reports. The news has attracted widespread criticism from Independent journalists and readers, Roy Greenslade writes.

Liddle was previously the editor of BBC Radio 4's Today program, but resigned in 2002 to continue writing a column for The Guardian that was in conflict with the BBC's impartiality rules. He later became a columnist for The Sunday Times and The Spectator. His work has been subject to criticisms of racism and misogyny.

Hyperlocal news to hit the Netherlands

Posted by Emma Heald on January 6, 2010 at 4:39 PM

The idea of providing news on a hyperlocal level has attracted much attention over the past year as news outlets look at how to tackle the ubiquity of free online news and try to find something that they can offer that is unique. In parts of the US, hyperlocal outfits are now plentiful, both start-ups and those run by traditional news organisations. In Europe, growth has been slower, but notable projects include Futuroom/Nase adresa in the Czech Republic (disclosure: WEF has been involved in the project as a consultant) and moves by various UK publishers to expand their offerings on a very local level.

And now it appears that the Netherlands is to see an attempt to integrate hyperlocal news more deeply into the news landscape. Bart Brouwers, former editor-in-chief of Dutch tabloid Sp!ts, recently made the decision to move away from print journalism after 25 years and start an online-only network of hyperlocal news outlets. The Editors Weblog spoke to Brouwers to find out more about his plans.

Brouwers himself made the decision to move into the hyperlocal field, and was prepared to do this alone, but his employer Telegraaf Media Groep decided to take on the project and appointed Brouwers to the newly-created position of managing editor of a digital network of hyperlocal news and information platforms. He hopes that his network can spread throughout the Netherlands.

Hyperlocal news is the future, believes Brouwers, because despite newspapers' problems with subscribers and advertisers, there is still a huge public need for information and people have a desire to inform others and thinks that "could be done in the best way on a very local level." It is on this level that people both need specific information, and have information that they can share with others in the community.

The idea for the network would be that it would ideally incorporate existing local bloggers and user interactivity would play a major role. One of the principles which Brouwers is working under is that an article is not finished when a journalist presses the publish button; rather, the process is just starting. "Every journalist must be aware that there will always be more knowledge out there than he could have found on his own, it's just a matter of finding the right people." So Brouwers wants to create some kind of system whereby people add to what has been provided by the journalists. The network is as yet unnamed, but Brouwers hopes to incorporate this idea of "not finished yet" into its name.

Brouwers feels that a hyperlocal network has the potential to make money from highly targeted advertising. Paid content is a possibility, but it would not be the basis of the network's revenue stream: "maybe 90% of what we are doing will be free." With regards to advertising, Brouwers thinks that there is potential for more innovative and profitable methods. "I do believe in intelligent ways of mixing advertising with journalistic content," he said, "as long as you are able to stay independent and be clear to your audience what is paid for." He referred to the way that True/Slant incorporates advertising: the ads are written in a blog style and provide more information than a banner or pop-up ad could, but they are clearly distinguished from other content (see here for an example.)

The type of advertising platform and audience that Brouwers hopes to offer could particularly appeal to local and regional governments, he said. "For them it's very worthwhile to get a very targeted audience for everything that they want to inform their citizens with."

The Telegraaf Media Groep has the advantage of already having a significant presence in the news landscape of the Netherlands, and Brouwers hopes that his new network can collaborate with Telegraaf's more traditional properties. He realises, however, that his platform is going to be very different, and also that the Telegraaf newspapers will be careful about how much of their content they give away.

As yet, many details of Brouwers' project need to be finalised and it is impossible to predict whether or not he will be successful. His idea has similarities to the redefined news eco-system proposed by Jeff Jarvis, where citizen journalists would be seen as important collaborators in the process of news distribution. These ideas make financial sense in the way that they plan to make use of information willingly provided for nothing by members of the public. And taking note of the fact that no one journalist knows as much as the community about what is going on seems wise. A fool-proof business model is yet to be found for hyperlocal news, but if such experimentation proves successful, it might well have an important role to play in the future of news.

U.K. news websites attract even more users

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 4, 2010 at 12:51 PM

The global audience for the websites of The Guardian, The Daily Mail and The Telegraph has risen again, according to November figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic.

The Guardian News and Media website, which includes the Observer and Media Guardian, recorded 35.8 million unique users in November 2009, up 13% from October and 37% from the previous year. This sets a new record for the highest number of unique users for a U.K. newspaper website in one month. It also shows a recovery from the October figures, which were down almost 4% on September's record of nearly 33 million users.

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,

BBC to aggregate headlines from commercial outlets

Posted by Jennifer Lush on December 15, 2009 at 12:05 PM

The BBC, who yesterday announced a new initiative to grant the general public access to professional media training resources, has also revealed it will expand the content available on its news website by linking to rival sources via an aggregation-like system, reports The Independent.

The move comes after accusations headed by News Corp's chairman and CEO for Europe and Asia, James Murdoch, that the corporation, in choosing to remain free, is flooding the market and preventing competitors from expanding online and charging for their content. The new plan would reportedly see links to commerical websites added at the end of BBC stories.

Circulation falls for UK quality press

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on December 14, 2009 at 4:05 PM

It's not just the UK tabloids that saw a fall in circulation in November, as News of the World and the Sun dropped below 3 million copies each. Quality daily newspapers in the UK are suffering falling daily circulation as well, Peter Preston reports in The Guardian.

Circulation for national dailies is down 4.2% this year, while Sunday papers are down 7%. Circulation for The Guardian is down 14.8%, the Independent is down 7.2%, the Times has fallen 9.4%, and the Financial Times has dropped 9.2%.

Regional publishers increasingly turn digital

Posted by Nestor Bailly on December 11, 2009 at 1:21 PM

Many UK regional publishers have seen the opportunities of digital and internet publishing and have capitalized on it. But local presses are increasingly selling digital-format replicas of their print products, which is not quite the same thing as going 'fully digital.'

Local newspapers re-formatted for digital viewing, usually complete with page-turning 'technology,' have been popping up all over the UK and are beginning to outstrip traditional print editions.

Guardian's Rusbridger resigns from PCC code committee amidst further inquiries

Posted by Emma Heald on November 18, 2009 at 10:58 AM

Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger has resigned from the Press Complaint Commission's code committee after it criticised the Guardian's coverage of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, reported the Guardian and others. The PCC's code committee oversees the voluntary code of practice which governs journalistic best practice in the UK. It is made up of 13 editors of national and regional publications, and is chaired by Paul Dacre, the Daily Mail editor.

In July, the Guardian claimed that the News of the World had paid out more than £1 million to settle cases that would reveal evidence that the paper's journalists had been involved in illegally hacking into public figures' mobile phones. Last week, the PCC said it found no evidence that it had been misled by the NOTW over alleged mobile phone hacking, or that the practice was ongoing. The body also criticised the Guardian's coverage of the story, with PCC chair Baroness Buscombe claiming that the paper had misquoted a policeman.

News roundup: Signs of industry recovery

Posted by Nestor Bailly on October 19, 2009 at 2:46 PM

There has been quite a bit of recent news about closures, cutbacks, reduced ad revenue and the like so perhaps it is time for des bonnes nouvelles:

First, from the floors of various exchanges we see signs of industry optimism. The Daily Mail & General Trust, the Trinity Mirror and Independent News and Media have all seen their shares increase significantly after bottoming out earlier this year.

Just like the US megabanks of recent news, it is expected that various publishers will report better than expected revenue for the third quarter. This of course is due to massive job cuts and expense decreases.

The mood of optimism is also reflected in the actions of news publishers themselves, with the New York Times (whose stock rose 18% since the beginning of 2009) opting to keep the Boston Globe and the creation of McCann Erickson, an advertising organization opened by the Newspaper Marketing Agency.

Evening Standard starts its life as a freesheet, makes distribution deals

Posted by Emma Heald on October 13, 2009 at 2:11 PM

London's major afternoon daily the Evening Standard dropped its 50 pence cover price and went free yesterday. The paper, 75.1% of which is owned by Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev (described by the Guardian as 'the spy who loves media), has been a paid-for daily for 182 years. The remaining percentage was retained by the Daily Mail and General Trust.

The move is an attempt to address declines in circulation and distribution will be upped from from 250,000 to around 600,000 in the hope that increased advertising revenue will make up for lost of income from the cover price.

Investigative journalism gone global

Posted by Helena Humphrey on October 12, 2009 at 1:28 PM

The image of the lone wolf journalist, sniffing out local crime and corruption, may be a thing of the past - that's according to the results of a new enquiry launched by the International Journalists' network, which has summarised the latest changes in the field of investigative journalism.

Hunting in packs

Collaborative efforts have proved both efficient and effective: Editor of the International Journalists' network, Jessica Weiss cites the International Consortium of Investigative Journalist's recent 13-month investigation into the illegal global tobacco trade as one such success. The investigative series, "Tobacco Underground", unearthed stories surrounding a multibillion-dollar business of trafficking, which has contributed to crime, corruption, terrorism and illness internationally. Its team was composed of some 22 reporters in 14 countries, spread across a dozen different time zones, and reported on anything from "counterfeiters in China and renegade factories in Russia to Indian reservations in New York and warlords in Pakistan and North Africa".

The pragmatics of "Tobacco Underground" were by no means unusual. In the digital age many of today's investigative journalists are working in regional and cross-border networks, enabled by technology and tools that are revolutionising reporting. The European Fund for Investigative Journalism actively encourages this- providing research grants from a fund of €20,000 for stories that have the potential to make an impact; its main stipulation being that projects should include "cross-border research, networking between colleagues, established and innovative investigative methods" and be "original, innovative and intensive".

As mentioned earlier, the Internet facilitates this: On a basic level journalists have the means to communicate with each other effectively and inexpensively, benefiting from the use of a secure, online workplaces to communicate, share documents, photos and videos, and edit each other's work. But the web offers other advantages too: The information super highway is being tamed by social networking sites, such as the journalist's virtual grapevine, Twitter. Fans or otherwise, few journalists would refuse to acknowledge the speed with which the tool relays news stories globally, often providing important leads. Latest reports regarding the development of Wikileaks - "the online clearinghouse for leaked documents", permitting access to sensitive documents, is another exciting development for journalists and could provide a powerful tool for investigation.

The importance of watchdog journalism

According to ICIJ director and Tobacco Underground lead editor David Kaplan, good investigative journalists delve "deeply into complex subjects, and look at whether people in a given society who have power are exercising that power in an accountable way". Put like that, one can hardly ignore its necessity as a direct means to regulate society. Yet newspapers seeking to cut costs have cut jobs, and with investigative journalism proving to be time-consuming as well as costly, floundering local papers no longer have the means to support it.

As a result citizen start-ups have been cropping up around the globe, particularly in the U.S. The most well-known publications to date, MinnPost and Voice of San Diego, exist on a total budget of a little more than $1 million a year (with almost all of the budget going directly on reporting). The start-ups have done away with expensive print, delivery and ad sales costs as well as sports reports, breaking crime news and so on, in order to deliver serious reporting. A number of the n ew non-profit units, such as Pro Publica, also focus exclusively on investigative reports also. The UK's newly set up "Investigations Fund" is also looking to support "risky, challenging reporting" for which it has recognised that there is a "crying demand".

The growing trend for Citizen start-ups is mirrored by non-profit investigative centres worldwide: The current number stands at 50, with more than half of those having been established since 2000. Though the first three non-profits dedicated to investigative journalism were American: the Fund for Investigative Journalism (1969), Investigative Reporters and Editors (1975), and the Center for Investigative Reporting (1977), it is an idea that is now taking off internationally: In August of this year, the Latin American Conference on Investigative Journalism lauded two exposés of public corruption in Brazil and the management of illicit accounts within the Catholic Church in Costa Rica - an important development for two countries where a tradition of investigative journalism does not exist.

Challenges

One of the biggest threats facing investigative journalism is simply that of not having enough trained professionals within the field to safeguard its survival. In countries where media freedom is seriously restricted, reporting of this kind can be dangerous - and even life threatening. Caijing, a Chinese magazine, has manoeuvred around this by training their investigators in the reportage of finance and financial investigations - which is permitted, as opposed to direct criticism of the country's Communist government. Similarly, Arab Reporters in Syria have sponsored consumer reporting on food safety in order to train people in the method. According to Kaplan "The important thing is that you establish a methodology - you get a generation of reporters trained in how to do this kind of reporting and the rest will come".

But even in countries with independent media, investigative stories have other hurdles to overcome. Kaplan commented that during "Tobacco Underground", language, cultural and technological barriers were often difficult to work with, as well as the fact that reporters were working across different time zones. Furthermore, reporters in different regions had different levels of training, varied reporting styles and standards.

A future rooted in its past

All in all however, technological advancements have so far had a positive effect on news reporting states Kaplan, which he refers to as the "great equaliser" at a time when so many other resources are being cut.

Technology aside, Kaplan maintains that "investigative journalism as a craft remains rooted in the same principles it was founded upon", calling upon its journalists to "think about stories systematically, think about multiple sourcing, look up public records, interview and follow trails - trails to people, trails of money, trails of accountability", drawing parallels between investigative reporters and "good cops and honest prosecutors" who ultimately, are "driven by the hope to leave the world a little better than how they found it."

With the emergence of non-profit start ups it is clear that these "good cops" do exist. But are there enough of them to fill in the gaps in reporting left by the recent financial crisis? By Poynter Media Business Analyst Rick Edmond's estimations, it would take roughly 1,600 MinnPosts or Voice of San Diegos to replace the spending on journalism newspapers have cut. Either non-profit grows or the newspaper industry faces facts: investigative reporting is - and should continue to be - the very backbone of quality journalism.

Sources: International Jounalists' Network, The Investigations Fund, European Fund for Investigative Journalism, Poynter Online

Economist is latest publication added to free Times delivery service

Posted by Helena Humphrey on September 24, 2009 at 9:33 AM

News International, which provides a free delivery service of its main UK title the Times, has added the Economist to its list of weekly and daily publications currently available alongside its newspaper subscription, the Guardian has reported. The group of eight publications currently includes the Radio Times, Grazia and The Week.

Subscribers to the service are guaranteed delivery of the Times before 7 am each day, and by "topping-up", have the option to purchase other publications for delivery.

MSN UK partners with PressDisplay for digital news aggregator

Posted by Liz Webber on September 1, 2009 at 4:11 PM

MSN UK has teamed up with PressDisplay, an online distributor of over 1,000 newspapers and magazines, to offer a digital news aggregator. The branded site resembles an MSN page while serving up content from PressDisplay's library of publications.

News Corp's The London Paper to close next month

Posted by Emma Heald on August 24, 2009 at 4:30 PM

News Corp-owned evening freesheet The London Paper is to close next month, it was announced by media mogul Rupert Murdoch's son James, head of News International, the company's international wing. As well as financial motivation, the decision to abandon the free publication echoes Murdoch senior's commitment to charge online for much of the company's content, the Guardian pointed out.

News Corp recently announced substantially fallen profits, and even Murdoch himself has taken a 40% salary cut (taking home $18 million this last year compared to around $30 million the year before.) Hence, the decision to close a paper which lost £12.9 million pre-tax in the year to 29 June 2008 does not seem surprising. Added to this is Murdoch's conviction that news should not be free, and his promise that all News Corp newspapers will charge online within a year. Insisting that consumers should pay for news online while giving it away free in print form appears clearly contradictory. News International's incoming CEO Rebekah Brooks (formerly Wade) is also not a fan of free newspapers, according to the Guardian.

Moves towards charging online are gaining momentum

Posted by Emma Heald on August 24, 2009 at 12:40 PM

As profits suffer at newspapers and publishers increasingly seek ways to supplement income from advertising and circulation, charging for online content is one of the solutions to which many seem to be turning. The last few weeks have seen developments that suggest that paying online for some general interest content may well soon be standard for news readers.

Journalism Online, the start-up that has promised to help publishers charge for online content, announced in a statement on 13 August that is has signed on publishers representing 506 newspapers and magazines (176 dailies and 330 non-dailies) as well as publishers of leading global news sites. Publishers will individually announce their new paid content strategies, co-founder Steve Brill noted in the statement.

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