Results matching “is emphasizing”

Last week, Monty Cook - who took over as editor of the Baltimore Sun in January - led a press and public policy seminar at John Hopkins University. During the seminar, entitled "News and Content First: Protecting what matters most," Cook took the opportunity to tell the audience that his newspaper is "not in decline," before adding "it's in transition."

According to the Baltimore Brew, Cook began the seminar by going over the demise of the newspaper industry, mentioning some of the dead or soon-to-be-dead titles, but did not include his own paper among the list.

Jacek Utko, a newspaper designer, talks about how the industry may be saved through strong designs, using his redesigns of Eastern European papers as an example. Although he says it was not the design alone that improved the paper, it was an enhancement of the entire product that did. Circulation increased 29% in Russia, 35% in Poland, and an incredible 100% in Bulgaria he said.

Utko talked about his initial frustrations with newspaper designing and how Cirque du Soleil inspired him because he saw how they took "a creepy, rundown form of entertainment and turned it into the highest level possible of performance." This is when he realized that newspapers could do the same.

Tips for reporting crime stories have been published by Poynter.org, emphasizing the importance of asking the right questions, sifting through data and of analyzing the way crime is dealt with.

The key points are:

-Dig deeper into statistics and data
-Find a way to access information like daily logs and reports, e.g. by looking at the same regular reports that your law enforcement is
-Even though prisons and jails are more likely to be noticed when something goes wrong (i.e. suicide or uproar), human stories that have an impact on society are more significant
-Reporters can improve the way they write about why it may take longer to solve some crimes

For the full article, go here.

Source: Poynter.org

The Tribune Co. will be redesigning their newspapers. In his Newsosaur blog, Alan Mutter wrote that "the combination of abrupt and unconventional change" might scare away some readers.

The Orlando Sentinel is the first of the newspapers to be modified. A blogger identified as a Los Angeles Times staffer has posted online the new design of the Orlando Sentinel (left).

The radical redesign is just what Tribune intends. Said Randy Michaels, chief operating officer for the Tribune Co.: "We are going to roll out a different look and feel in each market, emphasizing what people are telling us they want in the research - charts, graphs, maps, lists." On June 22, the Sentinel will adopt the new look and the rest of the papers will follow towards the end of September.

Mutter cited the Chicago Daily News incident that happened over 30 years ago, when the newspaper attempted to revamp itself and wound up collapsing. According to him, this is even more likely today, since "modern consumers have even more alternatives to newspapers today than they did back then."

"Newspapers need to profoundly change," said Mutter, and it "would be wrong to stubbornly resist progress for the sake of resisting change."

"But changes in products as personal and familiar as a newspaper should be undertaken slowly, cautiously, incrementally and thoughtfully," he said.

Source: Newsosaur blog through Poynter Romenesko

David Dunkley Gyimah, Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminister, UK, was one of the speakers at the fifth session at the 15th World Editors Forum. The topic of his speech was "Videojournalism-now and what next...integrated multimedia videojournalism?"

Since the birth of the videojournalism newsroom at Channel One in the United Kingdom in 1994 the change has been dramatic. That establishment cost 25 million pounds. The equivalent of the media inventory in that office can now fit in one laptop. Videojournalism has become a very effective and inexpensive way of producing fast visual news.

But what are the key elements of good videojournalism?

One of the most important parts is a clear vision at the newsdesk of what is wanted and expected. Good communication between the editor and the journalist is crucial.

There's a few clear considerations to decide before heading out into the field, for instance the mobility, the robustness and the ergonomics of the equipment. Videojournalism is about being quick and ready to go. It's essential that the camera and other equipment makes this possible. It may perhaps not always be the wisest choice to buy the most expensive camera just for the sake of it.

Another necessity is to invest in a good computer and professional editing software like Adobe Premiere for PC's and Final Cut Studio for macs.

The work of creating news from videojournalism is a process of co-operation between management , journalists and technical support. This cooperation must be perfected because videos are published on news websites, on tech news blogs, in rss-feeds and as video podcasts.

The workflow behind this output is based on ideas before the actual production takes place. According to Dunkley Gyimah, a few of the questions that have to be asked during this procedure are; What sort of content?, What is the style of the reporter?, Are VJ's suppose to fill other articles?, How long should the video be? Where and how does the production take place? Finally there's the question of output. In what mediaforms should the video be published? Web? TV? Phone? Or all three?

For Mr Dunkley Gyimah one very important thing that must not be forgotten is that the journalistic quality usually isn't the problem. " It's the paradigm shift of thinking visually," he said, emphasizing the quality of the visuals.

XFMedia, a leading media group in China, launched the Investor Journal this week, targeting the large and growing Chinese retail investor market.

The Chinese language newspaper, modeled on weekly financial publications like Barrons, is aimed at the top end of China's 96 million active brokerage accounts, those with over one million RMB in liquid assets, reports Asia Media Journal.

The paper has a staff of 60, including 12 financial analysts, and is distributed nationally. Its editors intend to fill an identified gap in the financial reporting market.  
 
"Currently, we believe there is no newspaper in China which delivers to investors truly trustworthy financial market information emphasizing in-depth analysis, reliable data combined with an international perspective," said Zhao Li, chief editor of Investor Journal.

Sources: Asia Media Journal through IFRA Executive News Service, Marketing-Interactive (picture)  

The Project for Excellence in Journalism report on newspapers in 2007 stated, "Newspapers are still far from dead, but the language of obituaries is creeping in." Although there is a problem with declining revenues, there is also a crisis of morale in newsrooms, according to Peter Osnos, Senior Fellow for Media at The Century Foundation. He senses that reporters feel that no matter how good, thoroughly reported, and influential their work is, it isn't going protect the paper.

Osnos believes that reporters are unique in turning what they write about into news and determining how people are informed, a power that bloggers do not have.

According to PEJ, in 2007, the industry had its sharpest drop in advertising revenue since 195 -- 9.4%. On the other hand, on-line revenues are up: representing 7.5% of newspaper ad revenue.

If newspapers do not receive support from advertisers or circulation, they should find other ways. For example, the radio no longer is dependent on the federal government because of underwriting and individual contributors.

PEJ reports that there are a variety of locally based startups emphasizing community news, for example ProPublica and Global News Enterprises, a Boston based Web start-up.

Read more about PEJ's reports:
- Robert Niles' key lessons learned from State of the Media Report
- Journalists cite financial problems as top concern
- Internet is changing journalism

Source: The Century Foundation

IJNet Persian Editor Fariba Amini recently talked to Iranian journalist, media researcher, and film critic Omid Habibinia who left his country due to what he felt was a violation of freedom of expression. Relocating to Switzerland, he is optimistic about the future of the Iranian press.

Iranian journalism, according to Habibinia, has a lack of professionalism whereas programs run by other countries such as BBC are better organized. Oppression and dictatorship in Iran has never allowed the Association of Iranian Journalists to become a real organization for journalists with financial and emotional support.

What would aid the Iranian journalists who have their hands tied is support from international and journalism organizations. Since Iranian reporters do not have experience in other areas of media besides print journalism, Habibinia believes online courses emphasizing new media and new journalism trends are essential in improving journalism. "Multi-media journalism is now a big part of journalism throughout the world," he notes. "Therefore, we should focus on its strengths and weaknesses."

Habibinia says that American journalism deserves some criticism as well. Their reports on Iran have not been fully developed sometimes have been faulty. Good reporters, he says, must have ample knowledge of history and culture, but American reporters just find one or two "chic" issues to report and take things out of context.

To improve this situation, Habibinia suggests a better relationship between Iran and America. "The point is: At the end of the day, Americans and Iranians get along just fine with or without their idiotic and stubborn governments."

In the wake of the recent relaunch of the Globe & Mail’s weekend edition (Canada), editor-in-chief Ed Greenspon answers the Weblog’s questions about the redesign, and the role of modern day weekend editions compared to the daily paper. He also describes the editorial process and journalistic organization for both the daily and weekend paper, at a time when several papers are having difficulties to integrate both editions.

Following an unwelcome trend in the media industry, the British Broadcasting Company has announced plans that could cost up to 2,800 employees their jobs. The unwelcome trend stems partially from the more omnipresent one, converged newsrooms.

Major Internet portals have recently gone trough a wave of acquisitions of advertising companies. As online consumers’ attention continues to disperse itself on the online landscape, advertisers are looking to catch consumers through several sites, and increasingly relying on the one-stop shop networks.

Over the past two years, arguably the most rapidly evolving trend on the Internet is social media. The Texas-based Pluck, which describes itself as a social media tools and services provider, has been one of the main companies driving innovations in this field while simultaneously attempting to help newspapers adapt to the digital media universe. Pluck co-founder and CEO Dave Panos chatted with the Editors Weblog to preview his upcoming presentation in Cape Town at the 14th World Editors Forum taking place June 3-6.

Ten years ago, the Associated Press (AP) was a “collection of different companies.” The online and print teams were independent units, its video team was largely set apart in London, and its international branches all had different logos and cultures. Since then, AP has moved to become a fully digital multimedia platform, following the “one name, one logo, one story” precept. The Editors Weblog interviewed Tom Kent, AP’s deputy managing editor, who insisted on the importance of cultural change and communication for smooth newsroom integration. More than that though, Kent details the strategies put into place, explains the changes in the editorial process, and gives a preview of the future of the integrated newsroom.

Randy Covington, director of the Ifra Newsplex at the University of South Carolina, recently gave some tips to newspaper editors on how to avoid common pitfalls on the road to media convergence, including lack of concrete planning and fear of high costs of new equipment and staff.

The Newspaper Association of America (NAA) recently found that, contrary to what many think, young readership of newspapers is actually increasing - when taking newspaper websites into account. Readership increased 13.7% for ages 25 to 34, and 9.2% for ages 18 to 24 in the last year.

In this section, John Zogby, CEO of Zogby International, and Jeff Jarvis, new media proponent and founder of Buzzmachine, comment on the results of the Newsroom Barometer. Both found that editors’ optimism and open-mindedness to new media was a clear indication that newspapers were embracing the digital revolution, yet Jarvis fears that may not be enough…

Tony Dokoupil of CJR Daily recently gave some analysis on the projections of the Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) “State of the American News Media” report, emphasizing the changing, more individualistic role of journalists.

The following is an overview of the US State of the News Media Report’s findings concerning digital journalism. The report defines six key online journalistic qualities that newspapers should be exploiting, and evaluates how well they are currently doing so.

In five years, Metro, 20 Minutes, and the other free papers that followed have transformed French media and their audience. This is a recap on freesheets’ path, and how paid-for papers are still seeking countermeasures.

 Every web-based news source must take great care in providing an efficient layout. For two reasons. Studies have shown that, in a general manner, the print-format of newspapers is still more practical than web versions for cursive visual scans and information retention. The second reason is common sense: since traditional newspapers’ readership is migrating to online, it’s even more essential for them to produce a quality online format. So how do you do it? 

Allbritton Communications has signed on Josh Harris, now-former Washington Post Political editor, and Jim Vanderhei, renowned political reporter, as well as a team of  other well-known journalists, to work on its latest multimedia political news enterprise. The project is to create a web-based political coverage platform, in partnership with traditional media owned by Allbritton.

The goal is to compete with traditional media for any and all coverage of national politics, Congress and Capitol Hill.

Newspaper companies beware! The journalists you are increasingly willing to let go may come back to haunt you. In today’s Internet world, all it takes is a little budget and a lot of ambition. Take the story of Paul Bass. For 25 years, Bass covered the New Haven, Connecticut area for print publications and watched them all get eaten up by corporate giants. During a yearlong book leave, he decided that he couldn’t return to a newsroom “sucked of its spirit.” His salvation? The Internet.

In response to this week’s cover story about the decline of newspapers from the best weekly in the world, The Economist, BBC Radio 4 chatted with Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger and his equal at the Independent, Simon Kelner to hear what they think about the future of the newspaper.

Editors-in-chief of two of Britain's top dailies have had their say about how the Internet should be used by newspapers. The Independent's Simon Kelner, famous for the "newspaper vs. viewspaper" debate, and The Times' Robert Thomson give somewhat contradictory messages about the future of newspaper journalism.

On Wednesday the Guardian announced its adoption of a “Web first” policy, but fellow British national newspaper the Daily Telegraph took a step in the completely opposite direction: delaying the publication of print articles on the Web until later in the day.