Results matching “uk football lea”

The first issue of French daily sports newspaper Le 10 Sport, launched on Monday, sold 150,000 copies at 50 cents apiece, according to Agence France Presse (AFP). The paper's central focus is on football-related events.

While newspapers have been fighting off declining circulation and an aging readership, social networking sites are thriving. De Telegraaf, a leading Dutch broadsheet, has tapped into this popular medium by teaming up with popular Dutch social networking site, Hyves, for the Euro 2008 football tournament and the Olympics. In so doing, Telegraaf.nl gained access to Hyves 7 million users.

The Editors Weblog spoke to Telegraaf.nl's Publisher, Lara Ankersmit, to find out how the project came about, the impact it had on its newsroom, and the benefits of working with social media.

"Brainstorm"

When Telegraaf.nl first met with Hyves back in September 2007, it was simply to have "a conversation and a brainstorm." This initial conversation led to the two companies building a partnership that would not only drive traffic to the newspapers' web edition and enable Hyves to increase its product offering to its users, but also revolutionise and redefine the relationship between newspapers and social networking sites. This partnership has now become something of a blueprint within the industry for other newspapers looking to tap into the success of this new media platform.

"We don't care where people read our news; as long as they do read it."

Explaining the thinking behind the partnership, Ankersmit says, "We don't care where people read our news; as long as they do read it." Telegraaf has come to terms with the changes the internet has brought to the newspaper industry and adapted its product offering and thinking accordingly. Furthermore, the Telegraaf is putting its product on different platforms independent of news aggregators, and is thereby controlling how its brand is presented.

Specialised Content

To launch this innovative scheme, the two companies needed a suitably big story; therefore, the launching pad for Telegraaf's content on the Hyves site was the Euro 2008 football tournament and the Olympic games in Beijing. Telegraaf's content for Hyves was not lifted directly from its web edition: the news provider moved out of its "comfort zone" and changed its tone and content appropriately for the medium.

Telegraaf.nl and Hyves worked together to produce a fantasy football game, which was hosted on the Hyves platform. This fantasy football game proved to be a great success, achieving almost 170,000 participants. The rules are the same as other fantasy football competitions, with users selecting teams and predicting which country would win the tournament. Furthermore, Telegraaf provided editorial pieces to build on the playing experience. While playing the game, Hyves users could also choose friends from their social network to play with; the end result of this being that almost 45% of the players joined the game because of a recommendation from a friend on the social network site.

After the success of the Euro 2008 competition, the teams at Teegraaf and Hyves are working together again on a game for this year's football season (till May 2009). At going to press, the game has almost 32,000 participants.

The game comes with all kinds of statistics, eg, a player can see how good/bad they perform compared to the Hyves community, other women, other participants who are of a certain star sign, who live in the same city, and so forth. Teegraaf have not yet used this data for online content as the season has just begun. However, during Euro 2008 Telegraaf used such data for stories in the newspaper and the website.

For the Olympics, the newspaper provided tailored coverage of the games in Beijing, with the Telegraaf's sports desk working on the coverage. The blogs produced for Hyves in Beijing were also published on the newspaper's web site.

Just as content for the web edition is different from the print edition, content for the social network platform also differs from the news website. As Hyves is a more informal website than a straight web edition of a newspaper, the Telegraaf needed to provide the site with something a little different. For example, in the print edition Telegraaf will feature one photo within a story, on the web version it will have five photos, but for Hyves Telegraaf it will feature twenty photos. The style of photos will also be different from Telegraaf.nl, so there will be more behind the scenes shots or photos of the journalist travelling to, for example, the Olympic Games.

The newspaper also customised its blogs for Hyves, requesting that Telegraaf journalists at the Olympic games provide blogs from a more personal perspective.

Adapt the newsroom - stay flexible

This coverage from Telegraaf.nl did increase the workload (for example, increased blog content) for the newsroom, but Ankersmit reports that the staffers were enthusiastic about the Hyves project. Ankersmit also told the Weblog that the newspaper hired two journalism students who focused on uploading pictures and monitoring the Hyves site.
The sales and marketing team and project managers were also working in the background to ensure a buzz around the new product.

Payoff

The benefits of this relationship to the two media companies are clear: Telegraaf is able to tap into Hyves 7 million users and open up its content to a younger audience who may not have considered reading the newspaper previously and Hyves is provided with high quality content from one of the Netherlands' most respected newspapers. During the project, almost 20% of the incoming traffic to Telesport.nl (the sports pages of Telegraaf.nl) came through the Hyves site. Before the project, the traffic coming via the Hyves site was negligible.

This partnership also helped the Telegraaf re-brand itself and present itself as a modern news organisation. The newspaper had a rather "old fashioned" image before the project, but this initiative made people look at Telegraaf in a new light. The games on the Hyves site also got people talking about the site on the internet and the project became a topic of conversation around water-coolers in offices.

Despite these changes at the Telegraaf, Ankersmit says that "news is still our core product," it is simply changing the way that it connects with its audience. Anksersmit told the Editors Weblog that it is important that news organisations "extend their brand" and its relationship with Hyves got people used to reading Telegraaf news on different platforms.

The future

Building on the success of its partnership with Hyves, the newspaper site is currently moving ahead with plans for its Mobile smart phone coverage. Ankersmit reports that while smart phone content was previously just read by business users, the introduction of a flat-rate fee from mobile companies has opened up the platform to a wider audience. Telegraaf has also noted that readers are using the site in a different way, they now read content in a similar fashion to that on the website. Ankersmit expects Mobile to be increasingly popular in the years ahead as it becomes increasingly commercial, and when it does, the Telegraaf will once again be ready to break new ground.

The Liverpool Echo announced plans to relaunch with a new design and added content.  The launch is planned for October 27, 2008.

According to the paper's website the "full makeover" of the Echo is designed to keep "with the pace, energy, positivity and drive of the regeneration of our city." 

The 'Secret Weapon' of Newspapers in the Digital Age? Paper!
William Powers, Media Columnist, The Nation, USA

Paper is an island of peace in the digital 'chaos' and an 'emerging strength' for media which demands much more examination, William Powers said in his keynote address to the annual Readership Conference.

"The world needs - desperately needs - what newspapers do," said Mr Powers, the media columnist for The Nation magazine in the United States and author of "Hamlet's Blackberry," an essay on the enduring power of paper.

The World Association of Newspapers presented its annual World Young Reader
Newspaper of the Year award Thursday (16 October) to the Polish daily Gazeta
Wyborcza for its successful initiatives to attract younger readers in a
country where half the population in under 35.

The newspaper, which received the award at the WAN Readership Conference in
Amsterdam, also won Jury Commendations for two projects: a tie-in for young
readers with the Euro 2008 football matches, and for a campaign that helped
readers protest against Chinese policies in Tibet.

"This is a total 'youth think' newspaper. They do everything right for young
people," said Aralynn McMane, Director of Young Reader Programmes at WAN, in
presenting the award.

On Tuesday two reporters who helped expose a corruption scandal in the transportation ministry unit were put on trial.  The incident highlights the lack of media freedom and repression faced by journalists in Vietnam.

The two journalists exposed a scandal, known as PMU 18, in which government officials were embezzling development funds meant for infrastructure projects.  Most of the money they embezzled went to bets on European football according to AFP.  

Their coverage led to the resignation of transport minister Dao Dinh Binh and the arrest of his deputy in 2006.  Last year eight other officials were jailed in connection.

A new daily sports paper, 10 Sport, will be launched on November 3.  The paper will be published seven days a week and distributed throughout France.  It will be a 24-page tabloid-style format with an initial circulation of 100,000 and a staff of around twenty.

Since 1988, L'Equipe, the only daily sports paper in France has dominated the paid-for press with a higher circulation than any other paper including Le Monde and Le Figaro.  

According to Michel Moulin, co-founder of the paper, 10 Sport will be focused on football and will complement L'Equipe.  

Sources: Le Figaro

The News of the World, one of the UK's most popular newspapers, is relaunching its website next week. The newspaper are currently running a beta version test.



The new site will add a series of football blogs written by fans of Premier League clubs, give greater prominence to video content, adopt new templates, and offer an improved search facility.

The newspaper has pre-selected fanzine editors and supporters from unofficial club websites to write the blogs about their teams. Considering the grey legal area of bloggers, especially unpaid volunteers, Gary Thompson, associate editor of NoW.co.uk said, "The same rules will apply to them [bloggers] as to our chief sports writers. The rules of libel apply to them as much as anyone else."

The site has a redesigned homepage, adopting The Sun Online's page template, to make more content accessible above the fold. It has also added a tab feature to make navigation easier.

The new site will run on a technology system called Scenic, which also runs the websites of other News International titles, Times Online and Sun Online. The new-look site is replacing the pop-up feature by embedding a new video player supplied by Kit Digital - formerly Roo Media - into the top right of the homepage and across story pages.

Source: Guardian.co.uk

Ashley-Paul Robinson, a Crystal Palace football player, announced on his Facebook profile that he might be transferring to Fulham, a rival football club. The football player's public announcement may put into question the type of information that can be announced on social networks.

The news that he was trying out for Fulham was not only viewed by his nearly two hundred Facebook friends, but also to the 2.7 million members signed up to the London section.

The 18-year-old has been with the club for around four years. Now, however, Palace asked him to look "elsewhere to further his career".    

"It's pretty embarrassing for the club that this guy is telling the world he's looking to leave the club," said a source from Palace. "Perhaps someone should tell him to be a bit more private about what he's putting on the Internet."

Source: The Guardian

Reetta Meriläinen, editor-in-chief of the Helsingin Sanomat in Helsinki, Finland, will discuss the paper's print and online hyperlocal strategies at the upcoming World Editors Forum in Gothenburg, Sweden, from June 1 to 4.

The Editors Weblog is carrying a few 'teaser' interviews featuring speakers of the upcoming Forum.

Meriläinen's presentation focuses on three essential aspects of hyperlocal news:

- hyperlocal is not only about geographic, but also mental proximity - covering issues that are close to readers' minds:
Newspapers "often think of hyperlocal as just a geographic term but it isn't just that," she said. Instead, "We are here to serve people and to try help them in their everyday life."
For example, if there's a problem with city traffic or issues about daycare, the Helsingin encourages people to voice their concerns and submit questions, such as "How to find daycare for my children." These questions are then forwarded to the mayor's office, daycare facilities, and any relevant policy group. The Helsingin also creates many forums to connect people around those issues.

- focus on hyperlocal news to build a community:
A soft news story with local focus can help build a strong community of readers, as was the case when the Helsingin wrote about Bubi, the owl that landed on the goalpost during a local football game - and stayed to watch the game.
Helsingin Sanomat's website features its own local service site, "Oma kaupunki," which means "my own city." This section of the site combines local and hyperlocal news, with reader services and forums. In effect, it's perfect for local search, both for news and as a local guide, according to Meriläinen. In the future, the Helsingin plans to open this platform to user-generated content.

- hyperlocal means moving from virtual encounters to real encounters:
Last summer, the Helsingin led a print and online campaign to restore the Kaisaniemi park in Helsinki, which was dangerous and badly kept. The paper encouraged people to find ideas for the park and submit them. It also organized events "to keep the park alive," including a fun fair, complete with stands, balloons, food and games, and a panel discussion about the issues. Whereas the paper expected between 1,000 and 2,000 people, a massive 5,000 showed up. This event helped to build a real relationship amongst the community, and the ideas that emerged during the whole campaign were sent to the municipal county. There are now plans for improvement of the park.

Reetta Meriläinen, editor-in-chief of the Helsingin Sanomat in Helsinki, Finland, will discuss in detail the paper's print and online hyperlocal strategies at the upcoming World Editors Forum in Gothenburg, Sweden, from June 1 to 4.

The Guardian won the sports coverage of the year award at the Sports Industry Awards in the UK.

Other contenders included the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Times and The Times, but the Guardian was chosen for its 'synergy between multi-platforms.'

Among the Guardian's strengths was its multimedia coverage of former English football team manager Steve McClaren getting sacked after England failed to qualify for the upcoming Euro Cup.

For this event, apart from print and online articles, the Guardian featured rolling news, comments and audio footage online. Praises were also given to the Guardian's use of Hawk Eye technology - which is used for digital replays of sports games (see here) - for its cricket coverage last summer.

Source: journalism.co.uk

Twitter, which Jeff Jarvis calls the "next evolutionary step in blogging," has been put to good use for a variety of different types of reporting. Add sports coverage to the list, thanks to an initiative from local UK newspaper The Evening Leader.

The Leader used Twitter to provide live coverage of Wrexham FC's April 26 home match against Accrington Stanley, reports Journalism.co.uk. The tweets, texted every few minutes by deputy editor Martin Wright, appeared both on a widget on the Leader website and on the paper's Wrexham Twitter account.

"I go to as many Wrexham home games as I can, but inevitably I end up missing some," Wright said. "When I'm at work this can be a bit of a problem because I want to know the score and what's happening all the time - not just when the final whistle goes."

Source: Journalism.co.uk through IFRA Executive News Service

Agence France-Presse announced yesterday the addition of a video feature for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and Euro 2008 football championship. The feature will contain interviews, press conferences, reactions to the competitions, and more.

Clients can subscribe separately to the videos or add the feature to existing Beijing and Euro packages, which include traditional wire material (text, photos, and graphics) and multimedia material (mini-Web sites, Web content, and sports animations).

Source: Editor & Publisher through EJC

L’Équipe, the French sports newspaper, has launched L’Équipe Junior, a free bi-weekly online sports magazine aimed at the 9 to 14 year-old set.

Although L’Équipe has experienced 7.8% drop in circulation in the past year, they decided to pursue the project in hopes of generating brand loyalty amongst younger readers, reports Le Figaro.

The publication will be made available exclusively online at 3pm on Wednesday and Saturday, catering to a 5 million strong demographic amongst which 59% are regular internet users. However, users have the option to print the eight-page paper from the website.

The site incorporates an educational facet as well, prompted in part by L’Équipe’s findings that for 44% of boys and 36% of girls, sports