Results matching “the guardian te”

Staff at leading German newspaper Berliner Zeitung have placed an advertisement in a rival publication seeking a new owner. Berliner Zeitung is owned by Mecom, a leading European newspaper and content company.

The advertisement appears to be a reaction to the announcement last week that a quarter (130) of the editorial staff at Berliner Zeitung will be made redundant.

In a recent interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel the Chief Executive of Mecom, David Montgomery, played down the problems that his company is having in Berlin.

Montgomery said that the issues have been caused by, "isolated rabble rousers who are trying to stop time". He went on to say that times have changed for newspapers.

Under the title, "Publish Wanted", the advertisement stated the journalists were looking for a "serious buyer who doesn't just produce a paper to make money".

The Berliner Zeitung's editor-in-chef Josef Depenbrock has been a controversial figure at the newspaper ever since Montgomery gave him the dual role of managing editor and editor-in-chief.

The paper's editorial department failed in an attempt to bring proceedings against Mecom and Josef Depenbrock on Wednesday. They argued that his dual role at the paper went against the paper's statutes. The case was thrown out of court.

Sources reported to MediaGuardian.co.uk that a strike by Berliner Zeitung is likely later in the month.

Mecom announced last week that it will cut up to 465 jobs at its Dutch regional business Wegener.

Source: Guardian

See also:

Netherlands: editors-in-chief complain to Mecom, concerned over editorial quality

Germany: Montgomery continues to incite anger at Berliner Zeitung

Though journalists and publishers' concerns over shrinking ad revenue are warranted, says the Guardian's Roy Greenslade, the future still belongs to journalists. Greenslade believes that economic hardship is not terminal - newspapers will adjust - but the mass media era, he says, "may well be over."

"We have to envisage a future with an entirely new business model based on smaller returns that will fund a small, high quality staff, probably serving niche markets," Greenslade writes.

Greenslade cites several studies confirming newspapers' difficult financial situations, but says journalists should approach the numbers with a dose of pragmatism.

"We have to admit to ourselves first that things will never be as they were in the last millennium," he writes.

Greenslade admits that any change in the newsroom will take time to adjust to. Journalists, however, shouldn't panic.

"The journalistic future does not belong to ailing publishing companies," he writes. "It belongs to us."

Source: The Guardian - Greenslade

Part 1 discussed how the planned changes at The New York Times and International Herald Tribune will help the NYT's continuous news offerings, and how these changes could affect the organization and interaction between both newsrooms.

Part 2 examines how The New York Times intends to:
- Further compete against the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal internationally, and ways in which newspapers can reinforce their international reach.
- Use the strength of its online brand while safeguarding the IHT's popular print brand name.

The Weblog spoke to Jim Roberts, Digital Editor at The New York Times, and Martin Gottlieb, who was appointed to the newly created position of Editor, Global Edition.

How newspapers can become international brands, the NYT joins the race

Until now, the Times hasn't specifically catered to overseas advertisers and readers.

"We need to be agile," said IHT publisher Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, "to compete much more aggressively, nose to nose, with The Financial Times, Wall Street Journal and anybody else who is competing for our readers and advertisers."

No doubt that the Times actually borrowed the continuous news outpost idea from the aforementioned competitors, which have been relying on their foreign bureaus to provide round the clock coverage.

The staff memo reaffirmed the NYT's "ambitious plans to expand in the region (Asia), particularly in India." In June, the IHT announced a partnership with the India-based Deccan Chronicle to print the Tribune's world business section in the Financial Chronicle.

With the rise of digital publishing, many news organizations are seeking to grow a previously inaccessible international readership by:

- launching a print edition abroad: several papers have rolled out editions away from home this past year, such as the FT's recently launched Middle East edition in Abu Dhabi, WSJ's partnership with business paper Mint in India, the Daily Mail's partnership with India Today to publish the Mail Today, or The Times of London's Polish edition.

- investing in an online international section: In Germany, referential weekly Der Spiegel launched an English-language International edition on its website in 2004. Five fulltime staffers are dedicated to translating Der Spiegel's content and rewriting it with an international perspective, as well as doing their own international-minded original reporting (the full case study is featured in Trends in Newsrooms 2008). The Guardian adopted a different approach, by launching a separate, foreign-based, US website, Guardian America. The Guardian is reportedly considering similar ventures in other regions.

- simply reinforcing their focus on international news in their regular coverage: the Daily Telegraph's website in the UK, which was neck to neck with the Guardian in terms of traffic in April, claims nearly two thirds of its visitors are from overseas. A well-indexed website helps to brings in a significant number of 'light' international users through search engines.

Merging "co-branded" websites but not print: a branding issue

The NYT's approach is a combination of the first two strategies: the print IHT now serves as The Times' 'global edition' (see picture), while maintaining its trademark brand name. With the proposed online merger, the NYT could also follow the second route, by hosting an international edition online, without having to extensively change its workflows (see Part 1).

The rationale to merge the websites is clearly explained in the memo: according to WebTrends, NYT's website boasts a strong international audience and 58 million global users, compared to iht.com's seven million.

"The global landscape for online news is highly competitive, making scale, speed and resources essential to success. Therefore we have determined that the best future online for the IHT and the NYT globally is through a joint international presence," said the memo.

However, the memo doesn't explicitly say why this won't be the case in print:

"The IHT should become the international print edition of the NYT, whether it is formally branded that way or not."

The main issue at stake is one of branding. "In print, there have been at least a couple of studies that show that among Tribune newspaper readers there is a great identification with the brand, that the brand means something to readers," said Gottlieb.

"More than the name, what accompanies the name, an international perspective, a sense of calling the best stories from The Times and augmenting them with unique reporting," was a combination that many readers liked.

As news organizations seek to grow their international reach, this consideration probably holds true for many that have established a reputable brand name on a local or national scale. However strong the brand name, its association with a particular place or country can potentially play against that news outlet on the international scene.

Source: New York Times - Media Bistro - Jim Roberts, Digital Editor The New York Times - Martin Gottlieb, Editor, Global Edition

The National, a "western" paper recently launched in the United Arab Emirates, has overcome cultural difficulties to achieve success, the Guardian's Roy Greenslade reports.

Despite the inherent challenges of being a western publication in the Middle East, the National is distributing over 65,000 copies daily.

"We have made waves," a senior executive said.

The project of former Daily Telegraph editor Martin Newland, the National was founded approximately two-and-a-half months ago, and was viewed by many experts as a risk. The analytical reporting that marks "western" papers is markedly different from the reporting of UAE papers, which are subjected to government censorship and often publish press releases verbatim.

The National has encountered some resistance as a result of its reporting. The paper has published articles on issues normally left untouched by the UAE press. Examples include pieces on inflation, traffic problems, and the lack of low-cost housing. Though mild by Western standards, the paper's critical articles have bristled the business community..

"In truth, this country and the commercial operatives here have never been audited by the press," said one foreign journalist.

While the National has made leaps of progress, the paper is managing its expectations. Their mission, after all, is unprecedented.

"You have to see this more as a political and social operation than a commercial one," the executive said.

Related:

More National news: The paper recently launched "UAE's first weekly, Arabic-language financial newspaper", SFN Blog reports.

Source: The Guardian

Sky News has relaunched its website today with a raft of new features. The revamp is aimed at personalizing the site for users and expanding its range of user-generated content and videos.

Steve Bennedik, the editor of Sky News Networked Media, states that, "The features we are introducing to personalize the site are just the start of a process aimed at allowing our users to tailor sky.com/news to suit all their online needs."

Sky is introducing an online community element to its website, powered by Pluck, enabling users to have their own blogs, to comment on other people's blogs, and discussion boards.

The redesigned website will incorporate SkyCast, a video platform powered by a "white label" version of Google's online video technology, into its news pages to encourage users to submit their own videos relating to news stories.

The new Choose Your News function allows users to hone their news search with categories including most popular stories, most recent video clips and "special interest" topics.

A Story Tracker function will automatically update users on news stories they are following.

Sky News is also launching a news service, powered by news aggregation company Daylife, which will provide readers with any related stories from "external sources" from the UK and international providers.

The website will also include more video, graphics and a new "bold design", as well as an interactive and searchable weather map of more than 4,500 destinations.

Source: Guardian

The Irish Times is one of the latest to launch a free website, after being subscription-only for around five years.

According to PaidContent.co.uk, the site itself will have richer content and will allow readers to interact more successfully with each other and with the newspaper staff.

The Irish Times is currently integrating its newsroom. "In a new world where trust and accuracy are often the casualties of speed," it will also seek to further co-ordinate print and online content.

"The move to a free Irish Times on the web follows in the recent footsteps of many leading newspaper titles in the world today, among them the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times," wrote the Times.


Source: PaidContent.co.uk through David Black, IrishTimes.com

See also:

La Tribune opens archives, another news site edges towards free
User traffic increases after the closure of TimesSelect
UK: Guardian integration/ away from editorial funnel towards dual overhead

In order to manage its extensive programming schedule, the BBC will send a staff of 437 to Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The BBC's programming will feature 2,750 hours of coverage, commentary from former athletes, and constant live feeds. In addition, this year's Olympics will be the first games broadcasted in high definition.

"It is way beyond just a brilliant sporting spectacle," said Huw Edwards, anchor of the 10 o'clock news.

Here are some highlights from the weblog's past coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics:

*Journalists awaiting Beijing Olympics: manage expectations

*Olympics "catastrophic" for press freedom

*Australia: Olympic Committee deal allows websites to carry Olympic content

*China: International Media Centre to be accessible for all during 2008 Olympics

Source: The Guardian

The swan song of the subeditor is growing louder: City AM is striking its entire subeditorial team, the Guardian reports. The London business freesheet will cut eight jobs in total, 2 sales jobs and six subeditors. Journalists will now write and sub their own copies.

According to a City AM spokesman, the job losses were not a cost cutting-measure; the paper is considering expanding its night editorial team to compensate for the cuts.

"City AM is undertaking a reorganization that will see it move away from a combined editorial and subeditorial model to focus on frontline journalism," the spokesman said.

Some experts believe the position of subeditor will become obsolete in the age of digital journalism. Click here to read more about the vanishing subeditor.

Source: The Guardian

Many of you were curious to see the top print and Web designs featured in Chapter 8 of this year's Trends in Newsrooms report. (See the full press release here).

You now can view the full chapter online, as one of our colleagues has made it available. It may run a little slowly though.

(To establish this list, the World Editors Forum asked five prominent newspaper designers to pick their Top 10 newspaper designs and Top 5 newspaper website designs to illustrate the evolution of newspaper design and how it is beginning to relate more to the Web.

Here are the newspapers most often cited by the designers: The Guardian (United Kingdom), Poklitiken (Denmark), Bergens Tidende (Norway), St Petersburg Times (United States), Eleftheros Typos (Greece), De Morgen (Belgium), elEconomista (Spain), Excelsior (Mexico), Expreso (Portugal) and Äripäev (Estonia).)

The UK should ensure that the budding online news community becomes a medium for quality journalism, according to a report from the Lords communications committee.

Media companies have become too laissez-faire with their "news gathering" amid the rush for online advertising revenue, the report says. Many companies are relying on news agencies and PR firms for their news.

Lord Fowler, the committee chairman, said that the BBC should put less focus on paying "talent" - such as talk show host Jonathan Ross - and more focus on generating original, quality news.

"Much of the news available on the Internet and on the new television channels is not new. It is repackaged from elsewhere," the report stated.

Fowler believes the Internet boom has resulted in a weakened environment for journalism.

"With the expansion of the Internet, what has not happened is...a similar expansion of news gathering and journalists being employed to get the news," he said.

The report made several other recommendations. Here are a few of them:

1) Strengthen Ofcom's (UK media regulator) powers to allow independent investigations into media mergers.

2) Let the Competition Commission (another regulator) investigate competition issues, and let Ofcom evaluate public interest.

3) Investigate mergers on a case-by-case basis. Under the current laws, an online company buying a newspaper could not be investigated.

Related:

Because the online news community is so nascent, media companies (and legislators) are still figuring out how to approach it.

The Guardian's Roy Greenslade thinks newspapers should embrace blogs and online news. Read his argument here.

Source: The Guardian

The blogosphere's interactive, communal spirit is shaking the foundations of print journalism, but traditional journalists should embrace the change, says Roy Greenslade. News, he says, is no longer "one-way traffic".

"We [print journalists] conceived it [news]. We gathered it. We published it and broadcast it," he writes. "Blogging turns that model on its head. It allows people to question the information we provide. It allows them to produce their own information. It offers them a space to air their own views."

Greenslade says he is no longer certain that his own model of the future newsroom - a core of "professional journalists" overseeing a fringe group of bloggers - is viable. The news organization, he says, is vulnerable.

"...More fundamentally, I wonder whether a news organization is as perfect a model as we might think...It is entirely conceivable that the digital revolution may, in the fullness of time, sweep the media mogul aside," he writes.

Not that this is anything to be afraid of. Greenslade is ebullient when talking about the liberating potential of the blogosphere.

"The joy of the digital revolution is that it is bloodless, and democracy is at its heart," Greenslade writes. "It is the lack of unity that makes blogging so vibrant, so critical and also so self-critical."

For traditionalists who still cling to the old model - journalists as providers, citizens as recipients - and fear relinquishing this power to bloggers, Greenslade has some advice: let go.

"There is no us and them," he writes.

Click here for more on the converging media.

Source: The Guardian (Greenslade) through Journerdism

A "furious letter" was written to Mecom chairman David Montgomery by seven editors-in-chief from the Netherland's biggest regional newspaper publisher, Wegener, describing how worried they were about the future of their newspapers.

Wegener's editors are worried that job cuts will take place in their titles as well and hinder the editorial quality of their papers. Last year, Mecom took an 87% stake in the group.

"The employees are under extreme pressure. There are not enough people, resources and incentives to achieve product differentiation quickly in order to achieve the necessary large-scale success in the multimedia field," the editors stated in the letter.

"As the editors-in-chief, we would like to stress that our papers are not just an economic product.

The concerns of the Dutch editors echo similar situations in many countries where newspapers have been faced with declining ad revenues. Their letter serves as an important reminder that cutting costs and stripping newspapers of their resources can be more detrimental than helpful - editorially and commercially.

"We are also a cultural element, and this is the key factor in the core value of our product. The newspapers are more than an information provider for the inhabitants of the relevant regions - they are a bearer of historical and cultural awareness and social cohesion."

Mecom owns many titles in Europe, such as in Norway, Germany, Poland and Germany, including the "prestigious" Berliner Zeitung, where some 30 journalists positions were cut.

Although Mecom refused to comment on the letter, a senior official mentioned that the situation has improved since it was written and that issues like "local responsibility for publishing" will be resolved soon, the Guardian reported.

Source: Guardian Online

See also:
Mecom grows European assets
Montgomery buys Dutch shares

 

On July 6 the Sunday Times will debut its revamped version featuring full color sections, a new font, and a revised slogan. A television advertising campaign starting next week will lead into the launch.

"It's the first time in its 186-year history that the Sunday Times can use color in all sections and we plan to use it to banish grayness and to reinvigorate the newsprint sections," said editor John Witherow.

The Times' slogan will be updated from "The Sunday Times is the Sunday papers" to "The Sunday Times is my Sunday papers." Additionally, the Times will introduce blogs from its prominent columnists on its website.

As part of its own renovation, the daily Times uprooted writers from its Comment section and relocated them to page two; the Sunday Times, however, will not.

The redesign is made possible through a £650 investment in new presses by the Times' parent company, News International.

Source: The Guardian