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Trinity Mirror buys Guardian's regional business

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on February 9, 2010 at 5:39 PM

The Guardian Media Group (GMG) today sold its regional media business to Trinity Mirror in a £44.8 million deal, it was widely reported. Of the price, £7.4 million comes in cash and Trinity Mirror is releasing GMG from a £37.4 million print contract.

The deal is due to be completed by March 28. The Guardian, which was previously known as the Manchester Guardian before moving its main office to London in the 1960s, will still have a Manchester-based reporter.

Guardian's Rusbridger: 'iPad could produce significant revenue streams'

Posted by Maria Conde on February 9, 2010 at 3:09 PM

Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger told Reuters that "if we get the right functionality and design," the iPad could "produce interesting, significant revenue streams," according to PaidContent.

Because developing an application for the iPad will not require any different skills from the ones required to launch an iPhone app, news publishers that have had success with iPhone apps, are now looking to cash in on the iPad.

Smartphone sales soar in 2009

Posted by Maria Conde on February 9, 2010 at 12:50 PM

Vendors shipped a record 54.5 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2009, 39% more than the 39.2 million shipped in the same quarter in 2008, according to IDC information on PC World.

Four of the top five smartphone sellers beat their shipments records for a single quarter, according to numbers released by the International Data Corporation (IDC). Following a 98% increase in smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2008, Apple has regained its spot as third largest smartphone vendor, behind longtime leaders Nokia and Research in Motion

MediaNews Group to adopt metered paywalls

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on February 8, 2010 at 4:48 PM

The MediaNews Group has released details of its plans to charge for content online, announced in November last year, Bloomberg reports. The publisher will adopt a metered system similar to that planned at The New York Times.

Two newspapers, the Daily Record in York, Pennsylvania, and the Enterprise-Record in Chico, California, will start charging in May. They will give users access to up to 25 'premium' articles a month, after which they will be required to pay a fee. Print subscriptions will include access to the website. Premium content may include some columns and investigative reporting, MediaNews president Joseph Lodovic said.

Jobs to go at Swedish daily

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on February 8, 2010 at 3:08 PM

Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter has announced that it will cut between 100 and 120 jobs after sustaining multi-million euro losses, The Local reports. This amounts to almost one sixth of the newspaper's workforce.

The company employs 580 people, with half of these in the newsroom. Most of the cuts are expected to affect editorial staff, with more than a third of these set to go.

The newspaper reported losses of 97 million kronor, or around €10 million, last year. Despite this, union official Hans Arbman said that the cuts were unexpected.

ProPublica investigates politicians' Super Bowl fundraising

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on February 8, 2010 at 11:07 AM

Non-profit investigative journalism outfit ProPublica is taking advantage of the Super Bowl to dig into the fundraising efforts of politicians, Poynter Online reports.

Reporter Marcus Stern planned to use the football game, held yesterday, to spot members of Congress who were attending and figure out how they obtained their tickets. But since he knew that trying to contact 535 members of Congress would be too big a task for one person, he turned the investigation into a crowdsourcing effort and asked professional journalists and the public to help collaborate.

"To some extent, this is going to be a test of the privacy or the openness of members of Congress when it comes to fundraising," Stern told Poynter Online.

Freesheet London Weekly is here

Posted by Maria Conde on February 5, 2010 at 5:30 PM

Following a week of much speculation over whether the new London freesheet existed, and if so, if it would launch at all, the London Weekly is finally here, says Guardian.

The launch of the new freesheet was announced in November of last year, with its website opening in December. Executives at the Global Publishing Group, the company responsible for the publication, initially announced the freesheet would launch on February 1st, but later pushed back the start date to February 5th.

Guardian's Zeitgeist tracks 'social signals' from readers

Posted by Trafton Kenney on February 5, 2010 at 12:31 PM

The Guardian is developing a new feature for its website, Zeitgeist, which organizes content into trends based on the attention of users. Instead of tracking articles by the number of page views, Zeitgeist analyzes the 'social signals' or behavior of visitors to Guardian.co.uk by looking at the websites they come from, the sites they visit after, the amount of time spent on each page, and which stories they post on social networking sites.

The data for each story is then analyzed together for a value of "Zeitgeistiness." Stories that attract more attention than normal are then posted on the Zeitgeist page in color-coded blocks according to the section in which they first appeared in the Guardian, making it easier for readers to notice trends throughout the week. Each article is only compared to others published on the same day in the same section.

Guardian staff oppose changes to pay and conditions

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on February 5, 2010 at 10:57 AM

Staff members at The Guardian have voted to oppose proposed changes to their pay and conditions, including cuts to sabbaticals, and instead claimed a pay rise for editorial staff.

The Guardian reported that the local branch of the National Union of Journalists for The Guardian, The Observer and website guardian.co.uk voted against proposals to outsource technical support and some work involved in the production of sponsored supplements.

Parent company Guardian News & Media (GNM) also has plans to cut rates paid to casual staff and to end journalist sabbaticals, currently set at a four week paid break for every four years of service. Union members opposed these proposals.

London Evening Standard readership rises

Posted by Maria Conde on February 4, 2010 at 5:25 PM

The London Evening Standard's readership has gone from 556,000 in April to September to 1.37 million in the last three months of 2009, Stephen Brook from Guardian reports.

These positive readership figures follow the newspaper going free in October of last year and more than doubling its circulation to 600,000 copies in the process. The London Evening Standard was bought by Russian billionaire Alexander Lebeveb in 2008, and his decision to drop the paper's 50p cover price was made in the hope that boosted circulation would increase advertising enough to make up for the lost revenue of having no cover price. His move towards the freesheet format prompted speculation that other London quality newspapers may drop their cover price as well.

News International seeks social media agency

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on February 4, 2010 at 5:12 PM

Newspaper publisher News International has launched a review of its search, affiliate, social media and pay-per-click business for some of its online newspaper brands, Media Week reports.

The publisher is looking for a search and social media agency to handle online brands including online bingo for The Sun and News of the World, as well as its online fantasy football game Dream Team.

NOTW loses case to keep phone-hacking evidence

Posted by Trafton Kenney on February 4, 2010 at 1:44 PM

The News of the World yesterday lost its court case to withhold secret evidence that allegedly documents the extensive use of phone-hacking by the newspaper's reporters and private investigators into the phone accounts of celebrities.

Judge Vos of the high court called for the evidence to be handed over to Max Clifford, a celebrity publicist. Clifford had alleged that the newspaper illegally tapped into the private voicemail of his mobile phone.

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.

Telegraph.co.uk tightens focus: content, commerce, clubs

Posted by Emma Heald on February 4, 2010 at 10:28 AM

Like most content creators, the Telegraph Media Group has always focused on increasing Web traffic by directing a maximum number of users to its Web site, Telegraph.co.uk, thereby increasing digital revenues through advertising. But times are changing, online ad revenue isn't enough, and TMG has come up with a new plan.

TMG's digital editor, Edward Roussel, told MediaGuardian today that the publisher will stop chasing everyone and instead focus on the "three Cs": content, commerce and clubs, with the hope of building a more sustainable business model.

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

Freesheet launch: All quiet on the London Weekly front

Posted by Helena Humphrey on February 3, 2010 at 12:32 PM

Back in November the newspaper rumour mill whispered word of an all-new freesheet to grace the streets of the capital, The London Weekly. By December, marketing manager Paul Morris announced a launch date of the 1 February and its partnership website went live.

Despite a rather unpolished online offering (from a company that claims to have £10.5 million in the kitty), displaying few regular news updates written by just two users and registered from a German server, Morris last week maintained that the 250,000 copies of the freesheet would be handed out every Friday and Saturday - although the start date would now be delayed until the 5 February.

News Corp announces big profits and plans for pay walls

Posted by Trafton Kenney on February 3, 2010 at 12:06 PM

As News Corp announced profits of $254 million over the three months up to December, Rupert Murdoch said his company is close to implementing online subscription models for all of its newspapers like the Times, the News of the World, and the Sun.

The company is also in "advanced negotiations" with handheld-device manufacturers about possible paywalls that would allow customers access to News Corp content "whenever and wherever they want it," said Murdoch.

According to Murdoch, "ingenious and fabulous devices" like the iPad and the Kindle "would be unloved and unsold" without the creative content supplied by newspapers. "Content is not just king, it is the emperor of all things digital. We're on the cusp of a digital revolution from which our shareholders will profit handsomely," said Murdoch.

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.

Guardian executive: specialist content could be charged for

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on February 2, 2010 at 1:11 PM

The Guardian has ruled out implementing paywalls on its website, but may still decide to charge for specialist or niche content, the Financial Times reports.

Chief executive of the Guardian Media Group Carolyn McCall told the Financial Times that although her position is not entrenched, she sees no commercial evidence that paywalls generate returns. "It is not really the way the web works," she said.

"That is not to say there are not areas of specialist content that cannot be charged for," she added.

NOTW phone-hacking scandal involved over 100 accounts

Posted by Trafton Kenney on February 2, 2010 at 1:05 PM

Three leading British phone companies have confirmed that over 100 customer accounts were illegally accessed by a private investigator and journalist at the News of the World, claims Nick Davies of the Guardian in the latest development in the phone-hacking scandal that let to a parliamentary committee enquiry.

Scotland Yard supplied 02, Vodafone, and Orange with phone numbers used by News of the World's royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, and private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, to access the private voicemails of customers like Prince William and Boris Johnson. Working backwards to trace customers whose voicemail had been dialed from those numbers, Vodafone and 02 each found that "about 40" voicemails had been compromised, while Orange found that 45 customer accounts had been hacked.

The paywall you can't see: bundling newspaper and TV subscriptions

Posted by Maria Conde on February 2, 2010 at 11:50 AM

Although only 35 people have signed up for Newsday subscriptions since it was put behind a paywall last October, these dismal figures hide the Long Island daily's grander scheme: a paywall that nobody notices because it is bundled with a cable television subscription.

The owners of Newsday also own Optimum Cable, according to Guardian, which supplies cable TV to 75% of Long Island homes, Newsday's backyard. Newsday.com was offered to these subscribers at no additional charge, bundled with cable and high-speed Internet services. Therefore, the number of people who signed up for to the Long Island daily since October was not 35, but 1.5 million, the people that currently have Optimum Cable subscriptions.

Whistleblower Wikileaks' temporary closure

Posted by Helena Humphrey on February 1, 2010 at 11:55 AM

Dubbed the "brown paper envelope for the digital age" by the Guardian when it launched in 2007, Wikileaks, "the online clearinghouse for leaked documents", has been forced to temporarily close in order to raise the funds it requires to continue operations.

Committed to remaining ethical and independent, the website refuses to accept government or corporate funding. Having leaked some 1.2 million sensitive documents online, Wikileaks is the force behind the publication of the British National Party's membership list and attracted attention when it hosted the Minton report - a report detailing oil trader Trafigura's activities at a time when the company's legal representation was desperately trying to keep its contents secret from the press.

All eyes on Davos: how media players are bringing the WEF closer to you

Posted by Maria Conde on January 29, 2010 at 2:45 PM

As world leaders plan the future of the global economy at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, journalists are using social media and other innovative ways to bring the discussion closer to the people.

NYT's paywall: of symbolic significance but unlikely to increase revenue?

Posted by Emma Heald on January 29, 2010 at 11:54 AM

Time's James Poniewozik has suggested that the significance of the New York Times's paywall is symbolic, rather than a sign that paid online content is the future for news. "Any pricing scheme that can raise actual money risks chasing away actual readers," and this why the NYT's charging method "probably won't make much difference to the Times's coffers or its readers at first."

As Poniewozik says, there are many people who won't end up paying for an online subscription to the New York Times. Print subscribers will get free access, casual readers won't have to pay, and those directed via other websites won't pay.

Guardian Local bloggers announced

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 29, 2010 at 11:20 AM

The Guardian has appointed three bloggers to its new experimental Guardian Local initiative.

Tom Allan, Hannah Waldram and John Baron have been appointed to cover the cities of Edinburgh, Cardiff and Leeds respectively. They will take on the position of 'beatbloggers', that is, bloggers who stick to a well-defined beat or coverage area.

Guardian website received nearly 37 million unique visitors in December

Posted by Maria Conde on January 28, 2010 at 5:30 PM

The Guardian website has done it again - the newspaper's website has just announced it has achieved its second record-breaking month in a row with nearly 37 million unique users for December, according to its website.

This surpassed its November record by 3.32%, according to figures released today by the Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic.

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