April 2005 Archives

In looking for ways to improve its business and build its base, The Rocky Mountain News decided on a citizen journalism project which, when launched, will be one of America's biggest such endeavor, reports Editor & Publisher. 40 neighborhood sites and 15 print editions under the title YourHub.com will be divided into 10 advertising regions in the Denver area. Community members will be able to post whatever suits their fancy and some postings will be included in a weekly print edition to be delivered to Rocky subscribers. Another citizen journalism site that has been launched by another paper, The Daily Camera, fears domination by the bigger Rocky site. Kevin Kaufman, media editor at the Camera said, "I need to be able to get to those people quickly, first. I want to get my brand out before (Rocky Mountain does)." Another citizen journalism site in the region, NewWest.net which was launched in February (see previous posting) in three Rocky Mountain areas may run into trouble if it tries to penetrate the Denver citizen journalism market. With all of the citizen journalism sites popping up in the Rockies and the market research showing that there is a demand for the new medium, other papers are sure to soon jump on the wagon.

Source: Editor & Publisher

In looking for ways to improve its business and build its base, The Rocky Mountain News decided on a citizen journalism project which, when launched, will be one of America's biggest such endeavor, reports Editor & Publisher. 40 neighborhood sites and 15 print editions under the title YourHub.com will be divided into 10 advertising regions in the Denver area. Community members will be able to post whatever suits their fancy and some postings will be included in a weekly print edition to be delivered to Rocky subscribers. Another citizen journalism site that has been launched by another paper, The Daily Camera, fears domination by the bigger Rocky site. Kevin Kaufman, media editor at the Camera said, "I need to be able to get to those people quickly, first. I want to get my brand out before (Rocky Mountain does)." Another citizen journalism site in the region, NewWest.net which was launched in February (see previous posting) in three Rocky Mountain areas may run into trouble if it tries to penetrate the Denver citizen journalism market. With all of the citizen journalism sites popping up in the Rockies and the market research showing that there is a demand for the new medium, other papers are sure to soon jump on the wagon.

Source: Editor & Publisher

Valued at euro 70m, the free daily 20 Minutos gave over 20% of its business to Grupo Zeta for euro 15m, in an attempt by the media group to revive its newspaper division. 20 Minutos holds the biggest share of Spain's free paper market with over 2 million daily readers and has surpassed El Pais as Madrid's most read paper.

Source: Periodistas 21 (in Spanish)

Despite a 3% rise in advertising revenue, the Financial Times is still on the chopping block, according to BrandRepublic. The International Herald Tribune also reports that the annual shareholder's meeting of Pearson, the media group that owns the FT, concluded that the daily would not be sold and said that after a few years of losses, the paper will break even this year. In a more useful note for editors, the Guardian writes that the pinksheet's news editor role will be divided between two staff members. Editor Andrew Gowers said, "We run a global, 24-hour news operation, and the fact that we have chosen two people to run it reflects the scale of the role."

Sources: BrandRepublic, IHT, Guardian

As most newspapers are figuring out how to turn a profit on the Internet, The Globe and Mail summarizes several cases of varying strategies. The example always mentioned, The Wall Street Journal, releases very few articles for free, but has an advantage in that it provides specialized information for businesses and financial firms. More general papers usually have trouble charging for online material because so much breaking news can easily be found for free on other sites, so if they want to charge for their content, they usually opt for a mixed model, charging for certain columns and/or archives. Some, such as the Winnipeg Free Press, are looking to sell subscriptions for an exact digital replica of the print version since they don't earn much from their website to which more and more people are going to read its news. Leonard Asper, CEO of CanWest Global Communications Corp which sells its electronic editions for about 10 Canadian dollars a month, would like to make his entire company digital. The Globe and Mail has adopted an integrated strategy, leaving a lot of material free, mainly to attract younger readers to their content, and providing "premium content" at a price. Individual papers may have to test their own readerships willingness to pay for content through trial and error.

Source: The Globe and Mail

As most newspapers are figuring out how to turn a profit on the Internet, The Globe and Mail summarizes several cases of varying strategies. The example always mentioned, The Wall Street Journal, releases very few articles for free, but has an advantage in that it provides specialized information for businesses and financial firms. More general papers usually have trouble charging for online material because so much breaking news can easily be found for free on other sites, so if they want to charge for their content, they usually opt for a mixed model, charging for certain columns and/or archives. Some, such as the Winnipeg Free Press, are looking to sell subscriptions for an exact digital replica of the print version since they don't earn much from their website to which more and more people are going to read its news. Leonard Asper, CEO of CanWest Global Communications Corp which sells its electronic editions for about 10 Canadian dollars a month, would like to make his entire company digital. The Globe and Mail has adopted an integrated strategy, leaving a lot of material free, mainly to attract younger readers to their content, and providing "premium content" at a price. Individual papers may have to test their own readerships willingness to pay for content through trial and error.

Source: The Globe and Mail

As most newspapers are figuring out how to turn a profit on the Internet, The Globe and Mail summarizes several cases of varying strategies. The example always mentioned, The Wall Street Journal, releases very few articles for free, but has an advantage in that it provides specialized information for businesses and financial firms. More general papers usually have trouble charging for online material because so much breaking news can easily be found for free on other sites, so if they want to charge for their content, they usually opt for a mixed model, charging for certain columns and/or archives. Some, such as the Winnipeg Free Press, are looking to sell subscriptions for an exact digital replica of the print version since they don't earn much from their website to which more and more people are going to read its news. Leonard Asper, CEO of CanWest Global Communications Corp which sells its electronic editions for about 10 Canadian dollars a month, would like to make his entire company digital. The Globe and Mail has adopted an integrated strategy, leaving a lot of material free, mainly to attract younger readers to their content, and providing "premium content" at a price. Individual papers may have to test their own readerships willingness to pay for content through trial and error.

Source: The Globe and Mail

Voila.fr recounts the story of the sole daily paper in Aceh, the Indonesian province destroyed by December's tsunami, and Agence France Presse. The seventeen year-old daily, Serambi, lost over one hundred employees to the disaster, as well as its printing presses and offices. As soon as the island country's reconstruction began, surviving members of the paper quickly began printing again, keeping their public informed. AFP has been allowing Serambi to use its breaking news, infographics and photos free of charge. Serambi's editor, Sjamsul Kahar, commented, "This service is very useful for us for the text and photos that give us a window to what's happening in the world."

Source: Voila.fr (in French)

Voila.fr recounts the story of the sole daily paper in Aceh, the Indonesian province destroyed by December's tsunami, and Agence France Presse. The seventeen year-old daily, Serambi, lost over one hundred employees to the disaster, as well as its printing presses and offices. As soon as the island country's reconstruction began, surviving members of the paper quickly began printing again, keeping their public informed. AFP has been allowing Serambi to use its breaking news, infographics and photos free of charge. Serambi's editor, Sjamsul Kahar, commented, "This service is very useful for us for the text and photos that give us a window to what's happening in the world."

Source: Voila.fr (in French)

Found on Editor & Publisher, Merrill Lynch has released not so stellar results for the US newspaper industry's first-quarter advertising revenues. Predicted to rise 3.3%, ad income fell short by .3%. The printed press grew about 1.5% but Merrill Lynch said that much of this growth came from new products such as Hispanic publications and weekly papers. Web advertising exploded, increasing 40% "(saving) the quarter." The report emphasized the switch to online advertising with Google and Yahoo's incredible first quarter ad revenue growth (109 and 47% respectively), and a report by a major auto manufacturer who said that they are dedicating 25% of their ad budget to the Web.

Source: Editor & Publisher

We've all heard the hype about blogs. We know that their numbers are growing exponentially. We've seen them beat the Mainstream Media to a few stories. But we still read contradicting accounts of their future influence: will the blogosphere radically transform the world as we know it or are blogs simply a passing fad? Three reports this week provide varying ideas about what to expect.

Blogs published in traditional media: The Los Angeles Times writes that well known commenator Arianna Huffington has proposed a "group blog," inviting public figures from actors to politicians from both sides of the political spectrum to comment on on anything that suits their fancy. A seven member team will research and post articles that the group will respond to, but the group need not stick to these parameters. Huffington would also like them to write about personal interests. Her novel idea, one that could shake up the news industry, is that some of the unedited blog material will be lightly edited and published in the mainstream media through syndication.

We've all heard the hype about blogs. We know that their numbers are growing exponentially. We've seen them beat the Mainstream Media to a few stories. But we still read contradicting accounts of their future influence: will the blogosphere radically transform the world as we know it or are blogs simply a passing fad? Three reports this week provide varying ideas about what to expect.

Blogs published in traditional media: The Los Angeles Times writes that well known commenator Arianna Huffington has proposed a "group blog," inviting public figures from actors to politicians from both sides of the political spectrum to comment on on anything that suits their fancy. A seven member team will research and post articles that the group will respond to, but the group need not stick to these parameters. Huffington would also like them to write about personal interests. Her novel idea, one that could shake up the news industry, is that some of the unedited blog material will be lightly edited and published in the mainstream media through syndication.

We've all heard the hype about blogs. We know that their numbers are growing exponentially. We've seen them beat the Mainstream Media to a few stories. But we still read contradicting accounts of their future influence: will the blogosphere radically transform the world as we know it or are blogs simply a passing fad? Three reports this week provide varying ideas about what to expect.

Blogs published in traditional media: The Los Angeles Times writes that well known commenator Arianna Huffington has proposed a "group blog," inviting public figures from actors to politicians from both sides of the political spectrum to comment on on anything that suits their fancy. A seven member team will research and post articles that the group will respond to, but the group need not stick to these parameters. Huffington would also like them to write about personal interests. Her novel idea, one that could shake up the news industry, is that some of the unedited blog material will be lightly edited and published in the mainstream media through syndication.

News of a possible sale of the heralded Financial Times is shaking up the newspaper world this week according to The Independent. Interested buyers are reportedly The Dow Jones Company, owners of the Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and Barclay Brothers, recent purchasers of the Telegraph. Although international sales are up, they are not profitable and domestic circulation has fallen below 100,000, many blaming the Pink 'Un's editor, Andrew Gowers for isolating loyal readers by increasing the paper's focus on politics and national news.

In related news, mobile phone operator O2 has signed an agreement with the FT where the pinksheet's news will be beamed to O2's portable devices. O2 looks to be investing in the predicted popularity of mobile news, already having similar agreements with The Economist, The Independent, the Daily Telegraph, The Times and The Spectator.

Sources: The Independent and MediaWeek