Editors Weblog: Search Results

Journalism Online's payment system to be in place in a matter of weeks

Posted by Emma Heald on February 3, 2010 at 12:10 PM

The Intelligencer Journal-Lancaster New Era intends to start using Journalism Online's payment system in the next few months, reported the New York Times. The software system will be called Press+ and GlobalPost and the Fayetteville Observer are also interested, said the NYT.

Journalism Online has also sent a memo to its affiliated publishers (reproduced by paidContent) in which it informs them that the company is "just weeks away" from having the technology ready for use, and that multiple publishers are currently integrating the software.

Guardian's Alan Rusbridger on why his paper will remain free online

Posted by Emma Heald on January 26, 2010 at 12:06 PM

Editor of the Guardian Alan Rusbridger made clear his feelings on paywalls and the growing importance of social media during the 2010 Hugh Cudlipp lecture yesterday, entitled 'Does journalism exist?' The Guardian reproduced the text of the lecture here.

Hugh Cudlipp was an editor at the Daily Mirror from the early 1950s to early 1970s,
a period in which, as Rusbridger pointed out, newspaper editors' key challenge was producing good editorial content, rather than trying to come up with a new business model, which is a top issue confronting all editors now.

How to work to advantage with bloggers and communities

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 15, 2010 at 4:27 PM

We're in a society that has moved from scoop to buzz, says Aurèle Lambert, new media consultant, speaking at the WAN-IFRA conference 'Using sports news to optimise your revenues'.

A scoop refers to new and exclusive information, while buzz refers to information that is easily reproduced through viral transmission. We've moved from an economy based on attention to one based on contagion, he says, where information attracts attention and is transmitted to other players. It's important to consider the relevance of new information and its singularity. He suggests finding ways to turn a scoop, which is both relevant and unique, into a buzz, which is relevant but highly visible, and thus can monetise information and create profit. To be different, it's important to show that you're not providing the same information as everyone else.

He distinguishes between two main kinds of bloggers. One is a community, such as Skyblogs, which can create a mass of information and increase a site's visibility. The other could be called star blogs, run by gurus, experts and opinion leaders. These are heavily involved in personal branding, and are used for visibility and loyalty, such as Pierrot Le Foot's blog on Yahoo France.

Overview of how newspapers are using sports to increase revenue

Posted by Emma Heald on January 14, 2010 at 8:55 PM

At the WAN-IFRA conference on how to optimise sports revenues, Stanislas Sabatier, a senior consultant at SapienS&Sapide gave an overview of ways in which newspapers around the world have used sports sections to increase readership and revenue.

He began by describing two websites which he thinks could inspire newspapers. ESPN has been launching local sites in the US - directly in competition with general local newspapers. The first was in April in Chicago, and the company has moved through major US cities, planning to launch in spring in New York, and it intends to come to the UK soon. These launches have been a great success for ESPN - the local audience in Chicago is higher than that of newspapers which were already there. Clearly the market wasn't already saturated, said Sabatier, it was an opportunity that local newspapers missed.

THE YEAR IN NEWSPAPERS: top trends of 2009

Posted by Emma Heald on December 22, 2009 at 3:24 PM

2009 might well be remembered as a year of cutbacks and closures, but also a year when newspapers started to fight back, make changes and began to reassess unsatisfactory aspects of their business models. The world of journalism has indeed suffered some sad losses but there has also been much innovative thinking and progress in the way that news is gathered, reported and presented. Here are a few of the top trends that the Editors Weblog has noted this year.

Cuts, cuts, cuts: what are the consequences?

Some US cities have been left with just one daily newspaper, and speculation over which could be the first no-paper town was answered in July when the Ann Arbor News stopped printing. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer cut most of its staff and went online only, Denver lost the Rocky Mountain News. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Chronicle and Boston Globe have struggled through threats of closure.

And even those whose survival is assured have been cutting staff - the New York Times just lost 100 newsroom staff - or closing bureaux - the Washington Post now has no domestic bureaux outside the capital. Others have cut down on international reporting. Newspapers have got thinner, some losing sections or even cutting printing days.

News agencies have also been feeling the effect of the cuts as papers look at how to make savings. The Associated Press has seen 180 papers threaten to cancel their subscriptions, though many of these have since decided not to. The Chicago Tribune, for example, trialled reporting without the AP for a week. Over in France, government-subsidised Agence France-Presse has also seen papers drop its service.

Overall, the cutbacks in Europe do not seem as drastic as in the US, though that is not to say that papers have been immune: even the Guardian is attempting to make significant staff cuts.

Can newspapers continue to perform their democratic role in society? Fewer journalists means fewer stories covered, fewer copy/sub editors means a greater chance of mistakes.

Start-ups can help to fill the gaps in reporting, but without proper funding they too will languish. It is essential that outlets must focus on efficiencies and how to make the best of their resources, and endeavour not to sacrifice quality.

To charge or not to charge (online)?

As newspapers' advertising-based business model started to let them down, one of the biggest questions of the year has been whether or not newspapers should start charging for their online content. So far, there has been a lot of talk but not much action. Walter Isaacson brought the micropayments question onto the agenda in February, sparking immediate controversy. The debate started to heat up in April when Journalism Online was founded by three industry experts with an iTunes-inspired mission to facilitate charging for online content: it proposed to offer bundled packages of content from multiple publications. This was swiftly

followed by Murdoch's promise in early May that all News Corp papers would be charging online within the year. MediaNews Group followed suit. The New York Times also seems committed but is wavering with regards to how. The Newspaper Association of America's call for payment models elicited a considerable response.

Meanwhile, some smaller papers such as the Schenectady Daily Gazette and the Texas Valley Morning Star have quietly integrated paywalls: are there lessons to be learnt there?

Murdoch, undoubtedly one of paid online content's most vocal supporters, is insistent that news is a valuable product and should not just be given away. This might seem hard to argue with, but some publishers are resolute that charging online is not the answer to solving financial difficulties, and remain committed to high traffic and other schemes such as highly targeted advertising to sustain cash flow. The Guardian, for example, is one of these. A multitude of surveys carried out have suggested that, unsurprisingly, charging online will not be too popular among consumers.

A couple of news outlets have adopted a less direct paywall: for example, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has introduced a membership club that offers new additional content and special events to its committed readers. This seems like a possible option for publishers who fear sacrificing their ad revenue but want to experiment with paid online content.

Will Murdoch fulfil his promises? Could charging online be the norm by the end of 2010? And what has happened to Journalism Online: will 'bundled' charging be an option?

The TWITTER explosion

By now, the idea of a journalist not using Twitter is verging on inconceivable. After CNN and Ashton Kutcher first crossed the one million followers mark in April in a highly-publicised battle, multi-million follower accounts are now not uncommon.

Its advantages are multiple: finding news, advertising stories, curating your community of readers. Twitter's limitations, however, are that its information can be hard to verify. These uses and limitations became particularly clear during the aftermath of the Iranian election in June, when many journalists were prevented from reporting and news was increasingly spread by social networks and citizen journalists.

Twitter has had a significant impact on the trend towards up-to-the-minute, real time news. It changed its homepage in July to place more of a focus on search and its potential as a way to discover what people are talking about right now. Google recently announced that it was to integrate real-time social network updates into its search results.

Will it last? Following much debate over how it would actually bring in money, it was just announced that Twitter has indeed become profitable, so one can assume that for now, at least, it is here to stay. Its advantages for journalists are more clear-cut than those of Facebook, but Facebook is used regularly by a wider range of people. With increasing use of Facebook Connect, might this become more prominent in 2010?

HYPERLOCAL: just hype or the future for news?

The ubiquity of free online news has, quite understandably, led news outlets to contemplate what they can offer that is unique, and going very very local has appealed to many, particularly as regional papers have been suffering particularly badly and hyperlocal news has potential to offer highly-targeted local advertising.

Mainstream news outlets have been seeing the benefits of local news: US hyperlocal aggregator Outside.in has seen considerable investment from CNN, and Everyblock, originally created with a grant from the Knight Foundation, was bought by MSNBC. The New York Times introduced a blog called The Local, in an area already overwhelmed by a variety of hyperlocal offerings such as Patch and Maplewood Online. Community websites have also been springing up in the UK.

But, as recently questioned by Benji Lanyado, is hyperlocal actually making money? Has the right business model been found?

One noteworthy initiative is the Futuroom/Nase adresa project launched by PPF Media in the Czech Republic (disclosure: the World Editors Forum has been involved in the project in the role of consultant) which has taken news reporting directly into the community and constructed an unusual alternative revenue stream. 'News cafes,' which place the newsroom in a cafe in the centre of town, are at the centre of PPF's strategy: these both provide income (enough to cover overheads) and offer the public direct access to journalists, allowing the newsroom to become a real part of the community. Led from the Futuroom base in Prague, Nasa adresa weeklies and websites are produced, and it seems as if the papers are selling.

It is too early to say whether the project, launched in June, represents a solution that could be used more widely, but looks it promising. Hyperlocal undoubtedly has potential, but an innovative business model needs to be found.

i for innovation

One of 2009's success stories has been new Portuguese daily i. As newspapers around the world suffer from financial difficulties, launching a new publication could seem like madness. But, so far at least, i has proved any sceptics wrong. The impressively-designed magazine-style newspaper focused on politics and economics has been selling, and has managed to capture a new hard-to-reach audience.

The paper has willingly abandoned traditional topic sections to allow more freedom of coverage, and focuses on opinion and daily in-depth analysis on key issues, taking into account the fact that its readers are likely to already be well-informed via other platforms.

New ideas and experimentation are encouraged, and enthusiasm is high. And, the paper does not put all its print content online: the website aims to be kind of a social news portal rather than a digital reproduction of the news in the paper.

As a new paper, it has been easier for i to break the mould, but are there useful lessons that established newspapers could learn from what i is doing differently?

Does a nonprofit business model have a significant place in the media landscape?

Whether or not going nonprofit is an option for newspapers is a question that has been discussed at length by media commentators and even by the US Senate. The main advantage: protection from market forces, the main disadvantage: no freedom to endorse political candidates. And, of course, there is the challenge of finding a rich enough donor.

The idea that an entire newspaper could be funded by a foundation seems unlikely, but investigative public interest journalism has been relatively successful at attracting nonprofit support.

Several funds and start-ups aiming to produce high quality investigative journalism have sprung up, following in the footsteps of the likes of ProPublica and the VoiceOfSanDiego. Locally targeted nonprofits are becoming almost abundant in the US: over the past 3 months the Bay Area News Project began (in September), Oakland Local was founded in October, the Texas Tribune launched in November, as did the Chicago News Cooperative and California Watch appeared earlier this month.

All these launches are good news for news in these areas, but are they sustainable? It has been argued that the nonprofit concept is merely propping up a flawed business model and limiting potential innovation. Time will tell which are successful.

Is there money in mobile?

Smart phones are becoming more and more common and could start to become the norm in 2010. Many news applications that enable a better reading experience have been built for Apple's iPhone, and some for Google's Android operating system - those created by the New York Times, the Guardian, and the Associated Press seem to be generally considered to be among the best. The Guardian's paid for app sold more than 9000 in its first two days.

But can they actually be a significant stream of revenue?

Many are free, and those like the Guardian's which have a one-off download fee (something consumers are likely to be willing to pay for?) might be able to recoup the costs of development with this income, but it does not constitute regular revenue. Advertising is limited so far - there is not much space on the small screen, for a start. Briefly covering the whole screen seems to be the preferred method of some papers on the iPhone: Le Monde's app opens with a full-page ad, for example.

It is possible to make content available via subscription. The Financial Times iPhone app only allows full access to online subscribers, and the Wall Street Journal has implemented a specific application subscription charge: $1.50 per week.

Will more do this? Can consumers be persuaded to pay on their phones for what they can get free online?

E-readers: not all they promised, but could that change in 2010?

The Kindle, though widely adopted by many newspapers, might not quite have lived up to expectations. Publishers only receive about 30% of what subscribers pay, and besides, e-readers are still prohibitively expensive for many and far from being a "must-have" product. Kindle users are generally older.

But could this be about to change? New products such as the Nook and the improved Sony range are entering the market and the Plastic Logic e-reader Que is to be released in early January. A group of publishers have also come together with plans to develop their own e-reader. Could this competition improve e-reader offerings? Already, Sony is apparently offering a better revenue share than Amazon does, and presumably, giving publishers and consumers a choice will make pricing competitive.

Or might e-readers lose out to tablet computers? The Apple tablet is expected early next year - with more functionality, could it and similar products appeal more to the younger generation?

Google: friend or foe?

Conflict over copyright reached new heights this year. Attacks on Google and other 'copyright thieves' who have built a business model off newspaper content have come from many corners: with News Corp leading the fight in the US but Spanish and German publishers too. Google consistently responds that it is fact a friend to publishers, citing the 1 billion clicks that it sends to news websites each month via Google News, and pointing out that publishers can easily opt-out of Google's indexing. Publishers retort that Google's current quasi-monopoly on search would make that difficult.

But could a rapprochement be on the cards for 2010? Google has been making conciliatory moves - it has updated its 'First Click Free' program to allow publishers more control over how much of their site is accessible free, it launched its first project that shares revenue with publishers, Fast Flip, and created new ways to view news, such as Living Stories, which might offer advertising potential if developed further.

At the WAN-IFRA World Newspaper Congress in Hyderabad earlier this month, INM's Gavin O'Reilly and Google's David Drummond were far from reaching an agreement but did agree that they would continue meeting in the future to try and solve the issue. Will publishers and Google find a compromise? Or might Microsoft and Bing step into the fray and change everything?

Cooperation

One of the consequences of extreme financial difficulties has been unexpected cooperation between former rivals: it has become harder and less desirable to stand entirely alone. A few examples:

Between rivals: content sharing has become more widespread. For instance, the Ohio News Organisation, a collection of seven newspapers who began sharing content last year in an attempt to substitute Associated Press coverage, produced a collaborative story in November.

Between old and new media: even one of the US's most prestigious newspapers has accepted the need to collaborate with new media projects. In August, the New York Times partnered with nonprofit investigative journalism outlet Propublica to publish a 13,000 word article on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that took two years and an estimated $400,000 to produce. The paper also published a story on the Great Pacific Garbage patch that was funded by crowd-funded journalism initiative Spot.Us. These were both stories that the paper would have been unlikely to publish otherwise

Between different platforms: at many papers, print and web are competing no longer, but are part of the one team. The Washington Post is the latest major paper to undergo integration.

For a list of top publishing strategies for 2010 please see our sister publication www.sfnblog.com

Why your website should be using Facebook Connect to attract visitors

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on December 18, 2009 at 1:03 PM

Two thousand and nine was undoubtedly the year of the Social Network. In a world of loose economic foundations and falling advertising revenue, the social aspect of the Internet became even more important in the lives of many people.

The largest name in social networking has some mind-blowing statistics behind it: Facebook just hit the 350 million user mark; the average member spends 25 minutes a day on the site; there are over 90 000 apps on the site and an astounding half of all users go to the site everyday.

So how can newspapers take advantage of this social boom?

One of the easiest, and more effective ways is to install Facebook Connect on their websites. Facebook Connect allows for user interaction from a larger source than a typical site or blog is capable of creating for itself. Facebook has the fifth highest level of traffic on the web; that's a lot of potential uniques waiting in the wings.

The only problem is how to direct all of those users to a site off of Facebook, and this is where Facebook Connect comes in to help. According to the Washington Post, over 80 000 websites have now installed Facebook Connect and more than 60 million Facebook users use the service each month. The universally available tool has heaps of potential to bring traffic to a site as well as spread the proverbial word virally across Facebook. Yet many sites, particularly those of newspapers, are not taking advantage of the free publicity. Why?

WHAT FACEBOOK CONNECT CAN DO

Once a blog or site has installed Connect, readers can log in to the site through their Facebook accounts. Users can then leave comments, have discussions, and post the link to the page directly to their news feeds through the plug-in. The links will be seen on Facebook by the user's friends, who can then click through to the site because of the link. This is how the majority of traffic from social networking sites is generated. The cycle continues to become even more viral when the friend posts the same link to his wall, and a third friend clicks through.

The reason that Connect increases interaction on a third-party site is because it cuts down on formalities and allows virtually instant access to a comment field. Most blogs have an individual screen that users must fill out in order to comment on the site. Many are lengthy or invasive, and then there is always the annoyance of having to remember which e-mail you used to sign-up for which site. By the time someone's logged it, they may well have completely forgotten their comment and lost interest.

Using Facebook Connect, however, will allow the user to log-in to Facebook instantly and will also carry over a log-in from another window. If you've already checked your Facebook that day, you're instantly ready to comment on Vimeo or to Digg something. Most comment boards will even show the user's profile picture next to her log-in name. (Though all Facebook privacy settings continue over to third-party sites: if your profile picture is only viewable by friends on Facebook, it stays that way on all other sites as well.)

Most notably, Connect is free. No money is exchanged between the social networking site and the sites or blogs that install Connect. Yet, according to Facebook, Connect increases traffic to sites and makes users up to 15-20 percent more active once they are on the site. According to Joost, as quoted on the Facebook Connect site, "Connected users watch 30 percent more videos, enter 15 percent more comments, and invite 38 percent more friends." That's more pageviews, more uniques, and more content. And it's free.

One of the most important advantages of Facebook Connect is the information about the users that is provided by the service. Once someone has logged into a third party site through Connect, that site can gain valuable information about the user. Their names, locations, genders, ages and even photos become fair game for the site. This can make an enormous difference in regards to advertising. If the third party site is privy to detailed statistics about its commenters, then it can use this information to coax potential advertisers looking for a specific demographic. For example, MTV is not going to be looking to advertise on sites where the commenters are primarily in their 40s, but would be much more anxious to put an ad up on a site with a high level of teenaged activity. The use of data from Facebook Connect is an invaluable survey of the most active users on any given site.

The use of Facebook Connect can also help to monitor comments as well. Because the users are logged in under their real names, it is easier to ban people for inappropriate comments or harassment. Additionally, most people are more cautious of what they write when they are required to take credit for it; thus, inappropriate comments would decrease thanks to the required log-in.

SOME EXAMPLES OF IMPLEMENTATION

Some newspaper sites have already begun to take advantage of the benefits that Facebook Conenct has to offer. An early partner, The San Francisco Chronicle, has used Connect on its web site, SFGate.com, since January 2009. In that time, the traffic to the site has grown exponentially. Between early 2008 when first creating a Facebook page and July of this year, SFGate experienced a 1597 percent growth in pageviews, with 397 percent just between June and July.

The ability of Facebook to drive new users to sites is undeniable. One of the most successful implementations by a news site has been by The Huffington Post. The site officially partnered with Facebook in August with the launch of "Social News," in which the HuffPost aggregates stories that Facebook friends of a user have recommended or commented on. It can also post the same info about the user on his Facebook profile.

Of course, as expected from the HuffPost, the launch had a two-pronged intention. At the time of the launch, HuffPost CEO Eric Hippeau said, "our goal is to make HuffPost Social News the go-to place for Facebook users to share news--both the stories they love and the stories they hate--with friends. It should also appeal to marketers interested in reaching passionate, savvy readers who care about the news and who want to share their interests with friends."

The integration aimed to bring in pageviews as well as advertisers: something it has most definitely done. Since integrating Facebook Connect, the HuffPost has seen an increase of 500 percent in referrals from Facebook, and over 15 percent of all comments to the site come directly from Facebook. According to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, "with the integration of Facebook Connect, HuffPost Social News is now leading the way to make news even more of a social experience, giving people new ways to share and filter news and current events through their networks of friends on Facebook." This is an example other news sites might do well to follow.

USING CONNECT WITH OTHER SOCIAL NETWORKS

The New York Times uses Facebook Connect, but in conjunction with its own social network, TimesPeople. The network, which went public in September 2008, allows users to log in on the site and then share articles, collect friends, join networks, and even publish to Twitter. The network has an application on Facebook that allows for integration between the two social media, and once a user is logged into TimesPeople, he can use Facebook Connect through the Times' site. This uploads all of the user's contacts from Facebook who are also on TimesPeople instantly onto the user's page. Users can also import contacts from Gmail, Twitter, and other sites. Although usage numbers were unavailable (the most recent was the year old report of 100 000 users), the recent integration of Facebook Connect and Twitter into the mix is likely to have greatly increased usage.

The Independent recently launched its own social network site as well. Plotstar provides readers with information about "where to go and what to do near specified locations, see what deals local companies offer and plan events with their friends." Plotstar is accessible through the Independent's website as well as the mobile site.

Once a user is logged in, he can use Facebook Connect to send invitations to events to friends or post an exciting happening on his profile. Through it, users can buy tickets for events or make reservations at restaurants. These additional services involving purchases, along with the added advertising on the site, will help to raise extra revenue. This not only brings new users onto the site, it also helps to increase brand awareness and encourage the purchase of subscriptions.

WHY (NOT) CONNECT?

So why don't more sites use Facebook Connect? Some do, but not nearly as many as would be expected. Why is this? Why are many papers denying themselves free promotion and guaranteed pageviews? Especially in the current economic climate and state of publishing? It could be a lack of knowledge. The program is still only a year old- many editors may still be in the dark about the possibilities that are out there and the things that Connect can do.

Many sites already have a Share on Facebook button installed and may feel that that is adequate for promoting themselves on the social networking site; however, with Connect installed as well, the interaction on the site would rise along with the amount of shared links. Isn't this a can't lose situation: more pageviews, more visitors, more publicity?

Sources: MediaGuardian, Newspaper Association of America, Washington Post, CNET [1] , CNET [2], TheNextWeb.com, InsideFacebook.com, ClickZ, newmediaage,

Eric Newton of the Knight Foundation at the FTC hearing

Posted by Nestor Bailly on December 16, 2009 at 3:42 PM

Eric Newton, Vice President of the Journalism Program at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, spoke at the FTC journalism workshop on December 2nd about ways the government could help journalism.

Boldly opening with an account of how Cicero was disappointed with his 'commercial news packets coming from Rome' when he was sent to the provinces, Newton explained that a lot of people today have similar problems; they don't get the news they want from the places they feel are important.

He asserts that many governments at the regional or local level are held unaccountable because there is no local reporting; of the 3,248 counties and 30,000 towns and villages in the U.S. as of 2007, the Newspaper Association of America reported only 1,422 daily papers.

Sports newspapers: the importance of multimedia and the potential for paid online content

Posted by Emma Heald on December 7, 2009 at 6:16 PM

At the International Association of Sports Newspapers workshop last week, editors spoke about the way that multimedia news has affected their newsrooms, and how they hope to make more money online. The workshop was held at the World Newspaper Congress in Hyderabad, India.

Gianni Valenti, deputy editor of Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport, described key steps for the transition to multimedia sports delivery: changing the mindset of journalists, training and convincing them to accept and exploit new media, increasingly integrating the newsrooms, and changing working structures of the organisation. He stressed the need for prompt action, saying that "multimedia is not something for the future, it is something here and now and must be developed and managed quickly."

Women at the top: is there a need for more female editors-in-chief?

Posted by Emma Heald on December 3, 2009 at 12:40 PM

A group of female editors and media experts from India, Sri Lanka, Russia and South Africa discussed the issue of whether more women editors-in-chief would generate more readers at the 16th World Editors Forum.

Bachi Karkaria, formerly with the Times of India and now an analyst of urban and social change and a media trainer, says that as an editor, she is totally against forms of gender-centric ideas. Journalism has too much emphasis on what is women issues and male issues, she said. Women issues consisting of housekeeping, entertainment and other light subjects and male issues consisting of heavier stories.

"Glass ceilings are sometimes actually creations of men," she said.

The Guardian weighs in on paywall debate

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on December 3, 2009 at 12:07 PM

More comment on online paywalls today, with the Guardian offering examples of websites that charge for content successfully.

More common than the "pay to get in" wall, allowing subscriber-only access to all content, is the "freemium" style subscription, it explains. In the latter model, some content is subscriber-only and the rest is free.

Guardian's Paul Johnson highlights investigative stories that have benefitted from embracing social media

Posted by Spencer Jenkins on December 2, 2009 at 4:55 AM

Paul Johnson, deputy editor-in-chief of The Guardian, shared some examples of in-depth, investigative stories the paper recently published that drew resources from social networking sites and eyewitness reports while speaking at the World Editors Forum Panel: "Future of Journalism vs. Future of the Newspaper.

For example, in April of this year, following the G20 protests, the paper obtained amateur video coverage that showed police hitting a protester who later died. The Guardian posted the video and its reporters used blogs and social networks to spread the story. Much coverage ensued and 280 complaints were made against the police. The policemen involved were charged, Johnson specified.

Seven Ohio papers collaborate on one story

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on November 19, 2009 at 4:49 PM

A collection of seven papers in Ohio have collaborated on a single story, to be run in all seven editions on 29 November, reports Editor & Publisher. This will be the first joint reporting project by the group of newspapers.

The group began sharing content early last year after complaints were raised over some of the Associated Press' coverage of local Ohioan news. The seven papers are known as the Ohio News Organization.

'Google wouldn't lose much', declares blogger

Posted by Jennifer Lush on November 18, 2009 at 3:34 PM

With all the recent hype surrounding Google's aggregation of news websites, one blogger has carried out a simple observation task with some interesting results. Kevin Sablan, writing for his blog Almighty Link, decided to find out just how much Google relies on news organizations for content.

Councils' "propaganda" papers debate rages on

Posted by Helena Humphrey on October 30, 2009 at 3:05 PM

At an inquiry on Tuesday into the future of local and regional media, MPs from all parties on the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, accused local councils of producing "propaganda" publications threatening the survival of privately owned local newspapers. According to the Guardian, the finger was pointed specifically in the direction of Hammersmith and Fulham Council's fortnightly publication.

Philip Davies, MP for Shipley, posed the question as to whether the council's actual motivation behind H&F News was not saving taxpayers' money but rather sponsoring council propaganda. Holding up a copy of H&F News, Davies demanded: "Why isn't it plastered all over the front that it's a council newspaper? Why aren't you up front about it?" Examples of the three council publications were then handed around to illustrate his point.

'The Reconstruction of American Journalism' could leave newspapers behind

Posted by Nestor Bailly on October 21, 2009 at 4:35 PM

"The Reconstruction of American Journalism" is a 100-page report on the state of journalism in the United States. Written by Leonard Downie, the VP of The Washington Post, and Michael Schudson, a professor at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, it describes changes in the news media industry (i.e. the 'happening' of the internet) and its ultimately detrimental effect on traditional media news outlets, of course newspapers especially. Here we will briefly summarize some points, and there is a lot of material in the report that merits an in-depth read of the whole thing.

The report is quite detailed, and includes various examples and covers many topics, but focuses on local news and the value of quality journalism. Beginning with a history of the newspaper industry that culminates in its weakness in the face of internet news, Downie and Schudson explain the importance of investigative and accountability journalism for a democracy, holding it as a public good.

The internet, they say, has put under threat "independent reporting that provides information, investigation, analysis, and community knowledge, particularly in the coverage of local affairs" which has been traditionally the domain of newspaper reporting. Now with all the recent budget cuts papers have had to decrease support for investigative reporting, perhaps their most important role in society.

Columbia Journalism Review takes out-of-work journos on as fellows

Posted by Jennifer Lush on October 16, 2009 at 3:20 PM

The Columbia Journalism Review has announced it will launch a progam called the 'Encore Fellowship', a new initiative designed to give 'downsized professionals a writing position as well as support to help them choose how best to use their experience in the years ahead.'

The fellowship proposition comes in tough times for the news industry which has suffered major financial blows in advertising and subscription revenue due to the recession. The losses have forced many news organisations to rethink costs, make layoffs and even close their doors in some cases. As a result, it has been estimated that some 16,000 journalists were put out of work in 2008.

After receiving a generous grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies, CJR decided to put the money toward helping some of these journalists, choosing out-of-work senior reporters 'who have recently left their jobs because of the industry's economic condition, but who are not ready for traditional retirement,' to join the fellowship.

Orange news aggregation service 2424actu looks to expand outside France

Posted by Emma Heald on October 15, 2009 at 10:02 AM

French telecoms operator Orange announced on Wednesday that it is to expand its online news aggregation service to countries outside France. 2424actu aggregates French language text, television and radio content, working in partnership with news organisations just as Agence France-Presse, RTL, RFI, Le Monde and Le Figaro, AFP reported.

AFP quoted Laurent Frisch, head of media at Orange's division for internet innovation, NexT.com, who said that the company is considering "expanding into other countries, in Europe or elsewhere. We envisage going into countries where the media and advertising markets allow us to make such a service work." He suggested the UK or Poland as examples.

Mutterings on charging for online news

Posted by Jennifer Lush on October 7, 2009 at 12:18 PM

Alan Mutter on his blog, Reflections of a Newsosaur, has published a checklist for publications to follow in their attempts to start charging for online news content.
Mutter argues that charging for particular content such as world, national, business, sports and entertainment news is not an option, though perhaps some revenue could be generated from local news if it is of a good enough quality. Niche news publications, such as those in the 'business to business realm' could probably charge users for exclusive information, as could those producing exculsive entertainment content. But apart from these publications (which is just about everyone), he says that newspapers need to totally modify their attitude toward the way and the type of content they produce before they can even contemplate trying to sell it.

Event: The 2015 Newsroom, High Standards with Low-Cost Solutions

Posted by Emma Heald on September 10, 2009 at 4:15 PM

Ezio Mauro, the Italian editor whose newspaper is being sued for defamation by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for questioning his behaviour, and Mario Garcia, who defines contemporary newspaper design, have joined the programme of "The 2015 Newsroom: High Standards & Low Cost Solutions," to be held on 1 and 2 October in Prague, Czech Republic.

Mr Mauro is Editor-in-Chief of La Repubblica, which is being sued for defamation by Mr Berlusconi for repeatedly publishing 10 questions asking the Prime Minister to explain his extra-marital relationships, the subject of widely reported public scandals this year. "This is the first time in memory of a free country that a politician is suing because of questions directed at him," Mr Mauro has said.

US: Newport Daily News discourages web visitors - and succeeds

Posted by Liz Webber on September 2, 2009 at 2:07 PM

As crazy as it seemed, the Newport Daily News' scheme to charge significantly more for access to its web site than for its print edition appears to be working. Since instituting the paywall, newsstand sales of the paper - whose circulation totals 13,000 - have increased by 200 copies daily. Moreover, readers have stopped cancelling their print subscriptions.

The Daily News' policy initially aimed to prevent readers from abandoning the print edition because they could get the same content online for free. Under the current subscription system, access to the web site costs $345, while home delivery of the print product costs just $145. Readers who wish to view both the print and digital versions pay $245.

Teaching Twitter at J-school

Posted by Liz Webber on September 1, 2009 at 2:40 PM

A new course offering from DePaul University in Chicago will teach journalism students how Twitter can be used in the newsroom. The class's objective will be to instruct future journalists how to sift through all the information that is available through social media sites like Twitter, specifically as it relates to uncovering breaking news and verifying the authenticity of amateur sources.

The course will be taught by alumnus Craig Kanalley, a digital news intern at the Chicago Tribune and founder of the web site Breaking Tweets, which manually aggregates tweets related to news stories. Not surprisingly, Kanalley's students will also be contributing to Breaking Tweets.

London journalists get 24-hour police helpline; protestors go to cit-j bootcamp

Posted by Liz Webber on August 28, 2009 at 2:18 PM

This week, London police opened a 24-hour helpline for journalists covering two major metropolitan events - the weeklong environmental protest Camp for Climate Action and the annual Notting Hill Carnival. Certified members of the press can call the designated number to request assistance from a police press officer if they are having difficulties in reporting at the events.

US: How Ann Arbor, Mich., became a town without a newspaper

Posted by Liz Webber on June 24, 2009 at 2:53 PM

When the Ann Arbor News ceases printing in July, Ann Arbor will become the first US city with no daily newspaper. The publication as it exists now will disappear completely, although a new venture, AnnArbor.com, is set to take over local news on the web and will produce a print product two days a week.

In a column for Poynter's The Biz Blog, Rick Edmunds postulates on what factors led to the decline of the News in Ann Arbor, whose vibrant, educated community would appear to be the ideal location for a newspaper. Edmunds even goes so far as to suggest starting over with AnnArbor.com might not be such a bad idea.

J-schools maneuver journalists' relationship with social media

Posted by Liz Webber on June 22, 2009 at 3:41 PM

As the controversy over the recent election in Iran and the subsequent media response have made abundantly clear, social media like Twitter are playing an increasing role in the world of journalism. While today's working journalists must learn how these tools will affect their jobs on the fly, j-schools have a great opportunity to instruct the next generation of journalists before they enter the newsroom.

In a column on Mashable, Vadim Lavrusik - himself a journalism student at Columbia University - outlines "10 Ways Journalism Schools Are Teaching Social Media." Lavrusik spoke with professors and deans at some of the top j-schools in the US, who told him how their respective schools have integrated lessons about how new technology can assist in reporting and provide a tool for promotion and self-branding on the web. The questions Lavrusik raises regarding ethics and social media are perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the article, and could have real consequences for students.

The future of journalism education conference (Part 2)

Posted by Soraya Kishtwari on June 22, 2009 at 2:23 PM

Integrated journalists for integrated newsrooms

Almost everyone present agreed that journalism schools had a duty to train students across all media disciplines, with everyone having the opportunity to learn about print, web, video and audio platforms regardless if they were specialising in newspaper, broadcasting or online journalism.

As for content, the educators had differing views on the importance of choosing a specialist field, with some saying it was important to cater to the needs of the industry and the wider community. Recent outbreaks in bird and swine flu as well as the global downturn were cited as examples of areas where journalistic expertise was lacking, with Doreen Weisenhaus, associate professor at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong, saying there was a great need for health journalists, particularly in Asia, where bird flu was first detected. She also said that as a key financial hub, Asia was calling out for journalists trained in financial reporting. Others made similar points about science and business journalism.

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