June 2005 Archives

It's getting ugly. Amidst multiplying circulations and conversely, increasing salaries and advertising sales, Indian newspapers have also been experiencing betrayal, and overall, mud-slinging in Mumbai. An article in the Asia Times Online paints the scene, showing that most of the diatribe is aimed at the Times of India (TOI). Agencyfaqs! has declared that the Times' response to the popular tabloid Mid-Day entitled Mumbai Mirror, has been a failure. A former employee of the Times who was the genius behind a very successful marketing campaign has defected to Direct News & Analysis (DNA), a rookie English publication set to knock TOI off its pedestal. Abhijit Bannerjee, owner of Wavelength Communications which is booked to print DNA said, "The most important development is that the Times of India monopoly is being broken." Vir Sanghvi, editorial director of Hindustan Times, which is also trying to push into the Mumbai market, commented on the Times' apparent arrogance with, "Readers in India's most prosperous, cosmopolitan and modern city... are tired of being taken for granted and treated like morons." Whoa! Maybe TOI, who just published an article saying that it's the biggest selling English broadsheet in the world, should call for reinforcements. The Asian Times article, which makes TOI out to be the villain, also warns against the possible decline in journalistic quality and a financial bubble which could be inflating around the industry. If it pops, many of the journalists now enjoying irregularly high salaries may soon be out of work.

Source: Asia Times Online

It's getting ugly. Amidst multiplying circulations and conversely, increasing salaries and advertising sales, Indian newspapers have also been experiencing betrayal, and overall, mud-slinging in Mumbai. An article in the Asia Times Online paints the scene, showing that most of the diatribe is aimed at the Times of India (TOI). Agencyfaqs! has declared that the Times' response to the popular tabloid Mid-Day entitled Mumbai Mirror, has been a failure. A former employee of the Times who was the genius behind a very successful marketing campaign has defected to Direct News & Analysis (DNA), a rookie English publication set to knock TOI off its pedestal. Abhijit Bannerjee, owner of Wavelength Communications which is booked to print DNA said, "The most important development is that the Times of India monopoly is being broken." Vir Sanghvi, editorial director of Hindustan Times, which is also trying to push into the Mumbai market, commented on the Times' apparent arrogance with, "Readers in India's most prosperous, cosmopolitan and modern city... are tired of being taken for granted and treated like morons." Whoa! Maybe TOI, who just published an article saying that it's the biggest selling English broadsheet in the world, should call for reinforcements. The Asian Times article, which makes TOI out to be the villain, also warns against the possible decline in journalistic quality and a financial bubble which could be inflating around the industry. If it pops, many of the journalists now enjoying irregularly high salaries may soon be out of work.

Source: Asia Times Online

The Guardian reports that a spat between the editor-in-chief of the Moskovskiye Novosti (Moscow News), a well established liberal paper, and it's largest shareholder, Leonid Nevzlin, caused Mr. Nevzlin to threaten selling the paper. The spat stemmed from firings of senior staff by the aforementioned editor, Yevgeny Kiselyov, who neglected to inform company shareholder. Fears were raised that the paper could be bought by a company with ties to the Kremlin. But Mr. Nevzlin, who is wanted by the Russian government on fraud charges and has used the paper as an opposing voice to the administration, has promised that if he does sell the paper, it will only go to a "buyer who will pledge to continue defending freedom of the press."

Source: The Guardian (registration required)

The Guardian reports that a spat between the editor-in-chief of the Moskovskiye Novosti (Moscow News), a well established liberal paper, and it's largest shareholder, Leonid Nevzlin, caused Mr. Nevzlin to threaten selling the paper. The spat stemmed from firings of senior staff by the aforementioned editor, Yevgeny Kiselyov, who neglected to inform company shareholder. Fears were raised that the paper could be bought by a company with ties to the Kremlin. But Mr. Nevzlin, who is wanted by the Russian government on fraud charges and has used the paper as an opposing voice to the administration, has promised that if he does sell the paper, it will only go to a "buyer who will pledge to continue defending freedom of the press."

Source: The Guardian (registration required)

A study commissioned by the British Library, which is currently working on the legal procedures necessary to digitize its collection, has estimated that in fifteen years, most of the print publishing industry will have switched to digital. By 2020, the study predicted that nine out of ten titles will be published solely in digital format. The library already links to a number of online material and the digitized national archives infrastructure it hopes to erect will include websites. But CEO of the library, Lynne Brindley warned, "In many ways digital material is more fragile than physical material and if we don't manage it effectively it won't survive for future generations."

Source: Net Imperative

Although the daily is an international news powerhouse, the New York Times is selling tickets to its hometown's Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. AuctionBytes.com writes:

"The NYTimes' show and venue information pages have been upgraded to include links to up-to-date performance calendars and will soon offer show "trailers," short, edited streaming video clips from the shows. The section includes capsule reviews and cast information; reader reviews; schedules; search; multimedia features with audio from Times theater critics; discussion forum; and an "opening soon" feature.

NYTimes.com also offers TicketWatch, a free email service with discounted theater and performing arts offers that is sent regularly to over 325,000 subscribers who have signed up at www.nytimes.com/ticketwatch. Each email provides a special offer to a specific Broadway or Off Broadway show or performing arts event. The email includes a promotion code to use when ordering tickets by phone or online."

This doesn't appear to be a way to attract new readers, just a way to attract new revenue. Do moves like this cheapen the brand, or are newspaper companies always going to have to diversify in such a way as to build up the finances to provide to their newsrooms and continue their quality reporting? Would such services even be possible without newspaper Websites?

Source: AuctionBytes.com

The French television group, Canal Plus, a division of Vivendi Universal, has struck a deal with SFR, a leading French mobile phone provider, according to the International Herald Tribune. For a 7 euro a month charge tacked on to their cellular bill, customers will now be able to use their 3G mobile phones to scan about 20 Canal Plus channels. Subscribers are expected to use the new technology whenever they have a spare minute, mostly during their daily commute and in between meetings.

So how will newspapers be affected?

The French television group, Canal Plus, a division of Vivendi Universal, has struck a deal with SFR, a leading French mobile phone provider, according to the International Herald Tribune. For a 7 euro a month charge tacked on to their cellular bill, customers will now be able to use their 3G mobile phones to scan about 20 Canal Plus channels. Subscribers are expected to use the new technology whenever they have a spare minute, mostly during their daily commute and in between meetings.

So how will newspapers be affected?

The French television group, Canal Plus, a division of Vivendi Universal, has struck a deal with SFR, a leading French mobile phone provider, according to the International Herald Tribune. For a 7 euro a month charge tacked on to their cellular bill, customers will now be able to use their 3G mobile phones to scan about 20 Canal Plus channels. Subscribers are expected to use the new technology whenever they have a spare minute, mostly during their daily commute and in between meetings.

So how will newspapers be affected?

When the founder of USA Today, Al Neuharth, calls the time-tested practice of anonymous sources an "evil of journalism," what does it mean? Well, for Judith Miller, a reporter for the New York Times, and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, it could mean jail time. For investigative reporters, it could mean greater difficulties in uncovering the truth. And for potential scandal-breaking sources, it could mean that they'll keep their mouth shut if their anonymity can not be protected. The combination of the stain left on reporting by the likes of Jayson Blair, who falsified stories while working for the New York Times, and the recent disclosure of the anonymous source, Deep Throat, the government insider who helped direct the Watergate investigation, bring new light to this old debate. Sure, nobody wants to hear of journalists conjuring up sources to fit their story, as happened with Blair. But nobody (aside from a few top official who will remain, well, anonymous), wants to restrict the job of the Fourth Estate in digging up information that the public should know. So where do we draw the line?

BusinessWeek Online paints a rosy financial picture for the newspaper of the future... if it can adapt to the Internet revolution. Based on Apple's iTunes model, newspapers may sooner than later find that selling content article by article will ultimately become more profitable than selling subscriptions. Online news readers tend to read "info chunks" of preference as opposed to traditionally reading a newspaper front to back. News aggregators such as Yahoo! and Google are already striking deals to spider into various publications' paid content, where readers are offered the option of paying for the article they would like to read and only that article. For this to work more smoothly on the Web, a pre-planned system of micropayments, in which paid sites and content that a user accesses will be automatically added to a monthly bill, will have to be erected. This system could theoretically lead to the division of content into articles, photos, graphics, etc., each hit receiving a small sum. Since analysts see this system as the next step in news reading, newspapers would be wise to decide how to best package their content.

Source: BusinessWeek Online

BusinessWeek Online paints a rosy financial picture for the newspaper of the future... if it can adapt to the Internet revolution. Based on Apple's iTunes model, newspapers may sooner than later find that selling content article by article will ultimately become more profitable than selling subscriptions. Online news readers tend to read "info chunks" of preference as opposed to traditionally reading a newspaper front to back. News aggregators such as Yahoo! and Google are already striking deals to spider into various publications' paid content, where readers are offered the option of paying for the article they would like to read and only that article. For this to work more smoothly on the Web, a pre-planned system of micropayments, in which paid sites and content that a user accesses will be automatically added to a monthly bill, will have to be erected. This system could theoretically lead to the division of content into articles, photos, graphics, etc., each hit receiving a small sum. Since analysts see this system as the next step in news reading, newspapers would be wise to decide how to best package their content.

Source: BusinessWeek Online

BusinessWeek Online paints a rosy financial picture for the newspaper of the future... if it can adapt to the Internet revolution. Based on Apple's iTunes model, newspapers may sooner than later find that selling content article by article will ultimately become more profitable than selling subscriptions. Online news readers tend to read "info chunks" of preference as opposed to traditionally reading a newspaper front to back. News aggregators such as Yahoo! and Google are already striking deals to spider into various publications' paid content, where readers are offered the option of paying for the article they would like to read and only that article. For this to work more smoothly on the Web, a pre-planned system of micropayments, in which paid sites and content that a user accesses will be automatically added to a monthly bill, will have to be erected. This system could theoretically lead to the division of content into articles, photos, graphics, etc., each hit receiving a small sum. Since analysts see this system as the next step in news reading, newspapers would be wise to decide how to best package their content.

Source: BusinessWeek Online

Passing the 2.4 million daily copies sold mark, The Times of India (TOI) has surpassed such titles as USA Today and The Times of London as the largest selling English broadsheet paper in the world. This can be considered an honorable feat, seeing as there are only 60-70 million English readers in India, compared to the United States who has over 200 million. On the other hand, TOI does not face the extensive competition that papers in the US or UK have to deal with. TOI sells to 30% of the Indian English speaking market, a percentage which gives it numbers comparable to more popular regional-language papers.

In related news, the International Herald Tribune reports that USD 300 million have been invested in the Indian media industry in the past 18 months, a number expected to increase by another USD 250 million. CEO of Ireland based Independent News & Media, Tony O'Reilly said that India is "the new theatre of strategic investment."

Sources: Times of India and International Herald Tribune

Cheers to Bachi Karkaria, National Metro Editor at the Times of India (TOI) and WEF board member for the TOI article.