September 2005 Archives

The French daily Le Figaro will appear completely redesigned as of Monday. "It's not a revolution, it's an evolution", said Francis Morel, general director at Le Figaro, reports Le Monde. The goal is to increase readership, especially among women and younger readers (average age of reader is said to be 55-57 years) and to encourage occasional readers to become regular ones. After research with readers and several dummies, the new design will start on Monday, October 3.

The changes include: The paper will be 3,4 cm narrower. The new logo is "European blue". The paper will consist of 3 sections. The first sections will cover international news, Europe and France. The second section, which will be printed on salmon paper will be dedicated to the economy and the third part will cover subjects as culture, fashion, free time, lifestyle and wellness. Much space will be dedicated to photographs and infographics. And also the website will be redesigned. The relaunch is said to have cost 5 million Euro. The papers cover price of 1 Euro will stay the same. Imédias has a photo of the a front page in the new design. See here.

Le Figaro, the oldest newspaper of the country, was founded as a weekly in 1826 and has appeared as a daily since 1866. It has a circulation of about 326,700, currently more than competitor Le Monde, reports Der Standard.

Sources: Le Monde (in French), Imédias (photo), see also article on imédias (in French), Der Standard (in German)

Considered by some to be the ultimate test of whether or not newspaper websites will be able to charge for content in the future, the New York Times' pay model TimesSelect is receiving harsh criticism from loyal Times readers and of course, the blogosphere. Poynter's Steve Outing has received a number of emails slamming the Times' decision and concluded, "What I picked up from this pile of e-mail is that many people view the Times' columnists as fulfilling an important global public-service role, and that by publishing them freely on the Web for so many years, they spread ideas around the world that need to be read widely. The times is being judged on its mission of serving the public good, not shareholders... Something the times may have damaged here is its global impact." One of Outings' emails came from a devoted Times subscriber who said, "Yes, I can afford to subscribe to TimesSelect, but I will not. I have canceled my delivery of the paper, as well."

Considered by some to be the ultimate test of whether or not newspaper websites will be able to charge for content in the future, the New York Times' pay model TimesSelect is receiving harsh criticism from loyal Times readers and of course, the blogosphere. Poynter's Steve Outing has received a number of emails slamming the Times' decision and concluded, "What I picked up from this pile of e-mail is that many people view the Times' columnists as fulfilling an important global public-service role, and that by publishing them freely on the Web for so many years, they spread ideas around the world that need to be read widely. The times is being judged on its mission of serving the public good, not shareholders... Something the times may have damaged here is its global impact." One of Outings' emails came from a devoted Times subscriber who said, "Yes, I can afford to subscribe to TimesSelect, but I will not. I have canceled my delivery of the paper, as well."

Considered by some to be the ultimate test of whether or not newspaper websites will be able to charge for content in the future, the New York Times' pay model TimesSelect is receiving harsh criticism from loyal Times readers and of course, the blogosphere. Poynter's Steve Outing has received a number of emails slamming the Times' decision and concluded, "What I picked up from this pile of e-mail is that many people view the Times' columnists as fulfilling an important global public-service role, and that by publishing them freely on the Web for so many years, they spread ideas around the world that need to be read widely. The times is being judged on its mission of serving the public good, not shareholders... Something the times may have damaged here is its global impact." One of Outings' emails came from a devoted Times subscriber who said, "Yes, I can afford to subscribe to TimesSelect, but I will not. I have canceled my delivery of the paper, as well."

Judith Miller, the New York Times reporter that chose to go to give up her freedom instead of giving up the name of an anonymous source, was released on Thursday, September 29 after agreeing to testify in a grand jury investigation. Miller, who had been incarcerated for almost 3 months, received direct clearance from her source, US Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff Lewis Libby, that repealed all obligations of confidentiality. She will now be allowed to talk freely in front of a grand jury investigating the outing of a CIA agent that could have grave consequences for the Bush administration. After being released, Miller said, "I went to jail to preserve the time-honored principle that a journalist must respect a promis not to reveal the identity of a confidential source. I chose to take the consequences, 85 days in prison, rather than violate that promise. The principle was more important to uphold than my personal freedom."

Sources: Reuters, New York Times

Print as an advertising medium "cannot yet be put out to pasture", concluded a majority of five panelists at the Print Forecast panel in Manhattan on Monday, reports MediaDailyNews. Jason Klein, president and CEO of the Newspaper National Network (NNN) said, "The trends are not exactly what we would like, but I think the reports of print's death are greatly exaggerated." He also pointed to the NNN's recent study that showed newspapers are "the engagement media" and therefore attractive to advertisers (see former posting).

However, Charlie Rutman, CEO of Media Planning Group (MPG) North America, countered, "Dying may be a little extreme, but the medium is definitely on a resuscitator." Pointing to recent scandals regarding cirulation controversies and weak numbers he said, "once burned, twice shy. It's happened too often - clients are nervous, we're nervous."

Source: MediaDailyNews

On September 12, the European Parliament hosted a debate on the use of weblogs. The debate was one of three debates on the implications of the information society. Pointing to the differences between blogs and traditional media, Karlin Lillington, technology journalist at the Irish Times, said that "journalists face libel laws, whereas some bloggers behave as if they're in the Wild West. Bloggers will state things without saying where they got them from. And increasingly, blogs are used to promote products without making this clear".

On September 12, the European Parliament hosted a debate on the use of weblogs. The debate was one of three debates on the implications of the information society. Pointing to the differences between blogs and traditional media, Karlin Lillington, technology journalist at the Irish Times, said that "journalists face libel laws, whereas some bloggers behave as if they're in the Wild West. Bloggers will state things without saying where they got them from. And increasingly, blogs are used to promote products without making this clear".

On September 12, the European Parliament hosted a debate on the use of weblogs. The debate was one of three debates on the implications of the information society. Pointing to the differences between blogs and traditional media, Karlin Lillington, technology journalist at the Irish Times, said that "journalists face libel laws, whereas some bloggers behave as if they're in the Wild West. Bloggers will state things without saying where they got them from. And increasingly, blogs are used to promote products without making this clear".

Leaders of the Russian press and foreign publishers and editors, meeting in Moscow to discuss press freedom problems, were stood up by a senior Kremlin official who pulled out of the programme at the last minute. "Another brilliant public relations coup to improve the Kremlin's image on press freedom and independence", said – ironically - Timothy Balding, Director General of the World Association of Newspapers, which organised the meeting together with the World Editors Forum and the Russian Guild of Press Publishers (GIPP), during Publishing Expo 2005, which ends in Moscow today, Thursday.

According to a recent Gallup poll, Americans have somewhat regained trust in the mass media. According to the survey, conducted September 12-15, 13% of respondents have a 'great deal' and 37% a 'fair amount' of 'trust and confidence in the mass media'. On the other side, 37% have 'not very much' and 12% 'none at all'. Those figures show a slight increase in trust and confidence that respondents have in mass media. (The question was: "In general, how much trust and confidence do you have in the mass media - such as newspapers, T.V. and radio - when it comes to reporting the news fully, accurately, and fairly - a great deal, a fair amount, not very much, or none at all?)

However, when looking at figures from the last years, the level of trust is still relatively low. In 1972, when the question was asked for the first time, 68% had a 'great deal' or a 'fair amount' of trust in the media, compared to 49% this year. Also in recent years, from 1997 to 2003, this figure was always higher than 50%. This year's result is therefore only an improvement compared to last year's low result of 44%. However, it could be a sign of hope.

Sources: Gallup Poll, see also Editor & Publisher

According to a recent Gallup poll, Americans have somewhat regained trust in the mass media. According to the survey, conducted September 12-15, 13% of respondents have a 'great deal' and 37% a 'fair amount' of 'trust and confidence in the mass media'. On the other side, 37% have 'not very much' and 12% 'none at all'. Those figures show a slight increase in trust and confidence that respondents have in mass media. (The question was: "In general, how much trust and confidence do you have in the mass media - such as newspapers, T.V. and radio - when it comes to reporting the news fully, accurately, and fairly - a great deal, a fair amount, not very much, or none at all?)

However, when looking at figures from the last years, the level of trust is still relatively low. In 1972, when the question was asked for the first time, 68% had a 'great deal' or a 'fair amount' of trust in the media, compared to 49% this year. Also in recent years, from 1997 to 2003, this figure was always higher than 50%. This year's result is therefore only an improvement compared to last year's low result of 44%. However, it could be a sign of hope.

Sources: Gallup Poll, see also Editor & Publisher

As Internetnews.com reported on Tuesday, analysts said that Google plans to add classified ads to its index. The article cites a report from research firm Classified Intelligence, which says that Google has asked classified advertising sites, including CareerBuilder and Adicio, for a direct feed of listings, that would facilitate the listing of classified ads for the search engine.

The Global Entertainment and Media Outlook by PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts a decline in newspaper circulation figures and tepid growth of subscriptions, advertising revenues and single copy purchase for the next 4 years, reports hollywoodreporter.com. (The newspaper publishing market, as defined in the report, includes spending of readers on daily print newspapers, i.e. newsstand purchases and subscriptions, and spending by advertisers. The definition does not include weekly papers and online subscription, which are subject of a special chapter.)