At a time when any local or national news outlet can potentially become an international online brand, and as newsrooms adapt to a 24-hour news cycle, editors can learn from The New York Times' most recent attempt to 'kill' both birds with one stone.
Last week, top execs from The Times and the International Herald Tribuneannounced plans to mergeiht.com and nytimes.com into a co-branded international section, in order to increase both sites' reach and appeal to international advertisers.
In this two-part series, the Weblog spoke to Jim Roberts, Digital Editor at The New York Times, and Martin Gottlieb, who was appointed to the newly created position of Editor, Global Edition.
Through these moves, The Times intends to accomplish at least four ostensible goals:
Part 1: - Build an outpost for its Continuous News Desk in Paris, and eventually Hong Kong. - Integrate operations, streamline some resources by increasing efficiency and avoiding overlap.
Part 2: - Reinforce its international reach and further compete against the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal. - Use the strength of NYT's online brand while safeguarding the IHT's popular print brand name. IHT: an outpost for the Times' continuous news
Although the proposed changes are currently undergoing a consultation process with the IHT's works council, as required by French law, the process of integration of both papers began ever since the NYT acquired full control of the IHT in 2003, and has accelerated in past months.
In Feb., NYT executive editor Bill Keller had already announced plans to integrate operations and develop an "organic, global, 24-hour news operation," in order "to create a Continuous News outpost in Paris."
In May, the IHT dropped its 142-year-old logo from its nameplate to replace it with the phrase "The Global Edition of the New York Times."
"That says, we are one, and we are," although both arms are managed separately, said Jim Roberts, digital editor at The Times.
Video: Roberts talks about the 'integration' of both newspapers. Footage was collected during an interview at the 15th World Editors Forum in Sweden.
Thanks to this outpost and the six-hour time difference, the NYT is now able to upload content to its site nearly 24 hours a day (from about 6am to 1am, New York time). The paper eventually hopes to establish a similar outpost at the IHT's Asian headquarters in Hong Kong in the next six months.
The creation of these outposts does not mean that the IHT is becoming a full-blown Paris bureau for The Times. "We have a Paris bureau," said Roberts, "and the newsroom of the IHT still has a print edition and right now they still have a website." Integration, streamlining resources: evolution, no revolution
Since all proposed changes are undergoing a consultation process, editors couldn't give any firm preview of how workflows could be affected.
In the past, there has been "very regular contact between individual desks at the Times and corresponding desks at the IHT," said Martin Gottlieb, newly appointed editor of the Global edition. Many IHT editors come from The Times, regularly do edits on NYT pieces, and this past year IHT-written articles have appeared on nytimes.com with no distinctive byline.
However, there is no formal process of exchange between both newsrooms, and "There have been a couple of occasions when we've had IHT and NYT reporters covering the same thing," said Roberts.
The appointment of Gottlieb as editor of the Global Edition - note, no mention of the IHT in his title - is significant in that respect. In addition to fulfilling the role of editor of the paper, his mission will be to ensure that staff understands both papers are "two parts of one news-gathering operation, that should work in unison as much as possible in delivering the news 24 hours a day seven days a week," said Gottlieb.
A series of new editorial appointments at the IHT will be the symbols of this top-down integration. "There will be people coordinating the work of both staffs to, pretty much, make them as much as possible act as one staff," said Gottlieb.
For example, Alison Smale, who becomes European editor of the global newsroom, will be responsible for "coordinating the work of all NYT and IHT reporters in the region from the IHT newsroom in Paris," said the memo. To oversee the process, The Times also named Alan Flippen "Editor, Newsroom Organization."
It seems too early to say whether the planned reforms will lead to radical changes in workflows or content. Evolution, not revolution, said Roberts.
Currently, an IHT reporter based in Hong Kong might build upon a Times' story about the rise of airline fuel prices by interviewing Asian carriers, whose input might not have been as relevant to the core readership of the Times in the US. Likewise, an IHT story published in the Times might be fine-tuned to be more pertinent to the American audience (see the example of Der Spiegel in Part 2, looking at different newspaper approaches towards international editions).
Future workflows will likely build upon these current processes, rather than start from scratch. "It's continuing synergies that are taking place and maximizing them and regularizing them," said Gottlieb.
The planned changes can also be seen as an attempt to streamline resources - terminology often equivocated with cost cuts and layoffs. But according to Gottlieb, there are no planned newsroom layoffs at this point (this is subject to change during the next six months). It is possible that an online merger of iht.com and nytimes.com could lead to redundancies for some technical Web production positions.
Editors couldn't comment on any upcoming changes concerning the IHT's planned print redesign.
Stay tuned for Part 2, which will examine The Times' international branding strategy, and how newspapers can grow a previously inaccessible international readership.
Source: New York Times - Media Bistro - Jim Roberts, Digital Editor The New York Times - Martin Gottlieb, Editor, Global Edition
Yet another video of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, shot "off the record" in the studios of France 3 prior to his televised interview on June 3rd, has gone viral.
In this case though, the bigger issue shaking French media is whether this video should have been 'news' in the first place, or whether it's simply an example of media outlets rushing to create buzz, a phenomenon exacerbated by the rise of online news.
A renowned blogger, Laurent Goaguen, criticized Rue89's decision:
"I'm slightly ashamed that Rue89's newsroom release this dirty thing, acquired in dubious circumstances and that doesn't bring any information. When political engagement, sense of urgency and the race to scoops obscure, to that extent, the professional duties of journalists..."
Another blog, Caréagit, expressed its disgust for "gutter journalism."
Rue89 editor-in-chief Pascal Richéargued that "this video is rich in information concerning the President, his relations with media, and the atmosphere within France Télévisions."
According to Rue89, France 3 threatened a lawsuit if the site doesn't remove the video and give the names of staffers who leaked the footage.
Last week, the Romanian Senate unanimously voted a law proposal forcing media to distribute 50% of positive news.
According to its instigators, the law will help to fight against "the extraordinary harms of negative news and their irreversible effects on health and people's lives."
The Senate wishes that TV and radio news programs feature as much 'negative' as 'positive' news.
The Romanian's National Council for Audiovisual broadcasting is to validate the law - under which it will have the responsibility to decide what constitutes good or bad news.
But the Council swiftly criticized the law. "News is news, it is neither positive nor negative, it simply reflects reality," said the Council's president, Rasvan Popescu.
Press freedom organizations such as Reporters Without Borders have also criticized the proposal, comparing it to similar laws in authoritarian regimes such as North Korea.
While a number of editors may agree that the news agenda tends to be vastly 'negative', no law should seek to force the reverse.
Pierre Bellanger, founder and CEO of the French radio station Skyrock and blog network Skyrock.com, knows something about transitioning from a traditional media model to a digital one: Skyrock.com now draws 4.2 million unique visitors daily and about 7.5 billion page views monthly, and the group makes more than half of its revenues digitally.
At a conference in early June, Bellanger listed seven pointers for brands to establish and sell themselves online:
- Integrate collective intelligence: of particular importance to newspapers (see this interview with Bellanger), this means repurposing user-generated content such as comments or blogs in an add-value package for the brand. - To be an individual: the brand should be engaged in the conversation with online users. - Establish a relation of trust with users: this also entails getting rid of corporate and commercial communications, which online users can see through. - Combine conversation and advertising: a 'chief community officer' should serve both to engage the community and drive profit. - To remain useful. - To remain polite.
On one hand, there's a 2007 report entitled "Hamlet's Blackberry: Why Paper Is Eternal," written by William Powers, media critic for the National Journal. For Powers, all this talk about readers' migration to digital formats isn't taking into account the millennial virtues of "the most successful communications innovation of the last 2000 years."
On the other hand, there's yesterday's editorial in The Guardian, a major news outlet that still heavily relies on the strengths - revenues - of print, that assesses that readers "are starting to migrate in earnest to electronic reading devices, and the interesting thing is that early adopters are surprised at what an agreeable experience it is."
Will we live to see a paperless world? Most unlikely. Are we slowly moving in the general direction of a less-paper world? Definitely - although the demand for paper and newsprint is constantly rising.
Some of the pros and cons for both formats are straightforward: paper is more tangible, more engrained in our habits, and it is still typically easier to manipulate and browse. e-paper is expensive but can be cheaper in the long run, friendlier to the environment, lighter, can network with other devices and carry animated graphics.
According to Powers though, "many of paper's affordances are rooted in its limitations - its physicality, the fact that it can only be in one place, etc." Citing a study by A. Sellen and R. Harper, Powers contends that paper has four 'affordances' that supposedly can't be matched by digital platforms: tangibility, spatial flexibility, tailorability and manipulability.
Traditional paper's overall ease-of-use is undeniable, as it remains and will remain the cheapest and most practical information medium in many regions in the world, for many years to come.
But a quick look at Sony's foray into e-paper (this was more than a year ago!) would tend to show that digital platforms already can - and will - yield some very impressive results, even in the four aforementioned 'affordances'. The developments brought by the i-Phone's touch screen also show how much the public is increasingly embracing the tactile attributes of digital readers.
A paperless world may still be inconceivable to us who've grown thinking through paper. As Powers notes, paper is not only a container for information, it is also essential in defining our relationship to that information, in the way we treat and interpret it (as are all media). The newspaper doesn't only store; it organizes.
But for future generations, for whom the digital screen could be just as common as its 'dead-tree' counterpart, who's to say they won't criticize the warmth of paper, its opaque texture, the fact that it's so easy to scribble upon, to tear apart - the very attributes we have appreciated for two millennia?
The point here is neither to vindicate e-paper, nor does it mean we're moving into a paperless world. Even less to presumptuously fix a date as to the 'death' of paper and the crowning of its digital successor.
A few newspapers have ventured into e-Paper, including business daily Les Echos in France, the Shanghai Daily using Amazon's Kindle, or the NRC Handelsblad in the Netherlands. In May, French telecom firm Orange launched an e-reader that offered access to a range of books and French papers. But these experiments remain just that at this stage - experiments.
Responding to the 2008 Newsroom Barometer, only 7% of editors believed that e-Paper would be the standard news platform in their countries within 10 years (although a combined 18.5% thought it would be either mobiles or e-Paper). Likewise, when we visited the Göteborgs Posten in Sweden a week ago, an arguably innovative and new media-oriented paper, its CEO and editor Peter Hjörne made it clear he had no plans to particularly invest or research e-Paper solutions in the near future - for the next 15 years. This doesn't mean that Hjörne won't be keeping his eyes open for developments, as should any conscientious editor or manager.
But even in the digitally ripe Scandinavian market, consumption and distribution of e-paper on a mass scale remains a distant thought for editors and publishers.
In fact, some of the biggest brakes to the advent of e-Paper may be e-Paper manufacturers and media players themselves, as they battle to try set an industry-wide standard for a reader.
"It would be nice to think that ebooks will avoid the format wars between the likes of Apple and Microsoft that have dogged the development of digital music players, but that seems unlikely," reported the Guardian.
It's impossible, and would certainly be foolish, to set a date for the 'disappearance' of print paper. It will take years before its digital alternative becomes cheap enough for the mass public and really booms. And even then this will be limited to a few select regions.
But most importantly: the emergence of a new technology like e-Paper won't suppress the need for real paper - not for a long time. It's not an either-or situation.
Said the Guardian's editorial: "In the future books will have to welcome a new member to the family with which they will share more similarities than differences."
Posted bySarah Schewe on June 12, 2008 at 11:59 AM
Three journalists from ABS-CBN, a leading Filipino media network, along with their source have been missing since 8 June 2008 in Sulu, Mindanao. It's believed the missing four have been abducted by the Abu Sayyaf, a terrorist group based in Southern Philippines.
ABS-CBN network released a statement on 10 June 2008 stating that senior correspondent Cecilia Victoria "Ces" Oreña-Drilon and cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama were "missing in Sulu," together with Mindanao State University Professor Octavio Dinampo, and that "(a)ll efforts are underway to find them and bring them home."
Drilon and her crew were with Professor Dinampom, an activist and peace advocate who invited the team to Sulu, when armed men seized them in the village of Kulasi in the town of Maimbung. The four were on their way to interview a senior Abu
Sayyaf terror leader Radulan Sahiron, who is said to be planning to
surrender
The Abu Sayyaf is now demanding P10 million for the safe release of the hostages, according a military report. ABS-CBN has said they will not pay. In a statement, the network said, "ABS CBN News will abide by its policy not to pay ransom
because this would embolden kidnap for ransom groups to abduct other
journalists, putting more lives at risk."
"The fears held for the ABS-CBN crew are a stark reminder that
journalism in the Philippines has not ceased to be an incredibly
dangerous profession and we honor those journalists who work for press
freedom under such difficult circumstances," said the International Federation of Journalists Asia-Pacific.
This would not be the first time journalists have been abducted by Abu Sayyaf. In 2000, ABS-CBN's Val Cuenca and Maan Macapagal were held for nearly a week by the terrorist organization, before being released after successful negotiations. Also in 2000, 10 foreign journalists were kidnapped and later released after their captor's stripped the victims of their equipment and valuables and two French journalists were abducted later that year, but successfully escaped. In 2002, a freelance journalist Arlyn dela Cruz was also abducted by Abu Sayyaf in Sulu.
As new media makes the world an increasingly transparent place, plans are currently being developed to launch a social networking site connecting MEPs and MPs across Europe.
The site - Myparl.eu- will be officially launched in October and hopes to foster debate about pending legislative proposals coming both from Brussels and national parliaments. The site's foci will be the future of Europe, climate change and intercultural dialogue.
Myparl, which will be translated into French, German and English, could potentially involve up to 20,000 people; although only MPs and MEPs will be able to post comments, the site will be open to the public, who can react to the discussion with letters to the editor.
The 61st World Newspaper Congress and 15th World Editor Forum opened at 10 am on Monday the 1st of June. During the two hour opening ceremony the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra entertained the audience with delightful music. Between musical interludes came presentations about the state of the industry an account of the state of the free press, and a warm welcome by the King of Sweden. Below is a brief summary of the mornings event.
Timothy Balding, Chief Executive Officer of WAN, opened the congress. He pushed the importance of freedom of the press, as well as WAN and it's impact when founded 1948 in Amsterdam after the war. Sweden was, in fact, he said, one of the twelve founder countries . This is the third time Sweden is host for the event.
His Majesty, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden held a brief speech where he invited all the participants to Sweden. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden pointed out that the free press has a long history in Sweden. His Majesty was pleased to talk about Swedish democracy and what it means for the press. This is something which not everybody in the world can enjoy yet. Sweden has a press-ombudsman, said his Majesty.This exists so that the press takes responsibility for its actions and sees to it that nobody gets overrun in a self-disciplinary system not based on legislation.
Gavin O'Reilly, President, World Association of Newspapers opened by saying that the conference often uses the opening ceremony to criticize the host country's press situation. In this case he didn't need to criticize, to the satisfaction of the Swedes at the ceremony. In Sweden you have a press that is as close to utopia as is possible. Since 1766, 20 years before the French Revolution, Sweden had a free press. A film showing how journalists all around the world have been tortured, harassed, hunted down and killed, showed us the inevitable truth of how the world today still isn't a safe place to make your voice heard, to do your job - to be a journalist. Sweden invented the free morning newspaper, said Gavin O'Reilly while counting up a few areas where sweden has been a major player on the media scene. Sweden has always been a leading country, he continued. As Gavin O'Reilly is a big supporter of the printed paper, he urged the strengh of printed newspapers, which has a success story in Sweden. 90% of the Swedish population choose to read a morning paper.
Tomas Brunegård, chairman of the Swedish Newspaper Publishers Association, discussed the importance of the WAN event, working for freedom of the press, as it is under attack in many places in the world today. The speed of change in the industry is extreme, and it needs to turn dramatic change and challenges into opportunities. Free mind and innovation walk hand in hand. Openness is also importan. Regarding sustainability, Tomas Brunegård said that we have to leave something behind that is better than when we started.
Lemonde.fr organized an online chat with French new media and technology specialist Francis Pisani. The expert gave his views on multiple topics, including the future of the mobile Web, anonymity online, social networks, and the public's fear of a Big Brother digital society.
The following is an edited and translated version of what can be found on Le Monde's site.
Nowadays, massive social networks are becoming the norm on the Web. Will this continue or will there be new social networks that are smaller and more localized?
Both coexist and will continue to do so. I find the concept of the website ning.com very interesting. Instead of putting users in a global social network, it enables users to create micro networks.
Is anonymity online a defunct notion?
It's hard to say. Personally I think the possibility of being anonymous should be preserved, but the most important thing is to have direct control over information about us. This means that users should be able to know what kind of data a website has about them, and users should be given the possibility to destroy that data or migrate it to another site.
What are the trends for blogs in the future?
I think blogs will evolve in two directions: the 'old' one, which entails publishing postings in a Wiki-type database, which can be searched independently of chronology and categories. But today Twitter, Friendfeed and others are showing us the good things of being able to include conversations, in which the predominant role of bloggers is minimized.
How will the development of the mobile Web influence the way we use the Internet?
There are two big notions at play: the importance of location, and the highly specialized technologies necessary to understand the context around one's location.
This essentially means that once we will have these technologies, content providers (journalists, TV stations, institutions...) will have to provide content adapted to these circumstances.
We will also have to adapt to a new preset: the fact that we are becoming more and more nomadic.
Which mobile format do you think is most promising for news and information? Cell phones like the iPhone, e-books like Kindle, video game consoles like the PSP?
I would add a fourth category, UMPCs (Ultra Mobile PC), a format that is starting to seriously grow in Asia, and that we will probably see in the US and European markets very soon.
At this point, I can't say which of these forms will win. In fact, the increasing number of these machines should enable a large number of people to choose whichever format is convenient for them.
French public broadcaster France 2 lost its case against Philippe Karsenty, after a court of appeal overturned a previous verdict that found him guilty of libel, in what has become known as a case of an individual fighting against the manipulations of big media.
After having accused France 2 of manipulating its al-Dura footage, Karsenty had been found guilty of libel in 2006.
The new ruling will contribute to tarnish both the credibility of France 2, and of mainstream media in general.
"The al-Dura lie is an assault on our ability to think, to criticize, to evaluate, and finally to reject information - especially the right to reject information on which we base our most cherished assumptions," Karsenty said in a statement after his victory.
According to Honest Reporting, "Philippe Karsenty's efforts have opened up France 2 to scrutiny and serves as an example of how the media should be held accountable for their material and the consequences of their reporting,"
