Results matching “newspapers now”

In a recent article in the American Journalism Review, Philip Meyer, Knight Chair in Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, discussed the survival strategy for newspapers of the future.

Meyer beings by noting that just as printing changed everything, so has the Internet.  Print "made the size of the audience theoretically limitless and, by the creation of multiple records, enabled more reliable preservation of knowledge."  

Meyer believes that 'the Internet wrecks the old newspaper business model in two ways. It moves information with zero variable cost, which means it has no barriers to growth, unlike a newspaper, which has to pay for paper, ink and transportation in direct proportion to the number of copies produced.  And the Internet's entry costs are low."

While many internet-based news operations have been struggling, Newsmax.com, a conservative website based in Florida has been thriving. With a monthly readership of 3.86 million Newsmax.com and sister magazine will produce about $25 million in revenue this year.  This raises the question as to whether they will replace traditional newspapers or complement them.

According to the Palm Beach Post, "since 1998, Chris Ruddy, editor in chief and owner, has delivered one principal product: news and opinion from a conservative viewpoint to offset what he sees as the liberal mainstream media."

In an interview Ruddy stated, "I'm first of all a businessman.  The key to success is to find out who your readers are and build a database. We are more into financial news and health news that will appeal to a clientele that also likes politics."

Sources:  Palm Beach Post

In a recent speech, former of the editor of The Age, Michael Gawenda, gave his opinions about the newspaper industry.  Gawenda believes that changes taking place in the news industry are causing more problems and they are failing to "produce newspapers that attract the sort of fierce and life-long loyalty they once attracted."

Gawenda believes that "it is a failure of imagination and commitment, a result of a lack of experience and knowledge and love of newspapers" that is causing content, readership and revenue to decline.  

He went on to stress the importance of change in the industry, "but for real change, courage is needed, and vision and risk-taking and, above all, a commitment to newspapers and journalism that, frankly, I do not see at the moment."

Bertrand Pecquerie wrote in an article in Le Monde yesterday that the French newspaper industry is in crisis and, worryingly, turning to the State for help. Newspapers have been subsidized in France for the past ten years and, in those ten years, the situation has not improved, it has actually worsened.

Pecquerie believes that there are four core problems facing the industry and these are not being addressed. The four core issues are method, diagnosis, objective and means.

In a recent speech, Horst Pirker, the Chairman of the Board of Styria Medien (Austria) explained how the future of the newspaper is dependent on multimedia, multi-channel and multi-platform technologies (or MMM).  

In the MMM approach, multimedia means providing the reader with not just only text, but pictures, sound and video.  Multi-channel means using different channels for distribution such as cable, satellite, GRPS, WiFi etc...  And multi-platform means using all of the platforms available such as, paper, PC, mobile devices, public screens, etc...

The Canadian newspaper, 24 hours, is unveiling its revamped look this week.

The thinking behind the newspapers redesign is to accommodate its readers busy lives, as a result the newspaper has launched a  quick read format of a front page with brief summaries of lead stories and highlights. The paper also has a navigation layout enabling the reader to easily pinpoint the stories they are interested in.

"Insights from our readers, prospective readers, advertisers and ad agencies set the course for the redesign," said Chris Brockbank, VP of marketing at Sun Media. "They want sharp and fast headline news and a consistent, quick navigation system to get to content they want."

Quebecor's Sun Media publishes 24 hours newspaper Monday to Friday. The publishers newspapers are read by approximately 6.5 million readers every week.

Source: Media Canada via IFRA Executive News

Cambridge-based firm Liquivista announces that it will be developing electronic newspapers over the next three years, with £12 million backing the project. The web developer plans to build full-color interactive e-paper reader that will resemble an A4 piece of paper and will feature audio and video content, according to the Press Gazette.

France's newspaper industry is in crises and President Nicholas Sarkozy is launching talks to look into alleviating the situation. There will be a two month industry consultation period led by a one of Sarkozy's former Elysee advisers.

However, unions are reportedly concerned Sarkozy could loosen ownership laws, allowing his television baron friends to buy into the national press. Sarkozy, is known as the "télé-président" due to his media fixation and his close relationship with key figures within the media.

The French press is one of the least profitable in Europe, the daily circulation of all French national papers is just 8 million, which is half that of the UK and one third of Germany. French newspapers' combined turnover fell from €1.145bn (£905 million) in 2000 to €848 million last year.

It also costs more to print a national newspaper in France than in most of its European neighbours due to the Union Le Livre's importance in this sector, it insists on strict working hours and conditions for its members. It is also difficult to buy a newspaper in France because Labyrinthine state controls newspaper kiosks. The press already receive €1.5bn in direct and indirect state each year

Le Monde's editor, Eric Fottorino, has called for Sarkozy to make it easier for the public to buy a copy of a newspaper.

Sarkozy reportedly favours loosening French laws to allow media organisation to own a TV station, a major radio network and a major daily newspaper.

Source: Guardian.co.uk

Newspapers around the world are facing a challenging time, not only because of the current difficult economic climate and declining advertising revenues, but also because of the ever more rapid push to multi-platform publishing and the changes to the operation that this has involved. Is it time the whole operating model underwent a shake-up? Neil Benson, Editorial Director - Regionals, at Trinity Mirror believes that newspapers need to radically overhaul the entire structure and that, being from a "conservative industry", they have been "overly-cautious" for far too long.

Benson, and the three Editors of the Birmingham titles affected, have rewritten the rulebook on workflow and newsroom management at the Birmingham Post (Editor Marc Reeves - business orientated newspaper), Sunday Mercury (Editor David Brookes - tabloid) and Birmingham Mail (Editor Steve Dyson - a popular evening paper); and the new system is scheduled to go live in mid-October. Benson says that in previous recessions for the media industry, the standard way newspapers have responded is to cut the pagination of the paper and axe staff, but Trinity felt that this was simply "inadequate". Benson says, "The financial pressure is nothing new, but the additional factor is the internet and convergence and the effect that this is having on the industry, so we felt that rather than do the straightforward cost-cutting, we needed to do something much more imaginative." The Editors Weblog spoke to Benson to get all the details.

Rethinking workflow

Trinity Mirror has been using the same tried and tested newsroom workflow as most other newspapers, ie, (1) journalist writes the article, (2) submits it to the news desk, (3) designer fits the story into the page, (4) sub-editing desk scrutinizes, and (5) final revision and publication. This whole system has been completely turned on its head, with Benson stating, "We are truly a multi-media business now, so lets structure for that." The old five-step system has now been honed down to just three steps: create, place and complete. Benson says that not only did they have to look at the overall operating costs in the current difficult economic climate, but they also wanted to fully integrate multi-media working practises into the operation. With the advent of new publishing platforms, such as mobile and the Internet, newsrooms have had to adapt rapidly and have thus frequently "bolted-on" on new practises to the traditional model. Benson wanted to revamp the whole process so that multimedia is fully integrated into the operation.

The new workflow system is as follows:

1) Reporters - who will now be known as multimedia journalists*, - create the content.
2) Send to the "Multimedia" desk where a newly trained multi-skilled team will not only check the copy but also place it into heavily templated pages. This is the key step in the reinvention; here Trinity have merged the news editing and production function into one.
3) Page finishing, revising and tidying up.

Benson says he cannot remember such substantial changes being made to a newsroom in 35 years. Not only will this system help to cut costs and integrate multimedia publishing, but it will also cut down on the time between a reporter finding a story and it appearing in print or online. Furthermore, the three titles at Trinity Mirror Midlands will all be sharing a newsroom; so if a big story breaks the merged newsroom can push more resources towards the story and cover it more thoroughly than was ever possible before.

Integrated newsroom - open space and collaboration

One of the key areas where the changes can be seen is in the newsroom team itself; the individual Head of Content or Head of Sport for each title will be merged and will now work across all titles and channels. Furthermore, the whole team, including advertising and sales, will all be on one floor working together.

In the centre of the new newsroom (the whole team is moving to a new purpose-designed site in Birmingham in about a month's time) there will be a structure that Benson describes as being "like a broken doughnut" (ie, a round structure, open at two points for exit and entry) which is the multimedia desk: everything will be directed from this central hub. It will also contain the conference table where all of the news meeting will take place, making it open to the entire staff rather than in the Editors office behind a closed door as in the past. This structure also enables the multi-media desk staff to always be at their workstations even during the news meetings.

Furthermore, over the summer, a new publishing system was introduced called "Content Watch" (produced by a MediaSpectrum) which is completely web-based making it possible to file copy and sub copy from anywhere.

Training journalists: the "nuts and bolts" of integration

The training programme undertaken to make this radical change in structure possible has been comprehensive. Benson describes the training as "nuts and bolts" and philosophical, ie, enabling the team to "think" multi-media when they are working.  Staffers are all being equipped with laptops for filing on the move and Smartphones (Nokia 95 Smartphones for shooting video, streaming video, and take digital pictures), so there have been practical training sessions for the new kit, being led by the Head of Multimedia and the editorial training manager.

The team have brought in Paul Bradshaw from Birmingham City University, who has an online journalism blog, for the philosophical side; the sessions involve talks on multimedia and issues surrounding it for senior staffer, who will then "percolate this knowledge down". The staff have also been attending a series of multimedia awareness sessions led by Andrew Dickinson from the University of Central Lancashire, who also has a journalism blog.

Benson is very clear on the importance of this training programme, "We are asking people to do something very new, and unless you invest in the training it is not going to work."

Managing the team through unfamiliar waters

Another key consideration for Trinity Mirror in this reinvigoration of its newsroom has been its staff. The process resulted in 65 voluntary redundancies at the newspapers and this understandably caused concern for staffers at the group's Birmingham titles. Furthermore, with the whole workflow system being turned on its head, staffers were required to apply for roles within the new structure. This, reports Benson, was a difficult decision and one "not taken lightly". However, the changes in structure are so radical that they felt it was necessary to take this step to underline the enormous change the Birmingham titles were undertaking, and for the staff to truly consider if they wanted to be involved in it. Benson reports, "We had our eyes open, we expected a big reaction."

Bearing this in mind, management moved ahead quickly and launched a consultation period where staffers had one-to-one sessions to discuss concerns and ask questions. Rapidly after, the job application process started.  

The UK's National Union of Journalists took a role in the process, telling management that they would fight any forced redundancies; thankfully, the voluntary process proved successful and a strike was averted. Benson reports that communication was open with the union throughout the process.

With hindsight?

Trinity Mirror Midlands is nearing the finishing line in this whole process, but with the benefit of hindsight, would they have done anything differently? Benson says that he does not feel that there is a "fundamental" in the process that they got wrong. He does believe that the communication process with staff is vital and needs to be as open and detailed as possible. For Trinity, communication has been, "pretty good, but more would have been better."

Furthermore, with the office move planned well in advance and with Trinity's desire to undertake the changes before the office move so teething problems could be ironed out, lack of time was an issue. Benson says, "Ideally, a bit more time, but then again I have been involved in projects in the past where you can give yourself too much time. Being journalists, we all like a deadline."

* The multimedia journalists role now involves shooting video, taking picture, and so forth, as well as being equipped to file from anywhere with the new web-based publishing platform.

In light of its recent launch of Web-based political news section, the Washington Post Co. announces that it has acquired Foreign Policy magazine to "expand" the company's online journalism, said CEO Donald Graham. 

Dutch daily newspapers experienced lower circulation in the second quarter this year, according to the European Journalism Centre (EJC). Publisher PCM titles were "hit particularly hard."

The Wall Street Journal Online has signed a deal with Yahoo! which will enable Yahoo! users in the UK and Ireland to access its coverage of the US presidential election race.

WSJ.com's political blogs, 'Political Perceptions' and 'Washington Wire' will be available on a Yahoo! microsite specially created.

Tristan Leaver, director of business and audience development at the Wall Street Journal digital network for EMEA, said it is, "a very effective way for WSJ.com to raise brand awareness and expose our unparalleled content to a new UK audience."

In an interview with the EditorsWeblog in September, Deputy Editor of the Wall Street Journal, Alan Murray, said the brand had ambitious plans to expand internationally. This deal with Yahoo! looks like a significant step in pushing the Wall Street Journal brand and content to a European audience.

Source: Brand Republic

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77 percent of Koreans use the Internet and spend an average of 13.7 hours online each week, according to a government poll. The figures are based on a survey that the Korea Communications Commission conducted jointly with the National Internet Development Agency of Korea.

The Korea Communications Commission report that 60 percent of Internet users read newspapers online and 58 percent of all Internet users used Cyworld's mini homepages or blogs, while 50 percent of Internet users use online cafes or clubs. Koreans in there 20s are the biggest users of online communities, with 82 percent of them using blogs or mini homepages and 76 percent of them using internet cafes or clubs.

35,360,000 of Koreans use the Internet, which is up 0.8 percent from a year ago. 41,466 Koreans participated in the poll in June and July.

100 percent of teens, 20s and 30s access the Web, and 82 percent of children between the ages of three and nine went online.

Eighty-two percent of those in there forties use the internet, while 49 percent of those in there fifties go online. Internet users were defined as those who had been online in the past month.

The poll revealed a digital divide between educated and uneducated, and women and men.

Source: Asia Media

Following on from the announcement that 80 subeditors across the Daily Express and Sunday Express are being made redundant, details have emerged of a proposal for reporters to input stories directly into page templates.

Under the proposed system, reporters would fit stories into an editorial template containing the necessary styles. Rewriters and lawyers would then check the pages.

A leaked memo entitled, "Changing Ways of Working", outlined the proposed changes to workflow at the newspapers. The newspaper group has recently introduced the Woodwing editorial system.

Express Newspapers group managing editor, Ian Parrott, said in the memo, "We are therefore proposing to introduce the direct input of copy by reporters and writers into the system. Pages would be envisaged by the backbench and drawn by the designers as now. The reporters would be sent a shape for the stories, containing all the necessary type and styles and they would fit their copy to that shape.

"Once finished, the reporters/writers would check in their story shape and the words would be edited by the newsdesk and a team of rewriters/editors who would also write the headlines and make any necessary changes. Our night lawyers would check the stories as they do at present."

There has been no formal conformation from Express Newspapers that the memo is genuine or that the plans will be implemented.

Source: MediaGuardian.co.uk