September 2008 Archives

A DVD has been circulated in many Midwest regional newspapers sparking controversy and some protests in their communities. The DVD - which has been called anti-Muslim propoganda - feat?ures scenes of Muslim children being urged to become suicide bombers, 9/11 carnage and interviews with critics of Islam.

The DVD is an hour-long film, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" by the non-profit New York-based Clarion Fund. The newspapers have distributed the film as an insert in their newspapers for advertising revenue.

About 70 protesters gathered outside The Oregonian regional newspaper on Monday morning after the DVD was circulated within it, to protest against the distribution of the film.

"It is a moral obligation of a newspaper in a community to inform, not misinform," said the Rev. Chuck Cooper, director of ministries of Micah's Village, a progressive Christian community near Clackamas.

However, Publisher Fred Stickel said The Oregonian distributed the DVD because it has an obligation to make its advertising as open as possible under the principle of free speech.

Approximately 70 newspapers distributed the DVD and about 500 people called The Oregonian about the DVD, most of them voiced their opposition.

Source: Associated Press, The Oregonian, Willamette Week

Weekly newspaper, the Gravesend Reporter, is adopting the part-paid-for part-free model. The Archant-owned title will now reach 60,000 readers rather than the previous 6,000.

The newspaper is following in the footsteps of the Richmond and Twickenham Times and the Manchester Evening News.

The newspaper will now be delivered for free in certain boroughs but this will result in the closure of its ad-based free sister newspaper, the Gravesend and District Express, which will now be incorporated into the main title.

The newspaper will still be for sale in newsagents and retailers in the area, but for a reduced price of 25p (it previously sold for 40p).

Archant London executive managing director Enzo Testa, said that the move, "dovetails with implementation of the 'dual model' idea which we have successfully carried out with our other award winning Kentish Times' titles since 2005." The first title in the group to go part-paid-for part-free was The Bromley Times in 2005, followed in May 2006 by The Bexley Times, and earlier this year by the Dartford and Swanley Times.

Source: HoldtheFrontPage.co.uk

Indonesian media, property, infrastructure and banking tycoon James Riady is to shortly launch a new daily newspaper in Indonesia, the Jakarta Globe. The new newspape for Indonesia  was reported on back in August, but it has emerged that it will hit the market soon.

News Corporation executive Lachlan Murdoch - son of Rupert Murdoch - is also reportedly taking an interest and looking at other media investments in Indonesia with Riady.

The 48-page, full-colour English-language broadsheet newspaper will initially just be distributed in large Indonesian cities and Singapore, with a print run of "over 50,000", according to launch editor David Plott. Plott is a former editor-in-chief of the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review.

Plott says, "Indonesia's a little like India, in the sense that it's a market where print publications are still quite profitable and there's still quite a lot of growth potential; in terms of advertising it's a $US3 billion a year market."

The competition for the new player in the market will be the Jakarta Post, an English-language daily with circulation of 18,000 copies. It will also have an online version; however, issues surround the name jakartaglobe.com, as a local news aggregator already operates under the name.

There have been significant challenges for the newspaper with retraining staff, as "Newspapers aren't what they used to be. You can't survive by just reporting what happened, particularly in Indonesia, where things aren't always what they appear to be, and what's actually going on behind events is not clear to anyone except insiders."

Source: The Australian via IFRA Executive News Service

The Oklahoman has followed the path of a swath of newspapers across the western hemisphere and undergone a redesign. The redesign has been headed up by Dr Mario R. Garcia.



















The regional US paper is now narrower and longer, making it easier to carry and following the trend of The Times of London and the European edition of the Wall Street Journal. Garcia believes that the future of newspapers is heading towards a smaller format.

The redesign also features a new navigational system, on page one allowing the reader to survey what's in the paper. The paper is also introducing a new typographic style. Garcia reports that two fonts have been incorporated into the design: Chronicle and Retina, that make the newspaper easier to read (especially for readers 50 and older). The page grid follows a basic six-column format. The width of the page is 60.9 picas, and each column is 9.3 picas.

Source: Garcia Media

Swiss newspaper title, Blick, is integrating all of its newsrooms to create one large newsroom.

Each journalist at a Blick branded newspaper or news website will be expected to work on at least two titles.

The changes will affect paid-for newspaper Blick, Sunday paper SonntagsBlick, free daily Blick am Abend, and Blick Online.

Source: Newspaper Innovation

The online version of the Evening Standard - London's paid-for evening newspaper - has been rebranded. From yesterday, it was no longer Thisislondon.co.uk, but Standard.co.uk.

The site was previously marketed as an entertainment site with listings and review for the cinema and so forth restaurants, but now the site will offer news, business and sport articles, comments and analysis. The "Thisislondon" name will be kept for the entertainment guide section, which will be incorporated within the overall site.

According to ABCe, thisislondon.co.uk attracted 2,316,767 unique users for the period from March 2008.

Source: Publicitas

Swiss daily Le Matin revealed unveiled its redesign today, with a new look and new content.

This new design includes a guide section that will contain lifestyle advice. Each day, a different theme will be offered, such as psychology, health, job, science, entertainment, food or consumerism. Le Matin is also seeking to strengthen its sports coverage.

The newspaper is now under the stewardship of a new editor-in-chief, Ariane Dayer. She succeeds to Peter Rothenbühler. Dayer began her career at the now defunct newspaper La Suisse.

Source: Publicitas

There is an interesting article today on the Monday Note site that examines the integrated newsroom business model. The author, Frederic Filloux, was part of the team behind 20 Minutes and spent 12 years at Liberation, ultimately becoming the Editor-In-Chief. He now works as editor for the Norwegian group Schibsted.

He puts together some insightful figures about the cost of a large national newsroom:

* Cost of a journalist (including benefits and expenses) = €60,000
* Total cost of running a newsroom =  €10 million
* Per month costs = €830,000
* Average revenue per unique visitors per month appears = €0,10 to €0,25
* €830,000 costs requires 8.3 million Unique Visitors per month to break-even
* The French print edition of 20 Minutes made €45m in 2007. Each reader generates €18 per year for the newspaper.
* Online newsite readers generate approximately €1,2 per year (if a well-read site)

Looking at these figures, Filloux believes that "news is no longer able to sustain itself." He thinks it is now about seeking out "alternative subsidy streams" to support the news gathering and that "corporate money will inevitably percolate into news economics through service contracts, requests for expertise, corporate communication assignments." However, investment banks and the city do not like subsidised business models, so can newspaper businesses carry on being publicly traded on the stock market?

For the full debate and more detail, follow the link.

Source: Monday Notes

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) founder and chief, Robert Menard, announced his resignation on Friday.

Menard is said to want to explore other avenues and will be replaced by Jean-Francois Julliard, 35.

Menard has had a significant impact at Reporters Without Borders and shot to fame earlier this year with calls for a boycott on the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games and for his outspoken condemnation of China's crackdown on Tibetan protestors.

Menard was awarded the Legion of Honour by France in recognition of his significant works. He established the organisation in 1985 and it now has a presence on all five continents. The group supports itself through the sale of calendars and photographs as well as through donations.

Reporters Without Borders published a report on attacks on press freedom each year and campaigns against abuses of media rights.

Source: EJC Media and The Tocqueville Connection

The US free daily, The Examiner, which is owned by billionaire right-winger Philip Anshutz, has taken his newspaper into unusual territory by endorsing presidential candidate John McCain.

Free dailies do not usually endorse candidates or wade into murky political waters as they are trying to appeal to the widest possible audience.

The free daily featured a picture of McCain and Sarah Palin on its front cover and, in emotive language, put its support behind the Republican candidate. The Washington Examiner has endorsed McCain.

Source: Newspaper Innovation

Ukranian media group Segodnya Multimedia announces the launch of a new bimonthly newspaper Tvoe, which will focus on the age group 28-50.

Tvoe will feature a variety of news content and "useful advice" from experts as well as sections that include research done by the paper's journalists, reports gipp.ru.

Victoria Davidenko, director of the project, says that research has shown that today's readers are becoming increasingly interested in information that will benefit their everyday lives.

Source: gipp.ru

The Dallas Morning News says that it will be making "strategic" changes to its free tabloid paper Quick, geared towards young adults, reports dallasnews.com. By the end of next month, Quick will focus entirely on entertainment and nightlife, instead of the current news extracts and entertainment stories. Furthermore, it will be published only on Thursdays, as opposed to five times a week.

Quick intends to increase circulation from 95,000 to 100,000 copies, half of which will be distributed to young adults living in apartment complexes and half of which will be available in stands around entertainment and retail venues. Extra door-to-door delivery is expected to start from 2009. In addition,

Quick may also become available on mobile platforms by the end of this year.

The Dallas morning News also launched Briefing, a "quick-read" newspaper, in August. The new paper is intended for 200,000 "upscale" homes that don't get traditional titles.

Source: dallasnews.com

The first issue of Buren (Neighbours) was launched around Enschede, on the Dutch-German border.  The paper has an initial circulation of 400,000 and was launched to celebrate fifty years of collaboration between the border communities.  According to NRC, it demonstrates a changing attitude, the "European spirit is really taking hold..." 

Buren is a combined effort by the Dutch regional newspaper Twentsche Courant Tubantia, and the German titles Westfälische Nachrichten and Grafschafter Nachrichten.  Journalists that work for the three newspapers will also translate for each other's articles in Buren. 

Singapore's citizen journalism media platform Stomp announces that it is launching a new mobile Internet portal that will allow users to access articles, post forum threads and look at photographs from social events. The portal will be updated daily and