editorsweblog http://www.editorsweblog.org/ en Copyright 2008 Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:03:05 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification US: Time users spend on top 30 newspapers sites decreased since July 2007 Nielsen Online data.

The figure for the Houston Chronicle increased from 14 minutes to 25 minutes and from 12 minutes to 16 minutes for the San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com. Growth was also seen at NYTimes.com, USAToday.com and the Wall Street Journal website.

The average time spent per person at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution site dropped from 23 minutes to 10 minutes and from 18 minutes to 9 minutes at Boston.com.

From Editor and Publisher, here is a list of average time spent per person in July 2008 on newspaepr sites, ranked by the number of unique visitors per site:

Time per Person (mm:ss) July 2008 vs. July 2007

NYTimes.com -- 32:03 -- 27:21
USATODAY.com -- 16:17 -- 11:48
washingtonpost.com -- 14:31 -- 17:55
LA Times -- 07:39 -- 08:26
Wall Street Journal Online -- 18:28 -- 12:17

New York Post -- 08:13 -- 09:00
Boston.com -- 09:01 -- 18:37
SFGate.com/San Francisco Chronicle -- 16:04 -- 12:17
Daily News Online Edition -- 05:18 -- 05:04
Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- 09:55 -- 23:09

Ottaway Newspapers -- 03:34 -- 06:13
Chicago Tribune -- 08:11 -- 15:55
Newsday -- 03:29 -- 03:30
International Herald Tribune -- 02:39 -- 01:48
Chicago Sun-Times -- 07:04 -- 06:32

The Houston Chronicle -- 25:21 -- 14:20
Politico -- 06:56 -- 06:14
DallasNews.com - The Dallas Morning News -- 04:50 -- 03:29
NJ.com -- 06:09 -- 08:21
Village Voice Media -- 04:58 -- 04:45

Philly.com -- 05:27 -- 06:58
The San Diego Union-Tribune -- 05:33 -- 04:44
MercuryNews.com -- 03:49 -- 04:32
Seattle Post-Intelligencer -- 14:48 -- 13:02
Baltimore Sun -- 09:43 -- 10:20

Star Tribune -- 36:39 -- 22:36
Kentucky.com -- 02:02 -- NA
Boston Herald -- 05:35 -- 05:15
The Detroit News -- 09:35 -- 14:09
OregonLive.com -- 04:27 -- 08:46

Source: Editor and Publisher through IFRA Executive News Service

]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/us_time_users_spend_on_top_30_newspapers_1.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/us_time_users_spend_on_top_30_newspapers_1.php Multimedia newspapers Nielsen online study Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:03:05 +0000 UK: Financial Times and The Times announce Kindle versions The Times and The Financial Times have joined the increasing list of publications that are offering their services on Amazon's Kindle reader, even if the technology is not available in the UK.

images.jpegThe Times, owned by News International, and The Financial Times, owned by FT Group, are offering the e-paper editions at a monthly fee of US$ 14.99 and US$ 9.99, respectively.

Other papers that have Kindle versions include China's Shanghai Daily, Frence's Le Monde, The Irish Times and Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine.

Germany's Deutsche Telecom announced that it plans to develop a portable e-reader that could be in competition with Amazon's Kindle.

Source: Paid Content UK through IFRA Executive News Service

See also:
New folding screen e-reader, Readius, to be released
Business Week review: The Kindle "an imperfect substitute" for the newspaper
A paperless world?
Are we headed for all-electronic papers?
US: L.A. Times launches Kindle edition


]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/uk_financial_times_and_the_times_announc.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/uk_financial_times_and_the_times_announc.php Multimedia digitalization e-paper Kindle launch UK Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:25:58 +0000 UAE: Gulf News editor says media growth will continue, but calls for more transparency and objectivity Gulf News editor Abdul Hamid Ahmad. 

Journalism has been optimized in the country, thanks to innovative technological developments that resulted in improved and more "design-led" newspapers.

"However, I don' t see much progress in the matter of professional journalism, ethics of journalism and freedom of the press. These three aspects need to be addressed quickly, as the advancement on them is slow," says Ahmad.

In the past three decades, UAE went from having over a few daily papers and magazines to having more than a dozen dailies and hundreds of magazines and periodicals, mentioned Ahmad. Publishing houses and media zones like the Dubai Media City have been created.

"I do not envision ebb in this tide of progress in the future, especially as the population grows. I can only see the media in the UAE growing in presence, readership and diversity of coverage," Ahmad says.

The continuously evolving media environment in the country has caught the eye of foreign publications and media outlets, which have established their services in the region bringing along technological and professional skills.

Ahmad addresses the issue of tailoring content for UAE's public, mentioning that foreign newcomers have to adapt their skills so they fits with local traditions, cultures and sensitivities.

Source: Garcia Media
 ]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/uae_gulf_news_editor_says_no_ebb_in_medi.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/uae_gulf_news_editor_says_no_ebb_in_medi.php Multimedia editorial quality newspapers press freedom UAE Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:03:09 +0000 US: Internet "impinging on tabloid's turf" TIME magazine's Kate Pickert. However, it may be the Web that seems to have reversed editorial efforts as some tabloids like the Weekly World News have had to shut down.

Tabloids experienced a circulation growth in the 1980's, Pickert writes. However, television in the mid-90's took focus away from US tabloids and made circulation plummet by 30%, after broadcast coverage of OJ Simpson's trial "eclipsed anything that could be done in print". Today it is the Internet that is "impinging on tabloid's turf", wrote Pickert.

The "supermarket" tabloid the National Enquirer decreased the quantity of horrific imagery and began to feature more material on "alien abductions" and "medical oddities", in order to draw in more housewives.

By the late 1960's as titles like the Enquirer, the Globe and Rupert Murdoch's Star all began to focus their attention on celebrity gossip. Weekly World News, self-dubbed "The World's Only Reliable Newspaper", continued to write about "weird" material such as "zombie sightings".   

Although celebrity print publications have gained popularity in recent years, it is mostly in the "glossy" version that Star adopted around four years ago.

Source: TIME

]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2008/08/us_internet_impinging_on_tabloids_turf.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2008/08/us_internet_impinging_on_tabloids_turf.php Newsrooms and Journalism editorial quality tabloid US Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:06:34 +0000 Interview: Twitsms exploits gap in the market after Twitter axe SMS Twitter reported this week that it is axing its SMS service outside India, the US and Canada, causing consternation across the Twitter community. Almost immediately after this was announced, reports emerged of IT entrepreneurs taking up the challenge to look for a solution. The Editors Weblog spoke to - we think - the first organisation to launch a solution to the Twitter SMS issue: Twitsms.

twitsms_logo.gifThe Editors Weblog spoke to Delia Timms and Jeff Bonnes (the founders of Twitsms) after receiving their email announcing the launch of Twitsms, which was just two days after our posting on the SMS issue. (Our interview with Delia and Jeff follows below.)

Twitsms buys the SMS in bulk in advance to keep costs low. Prices start at 7 pence in the UK and 11 cents in Australia per SMS.
 
The Editors Weblog also contacted Twitter, to find out how it feels about Twitsms and other such services helping out the Twitter fans that have been affected. Twitter has previously acknowledged that SMS is a key part of its service, saying: "We love SMS. The lowest common denominator aspect of this service is a defining part of Twitter."

blog_header.png

Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter Inc, told me: "We do not officially endorse any one service. However, we are interested in seeing what the response to these services will be."

There has been a certain amount of annoyance in aspects of the Twitter community about how Twitter have handled this issue, especially following Biz Stone's blog on the Twitter website calling for "perspective" on the issue. Svetlana Gladkova (Vice President of Business Development at Profy) does not sugar coat her views in her blog on Twitter's reaction, stating: "In my opinion, the team over at Twitter has committed quite a number of mistakes in handling this situation."

Here at the Editors Weblog, we try not to dwell on the negative and focus instead on solutions to our readers' problems; and Delia and Jeff look like they might just have one:

What inspired you to launch this service?

We use Twitter ourselves to keep in touch with friends and family both in Australia and overseas.  Jeff is American and particularly liked Twitter for staying in contact with his friends overseas.  So we understood personally how important it was for some Twitter fans to keep getting their SMS - even if they had to pay a very small fee for it.  Living in Australia we already have to pay fees for our SMS, so it is not unusual for us to pay to get our Tweets too.  We felt Twitter fans should at least have the choice to get their SMS, rather than just being cut-off by Twitter altogether.
 
How did you manage to set this up so quickly?

Experience and enthusiasm. We have built a few other successful internet businesses and have gained valuable experience over the past few years.  So we were fortunate to start out with some knowledge, skills and code. Jeff was able to apply learning from previous projects to speed up the coding for www.twitsms.co.uk. One of our other businesses does messaging and SMS already, so we were one step ahead with this. We were also able to use hardware and hosting from our other internet operations. We crowd sourced the graphic design for a fast turnaround.
 
What technology are you using?

We use Java and a web development framework called Grails. This allowed us to build  a very robust site quickly.
 
Can you explain exactly what arrangement you have established with the mobile companies?

Currently we buy SMS in bulk to keep the cost for users as low as possible.  As the site grows, we will look for ways to reduce costs even further.
 
Have you had any contact with the Twitter team about your project?

No we have not made contact yet, but will in the future. We hope that Twitter is happy that www.twitsms.co.uk and www.twitsms.com.au are keeping their fan-base connected outside of the USA, Canada and India!
 
What have been the early indicators been for Twitsms?

Early business is very strong. We knew there was a solid Twitter community and we knew they were annoyed about being shut off.  But were not sure whether they'd pay for their Tweets. However we have been happily surprised by the immediate interest from Twitter fans. They are more annoyed about Twitter shutting their service down, than having to pay a few cents to get their SMSs. Another surprising aspect for us has been the global interest.  www.twitsms.co.uk has been live for 4 days now and we've had contact from customers in the UK, Australia, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, Israel, Russia and France (of course!).
 
The use of Twitter itself has been a great springboard for www.twitsms.co.uk.  Twitter is a handy and powerful tool for communicating and getting immediate feedback from customers! It is also an efficient way to keep our customers updated as we are responding to requests and developing new features quickly.
 
What is your competition?

There is one site that has launched in competition and several still 'coming soon'. There has also been one site that has stopped development before they released. We are not worried by competition; we developed www.twitsms.co.uk because it is a service that we needed and wanted to share with the Twitter community.  Being first to market has been great. The feedback and early input from our customers is helping us ensure that www.twitsms.co.uk is the best alternative for the international Twitter community.

Sources: Twitsms, Twitter, Profy

See also:

Twitter reduces its mobile service, ends SMS updates service

 



]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/analysis/2008/08/interview_twitsms_exploits_gap_in_the_ma.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/analysis/2008/08/interview_twitsms_exploits_gap_in_the_ma.php Analysis launch Twitter Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:10:00 +0000 Russia-Georgia: International Federation of Journalists calls for an end to the "information war" International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) asked Georgia to stop censoring Russian-language press and has asked for all sides of the conflict in South Ossetia to inform the public through "free reporting", reported gipp.ru.

"The world needs to know what is happening and we appeal to both Russian and Georgian authorities to allow media to operate and journalists to work freely", said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary.

The IFJ showed also showed concern that Russian reporters might be too influenced by the Kremlin in their coverage of the events.

"Georgia claims to be a democratic country and Russia claims to respect international laws but in reality they seem to be paying lip service to these obligations. It is in the interest of peace, reconciliation and rights of both communities to let media work freely", the IFJ says.

Source: gipp.ru, IFJ

See also:
Russia: Novaya Gazeta accused of promoting hatred towards Georgians
Russia: Journalists urged to provide content that "proves" Georgian violence
Opinion: how Georgia outplayed the Russians in the PR war
Russia: reporting about Georgia is "propaganda" and "disinformation"
]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/russiageorgia_international_federation_o.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/russiageorgia_international_federation_o.php Multimedia Georgia press freedom Russia Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:47:48 +0000 UK: The London Paper announces revamp in early 2009 The London Paper expects to re-launch its site in early 2009, as a revamped version that will feature a variety of user-generated content "as part of a shift towards providing users with more interactive content" as well as restructured editorial material that is more efficient, reported NMA.co.uk.

The paper has content agreements with around 20 companies and has also prolonged a mobile service deal with messaging provider Sponge.

Its dating service Lovestruck, which persuades users to send a text message asking for a date, remains popular despite being inaccessible on the mobile reception-less subway, where most Londoners read the paper.  

For the time being, thelondonpaper.com has nearly 330,000 unique users per month, according to NMA.co.uk.

Source: NMA.co.uk

]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/uk_the_london_paper_announces_revamp_in.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/uk_the_london_paper_announces_revamp_in.php Multimedia newspapers online redesign UK Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:24:34 +0000 Allvoices.com launches paid citizen journalism project Allvoices.com announces the "Excellence in Citizen Media Initiative", a citizen journalism project running until February that will pay US$1,000 for articles that gather 100,000 page views over six months and US$100,000 for those that gather a million page views.

People had stories to tell, but there was no place for them to tell them," says the site's founder Amra Tareen.  "I really wanted to create a discussion around current news and events, a social networking community where anyone could report from anywhere in the world."

Allvoices.com will refrain from promoting political ideas itself and any of the opinions that show up on the site will "emerge organically", according to Portfolio.com.

Tareen mentions that once the website is "better" established the project may be re-launched.

Source: Portfolio.com ]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/allvoicescom_launches_paid_citizen_journ.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/allvoicescom_launches_paid_citizen_journ.php Multimedia Web 2.0 online online news user-generated content Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:34:07 +0000 Credibility-gauging news source NewsCred launches in beta NewsCred, a news aggregator site that ranks the credibility of online news stories, launches in a beta. The site lets users gauge a story, its author and the publication's credibility and then directs it towards an algorithm that decides the most "prominent headlines", according to Media Channel.

NewsCred was established following the increase in digital alternative news sources as well as a reaction to a study that found that less than a fifth of Americans believe what is written in news articles, reported Journalism.co.uk.



]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/credibilitygauging_news_source_newscred.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/credibilitygauging_news_source_newscred.php Multimedia launch news aggregator online online news Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:55:48 +0000 Cuba: Imprisoned journalists continue reporting
Journalists José Ubaldo Izquierdo Hernández and Miguel Galván Gutiérrez, who are currently jailed in Havana's Güanajay prison, managed to provide information about the exploitation of prisoners who are used as free labor at a shoe factory in Havana.

Articles making use of the information were published on CubaNet and PayoLibre, Miami-based online news outlets, even if they were not written by Hernández and Gutiérrez.

Both journalists were convicted in March 2003, as part of a "massive crackdown against the opposition and independent press", reported Maria Salazar on the Commitee to Protect Journalists Blog. 

Source: European Journalism Centre, Commitee to Protect Journalists

]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/cuba_imprisoned_journamists_continue_rep.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/cuba_imprisoned_journamists_continue_rep.php Multimedia Cuba journalists press freedom Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:21:32 +0000 Yahoo! announces that its Buzz Up service will feature more publishers Digg, Yahoo! announces that it developed its "Buzz Up" content recommendation service so that it features more publishers, who can now add the feature's button to their web sites and have users vote on articles.

If sites aren't equipped with the "Buzz Up" button then links to the content can be submitted through Yahoo!. "Buzz Up" allows for users to vote and to share content like videos, blog entries and news stories, similar to the way in which Digg works.

Yahoo! said it will have some editorial control over the articles, so as to avoid releasing content that is "lewd, violent, or capable of exposing the company to legal liability", reported Business Week.

The "social content voting" system of the Yahoo! service could help less popular sites get more visitors, writes the European Journalism Centre.

Since the service's launch in February, the number of publishers has quadrupled from 100 to 400, the main focus being the US. Outlets that have already signed up for the service include USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and Entertainment Weekly.

Source: European Journalism Centre, Business Week

]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/yahoo_announces_that_its_buzz_up_service.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/yahoo_announces_that_its_buzz_up_service.php Multimedia online tools social networks Yahoo Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:56:23 +0000 US: Google to offer blog headquarters for Democratic convention Google will set up a blog headquarters for bloggers who will be covering the Democratic convention in Denver next week, as well as for the Republican convention next month.

The move shows the development of new media, as Google competes with other well-established media outlets by providing users with the chance to use its YouTube site as well as other social media services in order to report on political events.

Around 500 bloggers paid US$ 100 to be able to access the "Big Tent" blogging facility, reports European Journalism Centre.

Source: European Journalism Centre

]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/us_google_to_offer_blog_headquarters_for.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/us_google_to_offer_blog_headquarters_for.php Multimedia blog Google multimedia US Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:37:37 +0000 UK: Birmingham Post to re-launch as business tabloid After its parent company Trinity Mirror opted for centalized production and a reduction in editorial staff, the Birmingham Post announces that it will re-launch itself as a Monday to Friday tabloid this autumn, putting more emphasis on business coverage as well as having a mobile site.

"Moving to a new format gives us the opportunity for the print version of the Post to follow the website in attracting a new generation of younger - but no less serious - business readers," said Mark Reeves, the Post's editor.

The latest ABC figures (July 2, 2007 to December 30, 2007) show that the paper has a circulation of 12,997 from Monday to Friday, out of which 3,841 copies are given away. The Saturday edition, which will no longer be published after the re-launch, sold 10,329 copies, 2,289 of which were given away.

Source: Press Gazette, ABC.org

]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2008/08/uk_birmingham_post_to_relaunch_as_busine.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2008/08/uk_birmingham_post_to_relaunch_as_busine.php Newsrooms and Journalism launch mobile newspapers Trinity Mirror UK Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:14:42 +0000 Russia: Novaya Gazeta accused of promoting hatred towards Georgians Federal Mass Media Inspection Service accused the St. Petersburg edition of Russian daily newspaper Novaya Gazeta of advocating hatred towards Georgians, warning the paper that it risks being shut down if it defies the media and extremism laws again.



]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2008/08/russia_novaya_gazeta_accused_of_promotin.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2008/08/russia_novaya_gazeta_accused_of_promotin.php Newspaper journalists Law lawsuit newspapers press freedom Russia Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:37:42 +0000 Olympics: NBC sees record rating across multimedia platforms, "stunned" by popularity of mobile coverage NBC reports "phenomenal" ratings for its multimedia coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, with Alan Wurtzel, research president for NBC Universal, saying the broadcaster has been "stunned" by the popularity of its mobile content.

235210_m05.jpgOn 8 August, 210,333 people accessed the NBC mobile service, but by Monday this had more than doubled to 476,062. "These Olympics are influencing how people are using new technology," Wurtzel said. "Half of the people viewing on mobile are using it for the first time. After the Olympics, it will be interesting if these habits become part of their behaviour."

NBC has been using a new measurement system to combine viewing figures across all media outlets.

The NBC website saw unique users increase from 4.2 million on 8 August, the first day of the games, to 7.8 million on Monday, August 11, when viewers wanted to replay Phelps' US swimming victory. NBC recorded 1.7 million downloads of the final 4x100 relay final.

Wurtzel said NBC had feared that online content would negatively impact its TV audience share, thereby hitting its most lucrative advertising. However, this has not been the case. NBC's research showed that just 0.2% of its audience used the web exclusively.

"The internet hardly cannibalises - it actually fuels interest," said Wurzel. He went on to say that half the online viewers were watching events they had missed and about 40% wanted to see replays.

Source: Guardian.co.uk

See also:

Media companies reporting the Olympics, Google launches online tool


]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/olympics_nbc_sees_record_rating_across_m.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/08/olympics_nbc_sees_record_rating_across_m.php Multimedia mobile technology multimedia Olympics research US Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:37:02 +0000