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Date

Wed - 22.05.2013

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Editors Weblog

Employment

Pageviews determine some reporters' paychecks; will journalism suffer?

More publications are basing reporters’ and editors’ salaries on business metrics such as pageviews, unique visitors and ad sales — but what will that mean for journalism?

It’s not just journalism hatchlings giving this business model a try: Gawker, Forbes and Complex all tie reporters’ paychecks to web traffic, Josh Sternberg of Digiday reported.

Complex’s approach shatters the wall between advertising and editorial: Editors are paid a percentage of the company’s revenue. Their salaries also take into account their sections’ pageviews and social media action, according to Sternberg.

“You want editors understanding the business side and their pains, and vice versa,” Complex CEO Rich Antoniello told Sternberg. “We try to have everyone, not only aware, but have skin in as many games as absolutely possible. When people know the totality of the business and run in the same direction, it makes it more effective.”

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Kira Witkin's picture

Kira Witkin

Date

2013-04-11 15:44

Digital migration prompts further redundancies at major British newspapers

The Telegraph’s previously-announced layoffs have begun, adding the newspaper to a list of British news organizations calling for voluntary redundancies. As Sunday and weekday operations merge and titles look to become truly 24-hour news operations, editorial staffs are also being slashed at The Guardian, The Independent and Financial Times.

The Telegraph

Earlier this month The Telegraph announced intentions to cut 80 positions as the newspaper moved to share resources with its Sunday operation, The Guardian reported. These layoffs signify a 14 percent reduction in staff, which previously consisted of 550 editorial workers. The redundancies will be met with 50 new “digitally-focused” jobs, resulting in a net loss of about 5 percent. Most of the job losses will come from The Sunday Telegraph rather than the weekday operation.

Chief Executive Murdoch MacLennan said the merger shows the newspaper’s digital-first ambitions, solidified with an £8 million investment “to complete our transition to a digital business,” according to The Guardian.

The Independent

In February Managing Director Andrew Mullins declared the Levedev titles’ intentions “to become one of the very first truly integrated multimedia companies, publishing continuously on print, TV and other digital platforms.” He said that its soon-to-be-launched local TV channel London Live will share journalistic resources with other titles, according to MediaGuardian.

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Kira Witkin's picture

Kira Witkin

Date

2013-03-26 14:06

France prepares for a day without newspapers

Croissant crumbs will have to fall on tablet screens and day-old broadsheets at zinc counters throughout France tomorrow, if plans for a national "day without newspapers" are carried out.

The Federation of Workers in the Book, Paper and Communication Industries (Filipac CGT) has called for a halt in the publication of France’s national, regional and local dailies on July 5, 2012, to protest against lay-offs that have been rocking the news sector in France, as in the rest of the world.

In a statement, the organization asserted that social rupture and the dismantling of titles was under way. It demanded a moratorium on all redundancies, and for the government to intervene, according to Le Monde.

The statement also presented a “non-exhaustive” list of lay-offs that have been carried out or envisaged “by the management of the daily press,” including 670 at Hersant’s titles, 116 at the Ebra group and 1,000 at distribution company Presstalis, as well as the removal of positions at prominent dailies such as Le Figaro and Les Echos.

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Emma Knight's picture

Emma Knight

Date

2012-07-04 18:35

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Editors Weblog

The World Editors Forum is the organization within the World Association of Newspapers devoted to newspaper editors worldwide. The Editors Weblog (www.editorsweblog.org), launched in January 2004, is a WEF initiative designed to facilitate the diffusion of information relevant to newspapers and their editors.

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