http://www.editorsweblog.org/ en Copyright 2009 Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:39:03 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Lord Drayson, has praised the high standard of reporting in this field.

The reporting of public health issues by mainstream publications has come under heavy criticism for its inflammatory tone and exaggerated content. The recent coverage of the swine flu outbreak, a pertinent example, has been interpreted as unnecessarily alarming. Yet, speaking at the World Conference of Science Journalists in London yesterday, Drayson came out in defence of the work of science and health reporters. He rejected claims that the reporting of stories such as swine flu amounted to no more than hysterical headlines, but rather,  it provides an essential public service. Journalistic coverage of disease and health risks helps people make educated decisions by bridging a gap between science and the public, Drayson argued.  

]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/07/uk_minister_praises_standards_of_health.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/07/uk_minister_praises_standards_of_health.php Newspaper ethics Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:39:03 +0000 Press Gazette has compiled the top 50 best scoops in UK journalism from 1922 to 1995. The original impetus for the list was the Daily Telegraph's stunning work covering the MPs' expense reports, and draws from suggestions by Press Gazette readers.

Unfortunately, the complete rankings are only available to subscribers, but editor Dominic Ponsford has put together his personal top five, in chronological order:
]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/07/press_gazette_names_the_best_scoops_in_b.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/07/press_gazette_names_the_best_scoops_in_b.php Newspaper awards investigative journalism Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:31:16 +0000 a tax break for newspapers in Washington state went into effect, giving print publications a 40 percent reduction in the state business tax. One lawmaker stressed the tax cut was "not a bailout." It is interesting to note Washington already offered equal exemptions to the aerospace and timber industries, both of which are critical to the state's economy.

In a year which saw the Seattle Post-Intelligencer make the move to online-only and the Seattle Times cut 500 staff members, many publications will welcome any relief they can get. However, others wonder whether the measure will be enough to revive struggling papers and what such aid means for the publications' journalistic independence.
]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/07/us_washington_state_ushers_in_tax_breaks.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/07/us_washington_state_ushers_in_tax_breaks.php Newspaper Future of journalism newspapers and democracy Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:05:19 +0000 Local and regional newspapers will have the opportunity to further develop the visual content on their online editions, with use of a new multimedia wire service. Tradeclips.com, which launched this week, aims to facilitate the streaming and sharing of online video content between news providers subscribing to the reasonably priced service.  

The service will offer free uploads and downloads of video, audio and still files, for which storage is offered at a fee. Registered users will also have access to a sizeable trove of archived multimedia footage.

]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2009/07/new_wire_service_tradeclips_will_enable.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2009/07/new_wire_service_tradeclips_will_enable.php Multimedia innovation multimedia Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:05:15 +0000 The British tabloid, the Daily Mirror has confirmed that it will launch its own stand-alone football website. Mirrorfootball.com will be up and running for the start of the next football season in August.  

Fans of the beautiful game can expect to enjoy a wealth of information and entertainment offered by the site.  As described by the Guardian when the news of the site broke last month, it looks set to offer a predominately visual, up-to date experience of football scene. Video and audio applications will convey live match reports and press conference broadcasts.  A new 'Football Spy" application will present a daily football agenda programme, match previews and reports and transfer talks.  

]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2009/07/ukdaily_mirror_confirms_launch_of_stand-.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2009/07/ukdaily_mirror_confirms_launch_of_stand-.php Multimedia online-only Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:45:09 +0000 The Economist magazine is refashioning its image through a major new advertising campaign to appeal to a wider readership. It has launched a cinema commercial, its first in eight years, to dispel preconceived ideas about the magazine's content and ethos.  

The commercial is part of a repackaging drive to boost circulation in the magazine's birthplace, the UK, and to emulate the popularity that it enjoys in the US.  The campaign calls upon the "intellectually curious" rather than any specified demographic to "let your mind wander".
]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2009/07/the_economist_calls_on_a_new_type_of_tar.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2009/07/the_economist_calls_on_a_new_type_of_tar.php Newsrooms and Journalism advertising circulation Kindle magazine Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:45:12 +0000 The Washington Post has decided to cancel its plans to host private, off-the-record dinner parties for political lobbyists at the home of its publisher after criticism from the newsroom at the suggestion that their services were effectively been sold. Publisher Katharine Weymouth was to host dinners that would give paying lobbyists and business leaders access to officials from the Obama administration and Congress, as well as Post journalists.

Politico first reported the story yesterday after obtaining a flier promoting the events that had been given to a healthcare lobbyist. The flier was entitled "Underwriting Opportunity: An evening with the right people can alter the debate" and advertised events with a maximum of 20 guests to discuss major White House policy initiatives, which participating firms could co-sponsor for $25,000 per event, with up to two sponsors per session. There was also an offer for 11 for the price of 10. The theme of the first July dinner was to be health care reform, and WaPo guaranteed the attendance of Obama administration officials and members of Congress as well as reporters.
]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/07/wapos_controversial_dinner_plans_cancell.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/07/wapos_controversial_dinner_plans_cancell.php Newspaper editorial direction ethics Washington Post Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:14:11 +0000 One of the latest products to appear on the market for newspaper publishers looking to improve their revenue is Circulate, from new start-up CircLabs. The Editors Weblog spoke to co-founder and executive vice president Martin Langeveld, former newspaper editor and executive who now also writes for Nieman Journalism Lab, about the project.

The CircLabs team decided to look for a user-centric solution to monetise online content through improving the user news experience, as opposed to what Langeveld sees as publisher-centric solutions that focus on how to charge users for content. Charging users for content could indeed be incorporated into Circulate, but he does not see it as the main source of revenue. Rather, what Circulate hopes to do is essentially make it easier for people to find the news they are interested in, hence encouraging them to read more and therefore increasing traffic to and engagement time on newspaper websites, offering greater advertising opportunities.

The Circulate concept evolved out of research carried out by Bill Densmore at the Reynolds Institute of the University of Missouri into a project he called the Information Valet. This, Langeveld explained, is a more "comprehensive and very complex system" and Circulate hopes to be a starting point for something similar. The founding CircLabs team consists of four: Langeveld and Densmore plus Jeff Vander Clute and Joe Bergeron. The University of Missouri offered initial funding and Langeveld is confident that the company will soon announce its first round of seed funding, which would include investment from the industry and private investors as well as from the university.

What Circulate actually is

As the consumer will see it, Circulate will consist of a narrow strip that will appear within the user's browser window that will be branded and recommend journalistic content throughout the user's time online. The bar will be along the top of the window and generally narrow enough to include one line of type, though would have the ability to expand when necessary. A small programme must be downloaded to install the strip, but a user can log in to their account on any computer that has the programme. There will also be a destination URL that users can access on computers on which they cannot download the software, and the team plans to develop applications for smartphones, and offer email alerts.

When the user installs it, it will ask them some questions about them and about their interests and preferences. The user is not obliged to enter any information, but the more that they do, "the better Circulate can bring content to you," Langeveld explained. He added that his team understands how important privacy is to consumers and stressed that Circulate will be very clear with regards to the amount of information it stores about its users and will give them an easy option to access or delete this.  "It won't just be buried in one of those user agreements that everybody just clicks through," Langeveld clarified.

The programme will also track your movements online and make recommendations for content based on these and the information you provide. Article suggestions will appear as links in the Circulate strip, and it might expand to offer the user three or so recommendations on a specific topic, or to ask or answer a user's question. As the technology develops, it will be able to gather new applications, so additional icons might appear on the bar that could offer a user access to their Twitter feed, for example.

A home base for users

Users will sign up for and download Circulate via a 'home base' which is likely to be their local newspaper. The Circulate strip will be branded according to the home base, so this newspaper brand will 'travel' with the user throughout their online experience. The user would be free to change their home base at will. Eventually the local newspaper, as a Circulate partner, would be able to sell advertising and do other kinds of marketing and promotion through the strip.

How it can make money for publishers

Although Langeveld does not believe that revenue from charging users will be "more than the smallest fraction of the total potential of Circulate," it will be possible to do that within the Circulate framework. If newspapers decide that they do have premium content which is unique and valuable enough that people are willing to pay for it, Circulate will facilitate this through a universal subscription to all multiple papers' premium content, or on a per item basis.

However, as stated above, Circulate's main aim is to increase traffic to newspaper websites. Langeveld pointed out that his team's research shows that in the US, web users spend only about 1.2% of their time online on newspaper websites, and traffic to newspaper sites accounts for only 1% of page views. "That really is the challenge for newspapers, to increase that percentage," said Langeveld. And Circulate hopes to do this by "constantly recommending journalistic content from newspapers and other news outlets the other 99% of that time."

The possibility for the papers acting as homebases to brand the strip also "has value" for local papers, according to Langeveld, as it means that their brand travels round the web with the user whenever they are online, thus constantly reminding them of their relationship with the paper. Circulate also intends eventually to include advertising on the bar itself, although the format has not yet been developed. Langeveld believes that there are opportunities for both national and local advertising. There would be the possibility to target users and therefore create more value, and participating papers could sell space to local businesses. He sees this as a good selling opportunity: "now you can reach our readers all the time when they're online rather than just the one or two percent that they're on our site."

Will it work?

Software development has already started and the Associated Press has agreed to allow Circulate access to its content. Langeveld confirmed that the company is planning a beta rollout with a group of newspapers and users in autumn. Could it be the solution that newspapers have been waiting for?

Many publishers seem to be concretely moving towards charging online, and others seem to be contemplating it as a solution to their financial difficulties and in an attempt to restore value to news and prevent it from becoming a commodity. The fact that Circulate would be able to incorporate this is thus a point in its favour. When asked if it could be compatible with Journalism Online, a start-up aiming to facilitate charging for content that has reportedly been in talks with many publishers, Langeveld said that it is something that his team has not explored, but that it was "certainly possible."

Increasing engagement time does indeed seem to make sense, although in terms of monetising it means that newspapers are still dependent on the advertising market. It is clearly something that newspapers should be working on themselves or through companies like Apture that try to keep readers on news sites through multimedia enhancements, but it does seem that Circulate can help in actually getting readers onto a site. Persuading readers to sign up could be tough, most likely requiring an aggressive marketing strategy, and the CircLabs team is wise to anticipate privacy concerns. Assuming that users do sign up, it is hard to say how many people will click through links and how often, but it seems as if it could well contribute to an increase in traffic. 
]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/analysis/2009/07/circulate_a_user-centric_solution_to_hel.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/analysis/2009/07/circulate_a_user-centric_solution_to_hel.php Analysis innovation paid online content Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:31:25 +0000 In a bizarre new venture, the Washington Post had promised lobbyists a chance for off-the-record meetings with policy makers and newsroom staff for the price of a $25,000 sponsorship, according to a flier shown to Politico by a health care lobbyist. These "Washington Post Salons" would consist of dinners at the home of WaPo CEO and publisher Katharine Weymouth.

A WaPo spokeperson has responded to Politico, stating, "As written, the newsroom could not participate in an event like this." Apparently the event planning division of the company sent out the flier advertising reporters' participation without first alerting the newsroom.

Politico also obtained a copy of an internal memo sent by Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli, reaffirming that staff members would not be taking part in the events as "Our independence from advertisers or sponsors is inviolable."
]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/07/washington_post_offers_up_politicians_an.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/07/washington_post_offers_up_politicians_an.php Newspaper ethics Washington Post Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:41:02 +0000 The Printcasting model is on its way to "democratise" print publishing in more cities in the US, it was announced last week. The initiative, financed by the winnings of the 2008 Knight News Challenge, has made its first newspaper partnership with Denver-based MediaNews Group. The publishing group controls 54 daily newspapers in 11 states, including The Denver Post and San Jose Mercury News.

The project originated out of the newspaper, the Bakersfield Californian and first went public in March to cater for the town of Bakersfield, California.

]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/07/printcasting_to_democratise_print_in_mor.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/07/printcasting_to_democratise_print_in_mor.php Newspaper innovation user-generated content Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:23:13 +0000 A new initiative by Associated Northcliffe Digital aimed at small towns in the southwest will introduce 50 hyperlocal sites where community members can write and upload content. The sites are targeted at towns with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants who don't yet have an online news portal to call their own.

Twenty-three of the sites have already launched, including those for Bideford and Redland, while the rest will be up and running by the end of the summer.
]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/web_20/2009/07/uk_50_hyperlocal_citizen_journalism_site.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/web_20/2009/07/uk_50_hyperlocal_citizen_journalism_site.php Web 2.0 citizen journalism hyperlocal Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:17:16 +0000 Russian news agency, RIA Novosti, is investing in training programmes to improve staff skills as an anti-crisis measure, it was announced in a press release.  

In January and June of this year, the news agency ran a series of lectures and seminars to train staff in multimedia technology for video recording and photo imaging, infographics, Internet search engines, "black PR" and legal risks in the media. The training culminated in two-week multimedia courses held at a summer school in the Moscow region. The classes, which started on June 20, are being held in the form of business games. "While the agency like anyone else is affected by the negative consequences of the economic crisis, we cannot allow ourselves not to invest funds in improving the skills of our staff," RIA Novosti Editor-in-Chief Svetlana Mironyuk said.

]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2009/07/ria_novosti_ria_novosti_says_improving_t.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2009/07/ria_novosti_ria_novosti_says_improving_t.php Newsrooms and Journalism training Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:35:36 +0000
WANTED Technologies, a site specialized in measuring hiring trends, reports that Los Angeles is by far the most lucrative locality for job-hunting journalists with a total number close to 2,000 who secured jobs in May.  Atlanta and Dallas tied for second place as the safest bets for media related work. Both cities boast 700 sealed deals, with Atlanta's score for supply and demand being slightly higher than in Dallas.]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2009/07/aspiring_reporters_and_correspondents_sh.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2009/07/aspiring_reporters_and_correspondents_sh.php Newsrooms and Journalism job cuts Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:30:38 +0000 The Internet was responsible for Barack Obama's election to the White House, Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post claims. Although this statement will inevitably incite dissenting views, in the context of Huffington's talk on the power of the Internet it does not seem wholly unreasonable. Huffington was speaking at the Activate Conference 09, convened to discuss the social implications of the rise of the Internet and technology.  

The conference reiterated discussions of technological and cultural trends, which are conditioning not only how news needs to be presented, but how these new forms of diffusion can directly affect politics and society.
]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2009/07/activate_conference_09_the_internet_has.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2009/07/activate_conference_09_the_internet_has.php Multimedia citizen journalism Huffington Post Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:35:20 +0000 Investigative News Network, following a three-day conference at the Pocantico Conference Center in New York. Its mission is to aid the work and public reach of its members, and to foster the "highest quality investigative journalism" to hold those in power accountable.

The Pocantico Declaration anticipates an increase in the number of investigative news publishers, and hence seeks to establish "basic shared goals and news values." It identifies several different forms of potential collaboration. Firstly, editorial: meaning that nonprofits could carry out joint accountability projects. Secondly, administrative: organisations could exchange information about organisational functions and even possibly centralise some of these. Thirdly, financial, which could consist either of just sharing information and jointly fundraising, or even of "pioneering new economic models to help to monetize the shared, combined content of the member organizations, in order to achieve a more sustainable journalism.
]]> http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2009/07/investigative_news_network_formed_by_non.php http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2009/07/investigative_news_network_formed_by_non.php Newsrooms and Journalism investigative journalism non-profit Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:31:54 +0000