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Its all change at The Record of Bergen County, the New Jersey based newspaper is undergoing a redesign that will be launched this Sunday. The makeover will include more graphics, stronger headlines and quicker reads.

The change is aimed at making the paper more appealing to its time-pressed readers, and providing a more "reader-friendly format" according to Editor Frank Scandale.

From Sunday, there will be a new style front page with an "At a Glance" summary box featuring top stories of the day, as well as guides to top stories on the inside pages. The paper is launching a new beat on how shifting census trends effect economics and a faster-paced Business section. It will also include a baby boomer column and a social events pictorial in the Better Living section.

The Record of Bergen County is published by the North Jersey Media Group.

Source: CNBC

German publishing company Axel Springer set an objective for 2007: "steadfast expansion with a focus on the digital business", according to CEO Michael Doepfner. In 2008, the company is planning to further its advance towards digitalization by making acquisitions or establishing new online units.

The company's leap towards digital media might feature making acquisitions or establishing new units to expand sports coverage, job sites and regional contribution.

Source: FinanzNachrichten through IFRA Executive News Service

Human Rights Watch has released a guidebook for the estimated 25,000 journalists traveling for to China to cover the Olympic games. The "survival guide" covers reporters' risks and rights, human rights issues outside the arena, tips on dealing with censorship and the police, protecting Chinese contacts, and the "Great Firewall" of internet censorship.

In 2001, Wang Wei, vice president of the Beijing Olympics organizing committee, said, "We will give the media complete freedom to report when they come to China."

This commitment was central to Beijing's successful '08 Olympic bid, having failed to win the 2000 Summer Games; however, China remains the leading jailer of journalists and continues to censor the internet and retaliate against citizen sources critical of the government.

The guidebook is available as a free download here.

Source: New York Times' Olympic blog, Rings

UK journalists and photographers may be subject to police monitoring and restriction from covering public events, HoldtheFrontPage.co.uk reports.

According to Home Secretary Jaqui Smith, the Home Office has no guidelines on photography in public places, but "decisions may be made locally to restrict or monitor photography in reasonable circumstances."

"It is for the local Chief Constable to decide how his or her officers and employees should best balance the rights to freedom of the press, freedom of expression, and the need for public protection," Smith said.

National Union of Journalists General Secretary Jeremy Dear says the Home Office is not doing enough to clearly define the limits of monitoring and restriction.

"Whilst the government can say these are operational issues for the police," Dear said, "It should be made clear that the routine surveillance of journalists is unacceptable and an infringement of media freedom."

Source: HoldtheFrontPage.co.uk

Cholpon Orozobekova, editor of Bishkek-based De Facto newspaper announced last Tuesday that publication will stop until at least 20 August, due to harassment from the authorities. Over two weeks ago, the paper was accused of printing false information about the Kyrgyz Taxes and Duties Committee, CNW Group reported.

The 12 June issue featured a reader's letter complaining about corruption in the capital's tax department. Taalaibek Dalbaev, the head of the Kyrgyz Taxes and Duties Committee, promptly filed for libel and the persecutor's office took legal action against the paper.

The persecutor's office concluded that the letter was fake and a warrant was obtained to search the newspaper's office. The paper was searched twice, its financial assets and bank account frozen.

Last Tuesday, Nurlanbek Chakiev, a presidential spokesperson sais that the authorities do not plan to shut De Facto down. However, he mentioned that the paper defied professional ethics.

"The decision to bring a criminal prosecution against the newspaper instead of a civil suit, the freezing of its accounts, the threats received by its editor and the speed with which the judicial authorities acted are all disproportionate and suggest that real aim is to force De Facto to close," said Reporters Without Borders.

Various organizations have questioned the viability of press freedom in Kyrgystan and whether  the government permits independent media to function correctly, reported Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty.

Source: CNW Group through World News

Staff at leading German newspaper Berliner Zeitung have placed an advertisement in a rival publication seeking a new owner. Berliner Zeitung is owned by Mecom, a leading European newspaper and content company.

The advertisement appears to be a reaction to the announcement last week that a quarter (130) of the editorial staff at Berliner Zeitung will be made redundant.

In a recent interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel the Chief Executive of Mecom, David Montgomery, played down the problems that his company is having in Berlin.

Montgomery said that the issues have been caused by, "isolated rabble rousers who are trying to stop time". He went on to say that times have changed for newspapers.

Under the title, "Publish Wanted", the advertisement stated the journalists were looking for a "serious buyer who doesn't just produce a paper to make money".

The Berliner Zeitung's editor-in-chef Josef Depenbrock has been a controversial figure at the newspaper ever since Montgomery gave him the dual role of managing editor and editor-in-chief.

The paper's editorial department failed in an attempt to bring proceedings against Mecom and Josef Depenbrock on Wednesday. They argued that his dual role at the paper went against the paper's statutes. The case was thrown out of court.

Sources reported to MediaGuardian.co.uk that a strike by Berliner Zeitung is likely later in the month.

Mecom announced last week that it will cut up to 465 jobs at its Dutch regional business Wegener.

Source: Guardian

See also:

Netherlands: editors-in-chief complain to Mecom, concerned over editorial quality

Germany: Montgomery continues to incite anger at Berliner Zeitung

Though journalists and publishers' concerns over shrinking ad revenue are warranted, says the Guardian's Roy Greenslade, the future still belongs to journalists. Greenslade believes that economic hardship is not terminal - newspapers will adjust - but the mass media era, he says, "may well be over."

"We have to envisage a future with an entirely new business model based on smaller returns that will fund a small, high quality staff, probably serving niche markets," Greenslade writes.

Greenslade cites several studies confirming newspapers' difficult financial situations, but says journalists should approach the numbers with a dose of pragmatism.

"We have to admit to ourselves first that things will never be as they were in the last millennium," he writes.

Greenslade admits that any change in the newsroom will take time to adjust to. Journalists, however, shouldn't panic.

"The journalistic future does not belong to ailing publishing companies," he writes. "It belongs to us."

Source: The Guardian - Greenslade

Mark Potts, author of the Recovering Journalist blog, recently wrote about the ten changes he thinks newspapers need to make to thrive. What follows is an edited transcript of his post:

What would you do if you ran a newspaper?

Somebody asked me that question recently, and it made me pull together some of the thoughts I've had recently about the problems that newspapers are having and what they might do to pull out of their current spiral. This is hardly a complete list, but here's a 10-point prescription for ailing newspapers:

1. Make the Web the primary product.
Stop pasting the newspaper onto a screen. Reorganize the newsroom so that its work appears online as quickly as possible. ... And embrace the technology: news Web sites should be full of Web 2.0 goodness like interactive maps, social networking tools, RSS feeds, distribution to mobile devices, etc. Use the medium to its fullest.

2. Local, local, LOCAL!
There are a zillion places to get national and international news, in real time. But newspapers are virtually the only source of truly local news. ... Local news is the last unique franchise that newspapers own, and too many newspapers don't seem to understand this. ... (Why do you think local community newspapers are thriving when big metro dailies are shedding circulation?)

3. If it's widely available elsewhere, don't waste time re-creating it.
Does every newspaper really need its own movie critic? A TV critic? ... Book reviews? Stories from Washington that the AP already has? ... the answer is unequivocably no. Those resources are just wastd.

4. Zero-base the news operation.
Pretend you're starting from scratch. Look at everything that's in the paper and ask tough questions about whether it's still necessary in an age when readers have multiple sources of news and information.

5. Get the readers involved.
As Dan Gillmor has elegantly argued, the audience knows more than news people do. Much more. Tap that knowledge by encouraging reader participation in as many ways as possible: contributing news and information about their communities, sending in photos and videos, commenting on everything. This can't be a token effort, and you absolutely cannot be scared or controlling about it: let the readers get involved at every opportunity. It will greatly improve the product and increase readership.

6. Lose the editorial page.
Unsigned editorials are a relic of a bygone era when newspaper barons exerted power in their community... Here's a thought: Replace it with reader opinions!

7. Expand the advertising base.
In any market, there are thousands of small advertisers that would never consider advertising in the big local newspaper. It's too expensive and covers too broad an area. But those advertisers want to reach the same people the newspaper does. Find a way to make this happen: more focused zoning, cheaper ads, ad rep pay structures that encourage selling to smaller advertisers. This is another area where community papers are running rings around big dailies.

8. Rethink the classifieds.
Craigslist, Monster.com and countless other news competitors have decimated the newspaper classifieds business. ... Anybody who's used craigslist knows how much more effective it is than paid newspaper classifieds. Look hard at your classifieds ... Yes, that may include shifting most of the classifieds online and giving them away for free, in order to keep the critical mass of classifieds that makes them useful.

9. Find new ways to serve advertisers.
What newspapers offer advertisers--display ads, classifieds--really hasn't changed much in a century. Look for ways to change that. Get into the Yellow Pages directory business online. Aggressively offer contextual advertising. Use idle newspaper delivery resources to help local businesses with their delivery needs. Use subscription lists to help businesses find customer leads. Explore interactive advertising forms that go way beyond boring banner ads. Offer data services to help businesses manage their inventories or sell things online. It's not enough to simply sell space in the paper or on the Web site. Help advertisers make their businesses more successful.

10. Take chances. Innovate. Be fearless about trying things--and killing things.
...A wise editor once said to me, there's virtually no history of research and development in the newspaper business, which is odd considering that covering the news is a daily act of research and development. Let's face it: The single biggest innovation in print newspaper journalism in the past decade or so is...Sudoku. Newspapers can and must do better than that to survive.

Source: Recovering Journalist

Last Wednesday, an agreement was reached between management and union members bringing an end to the 15 month strike-lockout at Canadian newspaper Journal de Quebec. This labour conflict is the longest one to date within the Canadian francophone media, the Vancouver Sun reported.

The five-year agreement includes a 2.5% raise per year, a four-day work week with 37.5 hours and the return of the small ads divison to Quebec from Ottawa.

Source: The Vancouver Sun

A landmark judgement in the ongoing battle between Viacom and Google found in Viacom's favor on Wednesday. Google will now have to give Viacom the record of every video watched by YouTube users, its users' names and IP addresses. Google bought YouTube in 2006.

Viacom wants the data to try and prove that videos that are reproduced illegally are more popular than user-generated footage. This could increase Google's liability if found guilty of contributory infringement.

Google say that they are not liable, as they have complied with any requests to remove videos that infringe copyright. Google also argue that handing over the data is an invasion of privacy for its users.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation said that the ruling, "threatens to expose deeply private information." They go on to say that it is a direct violation of the Video Privacy Act.

Viacom filed suit in 2007 and are seeking $1bn in damages.

Source: European Journalism Centre