Results matching “new media for onlin”

The launch of Economia e Financas, an Angolan state-owned economics weekly newspaper that is published by Edições Novembro-EP, may indicate that there is a growing interest in the Angolan economy, according to Manuel Miguel de Carvalho "Wadijimbi", Deputy Minister of Social Communication, reports AllAfrica.com.

According to AllAfrica.com, the paper, launched last Tuesday, will "help publicise locally and abroad the advances in agriculture, industry, expansion of the country's electric network and other achievements."

Around 10 contributors as well as some contributors will be writing for the paper. The first issue of Economia e Financas (to be published on August 29 with 20,000 copies) will be released as a special edition that will be given out for free to invitees.

José Ribeiro, the Director General of Edições Novembro-EP, suggests that the amelioration of the design and contents of the publisher's titles are part of an initiative by the Social Communication Ministry.

In 2007, the only daily in Angola was redesigned in order "to adjust it to the modern standards of the world journalism", according to AllAfrica.com.

De Carvalho pointed out that the Social Communication Ministry is optimizing its media outlets and that the Angola Press Agency is advancing its information services by launching an online portal that will provide "privileged" and "reliable" information, writes AllAfrica.com.

Agostinho Chitata, director of the newly launched Economia e Financas, is urging sources to cooperate with the media.

Source: AllAfrica.com through World News

The biennial Pew Research Center has revealed in its report that Yahoo, MSN and CNN are the three most popular web news destinations.

Traditional media brands are still favoured, including the New Yorker, The Atlantic and the BBC, the Pew survey of 3,600 adults found. But only 47% watch TV news on an average day.

Users gave many of the leading mainstream media websites low credibility ratings. Only 6% said the Huffington Post was very highly credible and just 13% said the same of Google News, which aggregates news from mainstream news organisations.

The report presents a picture of a steady decline in the US newspaper industry, with the percentage of Americans who regularly read print titles falling from 58% in 1993 to 34% in 2008.

"For more than a decade, the audiences for most traditional news sources have steadily declined, as the number of people getting news online has surged," said the Pew report.

15% of Americans have a smart phone, such as an iPhone or a Blackberry. More than a third of the owners of these devices (37%) say they get news from their phones.

The report highlights the changing news audiences, describing 13% of the US public as "net newsers" - web users under 35 who read more political blogs than watch national news coverage, rely heavily on web-based news during the day and are interested in technology and technology news.

Net newsers are generally wealthy and 80% are graduates, making them a highly desirable demographic for advertisers.

The research also found that the proportion of young people in the US getting no daily news has increased from 25% in 1998 to 34%, with only 10% of people using social networking sites for their news.

Source: Guardian.co.uk and Pew Research Center

Even though the Internet is becoming increasingly popular as a news source as Americans move away from print newspapers, television is still the most popular news media.

Younger people prefer to get their news online whereas older people consult traditional news sources such as TV and papers, according to data from the Pew Research Center.

There is "a sizable group of more engaged, sophisticated and well-off people that uses both traditional and online sources to get its news" and that accounts for 23% of respondents who spend the most time with news, reported the European Journalism Centre (EJC).

Nearly half of those surveyed rely heavily on TV, being the "oldest" with an average age of 52 and "least affluent", with 43% of the group being unemployed, reported the EJC.

The group that is most dependent on online news outlets is the youngest, with an average age of 35, and the least numerous, accounting for 13% of respondents.

Source: European Journalism Centre

Social channels like Facebook, Digg, Flickr, Twitter and Youtube could help newspapers like the Chicago Tribune become "more approachable", according to The Huffington Post. After its entry into social media, the Tribune saw an instantaneous surge in traffic and an 8% growth in pageviews.

"Essentially, social media gives us a year-round, real-time focus group to monitor conversations and keep us in tune with what consumers are thinking," said Bill Adee, associate managing editor for innovation who also leads the Tribune's social media team

The Tribune came up with Colonel Tribune, a "web ambassador" whose purpose is to allow the social media team to "reach out and interact with online communities that congregate around similar interests", wrote the Post.

The Colonel was recently informed through Twitter about a bomb threat and building evacuation in Chicago's Daley Center. The paper's Metro writers looked into the story and it was soon published on the site. The story was then printed on the third page of the Metro section the next day.  

Source: The Huffington Post

See also:
Facebook: a modern tool for accessing news

Metropolitan newspapers in Australia saw their readership rise in the April to June quarter, according to Roy Morgan Research figures.

Of 33 newspapers and magazines surveyed in the Australian market, readership of 19 increased and 14 fell.

However, online readership of newspapers has slowed in Australia, and the circulation of most print editions has fallen in the April to June quarter.

The Age was among the newspapers bucking the overall trend. Its circulation has increased by 0.5% Monday to Friday to 208,000, by 0.2% on Saturdays to 301,500 and by 1.1% on Sundays to 227,500. The Monday to Friday circulation figure is the highest The Age has recorded since 1997, and the 227,500 figure registered for The Sunday Age is its highest since the newspaper was launched in 1989, according to the newspaper's owner, Fairfax Media.

The size of the market for newspapers has declined slightly in the past year. An average 20,216 fewer weekday copies were sold around the country in the latest quarter, 46,464 fewer copies sold on Saturdays and 66,501 fewer copies sold on Sundays.

Source: Journalism.co.uk and theage.com.au

A memo sent to the staff at the Philadelphia Inquirer explained that the paper should try to cover as much breaking news online as possible, especially if the content is something that readers can get elsewhere or "that benefits from the strengths of the Web", reported Poynter.org.

"Our goal is to publish our content in our products in a thoughtful way. Use our powerful Web site for its reach, immediacy, ability to connect readers with each other and ability to build deep packages," read the memo.

The paper's managing editor recently announced a new policy whereby articles are not to be published online before they have been published in print, a move that some called "backward".

The memo pointed out that the stories that should be put online include:

-Plenty of breaking news
-Competitive stories that other media outlets may be reporting on
-Stories/reviews that may help plan readers' weekends, such as movie or theatre reviews
-Reviews of events that may "end too late for the print editions", e.g. films, concerts, sports

The memo also mentioned that content that should appear simultaneously online and in print is:

-Columns that readers enjoy even if they may not contain breaking news
-Exclusive stories
-Feature stories that don't have a competitive need to be published online first

Source: Poynter Romenesko

See also:

US: Philadelphia Inquirer managing editor takes "backward step"?
US: Response to Philadelphia Inquirer's new online policy

Mike Leary, Philadephia Inquirer's managing editor, announced last week that the paper would be publishing certain stories online only after they have been published in print, apart from breaking news stories.

Even though the new policy provoked some criticism from Steve Outing and Jeff Jarvis, it is meant to be a strategic leap towards formulating "complementary differentiation between the roles of the print and online operations", according to Poynter.org's Amy Gahran.

Differentiating between print and online operations may be the key to helping papers that are in financial trouble. One of the strengths of print may be feature stories, whereas the Web's immediacy allows for a possibly better environment for breaking news coverage.

The move may be seen as restricting bloggers by limiting the stories they may work on, so as not to publish content that is in progress for the print edition.

However, Chris Krewson, the paper's executive editor for online/news mentioned that it is blogging that is the "easiest" method for breaking news coverage. In fact, he pointed out that there was a 700% increase in traffic on Philly.com blogs.

"There's no quicker way to break news than on a blog, and no better way for us to leverage our staffing advantage over other local media. In addition, beat reporters with blogs say the process has helped them cultivate and nurture sources," said Krewson.

Gahran wrote that eventhough it would be "nice" to have news organizations reporting on breaking news, enterprise and feature stories as well as interacting with the community, financial difficulties may not permit that.

Source: Poynter Romenesko

See also:
US: Philadelphia Inquirer managing editor takes "backward step"?

An interesting and growing market has opened up for newspapers with online editions in Africa: the expat reader looking for news about home from a familiar news source. The print version of newspapers remains paramount in Africa in terms of readership and revenue, but newspaper organizations are waking up to this new medium's potential.

When Kenya's Daily Nation launched its website a decade ago, it had a clear vision. The country's leading newspaper recognised that the 1.8 million Kenyans living abroad had little access to news from home, and that an online edition would have mass appeal to the increasing number of ex-pats who hungered for news. This is something that editors and publishers across Africa should bare in mind: the International Labour Organisation estimates there are some 7.1 million Africans living outside their home country. The number is rising rapidly and by 2025 could climb to one in ten, the IOM predicts.

The Editors Weblog spoke with the Daily Nation's managing editor of special projects, Macharia Gaitho, about his newspapers online edition and he said: "We wanted to extend the paper's audience beyond Kenya's geographic borders to deepen the paper's voice and authority, while also offering a service to the growing Kenyan diaspora." The website was launched formally in October 1998 with a dedicated team, following trials the previous year just before the Kenyan general election.

This service goes back to the very foundation of what newspapers are all about, they are not only providing a news service, they are also serving their communities, even the members of it who have moved away.

The fact that the online edition is very reflective of the print edition is a pull to the expat community who will immediately have the emotional response of recognition and thus feel "familiar" with the web version from their first visit, this familiarity will likely encourage return visitors. As one of the most trusted news organization on the African continent, it would already be a first port of call for expats looking for news from home, but with its easily navigable site, clear graphics, photographs, video footage and with a style that echoes the print version, they have cleverly tapped into the expat market.

Gaitho, who describes the Daily Nation website as the "recognized go-to place online for news on Kenya" said it was important that the web edition reflected the "Nation's look and feel."

The Daily Nation site has recently undergone a revamp and the new-look site achieved 50,000 unique visitors daily in its first week after the launch. The previous version averaged 80,000 unique visitors daily. Explaining this disparity in visitors, Gaitho said: "Because of faster download speeds and improved features, we project the new one will surpass 80k".
 
However, some news organisations in Kenya have been slow to see the potential of this new market and only have a web version as a nod to this evolving technology without fully engaging with the medium. Dr George Ogola at the University of Lancashire says that in Kenya, "The element of interactivity, the very essence of 'experiencing' news online remains unexploited." He believes that news organisations need to recognise that with the advent of online news, the relationship between the reader and the newspaper has been altered.

The appeal of ex-pat readers is therefore another attraction for African newspapers to consider when they lead the charge to online editions, not only for editors looking to boost their news organizations readership and to keep their media house relevant, but also to appeal to advertisers such as Western Union who wish to reach the expat audience. It is as a result now mandatory for any newspaper in Africa to have an online edition.

The Editors Weblog spoke to the Directeur de Publications at Le Jour in Cameroon, Haman Mana, about his thoughts on this issue. Recently launched newspaper Le Jour is a particularly interesting case, as they chose to launch the print and online version at the same time on the 17 September 2007. This decision underscores how online media is growing in importance in Africa, even though print still creates more revenue and attracts a larger readership. When I asked Mana about his thinking behind this decision, he said bluntly, "It is inconceivable for any Cameroonian newspaper that wants to be taken seriously not to have an online edition."



Mana agreed with Gaitho on how it is important that the online edition mirror the newspaper, saying, "The design was an important step for us, because we wanted to keep the spirit of the print edition." Mana reports that a significant portion of Le Jour's online readership is also made up of the Cameroon disapora. He also highlighted how having an online edition is simply good publicity for a newspapers brand, he said the web version has opened up a world of markets to Le Jour and, "it permits us to have a global presence and visibility."

It is therefore clear that the expat reader opens up a whole new market of readers and revenue to Africa's newspapers. For those organisations that are reticent about connecting with the web, they need to be aware they are ignoring a growing market waiting to be exploited. The African web news market is already jostling with competitors, so if they do not leap now, they could miss out completely.

Sources: AllAfrica.com, Business Daily, International Labour Organisation, Daily Nation, Le Jour

President Alexander Lukashenko has passed a new media law, despite accusations that it is restrictive. The new legislation means that the Council of Ministers in Belarus now control online media.

The Belarusian parliament pushed the bill through in three consecutive readings and passed it to the Constitutional Court for review. According to the local press, the court rubber stamped the bill in July and it became law on Monday, report the Committee to Protect Journalists.

News website Telegraf, report that presidential administration representative Natalya Petkevich said, "only Internet analogues of printed media will be regulated by the new law."

Apart from the controlling online media, the law requires "Belarusian and international journalists to seek individual accreditation from multiple state agencies.... It also obliges Belarusian media to seek re-registration from state authorities" says CPJ.

The Minister of Information also has full rights to suspend media outlets, the ministry and state prosecutors are allowed to shut down outlets permanently if they find their content inaccurate, defamatory, "not corresponding to reality," or "threatening the interests of the state or the public."

Source: Committee to Protest Journalists

Newspapers are losing ground in the online local market. According to Borrell statistics cited in a recent Wall Street Journal story, newspapers' share of the local online ad market fell from 35.9 percent to 27.4 percent in the last two years. Which means newspapers are missing out - not just on what they have lost in the last two years, but actually on a larger advertising market than the one they had, because local online advertising is growing rapidly, at a rate of 57 percent annually.

Mark Potts, of the Recovering Journalist blog, argues that news sites are missing out on the "Smaller advertisers - the pizza parlors, nail salons, mom-and-pop stores... there are lots of them, and other media are moving in - community papers, local Web sites and blogs, even Google, Yahoo and specialty sites like Yelp."

So how can news sites take the local advertising base back? Potts offers these suggestions (below follows an edited version of Potts' post. Get the full list here):

- Build a strong local product to attract local advertisers, for example the leading local entertainment guide

- Cut costs of ad sales as low as possible, and get rid of the high-commission sales rep. What about commission-only telemarketing reps smiling and dialing to blanket small local businesses.

- Make it as easy as possible for advertisers to come online, create, place and pay for an ad. That drives the cost of sales way down.

- Seminars for local businesses on online advertising. It's a medium that's new to many small business owners - educate them on the value of online advertising and how to take advantage of it.

- Banners and tiles aren't the only way to advertise online. Experiment. Use video. Real estate walkthroughs, chefs describing their restaurants-these videos seem obvious, but they're still few and far between on newspaper sites.

Source: Recovering Journalist

One of the ways which small newspaper sites may increase their online presence is by teaming up with Web hosting firms instead of hiring new people, according to Mark Van Patten, Bowling Green (Ky.) Daily News's general manager.

The Daily News recently partnered with TownNews.com, a content management system that provides the means for smaller newspapers to "own the internet", reported Media Shift.

"With TownNews.com, we are backed with a staff of designers and developers that would be totally unaffordable to us. Our readers expect teeny-weeny newspapers like ours to have the same features as the big news sites. TownNews.com gives us a shot," said Van Patten.

TownNews.com offers:

-The Job Network: to compete with employment sites
-YP (Yellow Pages) Engine: a directory to compete with telephone directories online
-The Port: a social networking component
-Ad Owl: placing and paying for classified ads online
-Wheels Lite: automotive inventory management system
-Real Estate Lite: real estate inventory management system
-SWAT: a person that comes into the market to build revenue

Source: Media Shift

UK news organisations are gearing up to cover the Olympics on a scale never seen before.

The Times

The Times will be road testing working with its News Corp sister titles around the world to keep Times Online running as a 24-hour news operation. Times Online has been running all night in recent weeks by handing over its out-of-hours operations to a newsroom in Australia.
The Times will have a team of 14 coververing the games. Times Online news editor Jeremy Griffin said: "It's only really in the last few years that the true benefits of having the online team working with the traditional newspaper team have really come to the fore and we want to exploit that this year." The Times will also be sharing multimedia resources with News.com.au, which has built a studio in Beijing's Olympic media centre, where Griffin will produce a daily video report.

The Guardian

The Guardian is sending the largest team it has ever sent to a sporting event with a 15 strong team covering all the events in Beijing. The integrated team will run an Olympics desk in Beijing. "Everyone is working for everything - that's where we're heading as a business, so this is a moment where we do it this way," said Guardian sports editor Ben Clissitt.

The Sun

The Sun Online will be sending a video journalist to the games and freelance video journalists as well.

Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph is sending 19 journaliss to the Olympics, including feature writers and specialists.

PA

PA is sending a team of 27 to Beijing, the largest the news agency has ever sent to a games.

Source: Press Gazette