2009 might well be remembered as a year of cutbacks and closures, but also a year when newspapers started to fight back, make changes and began to reassess unsatisfactory aspects of their business models. The world of journalism has indeed suffered some sad losses but there has also been much innovative thinking and progress in the way that news is gathered, reported and presented. Here are a few of the top trends that the Editors Weblog has noted this year.
Cuts, cuts, cuts: what are the consequences?
And even those whose survival is assured have been cutting staff - the
New York Times just lost 100 newsroom staff - or closing bureaux - the
Washington Post now has no domestic bureaux outside the capital. Others have cut down on international reporting. Newspapers have got thinner, some losing sections or even cutting printing days.
Start-ups can help to fill the gaps in reporting, but without proper funding they too will languish. It is essential that outlets must focus on efficiencies and how to make the best of their resources, and endeavour not to sacrifice quality.
To charge or not to charge (online)?
Murdoch, undoubtedly one of paid online content's most vocal supporters, is insistent that news is a valuable product and should not just be given away. This might seem hard to argue with, but some publishers are resolute that charging online is not the answer to solving financial difficulties, and remain committed to high traffic and other schemes such as highly targeted advertising to sustain cash flow. The Guardian, for example, is one of these. A multitude of surveys carried out have suggested that, unsurprisingly,
charging online will not be too popular among consumers.
Will Murdoch fulfil his promises? Could charging online be the norm by the end of 2010? And what has happened to Journalism Online: will 'bundled' charging be an option?
The TWITTER explosion
By now, the idea of a journalist not using
Twitter is verging on inconceivable. After
CNN and
Ashton Kutcher first crossed the one million followers mark in April in a highly-publicised battle, multi-million follower accounts are now not uncommon.
HYPERLOCAL: just hype or the future for news?
The ubiquity of free online news has, quite understandably, led news outlets to contemplate what they can offer that is unique, and going very very local has appealed to many, particularly as regional papers have been suffering particularly badly and hyperlocal news has potential to offer highly-targeted local advertising.
One noteworthy initiative is the
Futuroom/Nase adresa project launched by PPF Media in the Czech Republic (
disclosure: the World Editors Forum has been involved in the project in the role of consultant) which has taken news reporting directly into the community and constructed an unusual alternative revenue stream. 'News cafes,' which place the newsroom in a cafe in the centre of town, are at the centre of PPF's strategy: these both provide income (enough to cover overheads) and offer the public direct access to journalists, allowing the newsroom
to become a real part of the community. Led from the Futuroom base in Prague,
Nasa adresa weeklies and websites are produced, and it seems as if the papers are selling.
It is too early to say whether the project, launched in June, represents a solution that could be used more widely, but looks it promising. Hyperlocal undoubtedly has potential, but an innovative business model needs to be found.
i for innovation
The paper has willingly abandoned traditional topic sections to allow more freedom of coverage, and focuses on opinion and daily in-depth analysis on key issues, taking into account the fact that its readers are likely to already be well-informed via other platforms.
New ideas and experimentation are encouraged, and enthusiasm is high. And, the paper does not put all its print content online: the website aims to be kind of a social news portal rather than a digital reproduction of the news in the paper.
As a new paper, it has been easier for i to break the mould, but are there useful lessons that established newspapers could learn from what i is doing differently?
Does a nonprofit business model have a significant place in the media landscape?
Whether or not going nonprofit is an option for newspapers is a question that has been discussed at length by media commentators and
even by the US Senate. The main advantage: protection from market forces, the main disadvantage: no freedom to endorse political candidates. And, of course, there is the challenge of finding a rich enough donor.
The idea that an entire newspaper could be funded by a foundation seems unlikely, but investigative public interest journalism has been relatively successful at attracting nonprofit support.
All these launches are good news for news in these areas, but are they sustainable? It has been argued that the nonprofit concept is merely propping up a flawed business model and limiting potential innovation. Time will tell which are successful.
Is there money in mobile?
Smart phones are becoming more and more common and could start to become the norm in 2010. Many news applications that enable a better reading experience have been built for
Apple's iPhone, and some for
Google's Android operating system - those created by the
New York Times, the
Guardian, and the
Associated Press seem to be generally considered to be among the best. The Guardian's paid for app
sold more than 9000 in its first two days.
But can they actually be a significant stream of revenue?
Many are free, and those like the Guardian's which have a one-off download fee
(something consumers are likely to be willing to pay for?) might be able to recoup the costs of development with this income, but it does not constitute regular revenue. Advertising is limited so far - there is not much space on the small screen, for a start. Briefly covering the whole screen seems to be the preferred method of some papers on the iPhone:
Le Monde's app opens with a full-page ad, for example.
It is possible to make content available via subscription. The Financial Times iPhone app only allows full access to online subscribers, and the Wall Street Journal has implemented a specific application subscription charge: $1.50 per week.
Will more do this? Can consumers be persuaded to pay on their phones for what they can get free online?
E-readers: not all they promised, but could that change in 2010?
Google: friend or foe?
Conflict over copyright reached new heights this year. Attacks on Google and other 'copyright thieves' who have built a business model off newspaper content have come from many corners: with News Corp
leading the fight in the US but
Spanish and
German publishers too. Google consistently responds that it is fact a friend to publishers, citing the 1 billion clicks that it sends to news websites each month via Google News, and pointing out that publishers can easily opt-out of Google's indexing. Publishers retort that Google's current quasi-monopoly on search would make that difficult.
Cooperation
One of the consequences of extreme financial difficulties has been unexpected cooperation between former rivals: it has become harder and less desirable to stand entirely alone. A few examples:
Between different platforms: at many papers, print and web are competing no longer, but are part of the one team. The
Washington Post is the latest major paper
to undergo integration.
For a list of top publishing strategies for 2010 please see our sister publication www.sfnblog.com
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2010/02/study_looks_into_what_news_articles_peop.php&bodytext=<form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="5682" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/whoemails.gif"><img alt="whoemails.gif" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/02/whoemails-thumb-200x258-5682.gif" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="258" width="200" /></a></form>Researchers at the <b>University of Pennsylvania</b> have extensively studied The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/"><i>New York Times</i></a> list of most e-mailed articles, checking every 15 minutes for more than six months, analyzing the content of thousands of articles, and controlling for factors like the placement in the paper or on the Web home page, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/science/09tier.html?ref=media">The New York Times reports</a>.<br /><br />Results from the study show that NYTimes readers have exalted tastes - seeking to inspire awe in their friends, colleagues, and family by choosing to e-mail positive articles over negative ones, and long, intellectually challenging articles over short and shocking ones. <br />&title=Study looks into what news articles you share and why ){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2010/02/smartphone_sales_soar_in_2009.php&bodytext=<form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="5666" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/smartphones09.jpg"><img alt="smartphones09.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/02/smartphones09-thumb-200x140-5666.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="140" width="200" /></a></form>Vendors shipped a record 54.5 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2009, 39% more than the 39.2 million shipped in the same quarter in 2008, <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/188610/smartphone_sales_score_record.html">according to <b>IDC</b> information on <i>PC World</i></a>. <br /><br />Four of the top five smartphone sellers beat their shipments records for a single quarter, according to numbers released by the <a href="http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS22196610">International Data Corporation (IDC)</a>. Following a 98% increase in smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2008, <b>Apple</b> has regained its spot as third largest smartphone vendor, behind longtime leaders <b>Nokia</b> and <b>Research in Motion</b> &title=Smartphone sales soar in 2009){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2010/02/german_news_websites_put_up_paywalls.php&bodytext= <form mt:asset-id="5651" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/logo_berlinermorgenpost.gif"><img alt="logo_berlinermorgenpost.gif" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/02/logo_berlinermorgenpost-thumb-200x30-5651.gif" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="30" width="200" /></a></form>German publisher <b>Axel Springer</b> has made good on its promises and put up online paywalls for two of its German newspapers, <a href="http://paidcontent.org/article/419-axel-springer-adds-paywalls-to-two-major-newspaper-sites/"><i>Paid Content</i> reports</a>.
<br /><br />Two of its newspapers, the <i>Berliner Morgenpost</i> and the <i>Hamburger Abendblatt</i>, are now charging for online content. It now costs €4.95 a month for access to all content on <i>morgenpost.de</i>. By contrast, <i>abendblatt.de</i> has a mixture of free and premium content, with a premium subscription priced at €7.95 a month. It appears to charge extra for content specific to the Hamburg region while providing national news for free. Subscriptions for both sites are renewed on a monthly basis.
<br /><iframe frameborder="0" name="mashlogic" style="border: 0pt none ; margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt; overflow: hidden; display: none; z-index: 9999; position: absolute; top: auto; right: auto; bottom: auto; left: auto;" id="mashlogic" src="about:blank"></iframe>&title=German news websites put up paywalls: <i>Morgenpost</i> and <i>Abendblatt</i>){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/web_20/2010/02/icurrent_can_personalised_news_save_news.php&bodytext= <form mt:asset-id="5598" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/iCurrent.png"><img alt="iCurrent.png" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/02/iCurrent-thumb-200x132-5598.png" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="132" width="200" /></a></form>The <b>iPad</b> isn't the key to monetising news online, <a href="http://steveouting.com/2010/01/28/personalized-news-and-why-the-ipad-is-no-savior/">opines journalist and consultant <b>Steve Outing</b> in a new post on his blog</a>, but personalisation might be.
<br /><br />He suggests that he will be no more likely to pay to read news websites on the iPad than on his computer. Since he reads many different news sources, he finds that there is too much news to pay for all of it, and highlights the importance of personalisation beyond<b> iGoogle</b> or Twitter feeds amid all this choice.
<br /><br />In this context, he compares the personalised web news service <a href="http://www.icurrent.com/"><i>iCurrent</i></a>, still in beta, to the personalised music service <i>Pandora</i>, which offers similar music to songs and artists that the user already likes. It learns more about what users enjoy as they click thumbs-up or thumbs-down on different songs.
<br />&title=<i>iCurrent</i>: Can personalised news help newspapers? ){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2010/02/yahoo_and_ap_reach_licensing_agreement.php&bodytext=<form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="5215" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/AssociatedPressLogo-large.jpg"><img alt="AssociatedPressLogo-large.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/01/AssociatedPressLogo-large-thumb-200x40-5215.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="40" width="200" /></a></form> The <b>Associated Press </b>(AP) and <b>Yahoo</b> have renewed an agreement for AP stories, photos and videos to appear on the Yahoo website, it was widely reported. This is in contrast to the AP's negotiations with <b>Google</b> and <b>Microsoft</b>, which have not yet concluded. <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2010/01/ap_content_no_longer_hosted_on_google_ne.php">New AP content has not been hosted on Google News</a> since December 24.
<br /><br />Neither party has offered details of the agreement, so it is unclear whether they have achieved their financial objectives. The deal had previously been expected to set a higher price for AP's stories and impose tighter restrictions on them.
<br /><br /><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2010/01/ap_and_yahoo_close_to_reaching_deal_on_c.php">The AP has previously argued</a> that agreements providing relatively inexpensive access to a broad range of its content only devalue its news offerings. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/business/media/02yahoo.html">The New York Times reported </a>that the AP was asking news websites for more money, but that aggregators have been arguing that news content is less valuable than it used to be because advertising is down.<a href="http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/188290/ap_renews_licensing_deal_with_yahoo_not_yet_with_google.html"></a><br />
&title=<b>Yahoo</b> and <b>AP</b> reach licensing agreement ){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2010/01/mirrorcouk_blocks_aggregator_newsnow.php&bodytext= <form mt:asset-id="5498" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newmirror.jpg"><img alt="newmirror.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/01/newmirror-thumb-175x89-5498.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="89" width="175" /></a></form><i>Mirror.co.uk</i> has this week followed the lead of <b>News International</b> and blocked its content from online news aggregator <b>NewsNow</b>, <a href="http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-mirror.co.uk-follows-news-int.-in-blocking-newsnow/"><i>paidContent</i> reported</a>. NewsNow is now the only site blocked from crawling the Mirror online.
<br /><br />"We're not big fans of their business model," Mirror.co.uk digital director <b>Matt Kelly</b> said.
<a href="http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/wire/6068"></a><br />&title=<i>Mirror.co.uk</i> blocks aggregator <i>NewsNow</i>){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2010/01/afp_launches_paid_iphone_app.php&bodytext=<form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="5373" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/afp%20logo.png"><img alt="afp logo.png" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/01/afp%20logo-thumb-200x40-5373.png" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="40" width="200" /></a></form>Amid <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/analysis/2009/12/the_year_in_newspapers_trends_to_follow.php">all the buzz</a> about the potential to make money from mobile news, news agency <b>Agence France-Presse</b> (AFP) has become the latest news organisation to launch an iPhone app.<br /><br />The application also works on the iPod Touch and costs $1.99 from the Apple store.<br /><br />"It gives access to the global news agency's multimedia content in English, Spanish, Portuguese and German, including breaking world news from wars and conflicts to politics, sport and entertainment, as well as the latest major developments in health, science and technology," AFP said in a statement.<a href="http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2010/01/07/750483-Gratuit-telechargez-l-application-de-La-Depeche-sur-votre-iPhone.html"></a><br /> &title=<b>AFP</b> launches paid iPhone app){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/web_20/2010/01/how_to_use_google_wave_to_engage_readers.php&bodytext=<form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="5325" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/active_wave.png"><img alt="active_wave.png" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/01/active_wave-thumb-200x196-5325.png" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="196" width="200" /></a></form>Most of <b>Google</b>'s news tools are fairly self-explanatory. <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2009/12/googles_fast_flip_adopted_by_55_new_publ.php"><b>Fast Flip</b></a> enables users to flick through different news sources. <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/12/googles_living_stories_organises_article.php"><b>Living Stories</b></a> collects all the developments about a single story on a single URL. And of course <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2010/01/fast_flip_and_living_stories_now_on_goog.php"><b>Google News</b></a> aggregates news, and has been a source of ongoing conflict between Google and news publishers. But <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/web_20/2009/10/google_wave_close_to_breaking.php"><b>Google Wave</b></a> notoriously confuses its first time users. There's even a <a href="http://www.easiertounderstandthanwave.com/">gently mocking website</a> dedicated to things that are easier to understand than Google Wave.<br /><br />First launched as an invitation-only preview, Google Wave is billed as both a conversation and a document. It's a little like email, but also real-time and collaborative. One potential use of the tool is as a platform for collaborative journalism: different participants could add notes, information and images to a story. <br /><br />It can also be used for community building, and the blog <i>Journalism 2.0</i> has offered one possible example of what this might look like. <a href="http://www.journalism20.com/blog/2010/01/07/using-a-public-wave-to-engage-a-news-audience/">A guest post by <b>Hilary Fosdal</b></a>, the interactive content manager for <b>Barrington Broadcasting</b> in Illinois, explains the way that the <i>Chicago Tribune</i>'s <i>RedEye</i> website uses Google Wave.<br />&title=How to use <b>Google Wave</b> to engage readers ){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2010/01/ap_content_no_longer_hosted_on_google_ne.php&bodytext=<form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="5303" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/AP.gif"><img alt="AP.gif" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/01/AP-thumb-200x49-5303.gif" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="49" width="200" /></a></form>New<b> Associated Press</b> content has not been hosted on <b>Google News </b>since the 24th of <b>December</b>, <i>paidContent</i> reported. This has been confirmed by <b>Google </b>in the following a statement:<br /><br />"We have a licensing agreement with the Associated Press that permits us to host its content on Google properties such as Google News. Some of that content is still available today. At the moment we're not adding new hosted content from the <b>AP</b>." &title=<b>AP</b> content no longer hosted on <b>Google News</b> ){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2010/01/more_strikes_in_french_newspaper_industr.php&bodytext=<form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="5270" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/journaux.jpg"><img alt="journaux.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/01/journaux-thumb-200x132-5270.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="132" width="200" /></a></form>Newspaper readers in France have been disrupted this week, after distribution company <b>Presstalis</b> blocked the distribution of papers to different parts of the country two days in a row. In response to the action, one newspaper has refused to publish an edition today.<br /><br />It was northern France and part of central France that went without their national daily newspapers on Wednesday. Papers were distributed normally in the east, west and south. <i>Le Monde</i> made a PDF version of that day's paper available for free on its website. <br /><br />On Thursday, distribution was interrupted in the east and south of the country. By contrast, the north of France, including Paris, received its newspapers mostly as normal. Only <i>Le Figaro </i>and <i>France Soir</i> suffered a smaller distribution than normal in this area.<br /> &title=More strikes in French newspaper industry){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2010/01/new_e-reader_skiff_unveiled.php&bodytext=<form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="5200" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/01/skiff_01-5200.html" onclick="window.open('http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/01/skiff_01-5200.html','popup','width=356,height=400,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false"><img src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/01/skiff_01-thumb-200x224-5200.jpg" alt="skiff_01.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="224" width="200" /></a></form>The buzz is building with all the <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2009/12/apple_to_launch_tablet_early_next_year_s.php">speculation about an <b>Apple</b> tablet</a>, but for now it's <b>Hearst Corp.</b> making headlines after unveiling their new e-reader, the <b>Skiff Reader</b>.<br /><br />The new device is designed for reading newspapers and magazines. It will also allow users to read other digital content including e-books, personal documents, and blogs.<br /><br />Larger than a <b>Kindle DX</b>, with an 11.5 inch (29.2cm) touchscreen, it measures a quarter of an inch (0.63cm) thick, and weighs one pound or just under half a kilogram.<br /> &title=New e-reader <b>Skiff</b> unveiled ){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/12/wall_street_journal_shuffles_editors.php&bodytext=<!--StartFragment-->
<form mt:asset-id="4814" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/17.jpg"><img alt="17.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2009/12/17-thumb-200x200-4814.jpg" width="200" height="200" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;" /></a></form><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/12/murdochs_praise_of_future_journalism_vei.php">The Wall Street
Journal</a></i></b><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-AU"> has announced a replacement for </span><b>Nik Deogun</b><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-AU">, who left the paper recently
to take a post as managing editor at </span><b><i>CNBC</i></b><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-AU">.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>His replacement is </span><b>Rebecca Blumstein</b><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-AU">, who will now enter the
elusive </span><i>Wall Street Journal</i><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-AU"> troika as international editor of the </span><i>WSJ</i><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-AU"> and
deputy managing editor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-AU">In </span><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/revolving_door/wsjcom_managing_editor_blumenstein_named_journal_deputy_editor_146011.asp">a memo</a><span style="mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:
EN-AU"> regarding the promotion, managing editor of the </span><i>WSJ</i><span style="mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:
EN-AU">, </span><b>Robert
Thomson</b><span style="mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:
EN-AU">, gleefully stated, "</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ascii-font-family:
Cambria;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Verdana">Rebecca has
done outstanding work at </span><span lang="EN-US"><b>WSJ.com</b></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ascii-font-family:
Cambria;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Verdana"> this year and her role overseeing our
correspondents will allow her to continue the important phase of integration
she has begun at dotcom. Before taking the role at online, she was
International News Editor and China Editor, so she is well aware of the
challenges of life as a correspondent and acutely conscious of our digital
potential, which she will continue to realize with her customary vigor and
creativity."</span></p>
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&title=<b><i>Wall Street Journal</i></b> shuffles editors){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2009/12/varietycom_putting_up_paywall.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="4941" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/variety-logo.jpg"><img alt="variety-logo.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2009/12/variety-logo-thumb-250x87-4941.jpg" width="250" height="87" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;" /></a></form> <div>In the latest spat of paywall constructions, <b><a href="http://www.variety.com/">Variety.com</a></b>, the entertainment industry newspaper's website, has announced plans to charge for online content starting today, Thursday. </div><div><br /></div><div>From the official announcement: "<i><b>Variety</b></i> will begin its rollout of the website's paywall as part of an overall revamp of the publication's subscription structure.
</div><div><br /></div>After clicking on two pages of content at Variety.com, one in 10 randomly selected visitors will be prompted to register for further access.
Print and digital subscribers who have logged in with a user name and password have full access to Variety.com. Nonsubscribers may access only five pages of content in any given month."
&title=<b>Variety.com</b> putting up paywall){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/12/making_google_pay_the_axel_springer_way.php&bodytext=<b><form mt:asset-id="4885" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/axel%20springer.jpeg"><img alt="" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2009/12/axel springer-thumb-200x133-4885.jpeg" width="200" height="133" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;" /></a></form>Rupert Murdoch</b> is not the only mogul looking to <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/12/murdochs_praise_of_future_journalism_vei.php">make money from online content</a> - it's just that what with the intense media circus surrounding his rants, not to mention the severity of his accusations (think calling <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/11/murdoch_vows_to_remove_newscorps_website.php"><b>Google</b> and <b>Yahoo</b> out and out thieves</a> on international TV) he's the only one we've really heard about of late.<br /><br />Led by <b>Matthias Döpfner</b>, <b>Axel Springer</b>, publisher of Europe's biggest daily, <i><b>Das Bild</b></i>, and other newspapers across Germany and Eastern Europe, is plotting the numerous ways<a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2009/11/huffington_vs_dopfner_the_paid_content_d.php"> in which it too can go about monetising its content online</a>. <br /><br /><b>Christoph Keese</b>, Springer's head of public affairs, said: "The meta-philosophy of free - we should get rid of this philosophy. A highly industrialized world cannot survive on rumours. It needs quality journalism, and that costs money." Döpfner added: "I see no justification, neither democratic nor market-related, for content to be generally free on the Internet. For centuries, people have been willing to pay for things of interest to them."<br /><br /> &title=Making <b>Google</b> pay, the <b>Axel Springer</b> way){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/12/googles_living_stories_organises_article.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="4904" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/screenshots/google%20living%20ss1.png"><img alt="google living ss1.png" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2009/12/google living ss1-thumb-250x151-4904.png" width="250" height="151" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;" /></a></form><div>The latest news-related product to emerge in <b>Google Labs</b> is '<b><a href="http://livingstories.googlelabs.com/">Living Stories</a></b>,' described by the company as "news, made for the web." The idea is that "complete coverage of an on-going story is gathered together and prioritized on one URL." The project is currently being tested with the <i>New York Times</i> and the <i>Washington Post.</i> </div><div><br /></div><div>Currently there are eight 'living stories' on Google Labs. Each story has a page headed with a title and a brief summary and features a timeline upon which each update to the story is marked. The different articles published on the story are listed from the newest down, so a reader can read all of them while staying within one page. On <a href="http://livingstories.googlelabs.com/lsps/climatechange#OVERVIEW:false,false,false,n,n,n:null;">the 'politics of global warming' page</a>, for example, there is also a pop up graphic which allows readers to listen to quotes on the subject from various authorities. </div><div><br /></div> &title=<b>Google's 'Living Stories'</b> organises articles by topic and follows their development){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/12/murdochs_praise_of_future_journalism_vei.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="4606" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2009/11/murdoch1f5lx-thumb-200x266-4303-thumb-200x266-4304.jpg"><img alt="Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for murdoch1f5lx.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2009/11/murdoch1f5lx-thumb-200x266-4303-thumb-200x266-4304-thumb-250x332-4606.jpg" width="220" height="312" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;" /></a></form>In an article in <i><b>The Wall Street Journal</b></i>,<b> Rupert Murdoch</b> is optimistic about the future of journalism in this age of newspaper cutbacks and the overwhelming concerns with bottom-line budgets rather than quality journalism. <div><br /></div><div>Despite closures and scale backs, Murdoch reassures us that quality journalism faces a promising future because of the 'triumph of digital' rather than in spite of it. </div><div><br /></div><div>The greatest threats, he says, come from limited editorial vision, producers who don't fight for the readers, and the 'heavy hand of the government' that would overregulate and subsidize the industry. </div><div><br /></div><div>This is rather strange for the man who thinks he 'fights for the readers' by planning to force them to pay for something they've been getting for free for years. These remarks come right after Murdoch's appearance at the <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/12/us_federal_trade_commission_will_conside.php"><b>FTC</b> workshop</a> where it was announced that newspaper subsidies were a definite possibility and will be examined by the FTC.
</div>&title=<b>Murdoch</b>'s praise of future journalism veils paywalls){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2009/12/usa_today_announces_job_cuts.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="4787" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/usatoday.gif"><img alt="usatoday.gif" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2009/12/usatoday-thumb-200x129-4787.gif" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="129" width="200" /></a></form><i><b>USA Today</b></i> will cut 26 newsroom jobs, reducing its newsroom staff by 5%, under cutbacks announced by newspaper publisher <b>Gannett Co.</b> yesterday.
<br /><br /><i><b>USA Weekend</b></i> magazine, a weekly insert in other newspapers, will also lose 11 positions. Its remaining staff will be combined with that of <i>USA Today</i>.
<br /><br />Non-union workers at other Gannett newspapers will be required to take more unpaid furloughs, or leave of absence. Employees in Gannett's community publishing division will be affected.
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&title=<b><i>USA Today</b></i> announces job cuts){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/12/greenspun_merges_print_and_digital.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="4773" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2009/12/Greenspun_Media_Group-4773.html" onclick="window.open('http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2009/12/Greenspun_Media_Group-4773.html','popup','width=1035,height=636,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false"><img src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2009/12/Greenspun_Media_Group-thumb-250x153-4773.jpg" width="250" height="153" alt="Greenspun_Media_Group.JPG" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;" /></a></form><b>Greenspun Media</b>, parent of the <i><b>Las Vegas Sun</b></i>, has begun merging their print and online assets in the Las Vegas area. <div><br /></div><div>The staffs of Greenspun's eight media properties will merge into single teams of editorial, advertising, and support for all the media outlets concerned. This combines the editorial, online, advertising, marketing, production, human resources and finance departments for the<i> Las Vegas Sun</i> and its Web site. </div><div><br /></div><div>However, the other individual newspapers involved in the merger will continue to be sold separately. No word yet on whether this will effect the content of these papers.
</div>&title=<b>Greenspun</b> merges print and digital){kind=link}