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.
Part 1 discussed how the planned changes at The New York Times and International Herald Tribune will help the NYT's continuous news offerings, and how these changes could affect the organization and interaction between both newsrooms.
Part 2 examines how The New York Times intends to: - Further compete against the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal internationally, and ways in which newspapers can reinforce their international reach. - Use the strength of its online brand while safeguarding the IHT's popular print brand name.
The Weblog spoke to Jim Roberts, Digital Editor at The New York Times, and Martin Gottlieb, who was appointed to the newly created position of Editor, Global Edition.
How newspapers can become international brands, the NYT joins the race
Until now, the Times hasn't specifically catered to overseas advertisers and readers.
"We need to be agile," said IHT publisher StephenDunbar-Johnson, "to compete much more aggressively, nose to nose, with The Financial Times, Wall Street Journal and anybody else who is competing for our readers and advertisers."
No doubt that the Times actually borrowed the continuous news outpost idea from the aforementioned competitors, which have been relying on their foreign bureaus to provide round the clock coverage.
The staff memo reaffirmed the NYT's "ambitious plans to expand in the region (Asia), particularly in India." In June, the IHT announced a partnership with the India-based Deccan Chronicle to print the Tribune's world business section in the Financial Chronicle.
With the rise of digital publishing, many news organizations are seeking to grow a previously inaccessible international readership by:
- investing in an online international section: In Germany, referential weekly Der Spiegel launched an English-language International edition on its website in 2004. Five fulltime staffers are dedicated to translating Der Spiegel's content and rewriting it with an international perspective, as well as doing their own international-minded original reporting (the full case study is featured in Trends in Newsrooms 2008). The Guardian adopted a different approach, by launching a separate, foreign-based, US website, Guardian America. The Guardian is reportedly considering similar ventures in other regions.
- simply reinforcing their focus on international news in their regular coverage: the Daily Telegraph's website in the UK, which was neck to neck with the Guardian in terms of traffic in April, claims nearly two thirds of its visitors are from overseas. A well-indexed website helps to brings in a significant number of 'light' international users through search engines.
Merging "co-branded" websites but not print: a branding issue
The NYT's approach is a combination of the first two strategies: the print IHT now serves as The Times' 'global edition' (see picture), while maintaining its trademark brand name. With the proposed online merger, the NYT could also follow the second route, by hosting an international edition online, without having to extensively change its workflows (see Part 1).
The rationale to merge the websites is clearly explained in the memo:
according to WebTrends, NYT's website boasts a strong international
audience and 58 million global users, compared to iht.com's seven
million.
"The global landscape for online news is highly competitive, making scale, speed and resources essential to success. Therefore we have determined that the best future online for the IHT and the NYT globally is through a joint international presence," said the memo.
However, the memo doesn't explicitly say why this won't be the case in print:
"The IHT should become the international print edition of the NYT, whether it is formally branded that way or not."
The main issue at stake is one of branding. "In print, there have been at least a couple of studies that show that among Tribune newspaper readers there is a great identification with the brand, that the brand means something to readers," said Gottlieb.
"More than the name, what accompanies the name, an international perspective, a sense of calling the best stories from The Times and augmenting them with unique reporting," was a combination that many readers liked.
As news organizations seek to grow their international reach, this consideration probably holds true for many that have established a reputable brand name on a local or national scale. However strong the brand name, its association with a particular place or country can potentially play against that news outlet on the international scene.
Source: New York Times - Media Bistro - Jim Roberts, Digital Editor The New York Times - Martin Gottlieb, Editor, Global Edition
At a time when any local or national news outlet can potentially become an international online brand, and as newsrooms adapt to a 24-hour news cycle, editors can learn from The New York Times' most recent attempt to 'kill' both birds with one stone.
Last week, top execs from The Times and the International Herald Tribuneannounced plans to mergeiht.com and nytimes.com into a co-branded international section, in order to increase both sites' reach and appeal to international advertisers.
In this two-part series, the Weblog spoke to Jim Roberts, Digital Editor at The New York Times, and Martin Gottlieb, who was appointed to the newly created position of Editor, Global Edition.
Through these moves, The Times intends to accomplish at least four ostensible goals:
Part 1: - Build an outpost for its Continuous News Desk in Paris, and eventually Hong Kong. - Integrate operations, streamline some resources by increasing efficiency and avoiding overlap.
Part 2: - Reinforce its international reach and further compete against the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal. - Use the strength of NYT's online brand while safeguarding the IHT's popular print brand name. IHT: an outpost for the Times' continuous news
Although the proposed changes are currently undergoing a consultation process with the IHT's works council, as required by French law, the process of integration of both papers began ever since the NYT acquired full control of the IHT in 2003, and has accelerated in past months.
In Feb., NYT executive editor Bill Keller had already announced plans to integrate operations and develop an "organic, global, 24-hour news operation," in order "to create a Continuous News outpost in Paris."
In May, the IHT dropped its 142-year-old logo from its nameplate to replace it with the phrase "The Global Edition of the New York Times."
"That says, we are one, and we are," although both arms are managed separately, said Jim Roberts, digital editor at The Times.
Video: Roberts talks about the 'integration' of both newspapers. Footage was collected during an interview at the 15th World Editors Forum in Sweden.
Thanks to this outpost and the six-hour time difference, the NYT is now able to upload content to its site nearly 24 hours a day (from about 6am to 1am, New York time). The paper eventually hopes to establish a similar outpost at the IHT's Asian headquarters in Hong Kong in the next six months.
The creation of these outposts does not mean that the IHT is becoming a full-blown Paris bureau for The Times. "We have a Paris bureau," said Roberts, "and the newsroom of the IHT still has a print edition and right now they still have a website." Integration, streamlining resources: evolution, no revolution
Since all proposed changes are undergoing a consultation process, editors couldn't give any firm preview of how workflows could be affected.
In the past, there has been "very regular contact between individual desks at the Times and corresponding desks at the IHT," said Martin Gottlieb, newly appointed editor of the Global edition. Many IHT editors come from The Times, regularly do edits on NYT pieces, and this past year IHT-written articles have appeared on nytimes.com with no distinctive byline.
However, there is no formal process of exchange between both newsrooms, and "There have been a couple of occasions when we've had IHT and NYT reporters covering the same thing," said Roberts.
The appointment of Gottlieb as editor of the Global Edition - note, no mention of the IHT in his title - is significant in that respect. In addition to fulfilling the role of editor of the paper, his mission will be to ensure that staff understands both papers are "two parts of one news-gathering operation, that should work in unison as much as possible in delivering the news 24 hours a day seven days a week," said Gottlieb.
A series of new editorial appointments at the IHT will be the symbols of this top-down integration. "There will be people coordinating the work of both staffs to, pretty much, make them as much as possible act as one staff," said Gottlieb.
For example, Alison Smale, who becomes European editor of the global newsroom, will be responsible for "coordinating the work of all NYT and IHT reporters in the region from the IHT newsroom in Paris," said the memo. To oversee the process, The Times also named Alan Flippen "Editor, Newsroom Organization."
It seems too early to say whether the planned reforms will lead to radical changes in workflows or content. Evolution, not revolution, said Roberts.
Currently, an IHT reporter based in Hong Kong might build upon a Times' story about the rise of airline fuel prices by interviewing Asian carriers, whose input might not have been as relevant to the core readership of the Times in the US. Likewise, an IHT story published in the Times might be fine-tuned to be more pertinent to the American audience (see the example of Der Spiegel in Part 2, looking at different newspaper approaches towards international editions).
Future workflows will likely build upon these current processes, rather than start from scratch. "It's continuing synergies that are taking place and maximizing them and regularizing them," said Gottlieb.
The planned changes can also be seen as an attempt to streamline resources - terminology often equivocated with cost cuts and layoffs. But according to Gottlieb, there are no planned newsroom layoffs at this point (this is subject to change during the next six months). It is possible that an online merger of iht.com and nytimes.com could lead to redundancies for some technical Web production positions.
Editors couldn't comment on any upcoming changes concerning the IHT's planned print redesign.
Stay tuned for Part 2, which will examine The Times' international branding strategy, and how newspapers can grow a previously inaccessible international readership.
Source: New York Times - Media Bistro - Jim Roberts, Digital Editor The New York Times - Martin Gottlieb, Editor, Global Edition
Nytimes.com blogger Timothy Egan points to an interesting paradox about newspapers: how can we be talking about the death knell for newspapers when readership for many publications has never been higher?
Although the Internet may have damaged the traditional newspaper, it has also "increased the readership of some newspapers ten-fold."
US Newspaper websites attracted more than 66 million unique visitors in the first quarter of 2008 -- a record, and a 12 percent increase on a year ago, according to Nielsen Online analysis. Forty percent of all Internet users visit a newspaper site.
"A visitor, it should be noted, is different from a reader, but it's the measurement of choice. The Web is the future," writes Egan.
However, online advertising accounts for only around 10 percent of total ad revenue for newspapers. In its present form, the Web format does not generate enough revenue to support a full reporting team at a national newspaper. This is an area that newspapers need to focus on, and currently only a few newspapers are doing successfully.
Egan also discusses another interesting business model for the future; could newspapers go down the route of non-profit national broadcasters such as the BBC, CBC and National Public Radio? He discusses the possibility of a quality, independent media no longer driven by the search for ad revenues.
However, this system arguably couldn't support a nationwide competitive media, but it's something worth considering, even if it is an option with limitations.
Egan's blog puts a new slant on the debate about the future of newspapers and exposes the weakness in the argument that newspapers are in their last days. Egan's research demostrates that there is much vitality in the industry and that newspapers need to adapt to a changing media environment.
Yet another video of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, shot "off the record" in the studios of France 3 prior to his televised interview on June 3rd, has gone viral.
In this case though, the bigger issue shaking French media is whether this video should have been 'news' in the first place, or whether it's simply an example of media outlets rushing to create buzz, a phenomenon exacerbated by the rise of online news.
A renowned blogger, Laurent Goaguen, criticized Rue89's decision:
"I'm slightly ashamed that Rue89's newsroom release this dirty thing, acquired in dubious circumstances and that doesn't bring any information. When political engagement, sense of urgency and the race to scoops obscure, to that extent, the professional duties of journalists..."
Another blog, Caréagit, expressed its disgust for "gutter journalism."
Rue89 editor-in-chief Pascal Richéargued that "this video is rich in information concerning the President, his relations with media, and the atmosphere within France Télévisions."
According to Rue89, France 3 threatened a lawsuit if the site doesn't remove the video and give the names of staffers who leaked the footage.
Sky News has relaunched its website today with a raft of new features. The revamp is aimed at personalizing the site for users and expanding its range of user-generated content and videos.
Steve Bennedik, the editor of Sky News Networked Media, states that, "The features we are introducing to personalize the site are just the start of a process aimed at allowing our users to tailor sky.com/news to suit all their online needs."
Sky is introducing an online community element to its website, powered by Pluck, enabling users to have their own blogs, to comment on other people's blogs, and discussion boards.
The redesigned website will incorporate SkyCast, a video platform powered by a "white label" version of Google's online video technology, into its news pages to encourage users to submit their own videos relating to news stories.
The new Choose Your News function allows users to hone their news search with categories including most popular stories, most recent video clips and "special interest" topics.
A Story Tracker function will automatically update users on news stories they are following.
Sky News is also launching a news service, powered by news aggregation company Daylife, which will provide readers with any related stories from "external sources" from the UK and international providers.
The website will also include more video, graphics and a new "bold design", as well as an interactive and searchable weather map of more than 4,500 destinations.
PBS.org blogger Dan Schultz published an article on the ways to distinguish online journalists from online citizens and the roles that each one plays in a media system such as a newspaper site.
Active and responsive users with clear judgement and insightful and valid contributions may be further categorized as corresponding to journalists or citizens, depending on what role the system associate him or her with.
"There are a few risks you need to keep in mind: make sure the system isn't overcomplicated, make sure the rewards don't get in the way of journalistic ideals, and make sure users can't ever get unfairly powerful," Schultz said.
Schultz pointed out that even if a site may not care about classification, weighing a user's history could make the site "more intelligent" "more responsive" and "more rewarding".
Newspaper sites could use these tips to help understand what users' participation benefits them and possibly study the ways in which interaction may be improved.
Posted byAlisa Zykova on June 30, 2008 at 10:59 AM
Advertisers continue to spend a fraction of their online ad expenditure on video ads, even when millions of people watch online videos every day, but the business model for online video is starting to emerge. Editors are still seeking the most effective formats for online advertising.
According to MediaShift, online video ads are "ready to bloom" thanks to:
-audience and ad inventory exploding on sites like Hulu or CNN Online -standard advertising guidelines created by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) that would unify advertisers -Google allowing longer independent films on YouTube to increase professional quality of content and allowing video producers to sell their ads -small and medium businesses (SMBs) began using video ads, thanks to online Yellow Pages, Google's AdSense and video production start-ups like PixelFish and TurnHere
Short one-minute videos, similar to TV ads and infomercials, may sometimes be more effective for small businesses that don't have the resources to produce their own video ads. Video production companies like TurnHere provide documentary type video profiles created by independent producers.
PixelFish, a popular video production company, has had 20 % average revenue increase every month in 2008, according to John McIntyre, CEO.
Video ad formats: pre-roll or not?
Video ads are interesting for newspapers, according to Eric Janssen, online director of Memphis newspaper Commercial Appeal. His newspaper has used various advertising formats but he said "advertorial formats work better from a selling perspective."
Bur advertisers "cringe" at the thought of investing 10 % in online video ads, even though they spend "thousands of dollars into TV without any real way to measure the effectiveness."
Short clips tend to work better with "non-interruptive" interactive overlays while longer clips tend to work better with pre-rolls.
Steve Safran, senior vice president of media consultancy group AR & D'sMedia 2.0 division, said that "pre-roll is dying." He mentioned that "overlays are an improvement" since they target viewers based on what they watch. "The way to sell video is by the demographic, one viewer at a time," he said.
After a string of bribery arrests in Chicago, EveryBlock cataloged every address mentioned in the police file. Readers were then able to access the information through a list and map of bribe locations.
"In this case, the data is telling a story that otherwise might seem a little distant to you until you see how the issue may in fact be a very real one right in your backyard, so to speak," McAlister said.
McAlister believes that the next step for EveryBlock is to "open the reporting and mapping process" to anyone interested.
"The wider community could then benefit from the work of a few, and suddenly you have a really powerful local news vehicle," he said.
Belarussian journalists and bloggers issued an online protest last Wednesday by not posting anything for an hour or using a black banner, lashing out against the "On Mass Media" law that the government adopted "without public hearings and international expert examinations", Belarussian Association of Journalists (BAJ) reported.
As the last few years have shown, independent Belarussian newspapers have the tendency of being shut down by the state. Instead, many media outlets have found solace in cyberspace, according to the Boston Globe.
However, last Tuesday the House of Representatives of the Belarus National Assembly approved the law after its second reading, Jurist reported. The BAJ said that the law violates the freedoms outlined in articles 33 and 34 of the constitution.
Belarus media outlets are now banned from getting foreign financial backing and are required to register with the government. Reporters Without Borders termed the law as "repressive" and predict that censorship will increase, the Globe reported.
The government is trying to save Belarussians "from foreign propaganda" by attempting to control the cyberspace, according to the Globe.
Earlier this year, Belarussian journalists were imprisoned or beaten up during a protest against Alexander Lukashenko, the current president. A week later, a number of journalists' home were raided as the Belarussian KGB tried to look for libel documents regarding Lukashenko, Jurist reported.
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/analysis/2008/07/part_2_the_new_york_times_international.php&bodytext=<a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/analysis/2008/07/part_1_new_york_times_expands_continuous.php">Part 1</a> discussed how the planned changes at <i>The New York Times</i> and <i>International Herald Tribune</i> will help the NYT's continuous news offerings, and how these changes could affect the organization and interaction between both newsrooms.<br /><br />Part 2 examines how The New York Times intends to:<br />- Further compete against the <i>Financial Times</i> and <i>Wall Street Journal</i> internationally, and ways in which newspapers can reinforce their international reach.<br />- Use the strength of its online brand while safeguarding the IHT's popular print brand name.<br /><br />The Weblog spoke to <b>Jim Roberts</b>, Digital Editor at The New York Times, and <b>Martin Gottlieb</b>, who was appointed to the newly created position of Editor, Global Edition.<br /><br /><b>How newspapers can become international brands, the NYT joins the race</b><br /><br />Until now, the Times hasn't specifically catered to overseas advertisers and readers.<br /><br />"We need to be agile," said IHT publisher <b>Stephen</b> <b>Dunbar-Johnson</b>, "to compete much more aggressively, nose to nose, with <i>The Financial Times</i>, <i>Wall Street Journal</i> and anybody else who is competing for our readers and advertisers."<br /><br />No doubt that the Times actually borrowed the continuous news outpost idea from the aforementioned competitors, which have been relying on their foreign bureaus to provide round the clock coverage.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/newspapers/nyt_reorganizes_international_herald_tribune_87735.asp">staff memo</a> reaffirmed the NYT's "ambitious plans to expand in the region (Asia), particularly in India." In June, the IHT <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2008/06/india_iht_partners_deccan_chronicle_for.php">announced a partnership</a> with the India-based <b>Deccan Chronicle</b> to print the Tribune's world business section in the <i>Financial Chronicle</i>.<br /><br />With the rise of digital publishing, many news organizations are seeking to grow a previously inaccessible international readership by:<br /><br />- launching a print edition abroad: several papers have rolled out editions away from home this past year, such as the FT's <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2008/04/financial_times_launching_middle_eastern.php">recently launched Middle East edition</a> in Abu Dhabi, WSJ's <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/analysis/2008/05/mint_setting_ethical_standards_for_edito.php">partnership with business paper</a> <i>Mint</i> in India, the <i>Daily Mail</i>'s <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2008/05/uk_daily_mail_to_launch_website_in_india.php">partnership</a> with <i>India Today</i> to publish the <i>Mail Today</i>, or <i>The Times</i> of <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2007/08/the_times_of_london_moves_to_p.php">London's Polish edition</a>.<br /><br />- investing in an online international section: In Germany, referential weekly <i>Der Spiegel</i> launched an <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/">English-language International edition</a> on its website in 2004. Five fulltime staffers are dedicated to translating Der Spiegel's content and rewriting it with an international perspective, as well as doing their own international-minded original reporting (the full case study is featured in <a href="http://www.trends-in-newsrooms.org/home.php">Trends in Newsrooms 2008</a>). The <i>Guardian</i> adopted a different approach, by launching a separate, foreign-based, US website, <b>Guardian America</b>. The Guardian is <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/05/after_guardian_america_india_and_the_mid.php">reportedly considering similar ventures</a> in other regions.<br /><br />- simply reinforcing their focus on international news in their regular coverage: the <i>Daily Telegraph</i>'s website in the UK, which was neck to neck with the Guardian in terms of traffic in April, claims nearly two thirds of its visitors are from overseas. A well-indexed website helps to brings in a significant number of 'light' international users through search engines.<br /><br /><b>Merging "co-branded" websites but not print: a branding issue</b><br /><br /><form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="621" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/IHT%20NYT%20logo.gif"><img alt="IHT NYT logo.gif" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/IHT%20NYT%20logo-thumb-322x77.gif" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="77" width="322" /></a></form>The NYT's approach is a combination of the first two strategies: the print IHT now serves as The Times' 'global edition' (see picture), while maintaining its trademark brand name. With the proposed online merger, the NYT could also follow the second route, by hosting an international edition online, without having to extensively change its workflows (<a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/analysis/2008/07/part_1_new_york_times_expands_continuous.php">see Part 1</a>). <br /><br />The rationale to merge the websites is clearly explained in the memo:
according to <b>WebTrends</b>, NYT's website boasts a strong international
audience and 58 million global users, compared to iht.com's seven
million.<br /><br />"The global landscape for online news is highly competitive, making scale, speed and resources essential to success. Therefore we have determined that the best future online for the IHT and the NYT globally is through a joint international presence," said the memo. <br /><br />However, the memo doesn't explicitly say why this won't be the case in print:<br /><br />"The IHT should become the international print edition of the NYT, whether it is formally branded that way or not."<br /><br />The main issue at stake is one of branding. "In print, there have been at least a couple of studies that show that among Tribune newspaper readers there is a great identification with the brand, that the brand means something to readers," said Gottlieb.<br /><br />"More than the name, what accompanies the name, an international perspective, a sense of calling the best stories from The Times and augmenting them with unique reporting," was a combination that many readers liked.<br /><br />As news organizations seek to grow their international reach, this consideration probably holds true for many that have established a reputable brand name on a local or national scale. However strong the brand name, its association with a particular place or country can potentially play against that news outlet on the international scene.<br /><br />Source: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/business/media/24paper.html?_r=2&ref=media&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">New York Times</a> - <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/newspapers/nyt_reorganizes_international_herald_tribune_87735.asp">Media Bistro</a> - Jim Roberts, Digital Editor The New York Times - Martin Gottlieb, Editor, Global Edition<br /><br /> &title=Part 2: <b><i>The New York Times</i></b>' international bid, in print and online){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/07/uk_sky_news_site_revamp_with_personalize.php&bodytext=<form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="603" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/sky%20news%20sc.jpg"><img alt="sky news sc.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/sky%20news%20sc-thumb-250x150.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="150" width="250" /></a></form><b>Sky News</b> has relaunched its website today with a raft of new features. The revamp is aimed at personalizing the site for users and expanding its range of user-generated content and videos.<br /><br /><b>Steve Bennedik</b>, the editor of Sky News Networked Media, states that, "The features we are introducing to personalize the site are just the start of a process aimed at allowing our users to tailor sky.com/news to suit all their online needs."<br /><br />Sky is introducing an online community element to its website, powered by <b>Pluck</b>, enabling users to have their own blogs, to comment on other people's blogs, and discussion boards.<br /><br />The redesigned website will incorporate SkyCast, a video platform powered by a "white label" version of <b>Google</b>'s online video technology, into its news pages to encourage users to submit their own videos relating to news stories.<br /><br />The new Choose Your News function allows users to hone their news search with categories including most popular stories, most recent video clips and "special interest" topics. <br /><br />A Story Tracker function will automatically update users on news stories they are following. <br /><br />Sky News is also launching a news service, powered by news aggregation company <b>Daylife</b>, which will provide readers with any related stories from "external sources" from the UK and international providers.<br /><br />The website will also include more video, graphics and a new "bold design", as well as an interactive and searchable weather map of more than 4,500 destinations.<br /><br />Source: <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/01/bskyb.digitalmedia">Guardian</a><br /><br /> &title=UK: <b>Sky News</b> site revamp with personalized services){kind=link}