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Posted by Antoine Laurent on February 9, 2010 at 12:36 PM

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Sports stand-alone websites

How to re-engage your audience and find new revenue streams by launching sports websites.

Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Time: 14h00 GMT (London Time)

Speaker: Matt Kelly, Digital Content Director, Trinity Mirror Group.

Buy the Sports stand-alone websites Webinar for only €59!

Niche strategies are a good weapon to struggle against the fall of online advertising revenues. This is particularly true in the field of sports, because of its passionate and engaged audience. Matt Kelly, who led the developpment of mirrorfootball.co.uk, will share with you the elements that led to the success of the website. He will tackle the following points, among others, to give you the key steps that will enables you to succeed yourself:

1.    How to find your unique offering and accentuate your brand
2.    How to re-engage your users and turn them into regular readers
3.    Win new and loyal commercial partners for targeted, innovative advertising
4.    Open up new revenue streams: mobile, e-commerce, promotions

About the guest speaker:

Matt Kelly is digital content director for Trinity Mirror national newspapers, in charge of its sites including mirror.co.uk, dailyrecord.co.uk, 3am.co.uk and mirrorfootball.co.uk. He has worked at Mirror Group for the past fifteen years, enjoying a varied career including features editor, night editor, production editor, associate editor and columnist. In 2008 he led the redesign of the Daily Mirror newspaper and followed that with a significant overhaul of mirror.co.uk.

Buy the Sports stand-alone websites Webinar for only €59!

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If you have any questions, please contact Antoine Laurent, Editors Webinars Manager: Click Here

iPad changes the story for newspaper-subsidized e-readers

Posted by Maria Conde on February 5, 2010 at 3:55 PM

The launch of Apple's iPad has garnered much optimism in the newspaper industry, driving hopes that the innovative tablet computer will be able to breathe some new life into an industry battered by an advertising downturn.

Much speculation has placed very high hopes on the capacity of the iPad and a slew of new generation e-readers to revamp the industry and bolster its business model. But, as Poynter Online's Bill Mitchell reports, the iPad will probably not be the solution to all of the newspapers' woes, but this sleek electronic device could play a substantial role in the migration of users from a cost-heavy past to a more efficient future.

Local newspaper Lakeland Echo closes print edition

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on February 1, 2010 at 12:36 PM

A weekly newspaper in the British region of Cumbria has closed its print edition after 30 years in publication, Hold the Front Page reports.

The Lakeland Echo closed at the end of the last year. Its website will continue to operate and will feature news from north Lancashire and the Lake District.

There were no redundancies as it was produced out of the same office as sister publications The Visitor and Lancaster and Morecambe Reporter.

After:The iPad is here, and what its arrival means

Posted by Maria Conde on January 28, 2010 at 2:29 PM

After months of much hype and speculation, Steve Jobs finally took to the stage to unveil Apple's new highly anticipated tablet computer - the iPad.

With its official introduction at an event in San Francisco yesterday, Steve Jobs has finally laid many rumors about what the electronic device can do to rest, while igniting hopes about the iPad's ability to bring new life to 'old media' and to revamp the e-reader market.

Fewer young people read news online than their parents

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 27, 2010 at 1:20 PM

Online news consumption has dropped among young adults, but risen among older consumers, according to a new study by IBM's Media and Entertainment Group. The study's full findings will be reported in coming weeks, and may mean the newspaper industry needs to decide even faster how to make its online offerings economically sustainable, Dorian Benkoil reported in Poynter Online.

Young people aged 18-24 were the only segment that recorded a year-on-year drop for any digital media category, specifically for online newspapers. In 2008, around 64% of those surveyed said they had read a newspaper online in the last year, while by 2009 that figure had fallen to 54%.

AP president speaks out on Freedom of Information Act

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 25, 2010 at 5:41 PM

Journalists should be willing to fight for strong freedom of information and open records laws, said the president of the Associated Press in a speech on Friday.

Speaking at the Kentucky Press Association, AP president Tom Curley stressed the importance of these laws as part of the "journalistic tool kit" to help reporters access information in the public interest.

"It's vital," he said. "A strong FOIA in the hands of strong journalists with strong legal support breaks news."

First female editor at Le Monde

Posted by Helena Humphrey on January 20, 2010 at 3:18 PM

Sylvie Kauffmann (left) made history at Le Monde, Monday, becoming the first woman to be appointed executive editor at the 65-year-old publication. She called the appointment "the final stage of an evolution" for the newspaper, underling her sex "was not the deciding factor." As executive editor she replaces Alain Frachon, who was contracted for two years from 2007.

Hadfield leaves digital role at TMG in favour of "entrepreneurial future"

Posted by Helena Humphrey on January 15, 2010 at 4:34 PM

Greg Hadfield, Telegraph Media Group's head of digital development is to leave the newspaper group after only a year in the role. He made the announcement at the news:rewired event yesterday, organised by Journalism.co.uk. TMG today issued a statement saying: "Greg Hadfield was employed at TMG on a 12-month contract which expired at the end of last week. It was mutually agreed that this would not be renewed."

Developing and diversifying the Marca brand from an advertising and special operations point of view

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 15, 2010 at 3:08 PM

Working closely with advertisers can help newspapers to establish a good brand image, says Paz Alvarez Sanchez-Arjona, Market Intelligence director of Marca/Unidad Editorial in Spain, speaking at the WAN-IFRA conference 'Using sports news to optimise your revenues'.

She has worked closely with marketing and advertising teams. This was satisfactory for the advertisers because the campaigns were distinctive and became well-known. This created loyalty and gave her brand a good, dynamic image, as well as revenue.

Marca is the leader among newspapers in terms of readership in Spain. It has 2.8 million readers, far more than any other newspaper in Spain. There are 40 million people in the country, with four national sports newspapers. Marca is located in Madrid and focuses a lot on Real Madrid and football, although it covers all the sports. In the last few years, a number of local papers have popped up, focusing on local teams. These detract from Marca's readership.

E&P is back in business

Posted by Maria Conde on January 15, 2010 at 11:51 AM

Editor & Publisher, "America's oldest journal covering newspapers", has risen from the dead, following its acquisition by a boating magazine chief.

Editor & Publisher, an independent news organization reporting on all aspects of the newspaper business, has resumed publication in print and online following its sale on Thursday to Duncan McIntosh Co. Inc, as Poynter Online reports.

Identify your unique offering, says Mirror's Matt Kelly

Posted by Emma Heald on January 15, 2010 at 11:18 AM

Identify what you can offer that is unique, was Matt Kelly's advice to participants at the WAN-IFRA conference on using sports news to optimise your revenue. Digital content director at the Mirror Group (part of Trinity Mirror), Kelly led the creation of MirrorFootball.co.uk, a standalone football-focused site that has gained the paper new readership.

Kelly explained that despite a successful redesign of the Mirror's website in 2008 which resulted in a significant increase in readership, the implosion in advertising rates meant that he and his team started to think about ways to re-engage with their readers.

Hyperlocal news to hit the Netherlands

Posted by Emma Heald on January 6, 2010 at 4:39 PM

The idea of providing news on a hyperlocal level has attracted much attention over the past year as news outlets look at how to tackle the ubiquity of free online news and try to find something that they can offer that is unique. In parts of the US, hyperlocal outfits are now plentiful, both start-ups and those run by traditional news organisations. In Europe, growth has been slower, but notable projects include Futuroom/Nase adresa in the Czech Republic (disclosure: WEF has been involved in the project as a consultant) and moves by various UK publishers to expand their offerings on a very local level.

And now it appears that the Netherlands is to see an attempt to integrate hyperlocal news more deeply into the news landscape. Bart Brouwers, former editor-in-chief of Dutch tabloid Sp!ts, recently made the decision to move away from print journalism after 25 years and start an online-only network of hyperlocal news outlets. The Editors Weblog spoke to Brouwers to find out more about his plans.

Brouwers himself made the decision to move into the hyperlocal field, and was prepared to do this alone, but his employer Telegraaf Media Groep decided to take on the project and appointed Brouwers to the newly-created position of managing editor of a digital network of hyperlocal news and information platforms. He hopes that his network can spread throughout the Netherlands.

Hyperlocal news is the future, believes Brouwers, because despite newspapers' problems with subscribers and advertisers, there is still a huge public need for information and people have a desire to inform others and thinks that "could be done in the best way on a very local level." It is on this level that people both need specific information, and have information that they can share with others in the community.

The idea for the network would be that it would ideally incorporate existing local bloggers and user interactivity would play a major role. One of the principles which Brouwers is working under is that an article is not finished when a journalist presses the publish button; rather, the process is just starting. "Every journalist must be aware that there will always be more knowledge out there than he could have found on his own, it's just a matter of finding the right people." So Brouwers wants to create some kind of system whereby people add to what has been provided by the journalists. The network is as yet unnamed, but Brouwers hopes to incorporate this idea of "not finished yet" into its name.

Brouwers feels that a hyperlocal network has the potential to make money from highly targeted advertising. Paid content is a possibility, but it would not be the basis of the network's revenue stream: "maybe 90% of what we are doing will be free." With regards to advertising, Brouwers thinks that there is potential for more innovative and profitable methods. "I do believe in intelligent ways of mixing advertising with journalistic content," he said, "as long as you are able to stay independent and be clear to your audience what is paid for." He referred to the way that True/Slant incorporates advertising: the ads are written in a blog style and provide more information than a banner or pop-up ad could, but they are clearly distinguished from other content (see here for an example.)

The type of advertising platform and audience that Brouwers hopes to offer could particularly appeal to local and regional governments, he said. "For them it's very worthwhile to get a very targeted audience for everything that they want to inform their citizens with."

The Telegraaf Media Groep has the advantage of already having a significant presence in the news landscape of the Netherlands, and Brouwers hopes that his new network can collaborate with Telegraaf's more traditional properties. He realises, however, that his platform is going to be very different, and also that the Telegraaf newspapers will be careful about how much of their content they give away.

As yet, many details of Brouwers' project need to be finalised and it is impossible to predict whether or not he will be successful. His idea has similarities to the redefined news eco-system proposed by Jeff Jarvis, where citizen journalists would be seen as important collaborators in the process of news distribution. These ideas make financial sense in the way that they plan to make use of information willingly provided for nothing by members of the public. And taking note of the fact that no one journalist knows as much as the community about what is going on seems wise. A fool-proof business model is yet to be found for hyperlocal news, but if such experimentation proves successful, it might well have an important role to play in the future of news.

THE YEAR IN NEWSPAPERS: top trends of 2009

Posted by Emma Heald on December 22, 2009 at 3:24 PM

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?

Some US cities have been left with just one daily newspaper, and speculation over which could be the first no-paper town was answered in July when the Ann Arbor News stopped printing. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer cut most of its staff and went online only, Denver lost the Rocky Mountain News. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Chronicle and Boston Globe have struggled through threats of closure.

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.

News agencies have also been feeling the effect of the cuts as papers look at how to make savings. The Associated Press has seen 180 papers threaten to cancel their subscriptions, though many of these have since decided not to. The Chicago Tribune, for example, trialled reporting without the AP for a week. Over in France, government-subsidised Agence France-Presse has also seen papers drop its service.

Overall, the cutbacks in Europe do not seem as drastic as in the US, though that is not to say that papers have been immune: even the Guardian is attempting to make significant staff cuts.

Can newspapers continue to perform their democratic role in society? Fewer journalists means fewer stories covered, fewer copy/sub editors means a greater chance of mistakes.

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)?

As newspapers' advertising-based business model started to let them down, one of the biggest questions of the year has been whether or not newspapers should start charging for their online content. So far, there has been a lot of talk but not much action. Walter Isaacson brought the micropayments question onto the agenda in February, sparking immediate controversy. The debate started to heat up in April when Journalism Online was founded by three industry experts with an iTunes-inspired mission to facilitate charging for online content: it proposed to offer bundled packages of content from multiple publications. This was swiftly

followed by Murdoch's promise in early May that all News Corp papers would be charging online within the year. MediaNews Group followed suit. The New York Times also seems committed but is wavering with regards to how. The Newspaper Association of America's call for payment models elicited a considerable response.

Meanwhile, some smaller papers such as the Schenectady Daily Gazette and the Texas Valley Morning Star have quietly integrated paywalls: are there lessons to be learnt there?

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.

A couple of news outlets have adopted a less direct paywall: for example, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has introduced a membership club that offers new additional content and special events to its committed readers. This seems like a possible option for publishers who fear sacrificing their ad revenue but want to experiment with paid online content.

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.

Its advantages are multiple: finding news, advertising stories, curating your community of readers. Twitter's limitations, however, are that its information can be hard to verify. These uses and limitations became particularly clear during the aftermath of the Iranian election in June, when many journalists were prevented from reporting and news was increasingly spread by social networks and citizen journalists.

Twitter has had a significant impact on the trend towards up-to-the-minute, real time news. It changed its homepage in July to place more of a focus on search and its potential as a way to discover what people are talking about right now. Google recently announced that it was to integrate real-time social network updates into its search results.

Will it last? Following much debate over how it would actually bring in money, it was just announced that Twitter has indeed become profitable, so one can assume that for now, at least, it is here to stay. Its advantages for journalists are more clear-cut than those of Facebook, but Facebook is used regularly by a wider range of people. With increasing use of Facebook Connect, might this become more prominent in 2010?

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.

Mainstream news outlets have been seeing the benefits of local news: US hyperlocal aggregator Outside.in has seen considerable investment from CNN, and Everyblock, originally created with a grant from the Knight Foundation, was bought by MSNBC. The New York Times introduced a blog called The Local, in an area already overwhelmed by a variety of hyperlocal offerings such as Patch and Maplewood Online. Community websites have also been springing up in the UK.

But, as recently questioned by Benji Lanyado, is hyperlocal actually making money? Has the right business model been found?

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

One of 2009's success stories has been new Portuguese daily i. As newspapers around the world suffer from financial difficulties, launching a new publication could seem like madness. But, so far at least, i has proved any sceptics wrong. The impressively-designed magazine-style newspaper focused on politics and economics has been selling, and has managed to capture a new hard-to-reach audience.

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.

Several funds and start-ups aiming to produce high quality investigative journalism have sprung up, following in the footsteps of the likes of ProPublica and the VoiceOfSanDiego. Locally targeted nonprofits are becoming almost abundant in the US: over the past 3 months the Bay Area News Project began (in September), Oakland Local was founded in October, the Texas Tribune launched in November, as did the Chicago News Cooperative and California Watch appeared earlier this month.

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?

The Kindle, though widely adopted by many newspapers, might not quite have lived up to expectations. Publishers only receive about 30% of what subscribers pay, and besides, e-readers are still prohibitively expensive for many and far from being a "must-have" product. Kindle users are generally older.

But could this be about to change? New products such as the Nook and the improved Sony range are entering the market and the Plastic Logic e-reader Que is to be released in early January. A group of publishers have also come together with plans to develop their own e-reader. Could this competition improve e-reader offerings? Already, Sony is apparently offering a better revenue share than Amazon does, and presumably, giving publishers and consumers a choice will make pricing competitive.

Or might e-readers lose out to tablet computers? The Apple tablet is expected early next year - with more functionality, could it and similar products appeal more to the younger generation?

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.

But could a rapprochement be on the cards for 2010? Google has been making conciliatory moves - it has updated its 'First Click Free' program to allow publishers more control over how much of their site is accessible free, it launched its first project that shares revenue with publishers, Fast Flip, and created new ways to view news, such as Living Stories, which might offer advertising potential if developed further.

At the WAN-IFRA World Newspaper Congress in Hyderabad earlier this month, INM's Gavin O'Reilly and Google's David Drummond were far from reaching an agreement but did agree that they would continue meeting in the future to try and solve the issue. Will publishers and Google find a compromise? Or might Microsoft and Bing step into the fray and change everything?

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 rivals: content sharing has become more widespread. For instance, the Ohio News Organisation, a collection of seven newspapers who began sharing content last year in an attempt to substitute Associated Press coverage, produced a collaborative story in November.

Between old and new media: even one of the US's most prestigious newspapers has accepted the need to collaborate with new media projects. In August, the New York Times partnered with nonprofit investigative journalism outlet Propublica to publish a 13,000 word article on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that took two years and an estimated $400,000 to produce. The paper also published a story on the Great Pacific Garbage patch that was funded by crowd-funded journalism initiative Spot.Us. These were both stories that the paper would have been unlikely to publish otherwise

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

The state of mobile phone journalism in Africa

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on December 18, 2009 at 12:56 PM

News on your mobile phone is becoming ever more popular in the west, with The Guardian and The Daily Mirror the latest newspapers to release iPhone apps. But as The Guardian's Digital Content blog reminds us, mobile phones have been an important tool in news distribution in Africa for some time.

Rather than using bandwidth-hungry applications, though, text messages are used to disseminate news headlines, in a broadcast model that mirrors the widespread use of radio as a news medium on the continent. Newspapers are a less important news source outside urban areas, and access to the internet is not yet widespread.

Murdoch sends staff seasonal greetings and looks to the year ahead

Posted by Helena Humphrey on December 16, 2009 at 4:10 PM

In a seasonal greetings email sent to US and UK branches of News Corp International, Rupert Murdoch has praised his staff for weathering a difficult financial year and pointed to the "steps" the company is taking today which will "define the character of our company for many years to come." - Namely Murdoch's intentions to protect all News Corp produced content behind paywalls, as well as removing these articles from Google's search index. Both the Huffington Post and the Guardian have published the full email, the contents of which is posted below:

Survey finds crisis has eroded independence for Spanish journalists

Posted by Jennifer Lush on December 15, 2009 at 1:21 PM

The economic crisis is eroding the independence of Spanish journalists, reports Periodismo Digital, with some 57.5 per cent of directors in national media positions claiming they have less freedom now than in previous years.

Results from a survey carried out by the Press Association of Madrid (APM) as part of its Annual Report 2009 found that directors in Spanish print, radio and television media believed that they now have to play more favourably to the interests of advertisers and institutions as a direct consequence of the financial strain the industry is currently experiencing following the recession.

Future of journalism is digital and hyperlocal, says Dutch editor-in-chief Bart Brouwers

Posted by Helena Humphrey on December 14, 2009 at 6:15 PM

Having enjoyed a successful career in print journalism for over 25 years, holding the position of editor in chief at Sp!ts for the last four, Bart Brouwers has announced his departure from the role, leaving the job in the capable hands of his deputy, Willem Schouten.

The Wall Street Journal two years after Murdoch

Posted by Nestor Bailly on December 14, 2009 at 4:07 PM

Sunday was the second anniversary of Murdoch's purchase of The Wall Street Journal, an event that many press and journalism experts decried as sullying the hallowed status of the respected paper.

But two years later the WSJ is still going strong with high circulation and one of the most successful paywall schemes on the web, ensuring a strong future in the digital age.

Under Murdoch's leadership, the Journal has turned away from business-only analytical focus and towards broader general interest stories and politics with big front-page photos.

PageSuite and KOS Media release Kent News iPhone app

Posted by Nestor Bailly on December 14, 2009 at 1:33 PM

Hailed as a strategy opposite of raising paywalls, Kent News has released a free iPhone app with a battery of features, some new, some not so new. See below for the promo video of its features.

The app allows customers to access page-turning editions of Kent News titles with full e-Reader capability, watch live news video updates, and search for jobs, cars, restaurants and properties that are linked in the news organization's database.

Archives and articles can be searched by keyword with the ability to download single pages or editions to read offline. Advertisers can have links in the paper enabled to go directly to their websites, which is great for them but could be rather annoying for the mis-clicking consumer who would have the app close and replaced by safari opening to the ad page.

Should Google fund new journalism models?

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on December 11, 2009 at 2:56 PM

As the debate between Google and news publishers rages on, an opinion piece in The New York Review of Books has proposed a different solution: that Google should fund a new journalism venture.

A variety of new ventures have been established in response to the tough times the newspaper industry faces. These include non-profit news publications such as the Chicago News Cooperative, California Watch and the Texas Observer. Other organisations including ProPublica, Spot.us and The Foundation for Public Interest Journalism receive funding from community or philanthropic sources, and use the money to support investigative or public-interest reporting.

French agency sees light at the end of the tunnel for international media

Posted by Helena Humphrey on December 11, 2009 at 12:58 PM

Following a difficult financial year for media outlets around the world (to say the very least), Sébastien Danet, president of French media agency ZenithOptimedia, has given his impressions of 2009 as well as his predictions for the year ahead, in an interview with media website tarifmedia.com.

Danet points out that international advertising revenue as a whole took a nose dive of around 10.2 % last year, with only ten countries surveyed out of one hundred around the world managing to maintain their grip on advertising revenue.

Variety.com putting up paywall

Posted by Nestor Bailly on December 10, 2009 at 4:48 PM

In the latest spat of paywall constructions, Variety.com, the entertainment industry newspaper's website, has announced plans to charge for online content starting today, Thursday.

From the official announcement: "Variety will begin its rollout of the website's paywall as part of an overall revamp of the publication's subscription structure.

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."

Eyebrows raised over gender diversity as three female editors resign

Posted by Jennifer Lush on December 10, 2009 at 12:33 PM

Concerns have been raised over the level of gender diversity with the number of women in top newspaper positions dropping. The last week has seen three female newspaper editors resign from their positions 'indicating they are not likely to run a newsroom again,' reports Editor & Publisher.

Karin Winner, announced her retirement after 15 years as editor of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Sixty-four years of age, the decision is not a surprising one- though many are waiting to see who will be named her replacement.

Murdoch's praise of future journalism veils paywalls

Posted by Nestor Bailly on December 8, 2009 at 4:48 PM

In an article in The Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch 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.

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.

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.

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 FTC workshop where it was announced that newspaper subsidies were a definite possibility and will be examined by the FTC.

A lesson for newspapers in the history of tabloids?

Posted by Jennifer Lush on December 8, 2009 at 3:12 PM

In a recent post on Poynter Online, Paula Morton has looked at the lesson that newspapers could take from the history of their generally trashier, less respected cousin, the tabloid.

"A tabloid story sells," she writes, "I admit: when I am caught behind a long line at the Publix checkout, I read the headlines of the National Enquirer. "Senator Caught with Hooker!" "Stars with Cellulite!"... shouting from specially designed pedestal racks positioned exactly at eye-level on the checkout counter."

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