Editors Weblog: Search Results

It's not over yet: Kindle helps Amazon score high 4Q sales

Posted by Maria Conde on January 29, 2010 at 3:47 PM

The Kindle may face stiff competition from the newly released Apple iPad, but the king of the e-reader market will not go down without a fight. New positive figures released by Amazon prove that the battle of the e-readers is far from over.

Before: Will newspapers cash in on Apple's tablet?

Posted by Maria Conde on January 26, 2010 at 4:31 PM

From dock connectors to web analytics to guessing the name of this elusive gadget, all speculation will reach its pinnacle when Apple's widely anticipated tablet is finally unveiled at an event in San Francisco Wednesday.

The much-hyped iSlate (the name of the actual device has not been confirmed) is rumored to have a sleek 10-inch color display and Wi-Fi capabilities allowing newspapers, magazines, and book publishers to deliver their products with an eye-catching design.

A few more details on the New York Times' online payment system

Posted by Emma Heald on January 22, 2010 at 5:06 PM

New York Times executives Janet L. Robinson, president and chief executive of the company, and Martin A. Nisenholtz, senior vice president for digital operations, have answered readers' questions about the upcoming paywall. It was announced on Wednesday that the US's premier general-interest paper was to launch a metered payment system in early 2011.

The paper seems to be taking the crucial issue of ease of use seriously, with the executives stressing that "we are determined to make subscribing as smooth and easy as possible" and they hope that the infrastructure of NYTimes.com will "provide our Web users with an uncomplicated, frictionless experience."

Miami Herald leading the way in Haiti earthquake coverage

Posted by Trafton Kenney on January 15, 2010 at 2:55 PM

As the latest news from Tuesday's earthquake outside of Port-au-Price trickles in to the mainland, newspapers have faced many of the same logistical challenges as rescue crews as they struggle to cover the scale of destruction wreaked on this poverty-stricken Caribbean nation.

With only one foreign correspondent based in Haiti, Jonathan M. Katz of the AP, many major newspapers like the Wall Street Journal struggled initially to get their journalists on the ground. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake had destroyed what little infrastructure Haiti already had, razing government buildings, hospitals, and homes. Telecommunications and power lines have been unreliable if present at all.

The future is digital for Mecom newspapers

Posted by Helena Humphrey on January 15, 2010 at 12:23 PM

Mecom, a 'content and consumer business' under David Montgomery, publishes 25 million newspapers per week across Europe; thrice as many as the UK's Johnston Press. In 2007 the company's share price plunged a disastrous 97 percent due to weak advertising and debt, an unfortunate turn of events the news publisher been struggling to recover from ever since.

Trading up yesterday however, revealed an altogether brighter outlook for the publisher of some 300 titles, its share price jumping 14.8 percent, topping the FTSE Small Cap .FTSC leaders board.

Are social media and paywalls compatible? How the WSJ is making both work

Posted by Maria Conde on January 14, 2010 at 5:41 PM

With newspapers struggling to make a profit as advertising revenues decrease - just in the last quarter of 2009, American newspapers earned 17% less from online advertising than they had done a year earlier - many newspapers have turned to offering their online content for a fee.

France's Bolloré Media confirmed that it is planning to launch a paid high-quality paper this year

Posted by Emma Heald on January 13, 2010 at 6:20 PM

Bolloré Media, publisher of free French dailies Direct Matin Plus and Direct Soir, is planning to launch a paid high-quality paper this year, president Jean-Christophe Thiery confirmed to Le Figaro during an interview about why the Direct Matin Plus will no longer be printed at Le Monde's printing plant.

Thiery said that the paper would aim for circulation of 300,000. It will include analysis and opinion, he said. It was previously reported that the paper was inspired by Il Foglio, an Italian right-leaning paper.

Plans for such a paper were first outlined in 2008, according to Le Figaro, but the launch date has been postponed from the original plan of early 2009. In a Figaro article from September last year, it was suggested that the general interest paper would be sold for between €0.50 and €1.

Source: Le Figaro (1), (2)

AP's new social network manager interviewed

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 13, 2010 at 2:57 PM

All AP journalists should use social media, and more AP accounts will be rolled out on social networks in the coming weeks, according to AP's new manager of social networks Lauren McCullough. In an interview with Steve Myers on Poynter Online, McCullough has explained her vision of an active two-way conversation about the news.

"Social media plays a central role in our newsgathering," she says, adding that social networks are used both to build sources and monitor trends. At the same time, the AP seeks to distribute its content through social networks, such as on their new winter Olympics website, optimised for social sharing. Accompanying Twitter and Facebook accounts are planned.

True to his word: Murdoch blocks news aggregator

Posted by Helena Humphrey on January 11, 2010 at 12:02 PM

Towards the end of last year, Rupert Murdoch, head of News International, spoke out against news aggregators. In an interview with Sky News Australia, he condemned the likes of Google as nothing more than "thieves", intent on stealing content from his newspaper's websites for their own benefit. The media mogul has long wielded threats of removing all News International articles from search indexes and implementing stringent paywalls around all his websites by the end of 2010.

It's only January, but Murdoch has already set about putting his plans into action: On Friday, the Guardian reported that News International is to prevent the aggregator NewsNow.co.uk from linking to content found on the Times Online website, by changing its search engine settings via the robots.txt protocol.

ExplainThis: Jay Rosen's user-centric approach to news

Posted by Maria Conde on January 8, 2010 at 4:58 PM

About a month ago, Jay Rosen, a journalism professor at New York University, published a post on his blog about an idea that could make journalism better by allowing more people to participate in the journalistic process: ExplainThis.

Aware of the importance of context and research in the news environment, Rosen explained to the Poynter Online that his idea was based on a user-centric approach to news.

Magazine launched with aim of "neatly putting the screws" on Germany

Posted by Helena Humphrey on January 8, 2010 at 12:53 PM

December saw the launch of a new German news magazine, as Zuerst or "First" hit newsagents' shelves across the country, as well as those in Austria, Luxembourg and South Tyrol, with an initial print run of 90,000. Like other monthly publications of its type, Zuerst's 84 pages are filled with articles concerning the economy, current affairs, travel and culture. Flick through the magazine and you would be forgiven for aligning the publication with established news magazines Spiegel or Stern - the very ilk of which it is infact competing against. Take a closer look and it becomes clear that the publication is offering an altogether different message.

QUE is finally here: Plastic Logic's new e-reader

Posted by Emma Heald on January 8, 2010 at 11:55 AM

Plastic Logic launched its long-awaited e-reader yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. QUE, described in a press release as "the world's first proReader" is a large screen product aimed at business people. For now, it is only available in the US, shipping in April, and there were no details about dates for launches in other countries.

The e-reader measures 8.5 by 11 inches and has a touch-screen 10.7 inch display. It is plastic, and therefore lighter and possibly more durable than a glass screen. Two models are available: 4GB and 8GB. Digital books are being supplied by Barnes and Noble, but selling books is not its primary goal.

It is very much being marketed at business people rather than leisure readers. The press release quotes Plastic Logic CEO Richard Archuleta who said that "mobile professionals can look forward to a paperless briefcase, a lighter load and a better way to work." It supports reading and annotating documents, and also features a calendar that can import appointments from its owner's computer. It can even display emails, and Plastic Logic will have an app for BlackBerry phones so that users can wirelessly sync content from their phones, according to Wired.

PC World, whose reporter was at the show, described the QUE's interface as "much richer" than those of current products. "It feels a bit less like an electronic book, and a little more like a computing device that happens to be focused around reading." Its homepage seems to be aimed at more than just reading.

Its price is also definitely targeted at professionals: the QUE will be expensive compared to other e-readers on the market: the 4GB version, with wi-fi, USB and Bluetooth, is priced at $649 and the 8GB version, which also includes AT&T wireless, is $799. Amazon's Kindle DX, in comparison, is $489, Barnes and Noble's Nook is $259, Sony's Reader Touch is about $299.

So what's in it for newspapers?

Plastic Logic has sought to present itself as a suitable strategic partner for newspapers for some time. In an interview in March last year, Daren Benzi, Plastic Logic VP for business development, told the EW that "newspapers and magazines really are our core focus" and suggested that publications might also be able to bring in advertising revenue from the device.

Yesterday the company announced that, using its truVue technology, the QUE "enables newspapers, magazines, and other types of content to have a richer reading experience that is symbolic of their print editions, complete with photos and formatting." The press release quoted Dave Hunke, president and publisher of USA Today, who said that "it's really exciting that there is an eReader platform that delivers our content the way it's supposed to look and feel." PC World's reporter confirmed that USA Today on the QUE "preserved a USA Today-like personality," and said that the truVue formatting "looks like a big improvement on the drab, text-only presentation on the Kindle and Nook."

And several newspapers seem to have been convinced that getting their product on the QUE would be a good move. New content partners announced include the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Sacramento Bee, Miami Herald, Oakland Tribune, Huffington Post, ProPublica and The Sporting News Today, Barron's, Fast Company and Forbes. These publications join previously announced strategic partnerships with USA Today, the Financial Times, Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News.

The press release states that publications are available on the QUE store for one-time use or as an ongoing subscription. A subscription to the New York Times costs $24.99 per month, the Washington Post is $11.99, and the Chicago Tribune and LA Times are both $9.99, for example. Obviously a big question for newspapers is the revenue split: how much of this amount actually goes to the publisher. It has become well-known that the split on the Amazon-reader is not particularly favourable, with the publisher only receiving about 30%. Though exact figure have not been released, it has been suggested that Sony offers a better deal on its e-reading devices, and several publishers recently signed on.

The eReader market is undoubtedly expanding, with Samsung also launching e-reader products at the CES, and the Skiff made a preview appearance. It sounds as if the QUE is offering a high quality device that compares favourably to its rivals (although Skiff might turn out to be a good competitor). For newspapers, the fact that their products will be presented in a format that is more similar to their print edition is likely to be appealing, as is the fact that it allows for updates to the display page throughout the day as a newspaper that updates itself. The revenue split and potential for advertising are equally crucial, however, and these are as yet unknown to the public.

The pricing of the device is likely to be prohibitive for many and therefore it is likely that the QUE will indeed be a niche device for successful professionals, providing a smaller, though desirable, market for publishers. Of course, there is also the looming threat of tablet computers, which with increased functionality and not hugely higher price tags, might soon provide some serious competition.

What tablet computers could mean for newspapers

Posted by Maria Conde on January 7, 2010 at 3:43 PM

The buzz keeps growing and growing around tablets - electronic devices with a touch-screen interface, e-reader capabilities, as well as web browsing among others.

Rumors about Apple's tablet, or the iSlate, as it is now being called, have been gaining momentum as the elusive and innovative device that is supposed to look like a bigger version of Apple's iPhone, prepares to launch early this year.

Several other big high-tech players have also lined up to present their own versions of the slate. Just this last Wednesday, Microsoft unveiled the Hewlett-Packard yet to be named tablet at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Huffington Post estimated to bring in $12 - 16 million this year

Posted by Emma Heald on December 18, 2009 at 6:39 PM

Los Angeles Times writer James Rainey asks "Will the Huffington Post strategy pay off?" following an interview with founder Arianna Huffington. The company does not provide figures, he specified, but "three people who work in the field estimated that it would take in $12million to $16 million this year."

Greg Coleman, Huffington's chief revenue officer, aims to double the site's revenue in one year and build it six-fold in three, Rainey said. The site is looking at expanding its advertising space.

The Huffington Post has managed to increase its readership over the past year: Rainey pointed out that Nielsen NetView estimated just under 9 million unique visitors to the site last month, 27% higher than in the same month of 2008. It now has 89 full-time employees, eleven of whom produce original content. In an effort to move away from covering almost purely political news, as it did in its early days, the site has added several other topic-specific and local sections.

HuffPost has also embraced social media, partnering with Facebook to allow readers to easily share articles, and it created a popular iPhone application.

Source: Los Angeles Times

BBC to aggregate headlines from commercial outlets

Posted by Jennifer Lush on December 15, 2009 at 12:05 PM

The BBC, who yesterday announced a new initiative to grant the general public access to professional media training resources, has also revealed it will expand the content available on its news website by linking to rival sources via an aggregation-like system, reports The Independent.

The move comes after accusations headed by News Corp's chairman and CEO for Europe and Asia, James Murdoch, that the corporation, in choosing to remain free, is flooding the market and preventing competitors from expanding online and charging for their content. The new plan would reportedly see links to commerical websites added at the end of BBC stories.

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.

Outside.in gets big investor, looks to the future

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on December 10, 2009 at 5:05 PM

CNN has decided to go local. The news channel will invest in hyperlocal news aggregator Outside.in as part of the site's $7million series B funding round. CNN will begin displaying feeds from Outside.in on its newly revamped site early next year.

Outside.in aggregates news from blogs and news media sites into feeds of specific neighborhoods- there are currently 57 830 neighborhoods available (sorry, US and Canada only)- creating a personalized aggregation feed for the user. CNN, which is owned by Time Warner, will assumedly use the feeds to personalize the site for each reader.

McSweeney's looks to save print; 320 page newspaper results

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on December 9, 2009 at 5:04 PM

The San Francisco Panorama, also known as the the 33rd edition of McSweeney's Quarterly, was released yesterday. The 320 pages of full color comes complete with investigative reporting, comics, a book section, posters, and a 16$ price tag.

According to media wonderchild and McSweeney's editor Dave Eggers, the quarterly chose to make a newspaper from scratch for its newest issue to "demonstrate the many things that newspapers can do uniquely well, and how necessary they are to a thriving democracy."

McSweeney's collaborated with over 150 freelance writers, designers, and artists. The Panorama includes contributions by Stephen King, Miranda July, Junot Diaz, Chimamanda Adichie, and Art Spiegelman.

Making Google pay, the Axel Springer way

Posted by Helena Humphrey on December 9, 2009 at 3:37 PM

Rupert Murdoch is not the only mogul looking to make money from online content - it's just that what with the intense media circus surrounding his rants, not to mention the severity of his accusations (think calling Google and Yahoo out and out thieves on international TV) he's the only one we've really heard about of late.

Led by Matthias Döpfner, Axel Springer, publisher of Europe's biggest daily, Das Bild, and other newspapers across Germany and Eastern Europe, is plotting the numerous ways in which it too can go about monetising its content online.

Christoph Keese, 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."

AOL hired 150 journalists in 2009

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on December 8, 2009 at 5:34 PM

AOL Media has hired 150 journalists this year, its President Bill Wilson said in an interview with Media Bistro. They have also increased their staff of freelancers by over 3000, from 500 to 3500, he added.

And their memo to new staff asks them to let AOL know if they know someone who can write for them, saying that they still don't have enough writers.

Josh Cohen talks about Google's concession for news publishers

Posted by Jennifer Lush on December 3, 2009 at 12:15 PM

After announcing that it would make concessions to help newspapers earlier this week, Google's Josh Cohen, has given an interview with Media Guardian explaining that the move will help publications retain their relationship with the search engine, without inhibiting their attempts to put up paywalls.

Google has updated its First Click Free program, so that publishers can limit Google News users to look at no more than five pages of content a day without registering or subscribing beforehand. Previously, users have been able to continually view subscription articles for free by entering news websites via the search engine.

Tribune Co. chief waiting for Murdoch to 'take the first sword' over paywalls

Posted by Jennifer Lush on December 2, 2009 at 3:13 PM

Sam Zell, owner of Tribune Co. which includes titles the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, has welcomed Rupert Murdoch's charge for paid online content, saying he is more than happy for the News Corp CEO to "take the first sword" in the battle.

"I'm more than willing to let Rupert take the first sword," said Zell on Tuesday morning as part of a round-table discussion on CNBC's Squawk Box. "And if it works, then I think everybody's going to follow him, and should have in the first place."

Johnston Press to trial paywalls

Posted by Jennifer Lush on November 27, 2009 at 10:26 AM

Johnston Press, the second largest newspaper owner (measured by weekly circulation) in Britain, has announced it will trial paywalls at six of the company's websites as of Monday in order to test the consumer reaction to charging online, reports Press Gazette.

Six newspapers- the Worksop Guardian, the Ripley & Heanor News, the Whitby Gazette, the Northumberland Gazette, the Carrick Gazette and the Southern Reporter- are expected to take part in the experiment which will prevent readers from viewing content unless they sign up to pay £5 for a three month subscription.

Philippines named most dangerous country for journalists

Posted by Jennifer Lush on November 26, 2009 at 1:13 PM

The Philippines has been named the world's most dangerous country for journalists this year by an official for the advocacy group, Committee to Protect Journalists. According to CPJ research, the deadliest event prior to the Philippines murders came in Iraq in 2006 when 11 employees of Al-Shaabiya television were killed in an attack at the station's Baghdad studios.

A.H. Belo and MediaNews to pull content from Google?

Posted by Jennifer Lush on November 25, 2009 at 11:49 AM

Amidst rumours of discussions between News Corp and Microsoft about a possible deal for publishers to have their articles listed exclusively on Bing, Microsoft's revamped search engine, executives at MediaNews and A.H. Belo have revealed that they too might pull their content from Google.

Whilst News Corp chief, Rupert Murdoch, seems to be gaining supporters in his battle against the search giant, whom he has accused of "stealing stories", A.H. Belo and MediaNews have released more cautious statements on the issue and have not ruled Google out altogether. Instead, MediaNews CEO, Dean Singleton, says his chain will only block the search engine from crawling content that it charges for online and will probably continue to allow it to link to free content on the company's newspaper sites.

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