Results matching “community provides forum for”

"Absolutely essential" is how Tony Joseph, CEO and co-founder of Mindworks Global Media describes the need for editorial outsourcing.

Joseph, who spoke today during the first session of the World Editors Forum, illustrated the necessity for outsourcing and described its ability to alter cost-structure. Joseph believes outsourcing can lower costs while still maintaining the "core proposition." 

 

 

 

Olivier Creiche, CEO for Six Apart, a company that provides low cost, easy-to-use media platforms such as Movable Type, spoke this afternoon during the second session of the World Editors Forum. 

The Miami Herald is to launch a set of online hyper-local websites before the end of 2009, reports Editor & Publisher.

The metro daily will initially link five community websites: South Miami and Pinecrest; Miami Springs, Virginia Gardens and Medley; West Kendall; Key Biscayne and Coral Gables.

Rick Hirsch, senior editor/multimedia, said the websites will be run by local residents or organizations: "We've created a platform through which we can give a partner control over a neighborhood section," he said.

Jose Galang has reported on the current state of Philippine media entities for the Asia Media Forum, which he has described as being "in a state of flux". According to Galang, in light of rising production costs no longer covered by the now declining readership, newspapers are now looking for other ways to generate revenue.

Publications around the world have recognised the Internet's potential to attract a wider audience as well as boost profits: In February 2007, fortnightly magazine Newsbreak, specialising in in-depth, investigative reports, did away with its regular printed copy in favour of operating as an online publication (Newsbreak.com.ph). Editor-in-chief, Marites Dañguilan Vitug said of the decision: "We're reaching a wider audience now that we're on the web and we operate on less funds".

Oakland Local is one of many non-profit community news websites currently springing up across the globe as the need for quality local news coverage becomes more obvious. The recession has seen the local news industry suffer staggering financial blows and several news organisations, small and large, have had to heavily cut back on resources or close altogether.

The situation has caused many to express concerns about the dangers of not having a local media watchdog to keep those in power in check: "It makes me worry about all of those public authorities and courts which will in future operate without any kind of systematic public scrutiny. I don't think our legislators have begun to wake up to this imminent problem as we face the collapse of the infrastructure of local news in the press and broadcasting," Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger has said.

Reporting by Cecilia Campbell

With the ever increasing popularity of mobile reading devices such as mobiles phones, net-books, and e-readers, many publishers are seeing the value in producing an e-paper alongside their print editions in order to boost subscriptions and readership. Speaking at the 2nd WAN-IFRA conference on e-readers in Paris last week, Charles Lansu, Marketing Manager for NRC Handelsblad and Olivier Delteil, Business Development Manager, Digital edition, for Groupe Les Echos gave the attending publishers their insight on developing an e-paper.

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NRC Handelsblad: the first Dutch newspaper on electronic paper

Dutch financial daily NRC Handelsblad is currently the only newspaper in the country offering it's readers an e-reading edition of its publication, following its launch in early 2008. Whilst the actual editorial content is the same for both the print and digital versions, the latter also employs it's own team of designers and publishers to negotiate how the content might be presented best on the reduced screen size or devices such as e-readers and mobile phones.

Acting independently of the daily print publication is essential to the success of an e-paper, stressed  Charles Lansu, and there must be a seperate digital strategy. For NRC Handelsblad this strategy meant being available in a popular format (for example PDF, which is suited to both iRex and iLiad e-readers), offering all the content available in the print editions as well as some 'added benefits' and emphasising the 'infancy' of the product to customers, inviting them to offer feedback and help to improve the e-paper.

PPF Media has been getting a lot of international attention lately for its hyperlocal news project in the Czech Republic that is built around Starbucks-style "news cafes" in local communities. CEO Roman Gallo provided an update Friday at the 2015 Newsroom Conference, and the project seems to be working.
 
Thirteen weeks after launch in four Czech regions, circulation of the paid-for weeklies is growing, as it web traffic. And the cafes are quickly becoming a centre of community life, with meetings, concerts, dance lessons and other events organised for local residents.
 
Editorial staff sit in the middle of the cafes, without walls or doors, allowing regular interaction with local residents. Fifty percent of new subscriptions come from people who come in for coffee and conversaton.
 
 "The readers can go there and be in contact.," said Gallo.  "For the editorial team, they're much more open to talk to people, to understand the problems of the people in the region."
 
If the success continues, the company expects a year-long nationwide rollout of 220 weeklies, 89 news cafes and 700 websites.
 
Bertrand Pecquerie, Director of the World Editors Forum, which organised the 2015 Newsroom Conference, said hyperlocal news was a clear trend for newspapers. "Print isn't dead, and hyperlocal news is the future of newspapers, with new players," he said.
 
Community newspapers have been around for decades, but there are several innovations, in addition to the news cafes, that make PPF's Nase Adresa project different:
 
- About a third of the content is provided by local communities - fishermen, firemen, mothers with young children etc. - but none of it goes into the paper or websites without input from a journalist, called a "community manager."
 
"This is a total change for journalists," said Gallo. "Our journalists are not traditional journalist who see something and tell the community about it. We changed the job - they're trainers, coaches, they work with the communities."
 
- The weekly papers and websites are standardized in terms of layout, graphics and features. "We call it 'Media MacDonald's', we have very strong rules, that must be fulfilled at the local level," said Gallo.
 
- A central editor oversees all publications, and support is also centralized through the Futuroom media training complex, which not only provides training but also infographics, data mining and other services (the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers is a partner in Futuroom).
 
While the news cafes and other innovations makes the project worth watching, the strategy is, in fact, based on something very traditional for newspapers.
 
"The advantage of the publishing company is unique content, which you can't find anywhere else, and it has to be credible content," said Gallo. "That's the model that worked for newspapers for 100 years, and I have no doubt it will work for another 100 years."
 
Follow the 2015 Newsroom Conference on Twitter.
 

Channel 4's Innovation for the Public fund, 4ip, has joined forces with Screen West Midlands to finance a new collaborative investigative journalism website.  The project welcomes public participation to clarify issues of local concern. 

The project, Help Me Investigate, is primarily focused on the community; participants will be invited to pose and answer questions online relating to regional practicalities and politics, such as the cost of hospital parking for example.   Its creator, Paul Bradshaw, online journalism lecturer at Birmingham City University, believes Help Me Investigate will be an instrument for residents to obtain answers, furthering the current fashion of holding public authorities and agencies more accountable through methods such as crowdsourcing. The concept of public participation and communication with the causes of accountability and influence in mind has already proved popular with sites such as ProPublica, My Street and They Work for You.  

The future of printed media has become a major political issue in countries like the United States or France, even being debated in ad-hoc committees set up by the legislative or the executive powers. Discussions along the Potomac or the Seine rivers have been focusing on the impact of Internet and new technologies, or on the need for state subsidies.

Meanwhile, on the Vltava in Prague, a group of editors and reporters working for PPF Media, the recently created division of insurance and consumer banking group PPF, is already opening new ways of covering a whole country in what may be a newsroom of the future. With other journalists for the moment based in four provincial towns from the Czech Republic, they are launching the so-called "hyperlocal weekly" Nase adresa ("our address"), which combines print and online journalism with particular efforts to sustain high professional standards and get closer to the readers.

"It can only work with well prepared journalists who will be trained in the Futuroom, our central newsroom," explains Roman Gallo, 44, director for PPF's media strategies and conceiver of the project. "We are also opening newscafés in our local bureaus, which will facilitate the contact between Nase adresa's journalists and the public, to enrich the content of our newspaper and of its webpages," adds Matej Husek, 33, director of news operations.
 
The newspoints, combining local newsrooms and Internet cafés in often small, rural towns, may be the most visible originality of this new undertaking. A few weeks before Nase adresa's launch, for instance, PPF Media's already hired staff had the chance to taste two products, the first print prototype of the weekly, and a cake likely to be served in the cafés. "The project represents a special challenge in terms of logistics, of room for storage, as we will be managing dozens of bistrot-Starbucks-like coffee shops in local newsrooms," comments Tomas Chejn, 41, the manager of PPF Media's branded cafés, a food specialist hired for his long time experience in quality catering. Petr Vitasek, 38, the director and chief editor for the Moravia region, based in the eastern Czech city of Olomouc, thinks this effort is worth the investment, because these "well located newspoints will be critical in getting Nase adresa's journalists to work closer to their readers."
 

 
But the whole project is innovative at other, multiple levels. To start with, for the first time a newspaper's birth is tightly associated to the creation of a multi-media training center - with several international partners including Google, Atex and the World Association of Newspapers/ World Editors Forum. The Futuroom will be a newsroom in charge of assisting and training in-house editors, some having no previous reporting experience, as much as a real life teaching field for future journalists. These will include a group of students within another partnership with Brno's Masaryk University, in the second largest Czech town.

Nase adresa's approach could also become a school case due to the organization of the newsroom. "I like how the Futuroom is shaped. Journalists are not confined to one theme, like health or education, but to a way of reporting, and I enjoy changing topics," says Vendula Krizova, reporter in the "Human approach team" and young (25) like many of her new colleagues. Adds Radim Klekner, 50, who joined the "Institutional team" - after working for 10 different newsrooms - to do researches on European Union institutions in particular: "Vertical structures dominate in traditional newspapers, while in Nase adresa it is more horizontal. In my case, for instance, I will be covering many European issues based on the Czech reality."


Klekner had some doubts initially, however, because he has been covering foreign news in the past 15 years.  Why would he join a hyperlocal news project as an international editor, then? "There is a need for benchmarking with other European countries in all aspects of the Czech society, and with Nase adresa I will be able to give a EU presence in the remotest Czech villages", he believes. "Our role is to assess general issues like the lack of general practitioners in the country, compared to others, and connect them to specific cases brought up by the local newsrooms."
 

 
Local journalists with long intensive experience covering their community are also convinced they are working for an innovative project. Vitasek, in Olomouc, even tried a hyperlocal news concept on his own five years ago, called Olomoucky Tydenik. "It was a weekly published on Mondays and strong on local sports, like Nase adresa. We had to stop it after one year, but this time I have with me a 10-people team supported by PPF and by the Futuroom managers and trainers. Our office, in a central strategic area of Olomouc, will be a space for constant direct contact with readers and potential contributors."

Based on her 30 year experience in local journalism, Hana Vojtova, 52, the chief editor of the Teplice newspoint, in the north Bohemian city near the border with east Germany, also believes Nase adresa is a new improvement for community journalism: "We will get nearer to the people from the region, who are tired of politics and want to be informed on human interest stories," explains Vojtova, whose district is dramatically affected by problems like crime and unemployment. "We are going to cover better our readers's activities and their dreams!"
 

 
The project has attracted several other seasoned editors from all backgrounds, including Jiri Zavozda, 50, Nase adresa's head of the copy editing team. He just finished a seven year experience in major private television "Prima", as news editor-in-chief, after working more than a decade for national newspapers. "The TV experience was good because it teaches you how to write short, but I prefer print because it is less superficial," says Zavozda. There are other reasons why he joined the Futuroom. "I see my in-laws, who live in a little village in Moravia and who have only access to media not specifically targeted to them, national daily Mlada Fronta, newsweekly Tyden and the television. Only Nase adresa will inform them well on the Sunday afternoon firemen team's competitions, which are particularly popular in the Czech republic. We will get spectacular photos of fires being extinguished!"

Adds Peter Sabata, 48, the editor-in-chief responsible for the local newsroom: "I strongly believe in the hyperlocal level of information, with the combination of newspoints, and print, online journalism. The weekly will be a bridge from now to the near future, when everybody in the regions will be connected." Sabata just moved back to the Czech republic after eight years at the head of national Slovak paper Pravda's newsroom.

 
Other Nase adresa team members are particularly enthusiastic because of the new challenges specific to a project combining teaching and praxis, online and print journalism, so far never achieved at such a level. Ondrej Besperat, 31, who manages the photo-video team in a duo with veteran photojournalist Jan Silpoch, is well aware of the differences between shooting for a newspaper or for a website. Before joining the Futuroom, he was a photographer for national daily Hospodarske Noviny and then worked for Aktualne.cz, the successful, Internet-only Czech media outlet. "In printed media, you have to do one or two pictures a day, and you invest all your energy in the best one, while in Internet, you try more different perspectives as you know that several pictures are likely to be released for each story."

Besperat anticipates he is likely to spend two third of his time training reporters from the local newsrooms, at the beginning at least. "One of the main challenges will be to shoot sport with our standard high-end amateur cameras," he says. "The idea is not to have journalists who do everything all the time, but reporters who are multifunctional, able to provide good texts and images."

 
Nase adresa will also represent new challenges beyond the expertise usually expected from  journalists, especially for the local chief editors who will have to look after a coffee shop part of their time. "Ten years ago I had a short experience working for Coca Cola, but this will be new because I am not at all a food and beverage specialist," laughs Vitasek, in Moravia. Krizova, who is glad to cover very diverse topics, is also ready for another type of special assignment as a young reporter. She will be asked to take care of children visiting the Futuroom - turned into a "Junioroom" or "media camp" - to learn how to write an article or produce a video footage.


PPF Media's project will be preparing new generations of journalists and not just showing new forms of getting and providing the news.
 

BACKGROUND
The Czech Republic is a country of 10 million people living in 14 regions subdivided in 75 districts in total. Until 20 years ago, only the government and Communist Party related entities could publish newspapers. This was also the case for the regional dailies, and for more local publications at district or town levels. German group Verlagsgruppe Passau took over most of them in 1990 and after, under its Czech branch Vltava-Labe-Press which currently controls over 10 weeklies and over 70 dailies called Denik ("daily", followed by the name of the concerned locality). Nase adresa will have no direct competitors except in a few cases, because its editions will typically cover areas of 20-30,000 people while Denik and its affiliates are designed for larger groups, of over 100,000 inhabitants on average.

Welcome to the archives of Editors Weblog Webinars. The webinars provide you with pertinent information and innovative ideas that can be immediately adapted in your newsroom.

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Search engine optimization for newsrooms: How to teach your journalists to write for the web
With Times of London Head of Search, Drew Broomhall
Webinar held on 23 June 2009
1. how SEO works
2. how to teach SEO to journalists and editors
3. how to make sure SEO is being implemented and tracking effectiveness
Buy the SEO for Newsrooms Webinar for only €59!

Twitter for journalists: How the real-time Web can improve your newspaper's journalism
With CEO of Visual Editors and international newspaper consultant, Robb Montgomery, US
Webinar held on 30 June 2009
1. how to use Twitter to find stories
2. how to use Twitter to virally spread stories
3. how to encourage journalists to use Twitter
4. what are some of the best newspaper strategies for using Twitter
Buy the Twitter for Journalists Webinar now for only €59!
 

Local databases: How to dig deep into the most important community stories
With Tom Callinan and Brian Butts, Cincinnati Enquirer/ Gannett, USA
Webinar held 7 July 2009
1. how to create a community database for your newsroom and audience
2. how to find stories and information with community databases
3. how to improve interaction with your audience
Buy the Local Databases Webinar now for only €59!

Going Web-Only: JOHN YEMMA, Editor-in-Chief, Christian Science Monitor
Webinar held on March 24, 2009
On 1 April, 2009, the Christian Science Monitor was the first major US newspaper to switch its daily production to an all-online format accompanied by a weekly print magazine. Listen to John as he talks about:
1. managing the newsroom through its transition
2. the strenghts and weaknesses of online-only
3. CSM's new "three-pronged" workflow
For more information about the Christian Science Monitor's radical overhaul, click on the links below:
Why the move away from print?
Preparing the newsroom for a paperless future
New weekly edition

Buy John Yemma's Webinar now for only €59!

Financial Times editor Lionel Barber's Poynter Fellowship lecture at Yale University focused on whether the financial media should have been able to predict the global financial crisis, an issue which has already been discussed in some depth in the UK. "These are the best of times and the worst of times to be a financial journalist," he announced: "The best, because we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to report, analyse and comment on the most serious financial crisis since the Great Crash of 1929." The worst, not only due to the severe suffering of the media industry but because the "financial media find itself accused of missing the global financial crisis... failing to warn an unsuspecting public of impending disaster."

Barber addresses whether these charges add up, whether the press was "an accomplice or merely an innocent bystander." He explained that he had been questioned, along with other senior journalists, by the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee on the topic. He believes that the quality of questioning fell short, and mentioned one of the more "improbable" accusations: that the British financial press "had deliberately buried the bad news because bad news did not sell newspapers."

The Washington-based museum of news (pictured right) celebrates its first birthday this month,
although it was first opened in Rosslyn, Virginia in 1997. An initiative of the Freedom Forum, a politically neutral organization, the "world's most interactive museum" has been hailed a success, attracting 700,000 people since it opened - despite a $20 entry fee.

Following discussion of US President Obama's apparent attempts to bypass the traditional Washington press corps and target alternative 'friendly' media, Politico has reported that New York Times and Washington Post editors were not offended that they were not picked to ask questions during yesterday's press conference in the East Room of the White House. However Charlotte Hall, president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, was disappointed at Obama's decision to skip over major newspapers, as "newspapers do the majority of watchdog and investigative reporting in the country."

Project for Excellence in Journalism director Tom Rosenstiel believes that "I think we need to watch and see if there is a larger pattern here," before drawing conclusions from this about the way that the White House views the papers and their role in the changing media landscape. But what is clear is that the new president is not content to just speak to journalists, as further demonstrated by his Internet conference held today. He will be in the East Room once again, but this time responding to questions from the public rather than the press, which are submitted online rather than in person.

To mark the relaunch of the Editors Weblog, the World Editors Forum is running a special series entitled "Doing More with Less." The series highlights major trends that editors-in-chief are using to steer their newsrooms through the difficult economic climate. The seventh in the series takes a look at non-profit investigative journalism site VoiceOfSanDiego.org.

As newspapers make cuts to survive and concentrate their efforts, one of the first areas to suffer is the time- and resources- consuming field of investigative journalism. And that is where the VoiceOfSanDiego.org has stepped in; a non-profit, online-only publication focussing on quality investigative reporting for the San Diego area. The Editors Weblog spoke to Executive Editor Andrew Donahue and housing and economy reporter Kelly Bennett about their mission.

The Gap

"If there is one storyline that sums up why we exist, it is because investigative journalism on a very local level isn't being done." Andrew Donohue was clear about the role of VOSD: to fill the gaping hole in "in-depth analytical accountability journalism, the public service arm of a newspaper," that has emerged in recent years in other communities as well as in San Diego.
Donohue believes that "so many newspapers are cutting back to such extreme levels that there is no way that they are getting the investigative news that they deserve and need." The problem is most severe in American cities, where for many years there has been just one newspaper with something of a monopoly on providing information, so if that paper stops launching investigations, then who will take its place? Investigative journalism has a vital role to play in local societies, exposing wrongs and pushing for change. Bennett pointed out another important element to consider: its value as a deterrent against potential corruption. She sees this as a safeguard for society, it is about "developing that reputation that there are people looking, sending a message to people in power."

"If there is one storyline that sums up why we exist, it is because investigative journalism on a very local level isn't being done." 

Balancing site readability and impact

VOSD reporters are assigned to specific beats, a concept borrowed from traditional publications. Donohue explained that the VOSD journalists were constantly trying to balance the two crucial elements of their job: to keep the website lively and updated, but also to commit time to investigative reporting that can have a significant impact. Such reporting is undoubtedly time intensive if it is to be done thoroughly, which it is at VOSD. Staff are encouraged to meet with any relevant sources and to always do public records requests and fight "really hard" for documents. Bennett explained that the very nature of investigative journalism means that you never really know how a project is going to turn out, so it can be difficult to allocate appropriate resources.

Inspirational reporting

Donohue pointed out one major project, 'Redevelopment gone wrong' which has been an inspiration to him and his staff.  VOSD launched three different areas of investigation into public agency the Southeastern Economic Development Corp., and over the course of a number of years "exposed a wide range of conflicts of interest, fraud and other sorts of misbehaviour." The publication's work has led to FBI and criminal federal grand jury investigation, the board of the agency has been completely revamped and the president has been forced to resign. Donohue is proud of the depth of coverage produced, of VOSD's determination to keep sticking with the story, and of course of the impact. "It can be very disheartening and very frustrating if you spend 6 months on a project and nothing actually changes," he explained. So "watching the impact of this story has been inspiring for us as journalists."

Day-to-day flexibility

VOSD has a more flexible working environment than many traditional publications.  Donohue explained that as long as reporters are "producing the quality of journalism that we require," they are free to work from the office or at home, and can choose their hours.  They have also tried to "eliminate the idea of deadlines altogether," explained Donohue: stories go up on the site when they are ready. Reporters are always free to propose their own stories, they are not necessarily assigned by editors. "We are firm believers in the idea that ideas bubble up from reporters' beats," added Donohue. "I would be a fool if I thought that I knew more than my reporters about their beats"

Staff: traditional experience and new blood

VOSD's eleven staff are a mixture of experienced journalists who have worked in newspapers for many years, and people fresh out of college who have never reported full time before.  Donohue explained that both "offer really valuable perspectives," although those who had been at traditional newspapers longer found it harder to adapt to work at VOSD.  "It's fascinating to watch" the process, Donohue commented. Bennett described how staff often discuss the "rules" of traditional newspapers and decide which ones they should follow.

Non-profit allows for total focus on story impact

Both Donohue and Bennett were very positive about the advantages offered by VOSD's non-profit status. Most crucial is the simple fact that they do not have to make anyone any money; rather just make enough to support the organisation.  This means, as Donohue explained, that "you measure success differently." Papers which are desperately seeking every hit they can get on their website risk cheapening their news, or moving away from their core focus. "We know what we could put on our site to get more hits," stressed Donohue, "but it would lessen the impact of our stories." The unique aspect of a non-profit, Donohue explained, is that "ultimately our success is judged by the impact of our stories: What have our stories done?" And this impact, evidently, is what is most important to investigative journalism. Bennett added that for her, "there has been some major value in being able to tell people that you are writing the story independently. For me the non-profit, independent aspect of VOSD has been part of the justification for reporting the way I do."

"Ultimately as non-profit our success is judged by the impact of our stories: What have our stories done?"

Donor money does not buy influence

One potential problem with privately funded non-profits is that those who fund them could try to influence the news that comes out of them.  Donohue was clear that this has not been a problem at VOSD. "We have made it very clear that your money does not buy you influence," he clarified. "We draw the lines, and as long as we draw them clearly and boldly then there aren't problems." He explained that he himself had been sceptical of donors' motives when he first started working with VOSD, but that he had quickly come to understand that investigative journalism at its heart is a "public service institution," and that many funders were large philanthropic organisations who frequently give grants to all sorts of organisations. A recent donor was the Knight Foundation; others are local foundations that work on quality of life issues, others are "prominent citizens," or members of the community who give smaller amounts. A total of 750 people have given money.  

Multimedia and reader interaction

One of the great advantages of being online-only is the potential for multimedia. As Bennett pointed out, if a newspaper promotes a multimedia package to accompany a story, there will be so many steps to take to actually access it that few readers will, while as online, it is right there.  She accompanies some stories with video, audio or slideshows when she feels it would add to them.  Her monthly feature "People at work," which looks at a San Diego resident through the lens of their job, often includes a multimedia feature.  Another benefit of working online is the possibility to interact with readers.  VOSD allows comments on its opinion pieces and opinion blogs, but not on news stories or news blogs, as Donohue believes that they should "let the news stand by itself," and they do not have sufficient resources to carry out the necessary moderation of the comments. Reporters also interact in different ways with their audience, using blog postings to solicit thoughts, ideas and comments for stories, which Donohue described as "a great source of information." A regular feature called 'The People's Reporter' is very popular. Readers can send in tips and questions and a reporter will spend a day responding on a blog, and "it has led to great discussion and some more long-term stories, Donohue explained.

Competing with traditional media?

Donohue described VOSD's relationship with local paper the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was adamant that VOSD is more than just an alternative voice to supplement the Tribune's coverage, but also not a direct competitor overall. However within VOSD's chosen field of quality of life issues, the site does compete: "we always want to have the best stories and have them first." And Donohue hopes that the people of San Diego benefit from this lack of monopoly, as "the more competition there is in the media, the better it is for everybody and the better the community is served."

Is this the future for local news?  

VOSD's coverage is firmly local, and focussed very much on quality of life issues. Donohue believes that the model works, and plans to continue along the same lines, although he sees it as one of many that will be tried in upcoming years. The non-profit model may well have to be used more: "at least until news orgs find a way to make this thing work financially, it will have to be done philanthropically." He sees a future in which publications become more specialised, and in which people look to many different sources for different types of news. Most crucial is the fact that people try to come up with new ideas and carry them out, as "the thing that has been missing from journalism and the thing that has got us to this point is a lack of innovation and lack of entrepreneurial spirit."

"One thing we've learnt is that the gap we were created to fill keeps just keeps getting bigger"

And the future for VOSD?

For VOSD, Donohue hopes to grow, and eventually become "a very robust news organization, that serves almost as the metro section of a what a daily paper used to be." Maybe it will not become huge in terms of numbers, as Donohue is aware that the current model may not necessarily support a much larger staff, and "there is something to be said for being a quick, lean and efficient organisation." But as "one thing we've learnt is that the gap we were created to fill keeps just keeps getting bigger," VOSD will strive to keep up with filling that gap, and keep looking for more gaps that the traditional media is leaving behind. It may well not be a model that works everywhere, but VOSD's commitment and success show that it can work, and should be taken seriously by communities whose newspapers have lost their public service arm.

Thomson Reuters plans to "roll out a major social media coverage package "to enhance its coverage of the World Economic Forum which begins tomorrow in Davos, Switzerland.  Reporters will use Twitter and YouTube to share video and updates from the Forum. 

According to Mark Jones, global community editor at Thomson Reuters, "We want to turn the coverage around, by asking delegates what they think the biggest issues facing the global economy are, then use social media to let the public offer their opinion."

To mark the relaunch of the Editors Weblog and the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper Blog, the World Editors Forum is running a special series entitled "Doing More with Less." The series highlights major trends that editors-in-chief are using to steer their newsrooms through the difficult economic climate. This week, we looked at the Tampa Tribune, which has radically revamped its newsroom, and some examples of Editorial Outsourcing, a trend which many news publications have adopted. Below, editors from around the world share their own thoughts about EDITORIAL OUTSOURCING.

AFRICA
Azubuike Ishiekwene, Executive Director, Punch Nigeria
Editorial outsourcing is not an immediate problem for Punch, but we're already looking down the road to that moment. We think that before we reach that bridge, regular and forward-looking review of content (especially print content), and the continuous evaluation of job schedule of journalists across platforms might help us keep cost down and decide how best to apply our resources.

LATIN AMERICA
Marcelo Rech, General Product Director, RBS Group, Brasil
Due to labor laws in Brazil, it's difficult to outsource staffers, but I think the ideal newsroom would be the one with a "hard nucleus", made up of editors, assistant editors, page designers, some videophotographers and some reporters, and a broader staff of reporters, columnists and image producers working under specific tasks. In this way, we could have more diversification, flexibility and cost managing.

In my view, the newsroom looks like a tree: the trunk is the team of editors, the branches are the assistant editors and page designers - those are the structure of the newsroom, and must be very close to the general concepts for the product.

The leaves and fruits are the reporters and columnists. A tree without a healthy and strong trunk would die, but in the end are the fruits what people pay for. 

EASTERN EUROPE
Roman Gallo, Director of Media Strategies, PPF Financial Group
First, newspapers must target their product as specifically as possible. They shouldn't be developing products or writing articles which others could do better. To complement this strategy, newspapers should have a completely integrated newsrooms with skilled and competent staff that can produce material across all platforms. With a staff like this, editorial functions will not have to outsourced.

Newspapers can also tap into the community of Readers for content to supplement that of their newsroom. If the newsroom is looking for extra help, this can be a better means of gathering content than outsourcing because the readers are immediately familiar with the community.

WESTERN EUROPE
Espen Egil Hansen, Editor-in Chief, Verdens Gang Multimedia, Norway
 I don't think the key question should be "How to do more with less", but rather does the new technology and new market situations give us some new opportunities?

In VG Multimedia we spend some time and energy studying two companies outside the traditional media business that might inspire some change: Apple and Ryanair.

Can we learn from Steve Jobs and his Iphone?
Not only is the Iphone in itself a great product, in what appears as a stroke of genius Apple opened up, enabling everyone to create applications for the phone. Teenagers, programmers, and creative people around the globe develop great products for the Iphone - without pay. With no cost for Apple there has been added more than 15 000 applications to the company's Appstore   and they have already been downloaded more than 500 million times! For every new application and for every new download the value of the Iphone rises for the end users. And best of all, from Apple's perspective, since the company controls the distribution of these applications it gets a cut of every sale.

In Norway the 15 year old Knut Ørland has outperformed media companies developing the most popular TV-guide for Iphones. From his boy's room in a little city on the west coast of Norway he launches Iphone applications and earns a profit most teenagers can only dream about. For every sale through the Appstore he gets to keep 70%. The boy is of course happy, Apple is happy because it gets to keep the 30% and the end user is happy because the product is great. By the way - there is no need to buy a newspaper or go online to check what's on TV right now. Not all Iphone applications turn into a success, but if it does, Apple is guaranteed its share. Smart!

Media's approach to product developing has by contrast always been this: We want to do everything ourselves. If we are to make a new product - let's say a new travel section in the Sunday paper - our approach is always more journalists and more purchased freelance material. Smart?

Electronic media is by nature communication and cooperation. If we don't start to understand this we will be forced to ask the same question over and over in the years to come: How can we do more with less?

Can we learn from Ryanair?
While most airlines focus on how to charge as much as possible for each ticket, the low cost airline Ryanair has great success with going the opposite way: How can we charge less? The company compensates lower fares by turning what used to be costs, into new revenue streams. While the tickets are cheap you have to pay extra for food, baggage or boarding the plane early to pick your favorite seat. Together with a long range of cost cuts and commission based products like care rental and hotels, Ryanair has used this approach to become one the most profitable airlines in Europe.

The question newspapers should be asking themselves is: Are there costs in our company we can turn into revenue?


NORTH AMERICA
Ed Greenspon, Editor-in-Chief, Globe and Mail, Canada
We have not experimented, at least not yet, with very much in the way of editorial outsourcing of layouts I a major way.  We remain very interested in the experiences of others but a bit wary.
Of course, to some extent, we have always outsourced.  We tap the talents of a large number of freelance contributors, some of them highly-specialized.  We also have a few standardized pages, such as our comics and puzzles page and our stock listings, produced outside the newsroom. But we haven't ventured into outsourcing the kind of dynamically designed, valued added and pages that speak to our brand message on a given day.
In the opinion field, we tend to go outside in order to compliment our own columnists with more specialized contributors. In other areas, such as multi-media, we tend to use agencies for more commoditized news, thus freeing up staff journalists to focus on the value added material that distinguishes and differentiates us. Thus we have a small Globe Docs unit, which works with our staff to produce high quality video companion pieces to major print features, and sometimes vice versa. Our award-winning Talking to the Taliban is one such example.

Terry Eberle, Executive Editor and Vice President, Fort Myers News Press, Florida
We are using more freelancers and are partnering with other newspapers for certain sports coverage we once produced ourselves. We also are talking about partnerships with television stations to see what makes sense there. As we look for ways to cover more with fewer resources we must keep in mind that the quality of our information can not decline. We must guard against taking shortcuts that hurt readers and our image.

To mark the relaunch of the Editors Weblog, the World Editors Forum is running a special series entitled "Doing More with Less." The series highlights major trends that editors-in-chief are using to steer their newsrooms through the difficult economic climate. The sixth in the series takes a look at outsourcing editorial work to India.

Editorial outsourcing has frequently been presented throughout the Western world in a very negative light. The idea of trained American or European journalists and copy editors losing their jobs to workers across the world in India or Australia who will work for far less has appalled many, and others worry about a drop in quality. But is it really as bad as it sounds, or are people rejecting a good business model in favour of a misplaced emotional attachment to traditional values and a fear of change?

The Editors Weblog spoke to Tony Joseph, CEO and co-founder of Mindworks Global Media, which takes on copy editing, layout, and website optimization for clients around the world, and James MacPherson, Editor of Pasadena.now, who has taken the controversial step of hiring a staff of writers in India for his site which reports on local events in Pasadena, California.    

Mindworks: an extension of client's newsdesk

Tony Joseph explained that what his teams essentially do is become an extension of the client's news desk. Each member of staff only works for one publication as part of a dedicated team, and the team keeps the same hours as the newsroom with which they are working so that they can stay in constant communication via instant messaging, phone and email.  He stressed that his editors only come in after the content has been generated, and after a senior editor has decided where the article will go.

Each member of staff works as one only one publication and stays in constant communication with the client's newsdesk via instant messaging

One of the fears of editors when contemplating outsourcing is that workers will be out of their sight and hence out of their control, and mistakes will be made.  Joseph explained the steps that Mindworks takes to reduce this. Two crucial principles which he described as "absolutely essential" are "zero loss of visibility and zero loss of control". The work of Mindworks' staff is visible to everyone in the newsroom chain, as they access the client's content management system, and Joseph insists that his editors work within the client's existing hierarchies. A six to eight week alignment and training period is used to ensure that the work of the Mindworks team is fully integrated into that of the client. Various indicators are used to track the alignment process, such as headline editing; Joseph explained that in the first week of alignment 25-30% of headlines written by his staff are changed at the client's end, so they analyse and assess why these are being changed and make it part of the training.

Pasadena: doing away with reporters

MacPherson has adopted an unusual strategy for news reporting, one which he compares to the work of an intelligence agency, or newspapers in the 1920s.  He has entirely separated the process of content gathering and writing. In fact, none of the people he employs could be described as 'reporters' in the traditional sense, rather he has 'observers,' who are "boots on the ground" in Pasadena, and 'writers' in India.  The observers attend events and gather data, generally in the form of audio and video clips. Macpherson or his wife then put together an assignment package, containing interview transcripts, video clips, links to web resources or anything else relevant and this is then sent to the writers in India.  The writers save their articles within the site's CMS, where it is checked by management before it is published.  "It would be absurd," commented MacPherson, "to put anything out to the public that had not been proofread here in Pasadena."

Observers are "minimum wage workers," MacPherson explained, and the India-based writers are paid between $7.50 and $10 for each article, which usually takes them under an hour to produce. So compared to paying American journalists, this is undoubtedly a cheaper option.  MacPherson was vehement that he had not hired Indian writers to replace Americans; rather he hired the Indians first, then hired five additional Americans in response to intense criticism, and was forced to let the Americans go when advertising revenue was showing no increases.  Outsourcing writing "has saved our publication," he emphasised, "we wouldn't be a viable business without it."

"It would be absurd to put anything out to the public that had not been proofread here in Pasadena."

Trained journalists

Both Joseph and MacPherson only employ trained journalists for their outsourcing.  Joseph clarified that his recruits are either from India's top journalism schools, or have ample experience in the field: an average of five years amongst junior staff. Many of his staff have worked in the US. MacPherson explained that he found high quality writers via Craigslist and other websites and he has six people employed on a part time freelance basis. One of his Dehli-based workers is actually originally from Orange County, California, not far from Pasadena itself.

Is outsourcing the future?

Tony Joseph is confident that his company will continue to grow: "our engagements are increasing rapidly both in terms of number and size of operations." Currently, Mindworks handles 13 or 14 titles. He believes that the outsourcing concept is "gaining momentum" as newspapers look to make cost-cuts and increase efficiency in this time of crisis.  

MacPherson is considering hiring more writers in response to a "huge influx of advertising," as a result, he believes, of the fact that "small community websites are beginning to supplant print newspapers." He explained that he is developing "a proof of concept website that the industry can look to," and expressed his hope that the methods he develops can be used by small and medium size community newspapers and websites to keep "doing what they are doing and survive." As a general business model, he proposed the idea of having a few veteran journalists and editors, the kind of people who are "the heart and soul of the local newspaper," supported by 'observers' on the ground and writers, researchers and designers in India.  

The Telegraph Media Group was recently the latest major news organisation to announce that it was outsourcing sub editing of some of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph weekend supplements. It is using Pagemasters, an Australian company owned by the Australian Associated Press, which counts Fairfax media among its clients. Telegraph digital editor Edward Roussel explained that his belief that "Newspaper-web companies should focus internal resources on what they do best: creating premium editorial content." Another option is to adopt a form of in-house outsourcing, such as that which Reuters has been operating for several years.  It employs a team of about 100 financial journalists in Bangalore who cover Wall Street news.  Editor in chief David Schlesinger justified the move by explaining that the New York journalists could now be sent out and about to cover more interesting stories. A crucial difference is that these journalists are Reuters staff and their office is a Reuters bureau, but the fact remains that they are reporting on things happening on the other side of the world, and doing so successfully.

If newspaper revenue continues to fall, people will have to look for more ways to cut costs and editorial outsourcing may well become more and more appealing, even if there is initial reluctance at the staff cuts and modified work practices that have to be imposed. From a business standpoint, it makes sense to get the work done wherever it can be done cheapest, as long as the quality is maintained, and doing things as cheaply as possible is increasingly becoming a must. As MacPherson put it, "people keep saying they don't like what I'm proposing, but what's the alternative?"  

To mark the relaunch of the Editors Weblog, the World Editors Forum is running a special series entitled "Doing More with Less." The series highlights major trends that editors-in-chief are using to steer their newsrooms through the difficult economic climate. The fifth in the series takes a look recently revamped Tampa outlets the Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and WFLA 8. 

Media General's Tampa news outlets have been leaders on the path towards integrated newsrooms for years. Now, as the financial situation at American newspapers weakens, the Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and television station WFLA 8 have used essential cuts in staff numbers and resources as an opportunity to go a step further in creating a completely converged newsroom. On November 10 last year, the 'Interactive Newsroom' went into operation, in which all three platforms, print, online and TV, were further combined.  

It is unclear exactly how many staff have been let go, but senior editor Dennis Joyce told the Editors Weblog that so many empty desks were being removed that there was "plenty of room to play football in our newsroom." He described the staff cuts as a "sad development", but as audience editor Susan Newman commented, there is not much time to dwell on missing colleagues as staff still have to get their product out each day.  And Joyce stressed that the developments were "far more" than just a cost-cutting measure: they would have been "a good idea anyway."

Change happened fast. Joyce said that he had "never seen the likes of it", and estimated that the newsroom had been transformed in about 30-45 days. The physical layout has changed, and many staff have been assigned different responsibilities.  Two floors of the news centre are being used for newsgathering, with print editors and television reporters sitting next to each other.

Separation and elimination

The crucial principle underlying the changes is the separation of content generation and distribution within the newsroom structure, while eliminating duplication in both reporting and delivery of news.

Reporters and editors have been divided into 5 work groups known as "circles" that include people from across disciplines and platforms. The 5 circles are:

1. Deadline (the largest)
2. Grassroots
3. Personal Journalism
4. Watchdog
5. Data (the smallest)

Part of the Deadline circle is the "Live Desk", which is the 'air traffic control centre' for the whole newsroom; it knows where all reporters and crews are at all times and what they are working on, so that it can reallocate resources accordingly. The smaller the team, the better, Joyce explained: whenever possible one or two staffers produce content for all platforms. For instance, photo and video operations have been completely converged and all staff now carry "both weapons".  Sometimes print-based reporters are also sent off with a camera too. 

Content then moves to the six "audience editors", new positions created during the last round of reorganisation. The audience editors are comprised of two print experts, two online experts and two television experts. Susan Newman, one of the six who has 22 years of television experience, defined their role as "managing the content and process in the systems to make sure that all of the platforms are publishing content that is relevant for the audience." The group studies audience metrics and "anything else that measures how content is moving online," to establish how people want different types of information at that moment. Assigning resources to stories and deciding on follow-ups is all part of audience editor responsibility, and they make sure that content is not duplicated unnecessarily from platform to platform.

The new audience editors "make sure that all of the platforms are publishing content that is relevant to the audience"

 
Finally, the three platform specific groups of 'finishers' are in charge of taking the content produced by the five circles and allocated by the audience editors, and preparing it for distribution on to the various platforms. As Newman put it, they are "those who have to get the product to the place it needs to be" (copy desk, designers, online producers, TV producers and anchors). Finishing groups must also collaborate to ensure that relevant content is available to other groups in an accessible format. For example, the television group would take a broadcast piece and extract quotes and stills to send to the print group. 

The organisation of the newsroom's day has also been modified, with a new, cross-platform content meeting taking place at 7am each day, at the time when a "huge contingent" of reporters arrive. During this meeting, editors produce outlines of content that will be in the print edition the following day and on television that evening, and make sure they are taking advantage of their online audience during the key 7am-4pm period. Previously, this outline evolved gradually during the morning. The last editorial meeting of the day is at 3.30pm, when the focus truly switches to the following day's work.
 
Newman emphasised the greater efficiency within the newsroom as levels of senior management have been eliminated. "When you do want to make a change you can make it happen so much more quickly than before because there are fewer people who need to sign off on decision making." The audience editors report directly to the news leadership group, who are the three managing editors for print, online and television.

Increasingly local focus

In conjunction with reforming management of content, the focus of content has also come under scrutiny. Local news coverage is on the up. Joyce explained, "Local is pretty much where we believe our future is. The unique content that will make us valuable to our audience increasingly appears to be local news, as the audience will not get that anywhere else. That is definitely our focus." Newman added that if they do cover national news, they find the "local spin on it." She mentioned the special community pages on TBO.com for which they do "micro-reporting" in different Tampa communities and encourage user-generated content. The website allows comments on every story, and reporters sometimes use information conveyed in comments to spark further story development.

"Local is pretty much where we believe our future is, as the audience will not get that anywhere else."

Enthusisastic staff response

Reactions from staff have been generally positive, Joyce explained. "Had it been an undertaking done outside these economic times we probably would have had more angst. But when you consider the amount of staff reductions and layoffs that we have had recently, a news centre reorganization is seen in an entirely different light, people are now happy to have jobs." When it comes to integration, the group is already "way ahead" when it comes to accepting that breaking news online is essential, and people have been trained for years to learn the skills needed for working on other platforms. Newman added that people are adapting well: "There isn't a journalist who works for this company who doesn't understand that it's not about being platform specific anymore."

Success?

The obvious question that springs to mind is: is this new system going to work? Can a newsroom compensate for staff cuts and diminishing resources by reorganising? Other local newspapers are undoubtedly watching closely to see whether they should follow suit. According to Newman, "we are doing better content now, and we are not missing things," stressing that the newsroom is "giving the audience the content in the way that it will be able to consume it." However, the Tampa outlets are in a relatively "unique" situation, Joyce emphasised, as they consist of the number one local newspaper in the area, and the number one local television station. So compared with a print publication which is frantically trying to train staff to produce video for its website, they already have access to top videographers from the television side.  In light of current financial problems across the industry, maximising on available resources and avoiding overlap definitely makes sense.

One potential problem could be that the generalised nature of content gathering risks eliminating any possibility of the three publications having a unique voice. But if the finishers are good enough this should not be a problem. It is too early to offer any kind of verdict on the Tampa outlets' forward-thinking approach, but their willingness to innovate and make the necessary changes to make the best use of what they have shows that they have sufficient ambition and determination to survive.  As Executive Editor Janet Coats put it, "we are here to stay."

The Rocky Mountain News' staff has created a Web site to rally public support following an announcement by E.W. Scripps Co. that the Denver daily was up for sale and would close the paper if there were no buyers.

IwantMyRocky.com is a forum for readers to propose methods and "share memories" from Colorado's oldest business.

"If we can't save the Rocky," columnist at the 149-year-old paper, Mike Littwin, writes, "We can, at minimum, make some noise before we go."

Staffers have sent out emails and messages to readers and community members urging them to protest the ultimatum offered by Scripps, saying that the timing of the sale is far from optimal during an economic recession in the holiday season.

The site's function is a chance for readers and staffers to express "why the newspaper is important to them," and the role it has played in the community.

Source: Colorado Independent

The Editors Weblog reported some sad news for the newspaper industry this morning: the closure of the Commonwealth Press Union (CPU) and its magazine CPQ.

For a lot of editors and journalists trained by the CPU, receiving its newsletter, or participating in its Editors Forum or the regular CPU conferences, this is painful news. It is painful not just because they have lost a partner (and frequently a sponsor), but also because the CPU was the oldest international press association in the world. The CPU would have celebrated its hundredth anniversary in 2009 - the Empire Press Union was founded in 1909 - but the board has scheduled the closure of almost all its activities on 31 December 2008.

What does the closure this historical institution mean and what will the consequences be for the current CPU members in almost fifty countries?

Who will take care of small newspapers and small organizations?

In the obituary of CPU, it is said that, very soon, a Commonwealth Press Training & Education Trust (CPTET), will take over some CPU activities, mainly focused on training. The CPU Foundation, which funds training, will be maintained, but at the moment the financing behind this structure is not yet set. But the basic idea of the CPU - through the unique and common language of English - was to create links and to network between publishers, editors and journalists from the 49 countries belonging to the CPU. The new trust will loose this ambition, even if the contrary is said on paper.

The most important challenge will be to ensure the balance between big countries/small countries, big newspapers/small organizations. Rationalization will focus on larger countries and newspapers. The real risk is if we forget the Salomon Islands, Fiji, the small African states and the Caribbean countries. Australia will take over for the Pacific, South Africa would like to support African English-speaking countries and the US and the British Foreign Office will certainly take care of the Caribbean, but the global picture will disappear.

It is true that a press association based on the Commonwealth souvenir and the thirties was maybe not the most up-to-date organization, but its death will break a worldwide community unified by common ideals and ethical views. I'm sure regional organizations will do their best for small organizations, but with very specific geopolitical interests. And for this reason, the disappearance of CPU and a global point of view on journalism is bad news.

What will be the future of international press organisations?

The death of a 100 year old association is a symbol and a signal for all other newspapers organisations. Two years ago, the IPI (International Press Institute), encountered significant problems but found a way to maintain its activities. But are IFRA in Germany or WAN in France (the World Association of Newspapers, including the World Editors Forum) not threatened by the evolution of the newspapers business model? Regional organizations are also potentially in trouble, such as the IAPA in the Americas, TAEF in Africa (organization for editors-in-chief) or Panpa in Oceania, and so on.

The closure of CPU and the difficulties faced by the IPI clearly demonstrate that the existing business model for these organizations is under threat: how long will they rely on state funds, sponsors' money, conference fees and memberships? For instance, more and more members want to consume business information as they consume music on their iPods: by just paying for the specific item they want, and no more.

The subscription business model is under attack and press organizations must anticipate this shift.

Another problem is the development of webinars and online conferences as competitors to the current "face-to-face conferences". Either traditional organizations grasp these new ideas and the opportunity they represent, or the new pure online players will. It will take time to define standards and to build up customers and partners, but it will happen.

See also:

End of the Commonwealth Press Union on December 31, 2008

On Monday, MediaNews Group CEO, Dean Singleton, also chairman of the board of The Associated Press, made a speech discussing how newspaper publishers should consider consolidating and even outsourcing news operations.  Several media groups, including the American Copy Editor Society, have expressed their opposition to Singleton's statements.

Singleton believes that newspapers should consider outsourcing in "nearly every aspect of their operations," according to USA Today.  He believes that sending copy editing and design jobs overseas may also be called for.

Which US-based newspaper website has become so popular that it received over 140,000 user comments on one day this week? One would naturally assume, The New York Times or USA Today, but no, the distinction goes to Topix.net. Topix is a publication that does not have a newsroom, has never printed a paper version, and claims more web visitors than the Washington Post.

Topix, like YahooNews or GoogleNews, serves as an online news aggregator, collecting news from over 50,000 sources. But unlike its larger web colleagues, Topix is also a news community, bringing forums and discussion groups to every US town and city. Topix is the very definition of hyper-local; users simply enter their zip code and the news relevant to them is only a click away. The site also works with national and local news publishers in the US to help them engage their communities while simultaneously improving their revenue streams through classified publishing platforms.

This amalgamation of news aggregator, online newspaper and community website has taken American by storm, and Topix is now a hit. In July 2008, comScore Media Metrix ranked Topix.net the third largest newspaper site in the United States, right behind the New York Times and USA Today. With success like this, it seems that Topix and other news aggregators are here to stay. But what do sites like Topix mean for traditional publishers?

The Editors Weblog spoke to Chris Tolles, CEO of Topix, to find out his view on the relationship between newspapers and news aggregators and what newspapers can learn from aggregator methodology.

Different value propositions

Whereas some newspaper companies have been critical of news aggregators, which the newspapers accuse of "stealing" content, Tolles is positive about the relationship between newspapers and sites such as his. He views them as "different value propositions", which in this case means that newspapers provide the news while Topix provides the platform on which readers discuss the news. Because of this added value, Topix, according to Tolles, "work with, not against local journalistic efforts." He continues, "Topix harnesses the power of the population in places that newspapers can't realistically cover", keenly pointing out that by browsing Topix-hosted forums, journalists at many papers find new stories and new sources they would not have discovered otherwise.

Tolles describes Topix as "a place to engage and participate around local news and events." It's main innovation, impossible before the emergence of the Internet, is that it furnishes newspapers with a space where their readers can congregate around general subject matter and individual articles. In this sense, Tolles views Topix as a "great partner to newspapers"; not only does it provide the discussion platform, but it opens up a newspaper's content to a new audience which may have not previously considered reading the online or print edition.  

Targeted content = targeted advertising

One of the areas in which Topix has blazed a trail and surprised many in the media industry is in monetising local content, the $50,000 question in today's newspaper market. Topix's targeted, local content has proved very attractive to advertisers, both local and national.  Tolles reveals, "We are able to sell advertising against local audiences for national advertisers as well as being able to use our own targeting algorithms for Google's Ad Sense. We get a large uplift on the CPM rates, about ten times what newspapers not using Topix are able to get." To grow its targeted advertising success even more, Topix is increasing its direct sales staff.  

Another interesting feature of the Topix business model is that all the technology is done in-house. "We have built everything used on Topix at Topix," says Tolles. Therefore, everything that is built and designed for the site is done solely with Topix in mind; there is no content management or publishing system that has to be bolted on and squeezed to fit the site's working practises or production needs. Tolles reports that "The localization and categorization technology is patent pending and ours, as is the forum platform, search technology and everything down to the open source web components like our web server and OS."

Topix is an interesting player in the news provider market and there are clearly lessons to be learnt from its scalable model and innovation. Furthermore, the success that Topix enjoys is a stark lesson to the whole industry. But still, everything hasn't been perfect. Looking back, Tolles says he "would have hired sales people earlier, and I would have focused on local (over general categories) from the get go. I would also have worked with others in the industry to give advertisers a clearer value proposition around connecting to local earlier."

As for succeeding in the crowded media space, Tolles suggests the Topix strategy for others, concluding, "I would urge any news organization starting today to figure out what they provide their audience, and then focus on that relentlessly. We did that with participation, but there are other ways to succeed..."

Boston.com, the online edition of The Boston Globe, intends to be more "neighborly" with its visitors by boosting its local presence through a number of social networking projects while focusing on publishing, aggregating and convening, reports NewsAndTech.com.

The site's convening tasks will be improved through the upgrading of the forum and commenting abilities for stories. Readers will be able to track other users' participation with more ease, according to NewsAndTech.com.

BoMoms, a section geared towards young mothers in the Boston area, is available with articles and forums on topics that may be of interest to them.

Boston.com's user-generated content and social networking plan also includes a deal with Good2Gether, a non-profit organization, which will link viewers with local non-profit associations.

"The whole area gives us a chance to provide a platform for cause-based marketing," said Bob Kempf, vice president of Boston.com. "We know that a lot of our major companies locally have cause-based marketing messages they want to get across."

A hyperlocal platform is planned to be launched before the end of 2008, featuring Wiki-based websites discussing a town's news and information, to be written by Globe writers and external contributors.

"Newspapers tend to take some of those separate brands and products and keep them isolated and not integrated with the core content experience," said Kempf. "We need to get that mix exactly right. I think isolating your user-generated content in one place makes for a difficult business and audience proposition."

Source: NewsAndTech.com through IFRA Executive News Service

User comments on websites has become standard fare for most media organizations. But according to the Poynter Institute's Bob Steele and Kelly McBride, who spoke at the Unity: Journalists of Colour Convention, news organizations must make it easy and inviting for users to comment, otherwise they may inhibit the discourse they purport to initiate.

Editor and Publisher looked into the matter in order to see the mechanisms that newspaper sites were employing when dealing with user-generated content and found a range of methods.

The research found:

-All of the top 10 US newspaper websites reviewed have mechanisms to monitor the content, be it screening comments or urging users to report offences
-Some sites require registration
-Some sites preview comments prior to their publication
-Some used both

According to Editor and Publisher, the most "liberal" policy about user's posts is from the Wall Street Journal, since neither registration or moderation are used and readers are pushed to self-police and report offences.

The Los Angeles Times had the "most stringent" and "severely worded" rules that referred to discrimination, false advertising and interrupted online access:

WARNING: A VIOLATION OF THESE POSTING RULES MAY BE REFERRED TO LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES.

This is exactly the kind of unappealing, and threatening phrase that Poynter's Steel and McBride warned against, saying that they could be perceived as "hostile."

Less "threatening" in tone, the Denver Post's Neighbor forum includes the following guidelines:

Think of Neighbors as a neighborhood gathering, where conversation is lively and civil. What's important to you is probably of interest to others - if your neighbors don't know about something, they will appreciate if you share your knowledge. The community and its users will decide what the site becomes, but it is not intended to be a free-for-all.

Retaining more "civility", the New York Daily News writes:

Be nice. Think about others. People often say things on boards that they would be ashamed to say to someone face to face. Please treat other users with respect.

Source: Editor and Publisher