Results matching “mobile news through text”

The advertising slump for traditional media is here to stay, according to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Speaking at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, where he was named "media person of the year," Ballmer described the current economic situation for media as a "reset" not a "recession." That means media companies must completely rethink their business models to keep up with the changing landscape of publishing.

Ballmer also faulted newspaper publishers for not doing enough to make money out of their online ventures, adding that Google is the only digital company with a track record for earning significant revenue. And traditional media will have to figure out how to squeeze out revenue from online content soon, as Ballmer predicted all content will be digital in the next 10 years.

Following the Iranian election on 12 June, which both sides claim to have won, Iranians and the rest of the world wants to know the truth about the results, as well as wanting to follow protests and other developments. But this has proved more difficult than anticipated given the restrictions on reporting, both by Iranians and foreigners, and the occasion proved to be an opportunity for citizen journalism to show its value.

Reporting restrictions

Mainstream media has been suffering from severe restrictions in Iran, even tougher than during last year's Zimbabwean elections, foreign editor for Channel 4 News Ben de Pear told the Guardian. Foreign journalists first had to get special press cards and were closely monitored, then on the Tuesday following the election, foreign journalists were banned from reporting on the streets. The BBC's correspondent has been asked to leave the country after the broadcaster was accused of supporting rioters. And it is not just foreign reporters who are suffering: now even reporters of Iranian nationality are being confined to their offices. According to Reporters without Borders (RSF), 26 Iranian journalists, editors and bloggers have been imprisoned since June 14.

Citizen video becomes a symbol

In the absence of an abundance of professional reporters, amateurs have stepped up. One of the most watched and discussed videos to come out of the tragedy, and one which is emblamatic of the role of citizen journalism in reporting from Iran, is that of the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, a young Iranian woman who was walking near the scene of clashes between pro-government militias and demonstrators when she was shot. The video has prompted international outcry and the girl's death has since come to represent the tragedy of the conflict, a "symbol of the anti-government movement," according to the New York Times. It was taken, not by a reporter with a camera, but by a bystander on a mobile phone, and posted on Facebook and YouTube after the man sent the 40-second clip to a friend who then forwarded to friends and news sites in Europe and the US.

A Twitter revolution?

Talk of a Twitter revolution swiftly spread as Iranians and others in the country used the social network Twitter to get their news out to the world, and it has been used extensively by the media. Twitter is particularly effective as a method of spreading news as it is harder to censor, given that it can be accessed via various different applications on computers or mobile phones, as well as via the website. #IranElection has been the top trending topic on Twitter for days, with thousands of updates an hour using the hash tag to get included in the feed and direct interested observers to text, image or video content. Following a request from US President Obama, Twitter decided to delay maintenance to the site in light of the important role it was playing in keeping people informed, carrying it out during Tehran's night rather than daylight hours.

Twitter is clearly not immune to censorship, however. The following message has been passed around Facebook over the last few days amongst Anglo-Saxon users:

"FREEDOM OF SPEECH: If anyone is on twitter, set your location to Tehran and your time zone to GMT +3.30. Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location/timezone searches. The more people at this location, the more of a logjam it creates for forces trying to shut Iranians' access to the internet down. Cut & paste & pass it on."

Amateur issues

Clearly, there are problems with relying on information generated by amateurs. Benoit Hervieu of RSF told Editor & Publisher that one of the main problems is that because many people want to remain anonymous, it is harder to verify information. And indeed, it seems that much false information has been circulating. After Twitter was hailed as the voice of the revolution, a backlash quickly emerged asserting its unreliability. There is always the possibility, after all, that interested parties might deliberately try to misinform, or might be so personally involved in the debate that they cannot maintain impartiality. And one of the disadvantages of a campaign such as that mentioned above, encouraging international Twitter users to set their locations to Iran, could end up misleading journalists searching for information on the network.

So how are citizen journalism agencies dealing with these risks and challenges?

Checking for reliability is a top priority for those trying to sell their content to traditional media companies. Citizen journalism agency Demotix has obtained many images from freelancers and amateurs portraying events in Iran, including two pictures which have appeared on the front page of the New York Times. Demotix COO Jonathan Tepper emphasised that Demotix understands the importance of reliability of sources and "believes that serious citizen journalism needs to take all the ethics of traditional reporting and build on them, such as verifiability and protection of sources." All submissions go through a vetting procedure which includes looking at the metadata in photos.

Citizenside, which specializes in citizen photo journalism, has managed to get hold of some good images which have been published by mainstream media outlets, but co-founder Matthieu Stefani said that it has been "really hard" both to establish contacts in Iran and to receive images from these contacts. "The big issue is that most of the contributions we've received were sent through proxies, with most of the time no way to contact our contributors as cellphone networks don't work really well," he explained, and therefore his team is extremely cautious about what they accept. He said that the photos that the agency has been pushing most to its clients were received from known and trusted members in the UK who were sent them by close relatives in Iran.

The Observers, a project run by TV news station France 24 combining citizen journalism with professional editing, has been active in its coverage of Iran. Founder of the initiative Julien Pain told the EW that what makes their coverage particularly useful is the fact that they already had trusted contacts in Iran before the election, and hence they have fewer problems with establishing the reliability of sources of information, particularly when using proxy servers. "We worked with these people before the situation was tense," he explained, "so we know them." He gave the example of a girl who has recorded a video describing how the censorship works, with whom he and his team had already worked. Prior to any major election, Pain added, the Observers tries to enlarge its network of contacts, which in this case proved particularly useful. Even using trusted contacts, Pain said that the Observers still cross-checks information as far as possible.

Amra Tareen, CEO of AllVoices, a project that aggregates professional and amateur news on one site, has a different approach: publish everything and let the reader decide. She said that the site has received more than 1,000 submissions, in English and Farsi, since the election, gathered via proxy servers as the AllVoices site is blocked. She stressed that submissions have tackled both sides of the issue and that this is one of the most crucial aspects of citizen journalism and of her site in particular: that anyone can be heard. "we're neutral and anyone can have their voices heard on our platform--that's key for the credibility of citizen journalism; bias will undermine the concept and keep citizen journalism and citizen journalists from ever being taken as seriously as they ought to be."

Generally it seems that such a situation where media access is severely reduced has provided citizen journalism with a significant opportunity to prove its importance. Tareen commented that "we really want to use this opportunity to show that Cit-J is not only about massive amount of non-qualified content, but also good "pro-am" work that we have been promoting for years now," said Stefani.

Getting pictures on the front page of a major daily is likely to be a huge boost to Demotix in terms of fame and credibility. Tepper was clear that Demotix is trying to supplement mainstream media rather than replace it, but said that "we think our reporting can sometimes be more accurate than the mainstream media" because "most of our users record what is known to them, in their city or country" and therefore "Demotix images provide a more accurate representation of the subject from a local perspective."

For the Observers, the situation has provided an opportunity for collaboration with the TV station on an unprecedented level. Usually, Pain said, he would publish a video on the Observers website and offer it to TV, now he has been working more with programming at France 24 to supply them with videos first before putting them online, to offer a period of exclusivity. "We've really moved a step forward here," he said. "We have learnt how to work together, and it's not going to be the same any more."

Although amateur 'citizen journalists' do not have the knowledge or expertise to analyse developments the way a professional journalist could, they can certainly witness and record events, and when traditional media coverage is limited, this is a valuable service. In terms of providing a true news service, amateur contributions must be verified so that readers can trust them, which is a priority for citizen journalism agencies. As opportunities continue to arise for citizen journalism to prove its value, the mainstream media is likely to incorporate it with increasing frequency and develop new ways of working closer with citizen journalism agencies.

The recently released iPhone 3GS, the third generation of the revolutionary mobile device from Apple, offers many new features that have generated excitement about its potential to greatly expand citizen journalism, a field becoming increasingly important in areas of the world where press freedom is in jeopardy. The prevalence of publicly generated content has risen considerably this year already, with incidents such as the war in Gaza and the election protests in Iran spurring a surge in camera phone video uploads to news sites and YouTube, offering perspectives on events often unobtainable by traditional media outlets.

For the iPhone 3GS, the newly added video recording and editing capabilities as well as direct to YouTube uploading will make capturing that newsworthy event much easier for the layman dabbling in citizen journalism, an aspect of the phone noted by founder and CEO of citizen journalism site GroundReport, Rachel Sterne. Sterne explains that "Helping people report on the ground, wherever they are, will only increase the speed of newsgathering." However there are a few features Apple did not add to the iPhone 3GS and its new OS that could present frustrating limitations to the phone's functionality as a tool for journalists in the field.

As the world's political and media spotlights focussed on the Iranian elections, the Internet was always expected to play an important role in keeping people up to date with developments, but little did we know the Web would also prove to be the scene of political unrest.

As news emerged that incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had secured 62.6 percent of the 46.2 million votes cast compared to rival Mir Hossein Mousavi's 33.75 percent, tweets started circulating from a section of the country's disappointed and disenfranchised voters.

In a move to bulk up its digital offerings and earn some digital revenues, USA Today will launch a paid-for e-Edition in August. Editor-in-Chief, John Hillkirk, at a breakfast introducing the paper's new Publisher David Hunke, spoke of how they were "not absolutely convinced that [paid online content] works," but how USA Today would be "extraordinarily bullish" when it comes to mobile apps and devices.

The August launch of the e-Edition, which will cost $10 per month, could be just a first step in positioning the paper for a what Hunke predicted an "explosion" in the market for portable reading devices.

According to Mark S. Luckie of 10000words.net, a website dedicated to advising journalists and web aficionados on how to use multimedia efficiently, the answer is yes. Luckie points to five iPhone applications that revolutionize mobile journalism as such apps "elevate journalism beyond just reading stories [by] interacting with them in new and different ways."

1. Kindle for iPhone

The success of Kindle for iPhone has demonstrated that readers are not only willing to read extensive text on a hand-held digital device, but that they are also willing to pay for that content. This gives media outlets room to speculate that readers will similarly be willing to pay for in-depth news coverage that goes beyond the encapsulated resume of a story, whether in the form of a subscription plan or in micro payments for individual stories.

USA Today has launched an application for Google's Android phone, available to download free in Android Market. The paper, like many others, already offers an iPhone application and is one of the first newspapers to embrace the newer Android platform.

The application includes headlines, a photo slideshow of the day's best images, interactive polls, sports scores and weather forecasts, tailored to a user's exact location via GPS. Articles can be shared via email, text or Twitter. Matt Jones, vice president of mobile strategy and operations for Gannett Digital said that "USA Today continues to develop innovative mobile products and services and the Android application is an excellent way to extend our reach to the latest emerging platforms."

Citzen journalism hub Allvoices has announced that it is making it "even easier" for its citizen participants to contribute, as they can now send in news via an SMS. The Allvoices system will immediately begin to build a report page around the submission, searching both mainstream media and user-generated content, including picture and video. The system will also send a report code back to the contributor so that more content can be provided to the same report using the code.

"Mobile device technology has reached a point in its evolution where text reports and media are of comparable quality to data delivered via a PC or media shot with dedicated cameras," explained Allvoices CEO Amra Tareen. She added that she believes "it's becoming increasingly clear that people want breaking news delivered immediately, and with little editorial bias or interference." In the US, contributors can send an SMS to 'VOICES,' and international participants can find an SMS number on the Allvoices site.

The American Society of Newspaper Editors embraces the technological age by holding a "virtual convention" in place of its cancelled annual convention that was scheduled for April in Chicago. So far ten Webinars have been scheduled to address media issues, such as shifting to the web or cutting back on print editions and staff, in order to help newsroom leaders deal with challenges ahead.

This February ASNE announced the cancellation of April's convention due to the stress of structural changes in their newsrooms, deep recession, and expectation of low attendance. This is only the second time since ASNE was founded in 1922 that the organization has not held a convention; it was also cancelled in 1945 during the last critical days of World War II.

Printed newspaper readership in Canada remains high and online readership proves low according to reports by the Newspaper Audience Databank (NADbank). Almost 75% of Canadian adults read a print edition of a newspaper each week, while only 20% read an online publication during the week and only 4% read online papers exclusively.

Like in the United States, more people tend to read newspapers in smaller markets, and the highest weekday readership of newspapers is in Cape Breton. The study found that in major cities Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa almost half of the adults read the major weekly newspaper, and in Vancouver the Province readers 47% of adults, while the Vancouver Sun reaches 45%. Unlike many countries, Canada still has a strong readership in the 18-24 and 25-39 age demographic.

Could mobile be the future of newspapers? And crucially, can it make them money? Garcia Media recently reported that the number of people getting news via a phone doubled from 10.8 million in January 2008 to 22.4 million in January 2009, according to comScore. As phones get "smarter" and people become accustomed to accessing their email and finding information on the go, it makes sense to offer them a good quality news service. Many major newspapers such as the New York Times, USA Today, and Le Monde have developed iPhone applications that users can download and which are intended to improve the reading experience, while many others have created special mobile versions of their websites.

Why an application?

There are advantages to viewing news via an iPhone application rather than via the mobile website or even on your computer; as Michael Logan, one of the founders and directors of Kanchoo, pointed out: "it's not just a version of the website." Obviously, the stories should be made easier to read on a small screen, and you can do things like scrolling through slideshows with your finger. But also, for example, using GPS technology a newspaper application could give you news stories relevant to your precise location, something otherwise not possible.

However, developing an iPhone is expensive, involving spending up to $20,000, according to Realising that the expenditure was too great for the newspaper he worked for, and that the cost would undoubtedly prevent many other smaller newspapers from creating their own application, Logan decided to take action and start a company that would develop iPhone apps for newspapers at a far smaller expense. Kanchoo launced in a beta version on March 6 offers its a basic service package for a start-up of $88, and a $28 per month charge for bandwidth and hosting: Logan commented that the low start up cost meant that newspapers could test the application's effectiveness rather than having to make a huge commitment upfront. Having someone else operate the app also means that "newspapers can just focus on producing content," and not have to worry about keeping up to date with technological developments, as the service will do that for them.

Small screen: less potential?

So with companies such as Kanchoo, developing iPhone apps should become a possibility even for smaller papers. But there will always be limitations, the most obvious being the size of the screen. The reading experience cannot be comparable to reading a print newspaper, and for some users it will always be a source of frustration. As a result of the small screen, there is also somewhat of a lack of potential for originality and differentiation: Logan described the reading experience as "pretty uniform" aside from basic branding and colour differences. Although perhaps as technology advances, this situation will change.

The development of smart phones as tools on which to read newspapers is definitely something that producers of e-readers, such as Plastic Logic whose device will be released early next year, should be looking at carefully. The more sophisticated newspaper and magazine applications get on phones, the harder it will be to persuade people to buy a new product. Plastic Logic VP of business development Daren Benzi claimed that phones do not offer competition to the experience that the company's e-reader will be able to provide, which he hopes will be as close as possible to actually reading print, and seemingly more suited to in depth reading.

Mobile money: is it a possibility?

The big question for newspaper publishers is: how to monetise its mobile audience? Obviously advertising is one, though the small size of the screen might make this harder possibly some kind of scroll over system makes sense. Logan explained that there are various companies, such as AdMob, which can help newspapers provide ads to their applications. The other possibility is subscriptions: similar to those utilised on e-readers, whereby the reader pays a monthly fee to receive an electronic version of a paper. It is not clear yet how this would work and whether it will even be a reality in the near future, but speculation has been mounting across the industry following Apple's recent announcement that its iPhone 3.0 operating system, due to be released this summer, will allow consumers to make purchases via applications. Currently, the only way to charge users directly is a download fee for the app.

The Revenue 2.0 group which met on March 21 to discuss strategies for funding journalism concluded that while mobile users might not be actually willing to pay for content that they can get free on the web, they seem happy to buy iPhone apps that provide features to "customize content on iPhones" and enhance the experience. They suggested a suite of features such as off-line reading, geo-tagging, archive/export, sophisticated customisation and text-to-speech which could be used when literally on the move.

Newspapers throughout the developed world should now be seriously taking their mobile audience into account: even though it is only a small proportion of people who currently have iPhones or other suitable 'smart' devices, the number is likely to grow as they become the norm. It does seems as if phones will always be more suitable for brief news updates rather than reading long in-depth articles, but there is definitely an increasing public desire to be kept up-do-date, for which mobile news works perfectly. If a way can be found to generate significant revenue, whether by paid applications, ad-ons or via subscriptions, then this market will become ever more appealing to newspapers as they address the financial challenges presented by today's media environment. But, as the Revenue 2.0 team pointed out, it is important to start charging now, rather than allowing readers to start taking free mobile news for granted, as they do with news on the web.

In 2008, the BBC World Service launched the "Your Story" project - taking citizen journalism to another level.  Since its launch in June last year, anyone with access to the internet can upload a story, with the possibility that it may be heard or seen by large audiences if used by the BBC World Service.

At the Emerging Technologies conference this week, Nick Bilton, New York Times design integration editor and user interface specialist, spoke about the Times' latest projects and technological innovations. Though the publication continues efforts to preserve its printed paper despite financial troubles, the R&D lab also works to launch the Times into the forefront of digital journalism. Digital Media reporter Daniel Terdiman describes the new technologies mentioned by Bilton, some of which are only in the beginning stages of research but others that could be implemented in the near future.

E-readers have been on the market for some years now, but only very recently has it seemed even mildly likely that the idea might take off and they would become a widely used product. Currently e-Readers are still far from having must-have status. But with Amazon's much anticipated launch of Kindle 2.0, Plastic Logic's announcements of media partners for its upcoming product, and Hearst's recent news that it will also produce an electronic reader, it seems that the supply at least is ready, in case the demand does appear. E-readers could have far-reaching consequences for newspapers if they do increase in popularity, as publishers can bring in significant income from wirelessly delivering digital editions of their papers to users. The Editors Weblog spoke to Plastic Logic Vice President of Business Development Daren Benzi, about the company's business-orientated e-reader and its potential impact on newspapers.

Big screen news

Plastic Logic is planning to release its, as yet un-named, reader in January 2010. The main difference between it and the Kindle, or Sony's somewhat unoriginally titled Reader, is that the Plastic Logic product will have a considerably larger display and will be marketed towards the 'mobile business professional,' rather than the leisure reader, clarified Benzi. The screen will measure 10.7 inches diagonally (about 27cm) compared to Kindle's 6 inch/15cm display. Despite its larger size, the device will weigh about the same as the Kindle, as it will be made from plastic rather than glass and silicon. This also gives it the advantage of being more robust and durable, explained Benzi. The screen itself is flexible, but the rest of the components are not as the technology is not quite ready, and Benzi added that consumer testing has shown that people "would like it to have some form to make it easier to carry." The device is extremely easy to use, Benzi added, with an "intuitive touch screen" and just one button to power the display.

An important development compared to other e-readers, Benzi remarked, is that rather than just passing through text, Plastic Logic is "trying to deliver a deeper, richer reading experience," meaning that more information would be placed on the device. Some modifications will still have to be made to put a newspaper on such a product, but Benzi explained that there are companies which can do that for them. It will also be much easier to transfer documents such as word or pdf files from a computer to the e-reader, via a USB port. Although the product is focused on the needs of a business person, that does not mean that books will not be available also: "I don't want to discount the fact that the business professional enjoys leisure reading," Benzi added.

Partnerships with newspapers

Benzi was clear that one of Plastic Logic's key aims is to provide newspaper content on its e-reader. "Because of the size of our device, newspapers and magazines really are our core focus," he stressed, "right away a newspaper company sees the greater opportunity to publish on an end user product that is much closer to the print version." Content will be available through a shop, similar to Kindle's. The first product will be in grey scale but Benzi described the company's commitment to producing a colour device in the near future as a reason why papers with strong colour branding, such as the Financial Times and USA Today, are so keen to collaborate. Plastic Logic recently signed deals with these two publications, and Benzi was confident that the company will be announcing "lots more direct relationships as we approach the launch." Other partners include Libre Digital, which manages several digital newspaper titles and Zinio, which produces digital magazines.  

This attempt to "pass through the print like experience" extends to advertising, which Benzi said had "often been left behind in these device segments." It is however crucial for newspapers as a revenue stream in addition to income from subscriptions.  Benzi explained that although the first device will not access the internet, consumers might well be able to click on an advertisement for additional information on products or offers:"we could put a catalogue on the device if we wanted to, there is plenty of information that users can have at their finger tips."  Plastic Logic will be able to "track the information about what the customer is doing with the device," a system which would seem to offer benefits to both newspapers and advertisers.

"Customers have shown in the past that they are prepared to pay for news, and they will again in the future: you just have to give them the right experience."

Benzi emphasised that although he could not claim that e-readers would be the newspaper industry's saviour, he believed that partnerships with Plastic Logic could be "a greatly valuable asset to newspapers' overall mix of business models." He added that "the great advantage with us is that there is no paper or ink involved, and no moving things around with trucks," which significantly reduces the cost of delivering content. He explained that his conversations with newspapers have focussed on how they can work together "drive new revenue and hopefully reach new customers for our partners." With regards to charging for content that might be available free on the web, Benzi is convinced that it is not necessary to "devalue content" and that "customers have shown in the past that they are prepared to pay for it, and they will again in the future: you just have to give them the right experience." Pricing for the device or for subscriptions have not yet been finalised, but Benzi confirmed that prices would be competitive. He accepts that there are some savings when producing a digital product which should be passed on to the customer, and that will be taken into account when comparing the pricing with a print subscription.

The market case for e-Readers

Benzi was confident that the time is right for e-readers. "I think that the factors and trends are much more aligned now than five years ago," he explained. This is partly because of technological advances, meaning that the devices can be smaller, lighter and easier to use, and also because of the way mindsets have changed, meaning that "people are a lot more comfortable reading digital content, and are more conscious of the benefits of getting their information this way." Another huge advantage of digital paper, and one that has maybe not been giving the attention it deserves, is that it is more environmentally friendly, an issue will presumably only become more important, and should appeal to many consumers.

Benzi believes the time is right for e-readers: "the factors and trends are much more aligned now than five years ago"

Most of Plastic Logic's target market, the mobile business professional, are very likely to possess a lap top computer and a smart phone, so why do they need a third device, and would they agree to use one? Benzi insisted that there is room for such a product, as it would replace the need to carry around not just newspapers and magazines, but other documents also. Compared with a computer, one of the advantages of the device is that readers can focus entirely on consuming content, they will not be disturbed by emails, for example. It is also far easier to use, and there is no glare, "it feels like you're reading on paper." Lastly, it has much longer battery life than a computer or a smart phone.

It would appear that the most fierce competition for e-readers comes from smart phones, for which many different newspapers have created applications that allow consumers to access their content. However, Benzi was insistent that he did not view smart phones as competitors. He explained that he realises that they are an alternative partner for newspapers, but "for what we are trying to accomplish, their screens are too small." Reading the news on a smart phone is fine if you are just after the bare information, he commented, but Plastic Logic is aiming to deliver "a totally different kind of reading experience," one which is far more similar to print.

Smart phones are not competition: "for what we are trying to accomplish, their screens are too small."

Amazon's Kindle 2 has been met with mixed reviews, largely because it is not seen as being different enough to the first model; not least because the company has not given any indication that the product will be available outside the US. Its text-to-speech function recently suffered setbacks after protests from publishers: now publishers will decide whether to allow their books to be read by the device. Amazon has refused to release sales figures for either versions of Kindle, suggesting that numbers might not be what Amazon had been hoping for. At $359, it is not cheap.

Will the Plastic Logic device be better received? Its larger screen will undoubtedly be more suited to reading newspapers and documents, and the business market may well be more receptive to such a product. It must expect some competition from Hearst, which just announced that it is to release a large-format wireless e-reader this year, "suited to the reading and advertising requirements of newspapers and magazines," according to Fortune. It seems that the newspapers are indeed enthusiastic, but are the customers? Or will it take something more to persuade them to give up their attachment to paper, and possibly greatly reduced prices for the basic device?

E-readers and mobile readers are on their way up.  An ever-increasing number of publications have versions for iPhone, Kindle and other smartphone devices.  Readers appreciate the choice of publication, up to date information and flexibility which their tech-savvy mobiles provide.

The problem stricken Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which is currently is talks over whether to carry on publication in a non-print format after March or close entirely may in fact be the debut publication on a new e-reader called Plastic Logic.  The new platform's first partners will be revealed at a conference on February 9th, and have been in talks with Hearst's secretive e-paper venture, FirstPaper.

In the run-up to the 16th World Editors Forum being held in Hyderabad, India March 22-25, 2009, the Editors Weblog 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 Global Post and Huffington Post, two news websites that are challenging the traditional newspaper business model. Below, editors from around the world share their own thoughts about ONLINE-ONLY NEWS PUBLICATIONS.

AFRICA
Azubuike Ishiekwene, Executive Director, Punch Nigeria
A Nigerian site equivalent to the Huffington Post named Saharareporters.com is a competitor of Punch, but we don't consider it a threat. However, the site has helped to keep us on our toes. We believe that print will remain an indispensable medium for the validation of meaning among readers. We have nearly 36 years of credibility which must count for something. My colleagues in the newsroom agree that competition from online can only make us stronger and is unlikely to supplant our relevance as long as we're listening to the readers.

LATIN AMERICA
Marcelo Rech, General Product Director, RBS Group, Brasil
By now, newspaper people should always have in their head that they and their newspapers are competing with every kind of consumer distraction, from YouTube to Twitter.

That's why we have to work harder and harder to promote the newspaper to the public and advertisers, especially the basic idea behind the newspaper; to be THE place for news (local, political, national, general, etc., depending on the strategy of your paper), and be far better than your competitor. This is not a new story; it is the same concern of our ancestors 150 years ago.

EASTERN EUROPE
Roman Gallo, Director of Media Strategies, PPF Financial Group
Online-only news sites are not a threat to traditional news gatherers. These project are only threats for media companies that do not understand changing media landscape, that do not understand that publishing on only one channel, one platform media (only print, only TV...) is not a future. One platform media will be able to survive only if they are strictly targeted and focused at a very clear (and I would guess a very limited) audience. In the case of my former publishing house, we are partially in competition with these sites because we run a fully-integrated and clearly targeted multimedia system. .

WESTERN EUROPE
Espen Egil Hansen, Editor-in Chief, Verdens Gang Multimedia, Norway
Several of the stand alone online news sites are really good, they are often better than us to utilize the possibilities of internet, and they force us to improve our own products. Nonetheless, I believe these are not our most important competitors.

The key now is to understand that the technological development gives traditional media a competition from a range of players we don't necessarily define as "media". There are three factors demanding that we analyze the competition with fresh eyes:

THE USER'S TIME: The time spent on popular sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Nettby.no and so on is dramatically longer than on news sites. This trend is reinforced by new mobile platforms like iPhone. Look around you: On the metro, in the cafeteria, at the breakfast table -in all the situations where people traditionally have been enjoying a newspaper, more and more people are now staring into some sort of screen. This represents a dramatic competitive shift because these services steal time from that which used to be allocated to newspapers and news sites.

NICHE SITES and SOCIAL NETWORK: Within any thinkable niche there exist special interest sites and services with more depth, higher quality and that are perceived as more effective than newspapers and news sites. Although many of these are not in the news business in a traditional sense, they are still our competitors because they so strongly affect the way in which we gather information in our daily life.

ADVERTISING: We are in direct competition with Google when it comes to the big advertising money. In addition, we see that the classified ads, that have been a great source of income for many, are now moving to sites not attached to traditional media houses in any way. In my mind, the most important question for 2009 is this: What will fund the journalism in the future?

Altogether, these three factors represent competitive challenges that must have consequences for all parts of our operation. Rather than pointing out the stand alone news sites as our new competitors, we need to search deeper and ask ourselves: "With this new media reality - what should we be in the future?"

NORTH AMERICA
Ed Greenspon, Editor-in-Chief, Globe and Mail, Canada
We don't see these sorts of sites as a threat per se to traditional news gathering. But we do see them as competitive. They are in the business of aggregating niche audiences around a public debate of the issues of the day. Anyone who aggregates audience obviously is a competitor, but can be seen as a partner, too.

First off, our unique proposition lies In our ability to generate the news,  often news that would not exist without our journalistic efforts, that feeds the fires of public debate. Of course, newspaper companies have long been in the commentary and opinion part of the business, too, and need to remain so.

But unlike with print, where the barriers to entry are so high, we have no option to live with many more alternatives in the digital world. So we have to consider whether we are primarily distributors or creators, along with our audiences (or communities) of content.
While I suspect we will continue to distribute through our own channels, I see no reason why we won't seek to maximize our reach by aligning our branded content through other distribution channels, such as Politico. Communities are being formed all over the place. We need to get out of the old mindset that they will come to us and go out, introduce ourselves and overwhelm them with the quality of our insights in their areas of interest.

Terry Eberle, Executive Editor and Vice President, Fort Myers News Press, Florida
Local information is what we are about. No one can compete with us for information in Southwest Florida. We must keep that in mind as we do our online work and plan our online and print newspapers. How can we make that national story local? How do we bring a national story home to our readers. On Jan. 20, Barack Obama will be sworn in as president of the United States. The world and national press will be all over that story. But, we will be on a bus traveling from Fort Myers, FL filled with people going to see this historic day. We will be on this bus, we will be doing live video on this bus. In other words, we won't be spending our time just rewriting the main story that we will receive from dozens of other places. We will spend our time reporting on this historic event through the eyes of local people.

In the run-up to the 16th World Editors Forum being held in Hyderabad, India March 22-25, 2009, the Editors Weblog 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 how The Guardian and Finland's Kauppalehti have integrated their newsrooms. Below, editors from around the world share their own thoughts about INTEGRATED NEWSROOMS.

AFRICA
Azubuike Ishiekwene, Executive Director, Punch Nigeria
The question of integration is not optional - it's functional. The speed and timing of integration may differ from newsroom to newsroom in countries and even within regions. But we at the Punch have found that the only way to remain relevant is to anticipate and follow the readers. A good example of this is mobile phones. With over 50 million people in Nigeria now using mobile phones and one out of every four phones being WAP enabled, our newsroom has been preparing for our next major step - delivering the news through mobile phones.

As for our journalists, we are not creating separate boxes for print and digital. We're starting with print journalists who already have a flair for the digital platform and encouraging the rest to join in the fun. At entry level, however, our preference now is for digital natives! Fortunately, we are not yet at the stage where we're compelled to fire staff for lack of digital enthusiasm. We're hoping we can convert the dinosaurs before the curtain falls!

Most importantly, as we aggregate platforms hard-nosed journalistic skills, including of course, a stubborn passion for truth, will remain valuable professional qualities.

LATIN AMERICA
Marcelo Rech, General Product Director, RBS Group, Brasil
For us, in Zero Hora and the other RBS Group newspapers, the discussion about integration is outdated. By now, we are trying to fuse, 100%, the digital and print operations inside the newsroom. We still maintain some specific jobs for print and digital, like print page designers, but whole departments have already merged.

We don't demand that someone work for the digital operation if she or he is uncomfortable with it, but the truth is that we have much more good, multimedia and innovative digital content produced by our reporters, columnists and editors than we could imagine. 

This is due to two simple reasons:
1) People know that if they avoid experimenting with digital media their careers will be under threat sooner or later.
2) I believe the first task of a journalist is being relevant - being read, watched or listened by the highest number of people, and making a difference. When our journalists realized they were becoming more relevant due the internet, they largely volunteered for work with the digital side on a routine basis.

By now, no less than 70% of the about 230 journalists of Zero Hora work with eyes on both operations. For a minority of that 70%, the unofficial group leaders, we can no longer describe their tasks as purely digital or purely print.

EASTERN EUROPE
Roman Gallo, Director of Media Strategies, PPF Financial Group
The benefits of integrating print and online journalists is that you can reach more readers and affect more users from different target groups that you could not touch through traditional media. You can use your current power (brand, loyal readers group....) to extend (or minimally defend) your position in the whole media market. And of course it is a more effective way how to run your media company.

On the other hand, the dangers of joining print and online journalists is that you can destroy your original brand. Why? To be able to succeed in different media fields you have to change the way you reach readers. Here I sense a hidden risk. During the integration process you can gradually lose losing the main characteristics of your brand. For example, if you write for the internet and your goal is speed, you may quickly lose your sense of accuracy. Step by step, this bad habit can reach your newspaper.

In conclusion, no matter which medium you use, the quality of your journalism has to correspond to your brand.

WESTERN EUROPE
Espen Egil Hansen, Editor-in Chief, Verdens Gang Multimedia, Norway
I'am generally sceptical of the idea of one media house, one newsroom. When was the last time anyone won both the 100 meter dash and marathon during an Olympic game?

Newspaper and internet are by nature so diverse that they demand completely different working methods and organizations in order to succeed. This applies at all levels: in the editorial department, sales, distribution and management. To argue that "newspaper" and "online news" are the same because both are news, makes as much sense as saying that a roaring river and a glass of water are the same because both are water.

The idea of integration is in my opinion a threat both to the printed product and for the online news site. To the printed product because the integration in a way conceals a level of costs and way of working that is not sustainable in the long run. And the threat to the online site is that it will inherit the way of working, organizing and a level of cost that is not competitive in this market.

In the publishing house of VG we have, with success, chosen the model of focus. We have two companies, two boards, to editorial departments, to chief editors, two managing directors and so on. We cooperate where appropriate for both organizations (which means a lot), but at the same time we are free to choose whatever necessary in order to succeed on our own platform. We've made some tough choices. While down-sizing by 100 people in the print organization we hired 40 more online. No one was moved from print to online. With this model of focus we've achieved the number one position online and in the print market. Both editions have for the last couple of years been very profitable.
READ ESPEN'S FULL TEXT HERE

NORTH AMERICA
Ed Greenspon, Editor-in-Chief, Globe and Mail, Canada
So far, I have not seen a single danger in joining print and digital journalists.  Like any kind of exercise that brings together people with different skills and dispositions, it seems to do nothing but generate greater creativity all round.

There is also no better way to sell digital in a traditionally print newsroom than by letting those doing it day to day serve as the ambassadors.

In fact, I would say that most journalists in our newsroom consider themselves hybrids; they are story tellers who use different media and the inherent strengths of each to convey their stories.  That said, just as there will always be the need for certain journalists dedicated to producing the print product, such is the same for our digital products, especially given the rapidly-developing technologies and story-telling techniques.

Newsroom integration can be linked to redundancies and reductions in staff, but it can also be used to meet the demands on us to produce greater volume and variety of content to satisfy more sophisticated audiences. In any case, it would be counter-productive to resist.

Terry Eberle, Executive Editor and Vice President, Fort Myers News Press, Florida
The information world is rapidly changing and will continue to change at a more rapid pace for a long time. This makes it imperative for today's editors to look forward and to put systems in place to assure we remain relevant. Information is our product, the platforms we distribute this information on are less important. We must understand the audiences and we must get our needed information to them on the platform they want it. This all means that we can no longer have a staff for the print and a staff for online. One staff for print photos and one staff for video. We must be one and we must act as one. I believe to do anything less would doom us to failure.

Forecasts for 2009 are, unsurprisingly, relatively pessimistic for traditional media and more positive for new media developments. But not all commentators were as determined as Jeff Nolan that "if 2008 was bad for newspapers, 2009 will be devastating," and many saw hope in the possibility of changes in content and format.  

The first print edition of a new Nigerian newspaper, NEXT, was published on 4 January, following the launch of its online edition in December. The paper is owned by Timbuktu Media Group, and its publisher Dele Olojede described its aim as "to provide news and informed opinion fairly and accurately to the Nigerian public in any land."  

Brian Till, one of the US's youngest syndicated columnists, had an epiphany during his discussions about the decline in American journalism.  

Although he spends "hours a day reading news," and has countless resources at his disposal, he has only purchased "bout a dozen American papers in the last year." Till finds that, ipso facto, his actions have helped diminish the newspaper industry.  

"I am the murderer of news," he writes, along with his generation, who has failed to recognize the role they've played. Growing up with free news, Till writes, has left his generation clueless to the fact that they were the "free riders killing the industry."

Guardian News & Media is expanding its mobile market.  News alerts are currently offered through a version of Guardian.co.uk for PDA, Smartphone and BlackBerry devices, and via text message.

GNM has hired Andrew Bagguley, former head of mobile strategy for News International, as a consultant for the process.  Bagguley will be "working closely with Guardian in-house teams" to formulate the plan, a spokeswoman for GNM told Journalism.co.uk.

Source:  Journalism.co.uk
 

Today the Times Online launched the Times Mobile website designed for mobile devices.  The site will allow cell phones and other mobile devices to access text, pictures and multimedia content on the website.  According to Bizcommunity, The Times is the first South African news site to launch a service for mobile content.  

Several features of the new service include a weather service, which picks up the user's location automatically in order to provide relevant weather data.  Furthermore, users can download audio and video clips for free and browse the career section of the site.

The New York Times will launch an online feature for the November 4th U.S. presidential election.  

The feature will provide readers access to election results and even a look inside The Times' newsroom using interactive graphics.

It will also feature a pop-up dashboard with up-to-the-minute electoral vote results.  Every 30 minutes Times reporters will deliver video reports from their newsroom.

Tribune Media Services, the Tribune Company's licensing division has announced an agreement with Vibes Media to bring content to the mobile market.

Vibes Media is a provider of interactive text message and mobile content marketing. 

Success of the Web? Try Newspaper Values With a New Twist
Caroline Little, Adviser to Guardian News & Media and former CEO and publisher of Washington Post/Newsweek Interactives, United States:

"Keep one foot rooted in the core journalism values of the core product, and one that happens to be delivering the most revenue, and with the other, stretch as far as possible to try new things in this new medium."

"The news websites share the same journalistic values as the newspapers, but the web folks also are working in a medium that's indisputably different, one that requires trying new things and sometimes going down in flames," she said. "Fear of failure can be debilitating. All we have to lose by being too conservative is everything."