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Newspapers around the world are facing a challenging time, not only because of the current difficult economic climate and declining advertising revenues, but also because of the ever more rapid push to multi-platform publishing and the changes to the operation that this has involved. Is it time the whole operating model underwent a shake-up? Neil Benson, Editorial Director - Regionals, at Trinity Mirror believes that newspapers need to radically overhaul the entire structure and that, being from a "conservative industry", they have been "overly-cautious" for far too long.

Benson, and the three Editors of the Birmingham titles affected, have rewritten the rulebook on workflow and newsroom management at the Birmingham Post (Editor Marc Reeves - business orientated newspaper), Sunday Mercury (Editor David Brookes - tabloid) and Birmingham Mail (Editor Steve Dyson - a popular evening paper); and the new system is scheduled to go live in mid-October. Benson says that in previous recessions for the media industry, the standard way newspapers have responded is to cut the pagination of the paper and axe staff, but Trinity felt that this was simply "inadequate". Benson says, "The financial pressure is nothing new, but the additional factor is the internet and convergence and the effect that this is having on the industry, so we felt that rather than do the straightforward cost-cutting, we needed to do something much more imaginative." The Editors Weblog spoke to Benson to get all the details.

Rethinking workflow

Trinity Mirror has been using the same tried and tested newsroom workflow as most other newspapers, ie, (1) journalist writes the article, (2) submits it to the news desk, (3) designer fits the story into the page, (4) sub-editing desk scrutinizes, and (5) final revision and publication. This whole system has been completely turned on its head, with Benson stating, "We are truly a multi-media business now, so lets structure for that." The old five-step system has now been honed down to just three steps: create, place and complete. Benson says that not only did they have to look at the overall operating costs in the current difficult economic climate, but they also wanted to fully integrate multi-media working practises into the operation. With the advent of new publishing platforms, such as mobile and the Internet, newsrooms have had to adapt rapidly and have thus frequently "bolted-on" on new practises to the traditional model. Benson wanted to revamp the whole process so that multimedia is fully integrated into the operation.

The new workflow system is as follows:

1) Reporters - who will now be known as multimedia journalists*, - create the content.
2) Send to the "Multimedia" desk where a newly trained multi-skilled team will not only check the copy but also place it into heavily templated pages. This is the key step in the reinvention; here Trinity have merged the news editing and production function into one.
3) Page finishing, revising and tidying up.

Benson says he cannot remember such substantial changes being made to a newsroom in 35 years. Not only will this system help to cut costs and integrate multimedia publishing, but it will also cut down on the time between a reporter finding a story and it appearing in print or online. Furthermore, the three titles at Trinity Mirror Midlands will all be sharing a newsroom; so if a big story breaks the merged newsroom can push more resources towards the story and cover it more thoroughly than was ever possible before.

Integrated newsroom - open space and collaboration

One of the key areas where the changes can be seen is in the newsroom team itself; the individual Head of Content or Head of Sport for each title will be merged and will now work across all titles and channels. Furthermore, the whole team, including advertising and sales, will all be on one floor working together.

In the centre of the new newsroom (the whole team is moving to a new purpose-designed site in Birmingham in about a month's time) there will be a structure that Benson describes as being "like a broken doughnut" (ie, a round structure, open at two points for exit and entry) which is the multimedia desk: everything will be directed from this central hub. It will also contain the conference table where all of the news meeting will take place, making it open to the entire staff rather than in the Editors office behind a closed door as in the past. This structure also enables the multi-media desk staff to always be at their workstations even during the news meetings.

Furthermore, over the summer, a new publishing system was introduced called "Content Watch" (produced by a MediaSpectrum) which is completely web-based making it possible to file copy and sub copy from anywhere.

Training journalists: the "nuts and bolts" of integration

The training programme undertaken to make this radical change in structure possible has been comprehensive. Benson describes the training as "nuts and bolts" and philosophical, ie, enabling the team to "think" multi-media when they are working.  Staffers are all being equipped with laptops for filing on the move and Smartphones (Nokia 95 Smartphones for shooting video, streaming video, and take digital pictures), so there have been practical training sessions for the new kit, being led by the Head of Multimedia and the editorial training manager.

The team have brought in Paul Bradshaw from Birmingham City University, who has an online journalism blog, for the philosophical side; the sessions involve talks on multimedia and issues surrounding it for senior staffer, who will then "percolate this knowledge down". The staff have also been attending a series of multimedia awareness sessions led by Andrew Dickinson from the University of Central Lancashire, who also has a journalism blog.

Benson is very clear on the importance of this training programme, "We are asking people to do something very new, and unless you invest in the training it is not going to work."

Managing the team through unfamiliar waters

Another key consideration for Trinity Mirror in this reinvigoration of its newsroom has been its staff. The process resulted in 65 voluntary redundancies at the newspapers and this understandably caused concern for staffers at the group's Birmingham titles. Furthermore, with the whole workflow system being turned on its head, staffers were required to apply for roles within the new structure. This, reports Benson, was a difficult decision and one "not taken lightly". However, the changes in structure are so radical that they felt it was necessary to take this step to underline the enormous change the Birmingham titles were undertaking, and for the staff to truly consider if they wanted to be involved in it. Benson reports, "We had our eyes open, we expected a big reaction."

Bearing this in mind, management moved ahead quickly and launched a consultation period where staffers had one-to-one sessions to discuss concerns and ask questions. Rapidly after, the job application process started.  

The UK's National Union of Journalists took a role in the process, telling management that they would fight any forced redundancies; thankfully, the voluntary process proved successful and a strike was averted. Benson reports that communication was open with the union throughout the process.

With hindsight?

Trinity Mirror Midlands is nearing the finishing line in this whole process, but with the benefit of hindsight, would they have done anything differently? Benson says that he does not feel that there is a "fundamental" in the process that they got wrong. He does believe that the communication process with staff is vital and needs to be as open and detailed as possible. For Trinity, communication has been, "pretty good, but more would have been better."

Furthermore, with the office move planned well in advance and with Trinity's desire to undertake the changes before the office move so teething problems could be ironed out, lack of time was an issue. Benson says, "Ideally, a bit more time, but then again I have been involved in projects in the past where you can give yourself too much time. Being journalists, we all like a deadline."

* The multimedia journalists role now involves shooting video, taking picture, and so forth, as well as being equipped to file from anywhere with the new web-based publishing platform.

According to Sly Bailey, Trinity Mirror's CEO, publishers need to put digital media 'at the centre' of their businesses to survive the current economic downturn.

Digital media must be integrated into the business model Bailey told delegates at the Association of Online Publisher's (AOP) Digital Publishing Summit, stating that it is now a "must-have."

Bailey revealed that by 2011, digital revenues will represent a "substantial part" of Trinity Mirror's business. She went on to say "Businesses can no longer simply rely on a rising tide of digital growth. Building digital audiences is the right thing to do. Attracting millions of unique users to your digital brands is great. But if businesses can't convert those users into revenue and then into sustainable profits they will simply run out of cash. This is no time for vanity publishing. Our business models have to be sound and our investment plans have to be able to withstand short-term economic shock. I'm firmly of the belief that there will be casualties in the coming months."

Bailey also expects 2009 to be the crunch year for the industry, with falls in print circulations and traditional advertising revenues.

Bailey also said, "These [traditional] processes are an impediment to success in a multimedia world. To build a successful multimedia business and a digital business of scale we have to be prepared to rethink the entire publishing process."

Source: Journalism.co.uk

A local UK newspaper is going to increase its team of citizen journalists for its hyperlocal site to 1,000 over the next 12 months.
 
Trinity Mirror's Teesside Evening Gazette's postcode-based community websites contains content written and posted directly by non-journalists and the Gazette's editorial team. The site currently has about 400 contributors.

The prospective new contributors will be sort out by the Gazette's two community coordinators, who are responsible for moderating and posting additional content to the sites.

The newspaper will increase the number of staffers assigned to enable the expansion. The site attracts 150,000 unique users a month.

The Teesside Evening Gazette is experimenting with Geotagging of content on the TS postcode sites to produce maps of local news and information, such as changes in petrol prices.

Darren Thwaites, editor of the Evening Gazette, said: "We're making money off these sites but the key reason behind this is five print products from the best areas demographically. However, key to these print products is the quality of the content on the websites," he said.

Source: Journalism.co.uk and Press Gazette
 

Trinity Mirror is closing seven local papers and nine satellite offices in North Wales and the North West of England. The action puts 30 jobs at risk.

This summer Trinity warned that advertising revenues were faster than at any point in the last two decades. Trinity said at the time that it was looking to find £20m of additional cost savings by next year.

The three weekly titles set to close a in North Wales include the paid-for Abergele Visitor, and free papers the Rhyl and Prestatyn Visitor and Your Vale. Trinity will replace them with free weekly title, the Denbighshire Visitor. Advertising-led title the Flintshire BuySell will also close.

In Lancashire, the Midweek Advertiser and Huyton & Roby Star (both free weeklies) will close, while the paid-for Formby Times will be relaunched as a free title.

Two local editions of the free weekly Wirral News will also be closed.

Earlier this year, Trinity closed eight papers in Derby and Peterborough and in August it announced plans to relaunch the Birmingham Post broadsheet as a compact paper in the autumn.

Source: Brand Republic

Guardian.co.uk, News International, Associated Newspapers, Trinity Mirror, Telegraph Media Group, Bauer and ITV Sport have all signed up Perfrom, a company that specialises in "monetising sports and entertainment rights in digital media."

Perform is a sports video provider that provides publishers with an e-player to show sports highlights.

The embedded video widget shows sports video clips and a produced sports bulletin.

Sports copyright has emerged as a real battleground in recent years, with publishers, sports governing bodies and rights holders fighting for control of lucrative live coverage and highlights.

Source: Press Gazette

The Daily Post, a Trinity Mirror newspaper, has launched its first Welsh language news website in North Wales.

The Welsh language site, dailypostcymraeg.co.uk, will sit alongside the English language version - dailypost.co.uk - with both providing regular news updates for the region.

The new site has been developed as an additional service by the publisher to showcase Welsh language content, rather than just duplicating the existing English site.

dailypostcymraeg.co.uk will include videos with Welsh language commentaries and interviews, Welsh language forums, and Welsh comments and blogs.

Source: The Guardian

Northcliffe Meida regional dailies like the Nottingham Evening Post, Lincolnshire Echo and South Wales Evening Post have now joined the 48 titles that revamped their thisis site, as the publisher gets closer to transferring all online content on its "Next Generation" platform, reports Holdthefrontpage.co.uk.

"Not only are we upgrading the network to introduce evolutionary design changes and enhanced multimedia content aimed at maximising interaction with end users, but we are also enlarging it to more than 150 sites in total," says Robert Hardie, strategy director of content for Northcliffe Media,
 
A number of the revamped sites have hyperlocal "sub-sites" which present users with news content covering a particular small town or village.

Weeklies from Kent and Sussex joined the redesign. According to Hardie, the "big winners" are users from Kent since they now have 30 sites covering their region, which is a progression for Northcliffe's businesses in Kent and the ones obtained from Trinity Mirror in 2007.

The revamped sites have permanent archives to which around 10,000 articles are added each week.

In addition, searches have been optimized so search engines can drive more traffic to Northcliffe Media websites.

"As journalists get even better at writing SEO (Search Engine Optimization)-targeted headlines and adding specific keywords, the scale of that uplift will continue to grow," Hardie points out.

Source: Hold The Front Page
 

After its parent company Trinity Mirror opted for centalized production and a reduction in editorial staff, the Birmingham Post announces that it will re-launch itself as a Monday to Friday tabloid this autumn, putting more emphasis on business coverage as well as having a mobile site.

"Moving to a new format gives us the opportunity for the print version of the Post to follow the website in attracting a new generation of younger - but no less serious - business readers," said Mark Reeves, the Post's editor.

The latest ABC figures (July 2, 2007 to December 30, 2007) show that the paper has a circulation of 12,997 from Monday to Friday, out of which 3,841 copies are given away. The Saturday edition, which will no longer be published after the re-launch, sold 10,329 copies, 2,289 of which were given away.

Source: Press Gazette, ABC.org

Trinity Mirror reports that it is forming two integrated multimedia newsrooms in Birmingham and Coventry that will make use of a new digital content management system, offering editorial content for five of its titles as well as page production for 30 weekly publications.

Trinity Mirror announced it is developing a mobile site for two national papers, including the Daily Mirror and the Daily Record and 12 regional newspapers.

Each publication will have a print version, an online edition and a mobile site, which shows that the newspaper industry is a "growing multiplatform media business", according to Rick Gleave, head of Trinity Mirror interactive and mobile.

Nokia and Bluestar mobile (responsible for New York Post's site launch) helped develop the sites.

Regional newspapers to have their sites developed include the Newcastle Evening Chronicle, the Newcastle Journal, the Teeside Evening Gazette, the Liverpool Daily Post, Liverpool Echo, the Huddersfield Examiner, the Daily Post Wales, the Western Mail, the South Wales Echo, the Birmingham Mail, the Birmingham Post, and the Coventry Telegraph.

Source: Journalism.co.uk

Northcliffe Media Limited are rolling out their hyperlocal sites, the company has added 46 portals to its new-look web operation. 57 of the revamped "thisis..." sites are now active.

The Hull Daily Mail portal was the first site to receive the treatment in May, and it was followed by ten more last month. 46 have gone live this week, including a new portal for the Croydon Advertiser, recently purchased by Northcliffe from Trinity Mirror. 53 more sites will go live in mid-August, and the final 21 in mid-September, bringing the number of "thisis..." sites to 131.

Robert Hardie, Content strategy director, said: "Newspapers now have the ability to put stories into a permanent archive, including old ones."

The Trinity Mirror-owned Uxbridge Gazette is also boasting a new-look site which contains hyperlocal platforms. www.uxbridgegazette.co.uk has links to ten more hyperlocal sites such as http://harlington.uxbridgegazette.co.uk.

Editor-in-chief Adrian Seal said: ""We are particularly excited about the new hyperlocal sites we have developed and it's great that they are open to everyone from Scout groups to churches and schools and local residents in those areas. Already we have received excellent feedback and stories and items of news have started to come in through the website - it's very much part of the future for our editorial operation."

Sources: Holdthefrontpage.co.uk

The Sunday Mercury, a British regional Sunday newspaper, is undergoing a transformation; it is turning itself into a 24/7 news operation.

The changes will include the Mercury's journalists breaking stories on the new website rather than in a print addition.

The operation's revamped offering will include its own YouTube channel, a 20-strong team of bloggers, and jokes.

Deputy editor Paul Cole, who is heading up the online initiative, said: "We have built a website that breaks the regional newspaper mould, offering a minimum of 80pc unique material that you won't find in the print edition, and with the emphasis on entertainment and sport.

Two other titles from the same stable - the Birmingham Mail and Birmingham Post  - underwent web relaunches earlier this year.

To help attract Internet users to its new site, the Mercury is offering a free download from rock band Primal Scream and a Batman movie ticket giveaway.

The new website - www.sundaymercury.net - is now live and has become the latest Trinity Mirror website to undergo a makeover.

Destak, a freesheet that debuted in Sao Paulo two years ago, will launch a similar version in Rio de Janeiro. Destak Rio will launch next Monday, and will be distributed at subways, schools, hospitals, and other public areas.

The Rio edition will have a print circulation of 80,000. Destak Sao Paulo has a circulation of 150,000. Destak is owned by Brazilian entrepreneur André Jordan and Portuguese media group Cofina.

The freesheet form is gaining prevalence in the newspaper world. Check out some stories related to the freesheet:

New Trinity Mirror freesheet
Canadian journalists protest by publishing freesheet
Thailand's first freesheet

Source: NewspaperInnovation.net through IFRA Executive News Service