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The Amaury group, responsible for both Le Parisien and L'Equipe, has given its publications a face life this week, with all 48 pages of the former appearing in colour for the first time on Tuesday, and divided into five new sections: Fact of the day, News, Local News, Sports and Leisure.

L'Equipe is set to integrate three new pages into its design, the first appearing today, the second in Thursday's edition and the third in Friday's, as a response to reader surveys. From March the publication will introduce a motoring section, which will appear every Monday- intended to deal with the production of cars as opposed to buying and selling.

The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is embarking on a study of online news distribution amid rising concern about the news industry's financial troubles which have been exacerbated by the global economic downturn. It is part of the Working Party on the Information Economy's ongoing work on Digital Broadband Content. Last month, to launch the study, representatives from OECD countries and interested organisations heard four several presentations on how news production and distribution is changing, and what the future might be .

Crises and a broken business model: how a news agency reacts

Eric Scherer is director of strategy and external relations at Agence-France Presse, and founder of AFP's Mediawatch blog. He explained to the OECD the nature of the crisis which he believes is taking place, and the steps that an outlet such as AFP is taking.

He sees a situation where five simultaneous crises took place, in terms of economics, business model, attention, training and authority. The economic value of the traditional press is going down as the mainstream tries to adapt to new trends. The current business model is "broken," he believes: it was based largely on advertising and a small amount of circulation revenue but in the past two to three years there has been a "historic decoupling" of advertising and newspapers as classified ads have moved online. The old media now has to run after attention as it faces competition from new. Training is a "huge problem" according to Scherer: it has to be done quickly but people at the top are not sufficiently aware of the challenges. And finally, the authority of old media is declining quickly as the top-down relationship falls apart.

What is more, Scherer believes that a process of disintermediation has taken place in news: the media has been cut out, as those who want to get their message out go straight to the people. He cited Obama's election campaign and use of new media as a "symbol" of this, pointing out that the future president used every single internet and Web 2.0 tool to communicate with the public. And the people responded: at every Obama demonstration there were attendees talking photos with their digital cameras or phones which they then uploaded and posted online. Sports stars are also speaking directly to the people, Scherer pointed out. This is the main development in the media in recent times, that the people who were deprived of production and distribution tools now have them. Hence, old media's monopoly is over, what used to be scarce, is now abundant.

The Internet has led to the "atomisation of content," meaning that readers can 'snack' on content as they are always one click away from something else, according to Scherer. Print and online are mutually conflicting business models, but going online-only is not necessarily the best idea, he explained, referring to a City University study on online-only Finnish paper Taloussanomat. 

These problems have all be exacerbated by the financial crisis, Scherer said, which makes it so much harder to finance the transition period and find a business model. Before the crisis hit, it seemed as if news outlets would have time to adapt, but now they are "below the poverty level."

So, how can news organisations finance their work? Is it possible in the current climate to find a way to finance an investigative journalism network and a Baghdad bureau? Scherer described how AFP has been tackling these challenges of the new news ecosystem. AFP produces all the main "bricks of content" and now needs to be able to link them together an add technical context. Rather than just providing editorial content, the agency now offers its traditional media customers both content and services, such as video, mobile or user-generated content platforms.

Due to the increased competition for breaking news, as the Internet means that newspapers and other outlets can effectively act as wire services and AFP's competitors are no longer just Reuters and the Associated Press, AFP has chosen to increase its national and international coverage and rely and focus on its branding. Amongst all the "noise on the internet," Scherer believes that people feel safer when they know their news comes from a trusted brand.

The Internet has also meant that AFP has become not just a business to business operation, but also has a direct relationship with the consumer, as its articles are available online under the AFP brand, via search engines such as Google or Yahoo. Incidentally, the Associated Press, which has also traditionally kept the audience at a distance, is going a step further and seeking to create search "landing pages" on news topics for its readers.

The evolution of the Internet as a journalistic tool

Thomas Crampton's presentation on the value of new technologies for communications was delivered true to style: it was recorded on a mobile phone video application while the writer went through security in a Hong Kong airport. 

Crampton's career path has developed simultaneously with the evolution of new technologies as a communications tool: as a correspondent at the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times, he always tried to capitalise on available online and digital tools to ensure that his reporting was always at the cutting edge of news provision. Nonetheless, frustration with the reticence of the traditional media to embrace alternative outlets to their full potential pushed him to leave the print industry for fear of "being left behind".  He is now the Asia Pacific Director of Digital Influence at Ogilvy. 

The responsibilities of this position convey Crampton's conviction and "passion" for the new media. In this role he works with multinationals to tap into new technology, which enable companies and individuals to reach and communicate with a huge audience. The progressive outlet of other industries reinforces Crampton's dismay with what he sees as the reluctance of news providers to work with these possibilities. 

To illustrate his conviction that technological evolution is a great but unavoidable asset for news provision, Crampton outlined the developments of the relationship between news reporting and the Internet:

• - 1995-99 Communications: During this period, the Internet facilitated the internal communications of news providers; for example correspondents could communicate with the home bureau through email, greatly reducing time. The web, however, was not at this point seen as a way to distribute or research news.
• - 2000-2004 Research: The Internet developed into an information finding tool, enabling reporters to assemble facts for stories that would otherwise be unattainable. Applications such as Google Cache allowed correspondents in the field to find elusive information and file updates, reducing their previously pressing need to continuously collaborate with the home office. Moreover, as information became accessible from anywhere in the world once connected to the web, newsrooms found that they could function without some foreign bureaus or correspondents. 
• - 2004 to present Social Media: The emergence of social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have affected not only the way news is reported, but how information is distributed.  As a result, traditional roles in the information stream dynamic are merging: the audience are now sharers, publishers and broadcasters as much as they are consumers of information.

It is in this current situation in which Crampton suggests news providers have lost their direction, apparently overwhelmed by the challenges thrown up by the proliferation of platforms and the attendant dissolution of information monopolies. To surmount these problems, news providers needed to proceed with a flexible, open attitude to the creation of new business models. However, Crampton indicates that their wariness led to the internal creation of limitations, citing the ongoing debate about online subsidies and paid for content as a detrimental and futile drain of resources.

Crampton felt that the traditional frameworks were restricting journalists from making "headway" in the wider field of communications and reporting. He began to "push boundaries, both externally and internally". The launch of his own blog enabled him to create his own "digital identity", establishing a persona beyond that of his employer. Indeed, the importance of 'branding' in the journalism professional was highlighted by the anecdote that when Crampton's name was typed into a search engine, whilst still at the IHT, his personal blog was listed before that of the publication. Once Crampton had left the paper, he devoted himself to diffusing information through new technologies, unrestrained by company rule and protocol. The results have been 'liberating', allowing the writer to establish a "complex and rich dialogues" with otherwise "unreachable audiences". 

Crampton offers a shining testimony to the current and potential value of new technologies in communications. It is a strong message to news providers that innovation is necessary.  Due to the use of multiple media outlets, Crampton perceives himself to be at the "front line of communication". Yet, whilst Crampton's departure from the printed press has produced exciting results, the feasibility of this as a career pathway for the majority of journalists, especially those just starting out is questionable. 

Before becoming digitally "independent" Crampton had established a reputation as a reporter, during a decade of front line correspondence for prestigious titles. These experiences, gained thanks to the printed press, would have allowed Crampton to obtain a readership, a sum of which have presumably continued to follow and recommend him as changed outlets. It may be that if reporters are to succeed on the digital and online scenes, without having the safety net of affiliation with an established publication, they need to have more ammunition than just writing ability. With the abundance of breaking news online, there is increasing demand for critical, in depth pieces written by experts.  In short, there are signs that markets are becoming more "niche" which is requiring journalists to assert their value by finding a speciality.

Could stakeholder journalism be the future?

Mark Hunter, a founding member of the Global Investigative Journalism Network and Senior Research Fellow at INSEAD spoke about what he sees as the declining credibility of traditional news and the subsequent rise of 'stakeholder journalism.' He believes that concentration of ownership has contributed to reduced credibility of traditional media as readers will increasingly question whether owners have their own agenda. Hunter sees the news industry's current problems as a vicious circle starting with this: declining credibility leads to declining audience, leading to declining revenue and hence declining capacity.

Investigative journalism is a field which is already moving out of the grasp of the media, Hunter pointed out. Sixty per cent of investigative journalism is funded by foundations rather than media, and this which leads him to suppose that stakeholder media - in other words, news generated by organisations that have an interest in the story - might be taking over the role of watchdog. Greenpeace, for example, has a long history of such journalism, such as during its confrontations with Exxon.

Stakeholder journalism differs from traditional journalism in several ways, Hunter explained. For one, it targets a different audience, focussing on informing particular communities and insiders rather than a general audience. Its expertise is narrower but deeper, concentrated on environmental or political issues, for example. Stakeholder reporting aims to accomplish a different objective: telling people what they should do, rather than just what to think about. It is transparent about where it is coming from and what it thinks is 'right,' rather than trying to present a balanced argument.

Hunter believes that the news industry will continue to shrink, and that government bailouts, for example, will not bring the public back. This will leave a growing void which stakeholder journalism will fill, heralding the return of partisan media, according to Hunter. With this comes a need for new journalistic training, as it dispels with the idea of objective media, and the need for enhanced legal knowledge. This is where OECD analysis and policy can help, he believes.

In terms of research requirements, Hunter believes that there is an "urgent need" for investigation into new business models for watchdog journalism, something which the INSEAD Social Innovation Centre and the Global Investigative Journalism Network are looking at. He also sees an "urgent need" for new codes of ethics and professional standards adapted to stakeholder media, where objectivity is no longer a core value.

Few would deny the importance of investigative journalism and the need to find a business model to sustain it. Public interest journalism, exposing wrongdoing and corruption, is clearly crucial to a democratic society. But could this be effectively carried out by interested groups rather than by an objective media presence? Stakeholder journalism has the benefit of being clear in its motives, and transparent about the fact that it is not offering a balanced argument: its bias should be obvious to readers. And more investigative stories are undoubtedly beneficial to society if they are from respectable organisations. However, it is important for the public to be able to understand both sides of a case and this is when independent, neutral third party reporting is essential. Stakeholder media can be an extremely useful supplement, but it should not replace traditional media coverage.

by Emma Heald and Christie Silk

On Monday, October 27 French economic daily, La Tribune, will relaunch with a new design, layout, color (their logo will switch from red to blue) and added content.  According to the president and director of La Tribune, Alain Weill, "It's a renaissance, a radical and necessary change."

According to Erik Izraelewicz, chief editor, "We are reinventing La Tribune in three key areas: politics, business and finance.  We will remain a financial newspaper but will increase our interviews, sports and cultural coverage.  Our goal is to remain serious without being boring, while making sense of the information and remaining useful in profession life."

La Tribune will also launch a new 16-page supplement on November 1, entitled "le journal du week-end" (The Weekend Journal).  In addition, their site latribune.fr will also be redesigned.  They also plan to reach out to an international audience; their goal is to have 10,000 international subscriptions by 2009.

Source: Le Monde

Guardian.co.uk is still the most popular UK newspaper website, with 20,622,063 unique users last month, compared to 20,499,858 in June. This may be largely due to the sports-focused coverage that the paper featured in that month, such as the Tour de France, Wimbledon and English Test cricket, reports Guardian.co.uk.  

Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic (ABCe) figures show that Guardian.co.uk had a 28.4% increase in uniques since July 2007. Meanwhile, page impressions jumped by 1.8% to 186,430,603 in July.

Telegraph.co.uk ranks second, with 18,746,025 unique users in July, having dropped by 4.9% from 19,712,622 in June. Mail Online remains in third place with 18,705,552 uniques, a 16.8% growth from 16,015,211 in June.

Year-on-year, both Telegraph.co.uk and Mail Online experienced growth in uniques since July 2007, the figures being 108.5% and 57.7%, respectively.

Sun Online has a 69% growth in uniques from July 2007 and a 3% growth since last month, reaching 15,972,490.

Telegraph.co.uk had a decrease in page impressions from 151,857,375 to 140,318,137 while Dailymail.co.uk's page impressions surged to 143,587,842 in July from 119,483,455 in June. Mail Online, meanwhile, had 143,587,842 in July.

Times Online's and The Independent site's page views were at a record high of 123,978,303 and 27,768,695, respectively.

Independent.co.uk had a 9% plunge since last month in uniques, reaching 6,588,929 while Mirror Group Digital uniques decreased by 5% since June to 5,177,230.

UK users are more valuable in terms of advertising revenue. However, the ABCe figures show that UK audience decreased since June for Mirror.co.uk and Telegraph.co.uk.

Mirror.co.uk had a drop of 73,000 to nearly 3 million uniques in the UK, whereas Telegraph.co.uk had a fall of 80,000 to 6.5 million.

Guardian.co.uk's and Times Online uniques in the UK increased to 8.5 million and 5.9 million, respectively. The figure rose for Mail Online and Sun Online to 5.5 million uniques for both titles.

The figures are expected to have an explosive growth this month, following coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Source: Journalism.co.uk, Guardian.co.uk

Freebies Metro and 20 Minutes are both boosting coverage of the Rugby World Cup, which began on Sep. 7, through supplements and additional online features.

The French Syndicate for the National Daily Press (SPQN) has issued a statement criticizing the International Rugby Board’s restrictions on press coverage of the upcoming World Cup.

In a letter to Australian Football League president Andrew Demetriou, Timothy Balding, CEO of WAN, has protested the AFL’s ban on photographers from global and foreign newspapers during its events.  Balding calls the restrictions a “dangerous erosion of press freedom” which could have serious implications for global sports coverage if other sports bodies adopt similar policies.

The theme of the 14th World Editors Forum, to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, from June 3 through 6, will be  "Quality Journalism in the Digital Age." More than 1,500 publishers, chief editors and senior news executives are expected to come discuss, among others, issues of integrated newsrooms, user-generated content and quality journalism in the future at the conference, organized jointly with the 60th World Newspaper Congress.

Newspaper publishers News Limited and Fairfax’s discussions with Cricket Australia are locked up over copyright issues for broadcasting. This is the first time a sports governing body is openly challenging newspapers’ “fair use” policy.

Lessons from the Mohammed cartoon clash will be the focus of the fifth session of the 13th World Editors Forum, which begins June 4 in Moscow. On 30 September 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published twelve cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. Sixteen years after the fatwa against Salman Rushdie and his "Satanic Verses," the clash between freedom of expression and religious values exploded once more. Panelists will discuss if there are limits for press freedom and how media responsibility can work in a globalized world. Don’t miss this special panel focused on 2006’s most fascinating editorial debate.

Press group HFM and Sporever, a sports news company most notably online, have announced the creation of a collective company to develop audiovisual services for mobile phones.

Bill Emmott, the outgoing editor of the weekly The Economist recently commented on the success of his newspaper suggesting that dailies had contributed significantly, but not in the way one would hope. Having helped to double the paper's circulation to over 1 million during his 13-year tenure, Emmott said that the tendency of daily papers to print more "entertainment" news while sacrificing hard facts and insightful editorials left the analytical Economist a niche for educated readers craving intelligent journalism. To see if others in the industry felt that newspapers were straying from their core function, The Editors Weblog asked several newspaper men and women to react to Emmott's comments:

Covering major sporting events, such as the football World Cup to be held in Germany this summer, can present free papers with the possibility of diversifying their advertising portfolios by attracting advertisers who target male readers.

The announcement that the New York Times has lost close to 20% of its hometown readers since 2001 demonstrates a subtle trend in the newspaper industry that reflects the growing cleavage between which news organizations cover local versus national/international.

This division is proving difficult for large metro papers.

The New York Times is not the only metro paper to be losing local readers. Last autumn's circulation figures showed huge declines in several metro papers, notably at the Boston Globe (-8%) and the San Francisco Chronicle (-16%). The same phenomenon occurred in France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Portugal, Korea, Japan… In the UK, if metro newspapers maintained their circulation, thanks to the give-aways distributed with the papers!

FIFA and the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) have decided to set up a joint working group  to try to resolve some of the differences about how media can cover the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

This decision was taken at a meeting on 9 January at FIFA headquarters in Zurich between representatives of the two organisations chaired by FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter. The WAN delegation included a representative of the major global news agencies, AFP, AP, Reuters and Getty.

The World Association of Newspapers today criticised restrictions imposed by sports events organizers on the use of photographs by newspapers, saying the restrictions "inhibit the free flow of information and the rights of newspapers to practice their profession."

Summus Inc., an American developer of applications that optimize the wireless multimedia experience, and Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Worldwide News Agency, announced that the companies have launched an advanced mobile news application available in the market. The application delivers AFP's award-winning news and photo content to users of Nokia Series 60 devices and other Symbian-based wireless handsets.

Summus Inc., an American developer of applications that optimize the wireless multimedia experience, and Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Worldwide News Agency, announced that the companies have launched an advanced mobile news application available in the market. The application delivers AFP's award-winning news and photo content to users of Nokia Series 60 devices and other Symbian-based wireless handsets.