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News Corp.'s Europe and Asia CEO James Murdoch has blamed the economy for stalling the development of the News International headquarters in east London, according to Paid Content.

The site was scheduled to expand, renovating the space to fit in other News Corp. members such as Dow Jones, MySpace and Harper Collins in the same complex, as well as national newspapers The Times, the Sunday Times, The Sun and News of the World.  

This transition would have made integration for News Corp's media brands easier, and created "synergies where possible," facilitating access between organizations.   

There has not been an updated timetable of when work will recommence at the Wapping HQ.

Source:  Paid Content

News Corp. companies Sky News and Times Online have partnered in a content-sharing deal to co-produce videos set to appear on both websites, Press Gazette is reporting.

The deal will see Times Online articles include "co-branded video" produced by staff from Sky News and editorial staff from the Times.  Some videos will also appear on skynews.com.

With shrinking newsrooms due to increasingly drastic budget cuts and a biting global economic environment, newspapers have been searching for a solution to the age-old problem of profit margins versus quality of product. A relatively new player is marketing a solution to this problem; Daylife this week is launching Daylife Select, a tool that enables newspapers to enhance and expand their content easily and quickly.

This new product launch is the latest chapter in the Daylife success story; its client list reads like a "Who's Who" of the newspaper world, and yet it is a small New York based operation run by a team of just 25, most of whom are technologists.

Back in 2005, a team of news junkies and techies began work on a technological solution to the news industry's increasingly difficult business climate. The team looked at the web and saw the likes of Amazon and EBay racing ahead in the user experience, while news online hadn't changed that much in terms of navigation and fluidity of the whole site. The team, a bunch of "self-confessed frustrated media fans" started building a system that was launched in January 2007. It was clear to them that the demand for news had not declined, but that the product was heading for rocky waters unless it pushed its boundaries.

The Editors Weblog spoke to the CEO of this team of news junkies, Upendra Shardanand, about the new product, his organisation, the technology behind it, and the future of newspapers.

Solution

Shardanand begins his explanation by saying, "Publishers looked at Google and other aggregators getting all this traffic without doing the original reporting, and we are just saying, well, here is the technology, so you can go and do it under your own brand, around your own original content. I do believe that original content is absolutely critical; that is going to be the draw that brings a user back to your service and establishes your brand and so forth, but that can only scale so far; so, do what you do best and link to the rest. This is a different way to think about publishing."











This new product in the ever-expanding stable of services provided by Daylife is being marketed as a solution to help newspapers through the difficult business climate. Using one platform, it enables editors to access content such as photos, YouTube clips or blog postings on any subject they are looking to cover. One of the issues is that newspapers are frequently cash-strapped in terms of IT, so this product lets anybody with just a web browser and a click on the interface launch a content portal. This portal can cover anything from technology companies to Manchester United, and goes so far as to even allow customisation of the site.


Daylife describe itself as the layer between raw content and the news organisation. The system is an Intelligent Content Service, it being a substantial database with the ability to pull together relevant information for any news organisation on any topic. Simply put, if for example, a journalist is writing an article on Barack Obama's health care policies, the Daylife system will rapidly pull together all relevant stories, pictures, video and so forth from a multitude of sources. This database can therefore provide you with all quotes from Obama on healthcare and all photos of him at, for example, a hospital.

Daylife has various agreements with the major content providers, be it AP or Getty Images, but Shardanand reports that the deal that follows with the client is worked out individually depending on the relationship the client has already with AP, for example, the level of content they are looking for and the size of the client's publication.

The Daylife news website, despite it only being a beta product who's sole purpose is to work as a demonstration to potential clients, achieves 3 million hits a month. When the site first launched many reviewers thought it was a straight news site and questioned the lack of RSS Feeds and so forth.

With shrinking newsrooms due to declining revenues, one of the most significant facts about the Daylife web site is that it is run with zero human input. Shardanand informed the Weblog that the team could go on holiday for a month and it would in no way affect the running of the site.

Shardanand further points out that all the clients they have are, "renewing their contracts."

USA Today experience - 600% increase in page views for a blog

All of this sounds highly impressive, but what impact is this product having on its clients? Shardanand cites the work it has done with USA Today; the newspaper had a blogger writing about cruise ships, making it perfect for advertisers such as P&O and other holiday companies, but one blogger can only achieve so much, and the page was thus too small to attract significant advertisers. USA Today talked over these problems with Daylife, and it thereafter delivered tailored content to the publisher. The resulting page was far more comprehensive and resulted in a 600% increase in page views. It's the same blogger working, but with the help of Daylife's tailored service he is now able to increase content and improve layout.

Advanced algorithms

The software that runs this product is produced in-house, it runs on an open source platform with extra work put in by the "team of rocket scientist" for advanced algorithms. Furthermore, as Daylife hosts the portal, newspapers are able to wash their hands of any technological maintenance or responsibility.

With hindsight?

Considering the great leaps that this small company has made in a relatively short period of time, Shardanand is thoughtful about how they got to this point. The only regret is perhaps a desire to speak to publishers earlier to spread the word and have speeded up the process sooner for inputting the system for clients.

The future for Daylife

Looking ahead Shardanand believes that we will see news coming from a more diverse group; Shardanand informs the Weblog that one of its clients is a pet food company in the UK that wanted to set up a blog containing pet news and stories. He expects more of such diversified providers of news and content in the future as it becomes easier to start publishing.

For Daylife itself, Shardanand is content with the direction the company is going in, but hopes to be able to move the technology into foreign languages "at some point in the future." Daylife also just want to keep on "experimenting and trying new things."

Future of newspapers

Despite the fact that Daylife's success is almost directly as a result of the problems that the industry is facing, Shardanand is positive about the future of the industry: "The outlook is bleak in the short term for newspapers, but I am an optimist and I have to believe that the demand for news will always be there from consumers, and at some point in time, once we are through this whole murky phase, there will be a model for publishing that is probably a lot more efficient. A model where the publisher can extend the newsroom staff because all the other staff can be outsourced. I think even though we are seeing newsrooms being slashed today, I think the right model is where editorial is actually a bigger percentage of the staff than it is today because of outsourcing."

In the latest stage of reinvigorating the Wall Street Journal brand, its online edition - WSJ.com - has undergone a huge makeover, relaunching on Tuesday.

The parent company, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., appears determined to put its mark on its latest acquisition; the President of the Wall Street Journal Digital Network, Gordon McLeod, reportedly said that the investment into the website revamp is a "big financial commitment."

The Editors Weblog spoke with the Deputy Editor of the Wall Street Journal, Alan Murray, about the shake up occurring at the newspaper. Murray was bullish about the changes, saying, "The new owners have made it clear that they no longer want people to look at the Wall Street Journal as a second read. It should be their primary read, it should suit all their information needs. We want it to be the ultimate news source for our engaged, affluent and educated readers."

Murray went on to speak about the redesign of WSJ.com, the recent changes in newsroom layout and management, and the ambitious plans for the future of the Wall Street Journal brand. He made it clear that, "(The website relaunch) is not a finishing point. This is the launching pad." 

Murray was particularly excited about the relaunch occuring at the same time as the Lehman Brothers story breaking, saying "We are delighted that the biggest financial news story since 1929 happens to coincide with the launch of our revamped site!"

"Newsreel" revolutionizes site navigation
For the new, sleek look of WSJ.com, News Corp's primary design motivation was to take advantage of users who "come in through the side door". Individual article pages mostly found through search engines, have been equipped with multiple navigation tools, to keep readers on the WSJ site.

Arguably the most interesting navigation feature is "Newsreel", essentially a news ticker placed at the top of the article. As the reader browses an article page, Newsreel scrolls through the days most important stories from the section the user is in. For example, if a user is in the business section, the Newsreel displays the top business stories of the day.    

In addition to the new layout and navigation functions, the Journal's newsroom is upping its content production to help keep readers on the site. The redesign also aims to be more colourful with more photos and includes an enhanced video player, an increasingly prevalent aspect of all news websites. Further features are set to roll out over the coming months. 

Social network for the business community
Perhaps most important for the WSJ's new owners is maintaining WSJ.com's impressive online subscription base, which has reached over 1 million paying members. Apart from increasing content, News Corp hopes to hold on to these subscribers with exclusive features such as WSJ Community, a social network for WSJ subscribers.

The key feature of this new social networking tool is that members must use their real names, which is aimed at cutting out any random, anonymous comments or useless noise found on other Internet news sites. Murray believes the quality of the site's subscriber base will create "a higher quality conversation". He acknowledges WSJ.com will not achieve the numbers of a chat on Yahoo Finance but, "we think the usefulness and quality is going to be key". The Journal is considering opening up the Community to non-subscribers in the future, who, just like subscribers, would only be able to join and interact with their real name.

WSJ.com has been the world's most successful subscription newssite for years and its membership keeps growing. According to Murray, online subscriptions have increased 26% in the past two years. And the number of unique user is skyrocketing too: "By our numbers, we now have 17 million visitors to WSJ.com" - 8 million more than two years ago - "and in September it is going to be even bigger than that. Therefore, Murray doesn't see any conflict in bringing more people in and letting them sample WSJ content.


Integrated Newsroom

Murray revealed that the Wall Street Journal is not only undergoing a radical change on its website, but is also changing in its newsroom, "The relaunch coincides with a complete integration and reorganisation of the reporting and editing staff."

Managing Editor, Robert Thomson, has spearheaded the integration programme, which has brought together the online and print staff. Last week, Thomson debuted a news hub in the newsroom where the senior editors from print, online, Dow Jones Newswires and MarketWatch all sit together and co-ordinate the coverage throughout the day.

The morning news meeting has been "totally turned upside down," according to Murray. It now begins with a report from the online team, then from Dow Jones Newswires, then MarketWatch and, only after discussing the coverage for real-time news, do they look at coverage for the day's paper.

The substantial Dow Jones Newswire team is also being moved to make the integration process physical, with the whole team being brought across the river to sit alongside their New York print colleagues. This move will happen, "sometime next Spring" Murray said.

The Wall Street Journal team has been undergoing training to prepare for the integration process. Murray reported, "A simple example is headlines. You have to write a different kind of headline in the online world and in the print world. We will continue to do that kind of training."

The future of the Wall Street Journal

The Editors Weblog asked if this process was the beginning of a long term-reinvigoration process for the Wall Street Journal brand, Murray said: "You bet! We have very ambitious plans for international, we have very ambitious plans for premium products on top of this online platform and we have a whole schedule of online innovations that we are planning over the course of the next 18 months. This is just the beginning"

"Look for us forming closer links with all the social networks because we are not trying to compete with social networks, we want to make it as easy as possible for our users to share our content over social networks and to bring their friends and connection into our community"

Murray also added that News Corp is confident about the future of print, stating, "The Wall Street Journal under its new management is investing in both print and online, so I would say we are very optimistic about the future of newspapers. We may be the only people who are optimistic! We are dedicated to delivering our news on all platforms"

Source: Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, paidcontent.org

See also:

US: Murdoch on the future of newspapers
US: Wall Street Journal to launch new website on Tuesday
Wall Street Journal unveils magazine supplement, WSJ
US: Wall Street Journal launches new mobile application
Murdoch: Newspapers willing to invest in new forms of delivery will prosper

The Telegraph's revamped website is to be revealed within the week, focusing on redesigned news, sports and travel sections, aiming to boost speed and reliability. Like The Guardian, the Telegraph chose to gradually restructure parts of its site, instead of a complete makeover in one go, PressGazette.co.uk reported.

"We weren't really looking for a seismic change because what we have found with web design projects is that it's a fine balance between improving the experience but not losing your users who have got used to the previous design," said Ed Roussel, Telegraph Media Group's digital editor.

The redesign includes horizontal navigation that features vertical menus to magnify the amount of space available for the content.

Meanwile, article pages will have links to related stories from the Telegraph's archive, that are found using Autonomy Corp's search feature.
 
The paper's site is to function with the eScenic content management system, allowing for different revamped sections to be unravelled steadily.

Source: PressGazette.co.uk

Last Monday, Katherine Weymouth, the Washington Post's publisher, announced that Marcus W. Brauchli, 47, would be the new top editor of the Post. Mr. Brauchli's former experience at the Wall Street Journal as top editor, with its integrated print and Web newsrooms, might prove valuable for the Post.

Weymouth is the first Post publisher to have direct control of the website. She hopes that Brauchli will help the Post to progress into new media.

According to the New York Times, the Post is undergoing budget cuts, job cuts, ad revenue reduction and circulation decrease.

In 2007, Brauchli resigned following News Corp.'s buyout of the Journal, lead by Rupert Murdoch, after which Robert Thompson replaced him.

In the last 8 years, the Post's circulation dropped from 800,000 to 673,000. Even though its website draws over nine million unique users per month, the paper hasn't been able to transfer the traffic into revenue. The Post's profit has declined from $14.9 million last year to $1.2 million.

Source: The New York Times

See Also:
US: Washington Post may launch separate political site
US: WaPo editor stepping down
US: Wall Street Journal's  managing editor  Robert Thompson announces editorial changes
US: Thompson named managing editor of Wall Street Journal

Fox Interactive Media, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., has launched a social media weather site, Mashable.com's Paul Glazowski reports. FOX Weather Beta is intended to provide users with a comprehensive weather service, offering both global and hyperlocal weather news.

The site's main feature is a prominently displayed interactive map powered by Google Maps. The site also offers users social media tools, such as blogs, forums, and photo-sharing communities.

But will this new take on an old service stick? Glazowski says FOX Weather Beta may be fighting an "uphill battle."

"The site's community structure is somewhat generic and unappealing visually, and some parts...need extra attention," he said.

For a site aiming to reinvent 21st century weather services, FOX Weather Beta's impressive map service, Glazowski says, could be self-defeating, overshadowing the site's social media innovations.

"The map itself operates very well. So well, in fact, that you tend almost to ignore the rest," he said.

Source: Mashable.com through I Want Media

News Corp.'s .Fox Networks has launched an international online ad network specifically geared towards financial news and advice.

Created with help from the Wall Street Journal Digital Network, the network, called Worthnet.Fox, comprises about 30 web site publishers, including WSJ, Barron's and MarketWatch.

The network is designed with the jet set executive class in mind: people "who spend time in myriad global regions at economic borders dissolve." reports Reuters.  

.Fox Networks is an online advertising network which markets unsold advertising space on websites outside of the U.S.

Source: Reuters through I Want Media

The US edition of the Wall Street Journal went on sale in London on Wednesday alongside the 25-year-old Wall Street Journal Europe as part of News Corporation's global expansion plans.

Les Hinton, the chief executive of Dow Jones, WSJ's parent company, Dow Jones, which became part of News Corp in December, suggested the US edition "could become available across Europe, going hand in hand with the European version."

According to Hinton, the WSJE "would continue to meet a specialized and local need while the US version would attract a loyal core of readers in London and I hope eventually other financial centers in Europe."

The paper has launched a new Monday to Friday London column, "Letter From the City," in the international finance pages of the Money & Investing section.

U.S. WSJ costs £2.50 and is available via subscription and at 250 newsstands across central London and the capital's airports including Heathrow, published five hours ahead of the U.S.

For additional coverage, visit our sister site SFN.


Sources: Guardian.co.uk, IHT

The Associated Press plans to increase its celebrity and entertainment coverage, and is hiring an additional 21 employees to be spread across Los Angeles, New York, and London.

AP insists that the new venture, termed an entertainment vertical, is "not about gossip, unnamed sources and innuendo." Rather, given the high demand from customers and members for entertainment coverage, AP says it makes "good business sense," reports blogger Nikki Finke.

The entertainment vertical will be produced by a brand new AP entertainment group, helmed by recently appointed Director of Entertainment Content, Daniel Becker, who will be responsible for managing coverage across all platforms, as well as contributing towards development of new multimedia services.

According to an internal AP Q&A with Becker, AP chose to create a separate division in order to "fine tune its content offerings." Becker said the entertainment group's initial content will "focus on celebrities and be heavily image driven."

AP has already signed a deal to provide celebrity video for the website of American entertainment magazine People.

Rupert Murdoch, however, is going in the opposite direction with regards to entertainment coverage, pulling the plug effective immediately on News Corp.'s online gossip blog PageSix.com. 

The site, which had only been live since December, experienced its first 1 million page views in a day after breaking photos of the prostitute involved in the Elliot Spitzer scandal. Nonetheless Murdoch assessed that site was not making quick enough inroads into an already crowded market.

"Given the difficulty in the economy, it was not the right time for this launch," said Jennifer Jehn, one of the site's managers.

Sources: Deadline Hollywood Daily and Gawker both through I Want Media

The Wall Street Journal is concretely paving its way towards a free online model, by giving users free access to all editorials, op-eds, video interviews and commentary.