Results matching “up costs or fac”

In an effort to cut costs, The Times is reducing its "reliance" on casual subeditors in the new year by cutting shifts, shortening the lengths of others and cutting pay.

The Duluth News Tribune relaunched today with a new design.  According to the paper's website they have "taken a more aggressive approach to news, story play and presentation."  

The paper has adopted a narrower newsprint in order to cut newsprint costs. In addition, they have increased headline sizes and changed page layouts.

Content will also be shifted around.  The News Tribune will begin publishing a new section on Sundays, entitled "Scrapbook" which will be uniquely for reader submitted content.

Source: Duluth News Tribune

The financial plight of the newspaper industry has caused some papers to shut down, some to reduce days with printed copy or go entirely online.  Tom Mcniff, managing editor of the Ocala Star-Banner, detailed in his paper's Sunday edition the latest way they are cutting costs:  literally cutting the paper.

Starting Monday, the Star-Banner will be a column narrower than in the past.  It is the latest of a "number of significant changes" to the paper in recent months, including a complete redesign of its layout.

Detroit's Daily Tribune is cutting back from six days a week to four.  It will be published on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday starting next week.

The paper announced the move is in order to cut costs.  The paper's website will be updated seven days a week.

Source: Editor & Publisher

The Charleston Daily Mail has announced that they are switching from an evening to a morning publication.  The move is designed to cut transportation costs and to give the paper a chance to extend its circulation.

The Daily Mail and competitor, the Charleston Gazette produce a combined newspaper on Saturdays and Sundays.  However, they have competing staffs and produce different news stories and editorial content, according to Editor & Publisher.

Source: Editor & Publisher

According to Press Gazette, under a deal signed today, the Independent titles are relocating to share offices with the publishers of the Daily Mail in the early part of 2009.  The Independent titles will share back office functions with the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Metro and Evening Standard.

A statement released by IN&M stated that, "The two groups' editorial, management and commercial operations will remain entirely separate. The Independent and Independent on Sunday will remain under the full ownership of INM."

York's Press newspaper will be the first daily regional newspaper without its own editor, Press Gazette is reporting.

Weekly editor Kevin Booth and managing director Steve Hughes have been made redundant, according to Press Gazette, and are entering the process of applying for managing editor, "the one post that remains."

The Grey Cardigan blog anticipates "significant commercial responsibility beyond merely balancing the editorial budget, i.e. slashing costs and shedding jobs" for the post, and the transition will "destroy any notion of independence or impartiality" on the part of the editor and having significant repercussions on the paper itself.

Source:  Press Gazette
 

The UK's daily Independent costs its publisher, Dublin-based Independent News & Media a "small fortune" every year, The Evening Standard's Roy Greenslade writes, and is likely to fail.

The way to save the paper is by taking a "revolutionary" step--going entirely online.

Foregoing all of its newsprint editions would be following the paper's tradition of "taking risks," according to Greenslade, and would change the face of newspapers in the UK.

Media Bistro is reporting that Time magazine will consolidate their international editions and be primarily edited out of New York.

This decision will end the decade-old tradition of major editing that takes place in London.  Also, it is being reported that the South Pacific edition will cease at year-end and will be replaced with the editorial content of the Asian edition.

Sub-editors are facing a series of cutbacks at the Herald Express, a South West daily newspaper, in the latest of an industry-wide overhaul of newsrooms to reduce costs.

The team of five sub-editors will be reduced to two, Hold the Front Page reports, and administration and sales staffs have left the company.

"Casual staff" has been cut back - at least six community correspondents, who contribute pieces for local news pages, and their sub-editor, have been fired.

The Herald Express has joined other Northcliffe titles on a new server, allowing their copy to be available for sister papers.

Source:  Hold the Front Page

See Also:
Interview with Trinity Mirror's Neil Benson

Hungary's leading daily newspaper, Népszabadság, has announced plans to launch a Sunday edition of the paper on March 1, 2009, according to the paper's website.

Népszabadság will be the first paper in Hungary to launch a Sunday edition.

Several paper manufacturers have reported to Media Bistro that they will not be raising their rates in 2009, giving the financially strapped industry a break in costs.

The high rates of newsprint have contributed to "a wave of downsizing in the beleaguered newspaper industry." 

The Dutch free daily, Spits, allows people to purchase editorial space. According to Newspaper Innovation, this method "caused some disturbance among most audience members" at the World Free Press Conference in Barcelona.

A recent example was when the paper made a deal with a local bank, Rabobank, to cover their cycling team throughout the Tour de France.  The bank covered all of the costs, however, coverage was probably less objective.

According to Newspaper Innovation, readers of free dailies are more likely to accept this model than readers of paid dailies.

Source: Newspaper Innovation

Neil Benson, Editorial Director of Regionals, at Trinity Mirror, and the three Editors of the Birmingham titles that have merged, have completely changed the approach to newsroom management by combining workforces to cut costs.

To follow up on last month's Weblog story on the Trinity Mirror's complete overhaul of its workflow, which anticipated the transition, a series of photos have been published which demonstrate the restructured newsroom, combining "all-in-one" news conferences to share ideas and stories, and to maximize output. 

Following weeks of speculation, the Commonwealth Press Institute has confirmed its closure and the transferal of its remit to its sister charity body, the Commonwealth Press Training and Education Trust (CPTET). In an email to members the Executive Committee Chairman, Vyvyan Harmsworth, LVO blamed the move on rising costs.

The Editors Weblog broke the story of this closure on the 28th of October, but this is the first official confirmation.

Harmsworth stated that the handover will take effect from the  31st of December when the CPU and its London Secretariat will close.

Harmsworth said, "The CPU's mission of supporting press freedom and journalistic training will continue - reshaped for a vibrant, 21st century role through the revitalized CPTET."

James MacManus, Executive Director of News International, will take over as interim Chairman of the reformed organisation.  

Source: Press release from the Commonwealth Press Institute

See also:

End of the Commonwealth Press Union on December 31, 2008
What does the death of the Commonwealth Press Union mean?

The Casper Star-Tribune is one of the many newspapers that have been slimming down.  The new format is 11 inches wide, down from the previous 12.5 inches.

The reduction in size is in order to cut print costs.  According to the papers editor, Chad Baldwin, the slimmed-down version will not cause interstices in coverage because paper has redesigned its layout and headlines so no content will be lost.

Source: Editor & Publisher

Helium is an online company that describes itself as, "the online spot to learn what you need to know and share what you know." It combines citizen journalism with peer rating in order to provide a plethora of articles on just about any topic.

Helium brings together a system of news and information combined with a place to submit articles. It even has a "marketplace" where publishers can post topics for people to write about - sort of like a publishers à la carte classified space.

It is a place for readers to find articles that interest them, writers to write about topics that they know and understand, publishers to find articles and non-profits to voice their issues.

It is a unique system of sharing content, ideas and knowledge. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Helium, if the current system will hold up and retain its credibility.

The Editors Weblog interviewed Peter Newton, the VP of business development at Helium.com to get a better idea of how the site works and what their goals are for the future. Newton has worked at Monster.com and The Boston Globe where he was the vice president of advertising.

EW: What is your selection process for articles and writers?

PN: Helium represents the first true meritocracy in the publishing industry. Helium welcomes anyone and everyone to join its community of writers.

We don't select writers; they naturally come to the site and write to areas in which they have an interest (in many cases, a passion) in sharing their knowledge or opinion. Once members join, their work is evaluated by other members though our peer-review rating system.  In essence, Helium brings order to the chaos of user generated content. Its patented peer review rating engine elevates the best quality articles.

After a writer submits an article, he/she is presented with two anonymous articles in the same topic area to rate in an "A versus B" comparison. Through the wisdom of the crowds, the best articles rise to the top, resulting in a rank-ordered list for every topic.

The end result is that the best writers are promoted, recognized and rewarded for their work.

New titles are introduced onto the Helium site through members, partners and directly by Helium staff.

EW: Where do you draw the line between journalist and citizen journalist?  What about between citizen journalist and blogger?

PN: Citizen Journalism is a very awkward term. Quality journalism demands its participants to be objective, ethical and methodical. Research, fact checking and skillful interviewing techniques are critical to the art. It's not obvious that what we are starting to call citizen journalism possesses any of these traits. I'm certain that the Columbia School of Journalism doesn't teach that the art of being a world class journalist is to be in the right place at the right time. Citizen Journalism seems to be migrating to each individual's "15 minutes of fame" and further and further away from journalism. It might be fun to watch - but so were the lions and Christians in the Roman Coliseum.

With that said, Helium is not really concerned with categorizing or labeling different types of writers.  We have created a platform for people to express themselves in writing across a wide variety of topics in a civilized and substantive way, and then have the community sort for quality.

Helium is a site for writers that fills a unique role in the publishing industry. In doing so, we are representing a new classification of online writers.

Our community of members includes professional writers, freelancers, subject matter experts, students and the expert next-door.

We are not attempting to replace investigative journalism or time sensitive reporting. Instead, Helium attracts and produces individuals who have the skill and insight on specific topics that they wish to share with others.

EW: Do you feel that the status of being an "expert" or a "professional journalist" is becoming less impo