No
Google search: It's an unthinkable scenario for much of the world, but one that China is likely to face next month as the business shuts down its search engine in the notoriously conservative nation. Although Google has not confirmed the pullout,
China Business News reported today that the company is likely to announce its decision to remove its search capacities from the nation on Monday.
The decision comes as a response to increasing conflict between the Chinese government and the Internet business.
Google suffered an attack on their technological interface in December that has been attributed to hackers based in China, and the search site has been subject to mandatory censorship from the Chinese government.
A cacophony of voices from across the web have begun to take issue with that holdover from legacy media, the op-ed page.
Ezra Klein,
Washington Post domestic policy blogger,
posted an indictment of the Washington Post's op-ed page on Monday.
"I
don't really understand why my op-ed page, or all the other op-ed
pages, waste so much real-estate publishing talking points from
politicians," he lamented. He went on to argue that op-ed pages should
post pieces written by experts "for a different purpose...than those
written by political experts."
A piece published on The New York Times posed a provocative question: could wiki technology help find Osama Bin Laden?
The answer is maybe. If any Pakistani or Afghan were armed with a
mobile phone to send text messages to authorities with anonymous tips
on where to look. If the information they sent could then be processed and
scattered on a map, over time, a pattern of plots would hopefully show a number of reports in one area and lead to organized action and eventual capture of the terrorist
leader.
This kind of Internet mapping tool based on anonymous tips and
journalistic reports already exists. It is called,
Ushahidi or
testimony in Swahili, and its powerful software could help journalists cover news.
ABC recently announced
plans to initiate a paywall
for some of its online content starting this June, hoping to alleviate
some of its financial troubles and increase revenue. The announcement
comes in the wake of
ABC's restructuring plans and its decision to eliminate 300 to 400 jobs through buyout propositions.
ABC's
initiation of a paywall should come as no surprise to those watching
media news over the past year. Beginning with the success of the
Financial Times and
Wall Street Journal's moves to paid content,
NewsCorporation,
MediaNews and the
New York Times followed in their path with plans to erect paywalls by 2011. Just this week, the
Washington Post announced
its launch of Capital Business, a business weekly for subscribers only.
These
changes result from a steep decline in ad revenue for online newspapers
over the past year, with American newspapers earning 17% less from
advertising on the web than they had a year earlier, according to
the Economist.
The Washington Post alone lost four percent of its revenue in the
fourth quarter of 2009, and new paid content plans hope to alleviate
some of the financial stress of the past year.
National Public Radio is creating a new version of its website to accompany the launch of
Apple's
iPad early next month,
according to Poynter.In addition to the iPad-friendly website, similar to those digital editions designed solely for smartphone access, NPR is preparing an app for the Apple's tablet too.
Media Memo's Peter Kafka reports that when the iPad launches on April 3rd, users who want to access NPR's content through their brand new iPads will be able to either download a version of the broadcaster's
iPhone app, optimized for the iPad, or to visit NPR.org, which will detect the user is accessing from an iPad and will show a tailored site with "no traces of
Adobe's Flash," software that the device does not support.
Nonprofit investigative news website California Watch is aiming to boost reader participation by offering a free iPod touch to its best commenters each month over the next six.
California Watch
follows in the well-tread footsteps of small blogs across the internet
hoping to boost their readership and strengthen their online community.
While some sites, like
Scienceblogs.org,
require users simply to comment to be entered into their contests,
California Watch requires its winning commenters to be "thoughtful,
focused, and articulate in making your argument."
Heading up the Commission of Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society, an independent investigation looking at the future of public life,
Geoff Mulgan has branded the majority of online news as little more that "recycled 'churnalism'",
the Guardian reports. To combat this, the commission has proposed a tax on the likes of
Google and websites using news that they themselves have not produced. It is estimated that the tax could generate £100m a year, which would be distributed amongst local newspapers feeling the pinch.
Journalists in China will have to brush up on their communist history if they hope to continue reporting the news. China's print media censor is planning to introduce a new qualification exam for journalists as the government tries to exert further control over news outlets, the
South China Morning Post reported yesterday.
Li Dongdong, the deputy director at the
General Administration of Press and Publication confirmed on Wednesday that that qualification exam would resemble the test taken by civil servants, and that all aspiring journalists would be required to take it before applying for a reporting job.
Under the new guidelines, the Communist Party's stance on journalism would be required reading for students studying journalism.
The
Huffington Post Investigative Fund, the journalism nonprofit launched by
Ariana Huffington in September 2009, has produced roughly 50 stories since its inception.
Nick Penniman, executive director of the fund, estimated that his editorial staff of nine publish between three and five stories a week. Some are "deep-dive" pieces, requiring months of reporting, while others are "quick-strike" articles that are less in-depth.
The fund's articles are posted on their
website and can be distributed by other news outlets free of charge under a
Creative Commons license.
In Janowo, an 850-person village in north eastern Poland, on a Monday last month, a dozen people - mostly teenagers or over 40s - were gathering in a multi-activity meeting hall. They were listening to Igor Hrywna, a journalist at Gazeta Olsztynska, the dominant newspaper in this "Warmia-Mazury voivodship" (Varmia-Masuria). That day he left his base in the regional capital of Olsztyn to meet this group for the third time in one month. With his assistance, they are learning how to contribute to the recently launched hyperlocal website janowo.wm.pl, covering the 3,000 people "gmina" (commune) centered on Janowo, one of the smallest of the region.
"There are fewer than 120 broadband Internet subscribers today. Our goal by the end of the year is to have at least 6000 unique users", explains Hrywna, who supervises Gazeta Olsztynska's commune portals. "To achieve this, we are organizing two to three hour long training sessions for citizen journalists. I also learn from them!" The training for citizen journalists always begins with the easiest things, like sending pictures with a short description. It includes how to search and browse in the website, how to write, and how to be accurate.
Gazeta Olsztynska's hyperlocal websites like Janowo's are typically 80% filled by local citizens, with user generated content (UGC) mostly on social events. Staff journalists provide the rest, through their assistance and through their own written and edited pieces. "Small communities know what kind of information they need. That is why we base our portals on civil journalism supported by our professional knowledge. The goal is to have the so far marginalized villages really exist in the social cyberspace," comments editor-in-chief Ewa Bartnikowska.
During the Janowo training session, a retired music teacher, Janina Sadowska, who has been a reader of the regional daily for a long time, explained that she was there for two reasons. "First, it is a natural prolongation of my habit of sending readers' comments to the editor. Second, I am at the head of a women's club, and we want to have a presence in our gmina's website."
The young aspiring journalists, between 12 and 18 years old, came from a nearby agricultural school. One of them was filming the reunion with a small camera, planning to post some sequences in the website. Another one, Przemyslaw Ciesielski, 18, explained in clear English: "We don't buy newspapers, but we are interested in news."
For Jarek Tokarczyk, the president of Edytor, Gazeta Olsztynska's publishing house, the involvement of the young in his online projects is critical, because "they already know the Internet, which is accessible at school, even in the most remote villages; through them we can also reach their parents for other publications." Bartnikowska added: "It is very important for us to have roots in print, even though we go at the lowest geographic or smallest community levels only online. This strategy for localism is also only possible if we have social and not only media projects."
Edytor is already managing 35 such hyperlocal websites, as a way to get closer also to small advertisers. In the villages, the biggest companies are often the bakery which employs only eight persons, or the hairdresser with a staff of four. "We want to reach the places where print is not profitable, asking our advertising salespersons to monetize potential markets which have been ignored until now. For this purpose we also train our print representatives to understand the web, setting online revenue goals for each of them," explains Tokarczyk. "We know that the number of Internet users in the country and small towns is going to grow. We have to do it now because tomorrow will be too late." This "deep in localities" strategy is timely with new legislation to be implemented in the coming weeks, for broadband access everywhere in Poland. There are also local governments elections in September, which will boost the interest for hyperlocal news.
Gazeta Olsztynska and its separate edition Dziennik Elblaski, covering an area integrated only ten years ago into the region, have a quasi-monopoly in Varmia-Masuria, one of Poland's 17 voivodships. National daily Gazeta Wyborcza has local editions, but they are read principally in the biggest cities like Olsztyn, where they have a weaker position. In addition to the Internet portals,
Edytor controls 21 hyperlocal weekly freesheets, which encompass numerous news areas, social to e-commerce activities. Each has its online version, is available as a supplement of the daily, and corresponds more or less to a county ("powiat").
Janowo, for instance, is attached to the local newsroom based in Nidzica and covering a 35,000 people powiat. Weekly Gazeta Nidzicka's editor-in-chief Jerzy Grala is assisted by four reporters and three sales representatives. The portal nidzica.wm.pl is updated at least twice a day, and links to and sometimes feeds the central newspaper's website gazetaolsztynska.wm.pl. It is enriched by content provided by its communal websites, including janowo.wm.pl, which is updated a few times a week. Grala also posts occasional on his blog grala.wm.pl, which is easily accessible from his newsroom's portal.
There are 25 regional dailies in Poland in total, Edytor being an exception as an independent group. Most others are controlled either by Polskapresse (owned by Germany's Verlagsgruppe Passau) or Media Regionalne (owned by Great Britain's Mecom). The Varmia-Masuria voivodship is one of the less populated, with 1.4 million inhabitants, out of a total population of 38 million in the coutry (plus about 6 millions Poles living abroad). The region has a particularly high unemployment rate, exceeding 19% versus less than 12% on average nationally.
Given this context, Gazeta Olsztynska's intense efforts to develop online activities and "deep localism" are unusual. "We have over 30 equipped multimedia journalists covering the region, who already produce around 600 pieces of different information every month. With the contributions of the mobilized civil journalists, we expect to double within one year the level of 500,000 unique visitors we got last month," explains Bartnikowska.
Edytor is multiplying editorial and marketing projects, both in print and online, including 200 different supplements and freesheets, family service and obituary websites, a schools of excellence campaign (proposing pupils to write about their schools), celebration contests requiring payment via SMS, special publications promoting the natural wonders of the region and its lakes. "The wm.pl suffix that we use online [for "Warmia-Mazury"] is the most important brand here. We want to be a regional Google!" Tokarczyk says.
Another illustration of Edytor's focus on "hyperlocalities" are its Nowe Miasto operations. In this 11000 people town - or large village - about 85 kilometers far from Olsztyn, it publishes weekly Gazeta Nowomiejska, covering a population four times bigger. Its online hyperlocal news endeavours are already one year old, as shown in the "gminas" listed at the bottom of portal nowemiasto.wm.pl. Unlike in Nidzica, the newsroom is not based on a main central square, but its position may be more strategic. Gazeta Nowomiejska is located on a street in front of the church where, for deeply catholic Poland, mass sermons easily hit the headlines and a significant part of social life relates to religious activities. "The priest sometimes promotes our portal during the mass," says chief editor Stanislaw Ulatowski, also a local celebrity as a print journalism veteran.
His deputy, Lukasz Paczkowski, is a young online and multimedia reporter and Internet geek, who manages his blog paczkowski.wm.pl, which is also displayed in the front page of Gazeta Nowomiejska's portal. "We start updating the website before 10 am, when most people open their computer, until 8.30pm", he says. His partnership with Ulatowski also illustrates the complementary cross-promotion between the platforms. "The photo galleries encourage user generated content" comments Paczkowski. "Our online correspondents are very helpful, because our staff cannot be everywhere in the county, and they are more likely to create communes' portals. Then we print the most newsworthy pieces in the weekly."
To extend his team's expertise, Tokarczyk has built a partnership with the promoters of the C3 concept ("Complete Community Connection"), Chuck Peters and Steve Buttry in the United States (the former is the CEO of Iowa's Gazette Communications, and the latter just left this paper to be the director of community engagement at a high-profile, Washington DC based digital start-up). In spite of being based in a remote region of central Europe, Edytor is being very pro-active in looking for ideas directly provided by the world's top experts in its fields of coverage.
Along with the hyperlocal websites, the Gazeta Olsztynska team has also launched numerous thematic portals about students, community centers, and even an "ethnic" group recently. Website ukraincy.wm.pl is dedicated to the 60,000 strong Ukrainian community, made of descendents or survivors of the group displaced by force to this part of Poland in 1947. It is benefitting from and promoting the revival of their language and religion (Greek Orthodox). "Our aim is to have half of the community visit the portal at least once a month by the end of this year. It will be 100% UGC, and fun," says Hrywna, who is also Polish-Ukrainian.
Posted by Emma Heald on March 10, 2010 at 10:25 AM
Newsweek magazine is planning to launch an English-language edition in Pakistan in September,
MediaBistro.com reported.
Newsweek Pakistan will be the first licensed international news
magazine for the country and the eighth local edition under the
Washington Post Co.-owned Newsweek brand.
Pakistan has a
population of 180 million and only about 100,000 copies of
English-language publications sold in a day. Newsweek's Pakistan
edition will offer both local and international content, and is
expected to start off with a print run of 30,000 copies,
according to the Financial Times.
For more on this story please see our sister publication www.sfnblog.com
In a recent
Washington Post article the
FBI announced its decision to close all but a few of the most promising cases of the 108 cold case murders from the civil rights era.
The Post's story led
The Civil Rights Cold Case Project in conjunction with the
Centre for Investigative Reporting to issue a statement pledging their continued commitment to reporting on unsolved or untold stories from the Civil Rights Era.
International news outlet
GlobalPost has released a free
iPhone app. The news service, launched in January 2009, was
founded to fill the gaps in international reporting that it feared were appearing as traditional media outlets cut down on foreign correspondents.
The app shows a list of top stories, and offers stories broken down by geographical area and topic. Stories can be saved and shared using
Facebook or
Twitter.
Russian billionaire
Alexander Lebedev is stepping up his search for a new editor at the Independent after talks with
Rod Liddle collapsed early last week,
MediaGuardian reported Wednesday.
With a deal for the daily newspaper expected to be reached with
Independent News & Media by the end of the week, Lebedev, who also owns the
London Evening Standard, has now set his sights on some of the heavyweights in the industry, including
Greg Dyke, former director general of the
BBC.
Rupert Murdoch announced
The Wall Street Journal's plans to launch a New York edition this April during a
speech before the Real Estate Board of New York yesterday. Murdoch has reportedly set aside a
$15 million budget for the new metro edition with the hopes of rivaling
The New York Times in local news.
Murdoch, whose'
News Corporation acquired the Journal in 2007 and also owns
The New York Post, had not previously acknowledged public reports over the new section, one of the worst-kept secrets in the newspaper industry. His remarks mark the Journal's first foray into local news with a stand-alone daily section featuring articles on culture, sports, politics, and other news from New York.
Unlike many other newspapers with partner websites,
the Washington Post isn't building paywalls around its online offering. Indeed, so set against the principle,
CEO of
Washington Post Co, Don Graham, confirmed the promise of free online news in a public appearance on Tuesday.
It's not a sentiment that extends to its newly developed
iPhone
application however.
PaidContent has reported that
WaPo is to charge
$1.99 for a year of customised access and offline reading. If the price
appears minimal, then bear in mind that it may increase after the first
year.
The New York Times drew attention to the fact that unlike many American towns and cities that are losing publications and becoming one-paper towns, California's Palo Alto has three papers: two of them daily, all of them free. All are small, but told the NYT that they are profitable and here to stay.
The newest, and appartnetly most controversial of these is the print-only
Daily Post, started by
Dave Price and
Jim Pavelich in 2008, in the former offices of the Palo Alto
Daily News, which they had founded in 1995 and sold in 2005.
The Daily Post's website explains that in 2008, new owners of the Daily News,
MediaNews Group, moved the paper's offices so Price and Pavelich took the space. The idea was to return to "the spirit of the old Daily News, with hard-hitting, fearless news reporting."
A report from the
Pew Center's
Project for Excellence in Journalism published Monday found that just over a quarter of Americans read news on their mobile devices.
The study,
"Understanding the Participatory News Consumer," explores the effect of digital media and wireless mobility on news consumption. The center surveyed owners of cell phones, Blackberries, and other mobile devices about the different ways they access news remotely.
The report revealed that 26% of American adults get "some form of news
via cell phone" - a figure which breaks down to 33% of adult cell phone
users and 88% of adults who have mobile internet. Among those
"on-the-go news consumers," 68% get current events and news on their
cell phone.
In another development in the case of the controversial Muhammad cartoons, the Danish newspaper
Politiken apologized today to eight Muslim organizations for the offense it caused them by reprinting the cartoons. The Muslim organizations have promised to drop legal action against the newspaper if it printed an apology,
according to the Guardian.
The newspaper's apology was condemned by a wide range of Danish figures that believe the apology compromises Denmark's freedom of the press.
The Huffington Post has been keeping quite busy lately - just this week, the news and commentary website added not only one but two new sections to its online repertoire:
Religion and
College.
The newly added Religion section will feature a wide range of discussions about religion, spirituality, and their relationship with our daily lives.
In an
article to introduce HuffPo Religion, Huffington Post co-founder and editor-in-chief,
Arianna Huffington explained that users can expect discussions about the relationship between religion and science, the role of religion in attaining self-fulfillment, the ways religion is portrayed in pop culture, and the overall effect religion has on domestic and international politics on the new site.
T. Christian Miller of the
independent, non-profit news organization ProPublica recently won the prestigious 2010
Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting.
Editor & Publisher reports that it was a collaboration between
The Los Angeles Times and the non-profit news outfit that produced Miller's winning report into abuses of insurance coverage for private contractors in war zones.
Just last week, the winners of the
George Polk Awards in Journalism - usually given to courageous and skillful reporting - were announced,
NPR's On the Media explains. Among the usual big media winners was a surprising win - the anonymous Iranians or Iranian who captured the death of the 26-year old protestor
Neda Agha-Soltan on tape in the violent aftermath of the Islamic Republic's contested elections of June 2009.
The Miami Herald Media Co. - responsible for
The Miami Herald - has stopped accepting volunteer donations to finance its online editorial content,
according to The Miami Herald's website.Last December, the Miami-based daily,
experimented with an innovative way to finance its online operations by asking its online readers to donate if they "prefer the convenience of the Internet."
A move that
worked for the collaborative online encyclopedia,
Wikipedia, was reported to have been
working well for The Miami Herald.
The man behind
Google News page - criticized by news publishers for offering their content for free - thinks
Google is simply helping them monetize their news content.
"We certainly see the value, and we think most of the publishers do too,"
Josh Cohen said at a
PaidContent 2010 event last week,
according to Media Post News.
Cohen explained that the aggregator only provides links to news sites, allowing them to earn more dollars or charge visitors.
Sunday Times columnist
Rod Liddle will not be the new editor of the
Independent after its acquisition by Russian billionaire
Alexander Lebedev, the
Guardian reported last Friday.
The decision to look elsewhere for new leadership was taken by Lebedev and
Simon Kelner, editor-in-chief and managing director of the Independent, last Thursday after more than nine months of negotiations with Liddle.
Google has announced plans to take its
Living Stories project open source, meaning that it will available to news outlets globally, The Guardian reported.
The project was originally developed with
The New York Times and the
Washington Post. It collects all the coverage of an ongoing story on a single URL. Articles on the story are listed in date order starting with the newest at the top. Topics include, for example,
the politics of global warming or
battling swine flu. Readers can view the story through text, graphics, timelines or quotes.
Google will now allow publishers to implement their experiment through its open source API. It also wants to work with web developers and journalists.
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2010/03/googles_split_from_china_taking_a_stand.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="6193" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/google-china.jpg"><img alt="google-china.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/03/google-china-thumb-200x150-6193.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="150" width="200" /></a></form>No <b>Google</b> search: It's an unthinkable scenario for much of the world, but one that China is likely to face next month as the business shuts down its search engine in the notoriously conservative nation. Although Google has not confirmed the pullout, <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-19/google-may-shut-down-china-unit-in-april-cbn-says-update2-.html"><i>China Business News</i> reported today</a> that the company is likely to announce its decision to remove its search capacities from the nation on Monday.<br /><br />The decision comes as a response to increasing conflict between the Chinese government and the Internet business. <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/01/12/google-china-attacks/">Google suffered an attack</a> on their technological interface in December that has been attributed to hackers based in China, and the search site has been subject to mandatory censorship from the Chinese government.<br /> &title=<b>Google</b>'s split from China: Taking a stand or harming journalists?){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2010/03/wikipedia_founder_calls_for_the_end_of_t.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="610" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/Picture%202.png"><img alt="Picture 2.png" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2008/07/Picture%202-thumb-200x116-610.png" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="116" width="200" /></a></form>A cacophony of voices from across the web have begun to take issue with that holdover from legacy media, the op-ed page. <br /><br /><b>Ezra Klein</b>, <i>Washington Post</i> domestic policy blogger, <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/03/whats_the_use_of_politician_op.html" id="w083" title="posted an indictment of the Washington Post's op-ed page">posted an indictment of the Washington Post's op-ed page</a> on Monday. <br /><br />"I
don't really understand why my op-ed page, or all the other op-ed
pages, waste so much real-estate publishing talking points from
politicians," he lamented. He went on to argue that op-ed pages should
post pieces written by experts "for a different purpose...than those
written by political experts."<br />&title=<b>Wikipedia</b> founder calls for the end of the opinion page){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2010/03/what_journalists_should_know_about_ushah.php&bodytext=<form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="6139" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/Image%2022.png"><img alt="Image 22.png" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/03/Image%2022-thumb-200x64-6139.png" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="64" width="200" /></a></form><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/weekinreview/14giridharadas.html?sudsredirect=true">A piece published on <i>The New York Times</i></a> posed a provocative question: could wiki technology help find Osama Bin Laden?<br /><br />The answer is maybe. If any Pakistani or Afghan were armed with a
mobile phone to send text messages to authorities with anonymous tips
on where to look. If the information they sent could then be processed and
scattered on a map, over time, a pattern of plots would hopefully show a number of reports in one area and lead to organized action and eventual capture of the terrorist
leader.<br />
<br />
This kind of Internet mapping tool based on anonymous tips and
journalistic reports already exists. It is called, <b>Ushahidi</b> or
testimony in Swahili, and its powerful software could help journalists cover news. <br /> &title=What journalists should know about <b>Ushahidi</b> ){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/web_20/2010/03/abc_plans_to_initiate_paywall_by_june.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="6137" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/abcnews_generic.jpg"><img alt="abcnews_generic.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/03/abcnews_generic-thumb-200x71-6137.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="71" width="200" /></a></form><b>ABC</b> recently announced <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2010/mar/15/abc-news-paywall" id="sy:0" title="plans to initiate a paywall">plans to initiate a paywall</a>
for some of its online content starting this June, hoping to alleviate
some of its financial troubles and increase revenue. The announcement
comes in the wake of <a href="http://paidcontent.org/article/419-abc-news-plans-major-restructuring-offers-buyouts-to-all-full-time-non-/" id="bj:9" title="ABC's restructuring plans">ABC's restructuring plans</a> and its decision to eliminate 300 to 400 jobs through buyout propositions.<br /><br />ABC's
initiation of a paywall should come as no surprise to those watching
media news over the past year. Beginning with the success of the <i><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2010/01/financial_times_paywall_finally_pays_off.php" id="uy8g" title="Financial Times">Financial Times</a></i> and <i><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2010/01/how_wsj_uses_social_media_behind_a_paywa.php" id="d_3o" title="Wall Street Journal">Wall Street Journal</a></i>'s moves to paid content, <i><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2010/02/news_corp_closer_to_charging_for_online.php" id="bjde" title="NewsCorporation">NewsCorporation</a></i>, <i><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2010/02/update_medianews_gives_details_on_paywal.php" id="t3d5" title="MediaNews">MediaNews</a></i> and the <i><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/analysis/2010/01/new_york_times_paywall_will_it_work.php" id="yeli" title="New York Times">New York Times</a></i> followed in their path with plans to erect paywalls by 2011. Just this week, the <i>Washington Post</i> announced <a href="http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2010/03/15/daily7.html" id="qxrk" title="its launch of Capital Business">its launch of <i>Capital Business</i></a>, a business weekly for subscribers only.<br /><br />These
changes result from a steep decline in ad revenue for online newspapers
over the past year, with American newspapers earning 17% less from
advertising on the web than they had a year earlier, according to <a href="http://www.economist.com/business-finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15207305" id="nnel" title="the Economist">the <i>Economist</i></a>.
The Washington Post alone lost four percent of its revenue in the
fourth quarter of 2009, and new paid content plans hope to alleviate
some of the financial stress of the past year.<br /> &title=<b>ABC</b> planning to initiate paywall for online content by June){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2010/03/npr_creating_new_ipad-friendly_website.php&bodytext=<form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="6133" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/nprnew.jpg"><img alt="nprnew.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/03/nprnew-thumb-200x200-6133.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="200" width="200" /></a></form><b>National Public Radio</b> is creating a new version of its website to accompany the launch of <b>Apple</b>'s <b>iPad</b> early next month, <a href="http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=134&aid=179627">according to <i>Poynter</i>.</a><br /><br />In addition to the iPad-friendly website, similar to those digital editions designed solely for smartphone access, NPR is preparing an app for the Apple's tablet too.<br /><br /><a href="http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20100315/for-npr-the-ipad-means-a-new-app-and-a-new-web-site/"><i>Media Memo</i>'s <b>Peter Kafka</b> reports</a> that when the iPad launches on April 3rd, users who want to access NPR's content through their brand new iPads will be able to either download a version of the broadcaster's <b>iPhone</b> app, optimized for the iPad, or to visit NPR.org, which will detect the user is accessing from an iPad and will show a tailored site with "no traces of <b>Adobe's Flash</b>," software that the device does not support. <br /> <div><br /></div>&title=<b>NPR</b> creating new <b>iPad</b>-friendly website){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/web_20/2010/03/california_watch_offers_free_ipods_to_be.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="6125" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/California%20Watch.jpg"><img alt="California Watch.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/03/California%20Watch-thumb-200x70-6125.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="70" width="200" /></a></form><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2010/01/non-profit_news_publisher_helps_readers.php" id="j_t:" title="Nonprofit investigative news website California Watch">Nonprofit investigative news website <b>California Watch</b></a> is aiming to boost reader participation by offering a free iPod touch to its best commenters each month over the next six. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.californiawatch.org/watchblog/want-free-ipod-touch-wow-us-your-commenting-skills" id="hj5a" title="California Watch">California Watch</a>
follows in the well-tread footsteps of small blogs across the internet
hoping to boost their readership and strengthen their online community.<br /><br />While some sites, like <b><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/1000000.php" id="ok_0" title="Scienceblogs.org">Scienceblogs.org</a></b>,
require users simply to comment to be entered into their contests,
California Watch requires its winning commenters to be "thoughtful,
focused, and articulate in making your argument."<br />&title=<b>California Watch</b> offers free iPods to best commenters){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2010/03/proposed_tax_on_aggregators_to_help_news.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="1087" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/google.jpg"><img alt="google.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2008/10/google-thumb-200x133-1087.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" width="200" height="133" /></a></form>
Heading up the Commission of Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society, an independent investigation looking at the future of public life, <b>Geoff Mulgan </b>has branded the majority of online news as little more that "recycled 'churnalism'", <i>the Guardian </i>reports. To combat this, the commission has proposed a tax on the likes of <b><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/analysis/2009/03/google_news_and_newspaper_publishers_all.php">Google</a> </b>and websites using news that they themselves have not produced. It is estimated that the tax could generate £100m a year, which would be distributed amongst local newspapers feeling the pinch. <iframe frameborder="0" name="mashlogic" style="border: 0pt none ; margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt; overflow: hidden; display: none; z-index: 9999; position: absolute; top: auto; right: auto; bottom: auto; left: auto;" id="mashlogic" src="about:blank"></iframe>&title=Proposed tax on aggregators to help newspapers feeling the pinch){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2010/03/globalposts_new_free_iphone_app.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="5995" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/screenshots/globalpost%20iphone%20app.jpg"><img alt="globalpost iphone app.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/03/globalpost%20iphone%20app-thumb-180x270-5995.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="270" width="180" /></a></form>International news outlet <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/"><i>GlobalPost</i></a> has released a free <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/globalpost-news/id353810138?mt=8"><b>iPhone</b> app</a>. The news service, launched in January 2009, was <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/analysis/2010/01/globalpost_one_year_on.php">founded to fill the gaps in international reporting </a>that it feared were appearing as traditional media outlets cut down on foreign correspondents. <br /><br />The app shows a list of top stories, and offers stories broken down by geographical area and topic. Stories can be saved and shared using <b>Facebook</b> or <b>Twitter</b>. &title=<i>GlobalPost's</i> new free iPhone app){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2010/03/greg_dyke_in_running_for_new_independent.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="5990" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/alexander_lebedev.jpg"><img alt="alexander_lebedev.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/03/alexander_lebedev-thumb-200x133-5990.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="133" width="200" /></a></form>Russian billionaire <b>Alexander Lebedev</b> is stepping up his search for a new editor at the Independent after talks with <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2010/02/rod_liddle_no_longer_candidate_for_indep.php"><b>Rod Liddle</b> collapsed early last week</a>, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/mar/03/greg-dyke-lebedev-independent-editor"><i>MediaGuardian</i></a> reported Wednesday.<br /><br />With a deal for the daily newspaper expected to be reached with <b>Independent News & Media</b> by the end of the week, Lebedev, who also owns the <i>London Evening Standard</i>, has now set his sights on some of the heavyweights in the industry, including <b>Greg Dyke</b>, former director general of the <b>BBC</b>.<br />&title=<b>Greg Dyke</b> in running for new <i>Independent</i> editor?){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2010/03/murdochwsj_to_launch_metro_edition_in_ap.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="3909" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/murdoch.jpg"><img alt="murdoch.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2009/10/murdoch-thumb-200x249-3909.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="249" width="200" /></a></form><b>Rupert Murdoch</b> announced <i>The Wall Street Journal</i>'s plans to launch a New York edition this April during a <a href="http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45&aid=178772">speech before the <b>Real Estate Board of New York</b></a> yesterday. Murdoch has reportedly set aside a <a href="http://www.observer.com/2009/media/watch-out-times-murdoch-plans-15-m-nyc-edition">$15 million budget</a> for the new metro edition with the hopes of rivaling <i>The New York Times</i> in local news. <br /><br />Murdoch, whose' <b>News Corporation</b> acquired the Journal in 2007 and also owns <i>The New York Post</i>, had not previously acknowledged public reports over the new section, one of the worst-kept secrets in the newspaper industry. His remarks mark the Journal's first foray into local news with a stand-alone daily section featuring articles on culture, sports, politics, and other news from New York.<br /> &title=<b>Murdoch</b>: <i>WSJ</i> to launch New York section in April){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2010/03/wapo_launches_paid_for_iphone_app.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="5986" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/misc/wapo%20iphone.jpg"><img alt="wapo iphone.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/03/wapo%20iphone-thumb-180x270-5986.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="270" width="180" /></a></form>Unlike many other newspapers with partner websites, <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2010/01/washington_post_and_hindustan_times_to_s.php"><i>the Washington Post</i> </a>isn't building paywalls around its online offering. Indeed, so set against the principle, <b>CEO</b> of <b>Washington Post Co, Don Graham,</b> confirmed the promise of free online news in a public appearance on Tuesday. <br /><br />It's not a sentiment that extends to its newly developed <b>iPhone</b>
application however. <i>PaidContent</i> has reported that <i>WaPo</i> is to charge
$1.99 for a year of customised access and offline reading. If the price
appears minimal, then bear in mind that it may increase after the first
year. <iframe name="mashlogic" style="border: 0pt none ; margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt; overflow: hidden; display: none; z-index: 9999; position: absolute; top: auto; right: auto; bottom: auto; left: auto;" id="mashlogic" src="about:blank" frameborder="0"></iframe>&title=<i>WaPo</i> launches paid <b>iPhone</b> app){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2010/02/danish_newspaper_apologizes_to_muslim_or.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="5942" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/kurt%20westergaard.jpg"><img alt="kurt westergaard.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/02/kurt%20westergaard-thumb-200x120-5942.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="120" width="200" /></a></form>In another development in the case of the controversial Muhammad cartoons, the Danish newspaper <i>Politiken </i>apologized today to eight Muslim organizations for the offense it caused them by reprinting the cartoons. The Muslim organizations have promised to drop legal action against the newspaper if it printed an apology, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/26/danish-cartoons-muhammad-politiken-apology">according to the <i>Guardian</i></a>.<br /><br />The newspaper's apology was condemned by a wide range of Danish figures that believe the apology compromises Denmark's freedom of the press. <br /> <iframe frameborder="0" name="mashlogic" style="border: 0pt none ; margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt; overflow: hidden; display: none; z-index: 9999; position: absolute; top: auto; right: auto; bottom: auto; left: auto;" id="mashlogic" src="about:blank"></iframe>&title=Danish newspaper apologizes to Muslim organizations for printing Muhammad cartoons){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/web_20/2010/02/the_huffington_post_tackles_religion_and.php&bodytext=<form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="5917" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/Image%2010.png"><img alt="Image 10.png" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/02/Image%2010-thumb-200x79-5917.png" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="79" width="200" /></a></form><i>The Huffington Post</i> has been keeping quite busy lately - just this week, the news and commentary website added not only one but two new sections to its online repertoire: <i>Religion</i> and <i>College</i>. <br /><br />The newly added Religion section will feature a wide range of discussions about religion, spirituality, and their relationship with our daily lives. <br /><br />In an <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/announcing-huffpost-relig_b_475227.html">article</a> to introduce HuffPo Religion, Huffington Post co-founder and editor-in-chief, <b>Arianna Huffington</b> explained that users can expect discussions about the relationship between religion and science, the role of religion in attaining self-fulfillment, the ways religion is portrayed in pop culture, and the overall effect religion has on domestic and international politics on the new site.<br /><br />&title=<i>The Huffington Post</i> tackles Religion and College life ){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2010/02/t_christian_miller_of_the.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="5895" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/citizen-journalism2.jpg"><img alt="citizen-journalism2.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/02/citizen-journalism2-thumb-200x190-5895.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="190" width="200" /></a></form><b>T. Christian Miller</b> of the <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/analysis/2009/02/propublica_could_the_non-profit_model_be.php">independent, non-profit news organization</a> <a href="http://www.propublica.com/"><b>ProPublica</b></a> recently won the prestigious 2010 <b>Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting</b>. <a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004070351"><i>Editor & Publisher</i> reports </a>that it was a collaboration between <i>The Los Angeles Times</i> and the non-profit news outfit that produced Miller's winning report into abuses of insurance coverage for private contractors in war zones.<br /><br />Just last week, the winners of the <b>George Polk Awards in Journalism</b> - usually given to courageous and skillful reporting - were announced, <a href="http://onthemedia.org/transcripts/2010/02/19/06"><b>NPR</b>'s <b>On the Media</b> explains</a>. Among the usual big media winners was a surprising win - the anonymous Iranians or Iranian who captured the death of the 26-year old protestor <b>Neda Agha-Soltan</b> on tape in the violent aftermath of the Islamic Republic's contested elections of June 2009.<br />&title=Non-profits and eyewitnesses: the changing face of journalism awards){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2010/02/the_miami_herald_stops_accepting_donatio.php&bodytext=<form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="5890" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/Image%209.png"><img alt="Image 9.png" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/02/Image%209-thumb-200x32-5890.png" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="32" width="200" /></a></form><b>The Miami Herald Media Co.</b> - responsible for <i>The Miami Herald</i> - has stopped accepting volunteer donations to finance its online editorial content, <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/02/20/1490558/herald-ends-payments-for-online.html">according to The Miami Herald's website.</a><br /><br />Last December, the Miami-based daily, <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/12/miami_herald_seeks_donations.php">experimented with an innovative way to finance its online operations</a> by asking its online readers to donate if they "prefer the convenience of the Internet."<br /><br />A move that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/09/wikipedias-fundraising-mi_n_156679.html">worked for the collaborative online encyclopedia</a>, <b>Wikipedia</b>, was reported to have been <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2010/01/miami_heralds_readers_are_willing_to_don.php#more">working well for The Miami Herald</a>.<br /> &title=<i>The Miami Herald</i> stops accepting donations){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2010/02/is_google_news_helping_or_hindering_news.php&bodytext=<form contenteditable="false" mt:asset-id="5567" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/googlenews.jpg"><img alt="googlenews.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/02/googlenews-thumb-200x200-5567.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="200" width="200" /></a></form>The man behind <b>Google News</b> page - criticized by news publishers for offering their content for free - thinks <b>Google</b> is simply helping them monetize their news content. <br /><br />"We certainly see the value, and we think most of the publishers do too," <b>Josh Cohen</b> said at a <b>PaidContent 2010</b> event last week, <a href="http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=122838&nid=111391">according to <i>Media Post News</i></a>.<br /><br />Cohen explained that the aggregator only provides links to news sites, allowing them to earn more dollars or charge visitors. <br />&title=Is <b>Google News</b> helping or hindering newspapers? ){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/newsrooms_and_journalism/2010/02/rod_liddle_no_longer_candidate_for_indep.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="5873" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/rod%20liddle.jpg"><img alt="rod liddle.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2010/02/rod%20liddle-thumb-200x236-5873.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="236" width="200" /></a></form><i>Sunday Times</i> columnist <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2010/01/will_rod_liddle_become_editor_of_the_ind.php"><b>Rod Liddle</b></a> will not be the new editor of the <i>Independent</i> after its acquisition by Russian billionaire <b>Alexander Lebedev</b>, the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade"><i>Guardian</i> reported last Friday. <br /></a><br />The decision to look elsewhere for new leadership was taken by Lebedev and <b>Simon Kelner</b>, editor-in-chief and managing director of the Independent, last Thursday after more than nine months of negotiations with Liddle.<br /> &title=<b>Rod Liddle</b> no longer candidate for <i>Independent</i> editor){kind=link}
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2010/02/googles_living_stories_to_become_open_so.php&bodytext= <form mt:asset-id="4904" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/screenshots/google%20living%20ss1.png"><img alt="google living ss1.png" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2009/12/google%20living%20ss1-thumb-200x121-4904.png" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="121" width="200" /></a></form><b>Google</b> has announced plans to take its <a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/12/googles_living_stories_organises_article.php"><b>Living Stories</b> project</a> open source, meaning that it will available to news outlets globally, The Guardian reported.
<br /><br />The project was originally developed with <i>The New York Times</i> and the <i>Washington Post</i>. It collects all the coverage of an ongoing story on a single URL. Articles on the story are listed in date order starting with the newest at the top. Topics include, for example, <a href="http://livingstories.googlelabs.com/lsps/climatechange#OVERVIEW:false,false,false,n,n,n:null;">the politics of global warming</a> or <a href="http://livingstories.googlelabs.com/lsps/swineflu#OVERVIEW:false,false,false,n,n,n:null;">battling swine flu</a>. Readers can view the story through text, graphics, timelines or quotes.
<br /><br />Google will now allow publishers to implement their experiment through its open source API. It also wants to work with web developers and journalists.
<br />&title=<b>Google</b>'s <b>Living Stories</b> to become open source){kind=link}