Results matching “the tabloid news ag”

Early February, The Capital Times announced that would reduce its print to and shift most of its content to its website. On Saturday, the paper published its final printed edition with the headline "Beam Us Up."

WISC-TV reported that The Capital Times is down to a daily circulation of 17,000.

"(The circulation decline) really brought into focus for us a conversation about irrelevancy. How can we still be relevant if we have so few printed copies, particularly in a market of this size," said editor Paul Fanlund.

Its free publication will print twice weekly distributed within the Wisconsin State Journal with about 48 pages of in-depth stories, analysis, and commentary on Wednesdays with a circulation of about 80,000 and a revamped Rhythm arts and entertainment insert on Thursdays, with a distribution of at least 115,000.

"The sad part is being able to hold that newspaper in your hand, which for me, is going to be a big loss, personally," said Dave Zweifel, the newspaper's editor emeritus.

The Capital Times, printing since December 13, 1917, is believed to be the first daily newspaper to "make this kind of a transition to the Web," according to WISC-TV. "If it's successful, it's likely other struggling papers will follow suit."

For more information, visit our partner blog SFN.

Source: WISC-TV, Madison.com

The Editors Weblog is running a series of exclusive interviews about the future of journalism with top editors at leading newspapers around the world. Here is the latest installment with Dan Bogler, Managing Editor of the Financial Times in the UK.

Click here to view all interviews in this series. Other titles include The New York Times, the Guardian, Fairfax Media, the Hindustan Times, etc. (full list at the bottom of the interview).


Questions: "News, journalism, newspapers: same past, different futures?"


- How long do you think you will define your company as a newspaper company or a print company?

We see ourselves as a news organization and we're becoming much more agnostic about our distribution channels. We're becoming much more interested in creating relevant information for our readers and much less interested in how it gets to the readers. Pearson, the parent company, clearly is an education company with a print publishing arm and an information division, which includes the FT. At the FT level, we consider ourselves to be a financial news business more than a newspaper. Our mission is to be the gold standard for global business news in print and online - and in any other formats.

- At this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, a panel of futurists claimed that print newspapers wouldn't exist by 2014. To what extent do you agree with this?

Largely but not completely. 10 years from now - 2014 may be slightly too short a time frame - we will still have printed newspapers, because people like reading  things in print. Newspapers, just like the book, are convenient to read in places you can't do with a computer; but my belief is that a lot of what will be printed will be analysis, comment, analysis and opinion. The actual news will be more or less online or in other more timely formats. In a way the FT will split in two, with FT.com for all the news that's breaking and some immediate reactions and  opinion. The more considered analysis will be almost an Economist-type publication. Maybe it wouldn't have to be broadsheet anymore, it could be tabloid or even magazine format. To put it very crudely, you'd have all the news online, and you'd have 12 pages of Martin Wolf the next day in print, and all the editorials, columnists, features and more.

- In journalism's multi-centennial history, do you view the emergence of digital journalism as part of the continuity, or as a complete breakaway with previous forms of journalism?

There's one thing that's old and one thing that's new. What's old and part of the continuum is that traditional companies are going online. Our journalists are now fully integrated and write online and in print. I'm sure that in 2 years time they'll all be carrying video cameras. We've gone from zero videos website to over 100 per month in the last 18 months. That's part of the continuum: it's us doing the same thing in different distribution channels.

What's new is the blogosphere, citizen journalists and the idea that anyone - people who are not qualified journalists, either experts in a narrow field or just interested citizens - can start a blog or website and distribute it. For the FT, you would think it's negative in the sense that there's more news and opinion and more competitors. In fact, that's not really true, it almost enhances the position of leading media brands for several reasons. One is we are trusted, people believe the news they read with us. Secondly, we select and edit, which becomes an increasingly crucial function as there is more information out there. The more 'over-informed' people are, the more likely people who want to know what's actually going on will turn to a few sources that tell them what s actually important. That's what professional newspapers do really well.

- Do you believe in the increasingly active role of the user in the news process, and is it a threat or an opportunity for professional journalists?

I do believe in their increasingly active role of users: very often readers are more informed than us. If you look at an old format like the letters page in the newspaper, the amount of expertise that our readers have, who are often professionals in the City, is just incredible. They know more about it in certain aspects than our journalists. That's why we get CEOs, academics, lawyers, heads of accountancy firms and more writing in to us to say what's actually happening. They can do this online with comments or take part in Q&As, or print their views in the pages of the FT and FT.com. That sort of content is very helpful. We also have a function for any user to comment on the website's stories.

Is it a threat? Sure, to some extent. But as long as it's happening on our site or in the pages of our newspaper, it's been bundled, monitored, checked for quality and therefore is important. We're not going to turn into a place where we just repeat hundreds of readers' letters and have no journalists of our own. It's more of an opportunity for our journalists to become more informed and build contacts among readers. And it's amazing that all these readers are willing to give this information for free.

- Do you consider the Golden Age of investigative journalism is already past, or just beginning?

I don't know. That's a really hard one. I might say it's already past.

There's so much more information out there and it's so much harder for companies to hide information. Take the Northern Rock story, which was broken by BBC journalists, and there was a bank run as a result. It's harder to hide information. The idea that journalists have to do long-term, deep, undercover investigations where they reveal something months later - I don't think it works like that anymore. Journalists still have scoops and still break important stories, but it tends to be in a much shorter time frame. It tends to be a single development that they're breaking rather than a long series of connections.

But frankly, newspapers and media organizations are under pressure. It's hard for us to send a journalist or a group of journalists off three months investigating something - and if nothing works that's a shame but nevermind. We don't have resources to let people go off and do that for such a long time. I think The Golden Age of journalists working undercover, developing sources and breaking big scandals is less likely; but revealing news that people don't want out there, on a short term basis, uncovering a scandal and having it come to light, that's more likely. As soon as a tiny thing breaks now, it gets distributed so quickly that it's hard to see a journalist working undercover for a long time and gradually piecing something together without having it go public much earlier in the process.


Stay tuned for more interviews in our series. Among the other titles that have been asked to participate in these interviews are:

- The New York Times - Jonathan Landman (US)
- Financial Times - Dan Bogler (UK)
- Guardian (UK)
- Washington Post - Jim Brady (US)
- Globe & Mail - Ed Greenspon (Canada)
- The Times (UK)
- The Economist (UK)
- Gazeta Wyborcza - Jaroslaw Kurski (Poland)
- Le Monde (France)
- Die Welt (Germany)
- The Hindustan Times - Pankaj Paul (India)
- Asahi Shimbun (Japan)
- JoongAng Ilbo (South Korea)
- The Age / Fairfax - Mike van Niekerk (Australia)
- The Nation - Pana Janviroj (Thailand)
- Punch (Nigeria)
- El Tiempo (Colombia)
- Clarin (Argentina)
- Gulf News - Abdul Hamid Ahmad (UAE)

On Monday, The Baltimore Sun launched b, a free daily newspaper and website, which targets readers from 18-34, similar to parent Tribune Co.'s RedEye. They had announced developing 'b' in February as a step to broaden the Sun's audience in times of "declining revenue and increased competition," according to the Baltimore Sun website.

The first 40 page issue featured a cover story of reader's photographs shown at sites around the city, and included a section of reader "rants" and opinions. The first issue had 75,000 copies, distributed in 1,000 bright orange boxes in 1,400 drugstores, convenience stores and athletic clubs in metropolitan Baltimore. Also, about 70 volunteer employees handed out "samplers."

"It really is going well," said Timothy J. Thomas, vice president of business development, who expects distribution to grow to 100,000. "They're kind of flying off the shelves."

Steven Duke, associate professor of journalism at Northwestern University, said similar young adult-targeted newspapers, such as RedEye, have succeeded by distributing in places where young readers congregate.

He acknowledged that the economy presents challenges for new publications. For instance, the free daily BostonNOW was just shut down due to economic reasons.

With a staff of about 20, the tabloid newspaper and website has a focus on news, sports, entertainment news, blogs, and listings geared to its readers. A third of its content is planned to be reader-generated material. The tabloid also has content-sharing agreements with local radio stations WTMD-FM and WNST-AM. Online readers will have to opportunity to upload photos and videos.

"This truly is a daily conversation with our target audience," said Brad Howard, b general manager.

Sources: Editor & Publisher, Baltimore Sun

On April 5, 2008, the Weekend Witness, the Saturday version of the country's oldest newspaper, is going tabloid. It will include a mix of "news, finance, entertainment, comics, motoring, and leisure topics," according to Dave Erasmus, General Manager of the Witness Division of The Natal Witness Group.

The paper's new format will be easier to handle, easier to read, have a livelier presentation, and shorter stories. Its coverage on local news and sports will continue, as well as its scope and value.

"We're very excited about the new-format Weekend Witness and are certain readers will like what they see on 5 April," says Erasmus.

The paper launched over four years ago, with circulation going from 23,000 to a steady 30,000. It hopes to attract new readers, especially women and young readers, who reportedly tend to favor compact format newspapers, labeling them as "cool."  However, the reduction of paper size does cut cost measures which may be a strategic move in the declining newspaper industry.

Source: Biz Community

Bild, the most read daily tabloid in Europe, is officially moving from Hamburg to Berlin as of March 21, relocating a total of 500 employees. After World War II, most media moved to Hamburg, but Berlin regained its status as capital in 1999. Bild's relocation will supposedly initiate a movement of media outlets to the capital, though the weekly Der Spiegel is still located in Hamburg.

Source: Elmundo.es (in Spanish) through IFRA Executive News Service

French daily Le Monde chose to publish today a letter signed by Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, former fashion model and newly-wed spouse of President Nicolas Sarkozy. In the letter, Bruni-Sarkozy does nothing less than give a lesson of ethics to the journalistic profession.

Brief reminder of facts: at the beginning of February, Nouvel Observateur journalist Airy Routier published online a loosely substantiated story about a text message supposedly sent by Sarkozy to his ex-wife, a few days before his wedding with Bruni.

Subsequently, Sarkozy prosecuted the NouvelObs.com. Routier, who at first defended his source and the validity of the story, had to later admit that he had never actually seen the text message, and just recently sent an official letter to apologize to Bruni-Sarkozy. The president in turn dropped his complaint.

According to Bruni-Sarkozy's letter in Le Monde, the story of the text message, which can still be found on the publication's website, highlighted the ethical slips of modern journalism: "what's dishonest and worrisome in this episode is the fact that at no point the "news" was verified, corroborated, validated."

"Even if the rumor had been founded, it would have been by chance, the result of a vague indiscretion, hearsay, and not the result of a rigorous investigation."

"If, from now on, rumor is used for news, if fantasies are used as scoops, where are we going towards?"

Importantly, Nouvel Obs is traditionally considered to be a quality weekly publication, far removed from tabloids and other fast-news titles.

It's obvious that the decision to publish the story, which was later condemned by the Nouvel Obs' director, revealed insufficient editorial oversight. It may also have been representative of modern trends in journalism, which put increasing importance on speedy online publication and 'crisp' content.

Granted, as pointed out by Bruni-Sarkozy, the Nouvel Obs' website failed to adhere to its chart of ethics, which states that "rumors must be banned, anonymous citations avoided and sources indicated as precisely as possible (...) should be published only news for which the source is known."

Does this justify the fact that France's presidential spouse publishes a letter condemning the press in one of the most referential national titles?

As pointed out by a commenter to the story, "I regret reading this even more than reading the story on the Nouvel Observateur." For him, this only plays into the rise of the cult of celebrity and tabloid content within the quality press.

Feel free to give us your thoughts.

Source: Le Monde (link in French)

Two profitable Nordic media groups, Schibsted in Norway and SanomaWSOY in Finland, have suffered disappointing results and dropping share prices in the last month. 

The figures are relative; for most publishing groups such figures would be welcomed, but for these particular houses, who are traditionally strong revenue generators, they are disappointing.

In Norway, Schibsted is still suffering losses in its home market due to a rapid shift from print to online. However, although it has faced circulation cuts on papers such as its tabloid Verdens Gang, it has not lost readers. Indeed the website is responsible for more than 30% of Verdens Gang’s revenue.

Schibsted has been affected more by losses in classified advertising, both print and web, from its holdings in Spain, France, and Italy.

In Finland, lower figures were not a result of circulation and advertising drops; rather SanomaWSOY cited increased marketing costs and new product launches at the root of the problem.

Some positive news comes out of Scandinavia as well; Bonnier, a Swedish private international media company, announced in a press release that their sales rose 45% in 2007.

Source: followthemedia

The Los Angeles Times is set to launch a free weekly aimed at young-adult Angelinos. Together with its partner site of the same title, Metromix Los Angeles, the duo hopes to attract a demographic previously untapped by the publication.

The print weekly will feature the same culture and nightlife coverage as its inspiration website, losangeles.metromix.com. With the print version arising from its online predecessor, the Metromix Los Angeles model illustrates how online concepts are growing increasingly influential in the print world.

Metromix Los Angeles will be distributed every Wednesday on local college campuses, in grocery stores and on racks throughout major Los Angeles neighborhoods. Initial circulation will set at approximately 100,000.

The new weekly will go up against L.A. Weekly, Village Voice Media’s already well-entrenched tabloid.
"We're hyper-local," Deb Vankin, editor of Metromix Los Angeles, told adage.com. "I've been in the industry for about 10 years covering these things in Los Angeles. I sort of handpicked who I thought would be the experts.

"I can say with certainty that we're in an age when the media landscape is saturated," Vankin added. "They want not everything at once but someone to curate it for them. What's great about Metromix is our print edition offers that, and if you want more, you can jump on the website."

Vankin’s vision illustrates the rising trend to integrate print and online news sources to create a streamlined product for multimedia-hungry consumers. Metromix Los Angeles shows that even hyper-local publications are incorporating multimedia strategies.

Source: adage.com through I WANT MEDIA

The Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin has reduced its print circulation to twice-weekly, choosing to shift much of its content to its site, Madison.com.

In its new format, The Capital Times will be distributed to homes on Wednesdays in tandem with its publishing partner The Wisconsin State Journal, and will also be available for free in city newstands. The Times has also acquired an arts and entertainment tabloid that will be distributed on Thursday.

With the move to the web, The Capital Times will have a circulation of more than 80,000 compared to its current circulation of 17,000.

"Moving our resources to the Web is the wave of the future," editor Dave Zweifel said. "Putting the full force our newsroom on the site will extend the reach and relevance of The Capital Times for years and years to come."

Madison was one of the last American cities of its size (population approximately 200,000 in July 2006) to retain two daily newspapers. The paper plans to retain a staff of 40 to 45 ; however, according to Capital Times publisher Clayton Frink, job cuts of up to 40 employees are likely.

Sources : E-Media Tidbits, Fading to Black through IFRA Executive News Service, Wisconsin State Journal, City-Data.com

Finnish newspapers are struggling to transition to a strong online model, and it seems only tabloids have entered the online race full on, in a context of tense competition.

US freesheets, after lukewarm early years compared to their European equivalents, seem to be bucking the trend of decreasing revenues suffered by urban paid-for dailies.

In its 2007 review for the press, the Guardian lashes out at the UK press’ agenda, but nuances that these stories “are merely reflecting the tastes and wishes of their customers.”

The first free English-language tabloid daily will be launched in Thailand at the beginning of the next year by an already established Thai newspaper, The Nation.