Results matching “a parade of al”

A group of newspaper executives have heard enough talk about the apparent imminent demise of the printed press, and have launched www.newspaperproject.org to let the world know that it's really not that bad.  The aim is to dispel the popular belief that newspapers are in crisis and no longer needed, and to fight back against their misrepresentation in the press itself.  

Editor & Publisher's William Ketter is a most definite advocate of the campaign, which begins advertising today, both in print and online.  He explains that nearly all media reports portray the printed press struggling to stay afloat in an online age, but states that "this wrongheaded perception stems from the economic recession that's affected all advertising-based businesses, and from the myth that newspapers no longer attract the public support they once enjoyed.  But the biggest contributing factor to the distorted picture of the industry's condition just might be us"

The Australian edition of The Week was launched on October 30th.  The magazine condenses all of the news from the week with comment and analysis into a 35-page publication.

The original edition was launched in the UK in 1998, followed by one in the United States in 2002.  According to the papers publisher, Dennis Publishing, the US edition has grown 165 percent since its launch and now has a circulation at 500,000.

The Los Angeles Times' website drew 115 million page views in June, just short of its all-time traffic record of 120 million PV set in May.

A quick glance at the list of most-read stories and most-viewed multimedia features in June gives a good idea of readers' favorite topics of interest - namely a push towards celebrity news and away from global issues and traditionally important topics such as the general elections. The lists also show that, despite newspapers' widespread emphasis on blogs and videos, these platforms still account for a minimal share of total traffic.

Furthermore, these lists provide some indications about how reader interests may vary from one platform to the other (news, blogs, videos, picture galleries).

If one supposes that latimes.com readership isn't too significantly different from average online newspaper readership, then these numbers hint toward which formats work best for different topics (Skip to 'Insights' for a brief summary).

Text - Top articles:

1. Alex Kozinski suspends L.A. obscenity trial after conceding his website had sexual images (Scott Glover)
2. Mega-mansions are L.A.'s really big show (Jessica Garrison)
3. Oliver Stone and 'W.,' a story of President Bush (John Horn)
4. Fourth day of triple digits sends crowds to L.A. pools, beaches  (Tami Abdollah)
5. Packing in public: Gun owners tired of hiding their weapons embrace 'open carry' (Nicholas Riccardi)
6. Envisioning a world of $200-a-barrel oil (Martin Zimmerman)
7. Judge orders TMZ to remove sex tape of actor Verne Troyer (Harriet Ryan)
8. Lakers have a collapse for the ages (Mike Bresnahan)
9. Offshore oil drilling opponents are rethinking (Richard Simon and Bob Drogin)
10. Obama leads in battle for Latino vote (Peter Wallsten)


The first thing that strikes us when looking at the list is how few stories relate to 'global' issues or to the general elections in the US: ranked 6 is a column about rising oil prices and the only story directly related to the elections is ranked 10. The majority of stories have mostly local relevance about Los Angeles.

(Only) one of the top 10 stories concerns sports - a usually strong section for most newspaper websites although June isn't the biggest season for sports in the US - and the Lakers' basketball team's demise in the championship finals.

The top three stories (and 7) revolve, more or less closely, around issues of sex and the cult of celebrities and entertainment. Number 3 is a story about the making-of Oliver Stone's latest movie about President George W. Bush. Granted, considering Los Angeles' prime location in the movie and celebrity industry, it isn't particularly surprising that many latimes.com readers are going for those stories.

But this doesn't necessarily mean that readers of latimes.com news articles prefer 'softer' content compared to readers of other online newspapers. In fact, this distribution is probably representative of a move towards celebrity news by mainstream media and the audience in general.

Limitations: This is a very cursive overview of readers' favorite topics for news stories only looking at the top 10. A more in-depth study would possibly show that while a few select individual stories about sex and celebrities receive many hits, the sections for 'hard' news (World, Business, National) on the whole generate substantially more traffic than Entertainment.

Top blogs:

1. Top of the Ticket  -- 1,743,178 PV
2. The Dish Rag  -- 1,437,462 PV
3. L.A. Land --  652,605 PV
4. Lakers Blog      
5. Show Tracker                
6. L.A. Now         
7. Technology Blog (first month out, and in the top ten)       
8. Gold Derby      
9. Web Scout      
10. Countdown to Crawford (launched June 17)


Now a look at the top-10 list of blogs gives a more intricate perspective: compared to news stories, the blog format seems to draw more readers to 'serious' topics such as politics and the general elections.

The political blog Top of the Ticket is in the lead, and Countdown to Crawford (a blog that covers the final steps of the elections) has made it to the list although it was only launched in mid-June. Ranked 6, L.A. Now covers general news about California.

It may seem counter-intuitive that readers prefer the blog format, usually associated with a more conversational tone and less formality, to read stories about politics. On the other hand, this preference could also be explained by the fact that those readers precisely prefer a format open to opinion and debate to read about those topics. Since blogs typically allow for more author disclosure, they can also be seen as a more transparent medium.

The last two blogs revolve around technology and developments in the digital landscape, a thematic that was absent from the Top 10 news stories.

Limitations: Again, this is hardly a scientific procedure, and the top 10 blogs on latimes.com account for less than 5% of total page views on the site. To put this in further perspective, five of the ten blogs relate to 'softer' content - three revolve around celebrities and the movie industry - one is about the Lakers and number 3 is a blog about real estate (note the parallel with the news story about mansions ranking 2).

Furthermore, The Dish Rag, ranked 2, is edging close to Top of the Ticket, so that in reality the number of users consulting LA Times blogs for soft and hard news is probably equivalent.

Pictures - Top photo galleries:

1.  Celebrity and sports collide in L.A.
2.  Universal Studios fire
3.  Celebrities' real names revealed (Denise Martin and Stephanie Lysaght)
4.  Hollywood hunks before they were hot (Elizabeth Snead)
5.  Celebrities by The Times
6.  Celebrity shots
7.  Midwest flooding
8.  Top 9 cars women buy more than men
9.  Hollywood's unwedded bliss list (Elizabeth Snead)
10. R-rated firsts (Susan King)

Unsurprisingly, the list of most popular photo galleries is also dominated by celebrities, even more so than for news stories or blogs (seven out of ten).

Of the three remaining picture galleries, two are big general news stories with obviously strong visual content: ranked 2 is the Universal Studios fire and ranked 7 is a gallery about floods in the Midwest.

Video - Top videos:

1. Dogs orphaned in China's quake find a home - 132,239 streams - AP
2. LAPD goes green: Maya Sanchez reports - 112,375 streams - KTLA
3. Tsvangirai on Mugabe - AP
4. Local update: Moe the chimp escapes cage -  KTLA
5. Amanda Beard heads to Omaha for her fourth Olympic swim - LAT
6. 17-year-old decapitated by Six Flags ride - AP
7. Australia marks Iraq withdraw with parade - AP
8. Evening update: USC student sentenced to time served in baby's death - KTLA
9. Fires grip parts of California - AP
10. Bush pleased with war spending bill - AP

The top-10 list for videos also delivers its share of lessons. First of all, despite newspapers' wild rush to boost video content, videos generate a limited amount of traffic compared to most text stories.

Many of the videos in the list are 'soft', but don't relate to entertainment especially. Instead, they are often emotionally-driven (dogs orphaned in China, 17-year old girl decapitated at a fair park). A lot of these popular videos are visual anecdotes with a potential for virality (Moe the chimp escapes cage).

'Hard' news, ie. a Congress debate about legislation or a business acquisition, does not typically constitute a popular pick for videos, as it is often poor visually.

The majority of successful video content is syndicated, generally provided by the Associated Press (only one of the top 10 videos was produced by the LA Times). Considering the average PVs for videos, and although CPMs for video ads are usually higher than for regular PVs, it is still often (too) costly for newspapers to produce their own quality videos.

Insights

In short, here are some of the insights brought by latimes.com's Top-10 lists:

- The Los Angeles Times has strongly emphasized 'soft' news, which is becoming increasingly popular among regular news stories.
- On the other hand, its blogs seem to attract many viewers interested by politics - although half of the blogs in the list deal with lighter content.
- The blog format is also popular when they deal with technological issues.
- To an extent, it could be inferred that the latimes.com is fulfilling its role as a newspaper by focusing on 'local' stories: Hollywood, celebrities and the entertainment industry being part of that local context.
- The photo galleries are overwhelmingly dominated by pictures of celebrities. The only two 'hard' news stories are obviously visual: a fire and floods.
- Video content must also be visually rich, but the most popular videos are those that are emotionally-driven and potentially viral (ie: humorous anecdotes, shocking stories).

The purpose of this piece was simply to make some observations as to the types of topics preferred by online users, depending on the format they were published in. The goal wasn't to quaintly warn editors against the risks of chasing eyeballs at the expense of news judgment.

However, these Top-10 lists are clearly representative of the trend, adopted both by editors and by the audience, towards more celebrity-type news, or 'soft' news in general. In January and April, when the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times announced that they were beefing up coverage of Britney Spears, at the same time as newsrooms across the nation couldn't afford the expenses of covering the elections, many newspaper editors were outraged by this rush towards more catchy, entertainment-driven, stories.

According to others, celebrity is a cultural currency that fulfils a role in the press. But at what cost?

With elite papers, such as the New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times cutting staff, the few "No. 2" papers left are struggling to survive.

A No. 2 paper "usually keeps the dominant daily on its toes," writes Washington Post columnist Howard Kurtz, by reporting overlooked stories, which are typically more popular in poorer neighborhoods.

The only major cities left with head-to-head competition, excluding those where two papers have the same owner or share business operations with federal approval, are New York, Washington, Chicago, and perhaps Los Angeles, according to Kurtz. The Cincinnati Post is the latest second-place paper to close, when its operations shut down last year.

The Boston Herald's, Boston's No. 2 paper, daily circulation shrunk to 203,000 and on Sunday, it fell to 113,000, in comparison with the Boston Globe's 384,000. The Herald only has 10 city reporters left in addition to those in the feature, business, and sports sections.

"It's almost as if Boston doesn't have a place for its second daily anymore," Boston magazine columnist Joe Keohane wrote, "particularly one that features a constant parade of pervs, solons, swindlers, bums and punks."

Kevin Convey, the Herald's editor says, "The Globe is more likely to write a story about how some government program is going to assist the poor and downtrodden. We're more likely to suggest it's a boondoggle that ought to be bounced off the face of the Earth."

Tabloids are more irreverent and prone to report on big names and scandals (a headline for former governor Mitt Romney's withdrawal from the presidential race was "MITT HAPPENS.") But with blogs unconcerned about newsprint costs, there appears to be little room left for tabloids. And with cities such as Boston becoming more "upscale," it is a question whether tabloids are desired anymore.

"Tabloids in some cases say what other papers only think," says Convey. But, "a lot of people find tabloids to be beneath them. In Boston, where the air is a bit more rarefied and you're closer to Harvard, some people have a problem with tabloids. I think there's a certain nobility in tabloids."

"I don't think it's that Massachusetts has become snootier. The old Herald readers are just leaving the state. The blue-collar exodus has affected the paper," says Herald columnist Howie Carr.

The Herald depends on street sales for three-quarters of its circulation. It shut down its Washington bureau, has old presses that break down, and a 125 person staff that struggles to cover the suburbs or out-of-town reports. Moreover, the Herald plans to outsource its printing and move out of its headquarters into rented space. However, it does not plan on changing its snarky tone.

"I don't think it's time to give up the ghost," Convey says.

The Globe, which won a Pulitzer for arts criticism this month, is not thriving either. The paper, has already cut jobs and accepted buyouts. Its only remaining foreign and domestic correspondents are in Washington.

"We're facing the same challenges everyone else is, trying to figure out what the future of the newspaper is going to look like," says Globe editor Martin Baron. "We have become more local. We have significantly scaled back what we do outside the Boston area. We're realists here. We realize the business is changing."

Source: WashingtonPost.com

On Tuesday, Barack Obama won the primaries in New Hampshire, once again defeating Democrat rival Hillary Clinton.  Does that sound right? UK readers of the Telegraph, The Independent and The Times opened their print edition the next day to read stories that had been written in prevision of Obama’s victory in New Hampshire.

Dozens of readers have reacted angrily after the Parade magazine published, as an insert in numerous newspapers, a “seriously outdated cover story” and interview of Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto, 10 days after her assassination, wrote Chicago Tribune’s public editor Timothy McNulty.

The rise and prospects of hyperlocal journalism.

Citizen journalism media and local news websites offering user-generated content influence their communities and are here to stay, according to a report released by J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism. Traditional Media companies are coming up against these citizen journalism sites so it’s imperative to understand how to set them up, the secrets to success and how they can work hand in hand with newspapers.

"The conduct of U.S. troops in Iraq, including increasing detention and accidental shootings of journalists, is preventing full coverage of the war reaching the American public", said Reuters today. David Schlesinger, Global Managing Editor of Reuters Global writes in an letter to Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner that "U.S. forces were limiting the ability of independent journalists to operate" and calls on Warner "to raise widespread media concerns about the conduct of U.S. troops with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who is due to testify to the committee on Thursday." The letter refers to "a long parade of disturbing incidents whereby professional journalists have been killed, wrongfully detained, and/or illegally abused by U.S. forces in Iraq."

The letter said, "By limiting the ability of the media to fully and independently cover the events in Iraq, the U.S. forces are unduly preventing U.S. citizens from receiving information...and undermining the very freedoms the U.S. says it is seeking to foster every day that it commits U.S. lives and U.S. dollars."

Source: Reuters

"The conduct of U.S. troops in Iraq, including increasing detention and accidental shootings of journalists, is preventing full coverage of the war reaching the American public", said Reuters today. David Schlesinger, Global Managing Editor of Reuters Global writes in an letter to Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner that "U.S. forces were limiting the ability of independent journalists to operate" and calls on Warner "to raise widespread media concerns about the conduct of U.S. troops with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who is due to testify to the committee on Thursday." The letter refers to "a long parade of disturbing incidents whereby professional journalists have been killed, wrongfully detained, and/or illegally abused by U.S. forces in Iraq."

The letter said, "By limiting the ability of the media to fully and independently cover the events in Iraq, the U.S. forces are unduly preventing U.S. citizens from receiving information...and undermining the very freedoms the U.S. says it is seeking to foster every day that it commits U.S. lives and U.S. dollars."

Source: Reuters

Here's an optimistic twist on recent rhetoric about the future of newspapers. Dennis M. Lyons of the Daily Record, a New Jersey newspaper owned by Gannett Co. Inc. quotes Walter Isaacson, president of the Aspen Institute, an international nonprofit that promotes "enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue," who says, "Print. If for the past 400 years we'd been getting all of our info electronically, and somebody invented a way to put it on paper and deliver it to our doorsteps so we could read it in the backyard or bath or bus, people would say this new print technology is so wonderful it will replace the Internet." Lyons goes on to laud the convenience, reach, and influence of newspapers, emphasizing that nothing else sells for so little and provides so much valuable information. He citesRandy Siegel of Parade Magazine who says, "At the end of the day, the power of well-written newspapers is unparalleled in providing meaning, connection and context. In our harried daily lives, the human brain can absorb print more intimately and more effectively that the cacophonous, often confrontational messages blaring at us from the electronic media hundreds, if not thousands of times per day."

Source: The Daily Record

Here's an optimistic twist on recent rhetoric about the future of newspapers. Dennis M. Lyons of the Daily Record, a New Jersey newspaper owned by Gannett Co. Inc. quotes Walter Isaacson, president of the Aspen Institute, an international nonprofit that promotes "enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue," who says, "Print. If for the past 400 years we'd been getting all of our info electronically, and somebody invented a way to put it on paper and deliver it to our doorsteps so we could read it in the backyard or bath or bus, people would say this new print technology is so wonderful it will replace the Internet." Lyons goes on to laud the convenience, reach, and influence of newspapers, emphasizing that nothing else sells for so little and provides so much valuable information. He citesRandy Siegel of Parade Magazine who says, "At the end of the day, the power of well-written newspapers is unparalleled in providing meaning, connection and context. In our harried daily lives, the human brain can absorb print more intimately and more effectively that the cacophonous, often confrontational messages blaring at us from the electronic media hundreds, if not thousands of times per day."

Source: The Daily Record

Here's an optimistic twist on recent rhetoric about the future of newspapers. Dennis M. Lyons of the Daily Record, a New Jersey newspaper owned by Gannett Co. Inc. quotes Walter Isaacson, president of the Aspen Institute, an international nonprofit that promotes "enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue," who says, "Print. If for the past 400 years we'd been getting all of our info electronically, and somebody invented a way to put it on paper and deliver it to our doorsteps so we could read it in the backyard or bath or bus, people would say this new print technology is so wonderful it will replace the Internet." Lyons goes on to laud the convenience, reach, and influence of newspapers, emphasizing that nothing else sells for so little and provides so much valuable information. He citesRandy Siegel of Parade Magazine who says, "At the end of the day, the power of well-written newspapers is unparalleled in providing meaning, connection and context. In our harried daily lives, the human brain can absorb print more intimately and more effectively that the cacophonous, often confrontational messages blaring at us from the electronic media hundreds, if not thousands of times per day."

Source: The Daily Record

I like this comment from L.A.observed about the "revival" of Life Magazine: "Time is bringing back Life magazine in its saddest incarnation yet — as a weekly insert in newspapers such as the L.A. Times, Chicago Tribune and San Jose Mercury News. Starting in October it will run on Fridays in 50 papers (which receive it for free), instead of on Sundays, to avoid head-on competition with Parade and USA Weekend. At the LAT, which also carries Parade, this will only feed speculation about the future of the money-losing Los Angeles Times Magazine. With painful cutbacks in the news budget ordered this week by the honchos in Chicago, more than a few Times staffers believe the ad-thin Sunday magazine is on the bubble.

Source: L.A.observed and Kevin Roderick

From Media Post: Life magazine must be one of the best-branded products of all time. This October, the title will be resurrected for the fourth time since its founding in 1936, this time as a Friday supplement to American newspapers. In surveys, consumers told publisher Time Inc. that they continue to feel an affinity toward Life, even though the magazine folded in 2000. "Life has secured distribution partnerships with major players in the newspaper world, including Tribune Co. newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, plus Knight Ridder papers Philadelphia Inquirer and the Miami Herald. By October, Life is expected to appear in more than 50 newspapers, with a total circulation of nearly 12 million. Unlike Sunday supplements, like USA Weekend and Parade--which are lighter and celebrity-driven--Life's editorial content will focus on personal, slice-of-life stories and photography. The book will also feature stronger production values than those titles, using high-quality paper stock and a bonded spine."

Source: Media Post