What could newspapers have done to tackle the economic aspects of digital challenges and what have they done instead?

In an American Journalism Review article entitled "Costly Mistakes", John Morton discusses what he sees as the weak and ineffective reaction of the newspaper industry to the shift of advertising to the Internet.

"Newspaper advertising revenue fell more - more than two to three times as much in percentage terms - during the 2008-2009 recession than during the two worst previous recessions for newspapers since World War II, in 1991 and 2001", he says, pointing out that what newspapers did to counter weakening advertising revenue was not sufficient indeed.

In Morton's opinion, there were two main mistakes that newspapers have made during recent years: they followed cost-cutting policies, which had an impact on quality of journalism, and they didn't understand how to deal with the new possibilities the Web opened.

"There is no mystery about what motivated the cost-cutting: an effort to preserve the high profit margins the industry has long been known for, even as newspapers were being challenged by a wide array of new competitors. (...) It's as if the industry refused to acknowledge that it was operating in a vastly different environment, one in which newspapers will be fortunate to be half as profitable (a third might be closer to reality) as they were as recently as 2004", Morton argues.

But cost-cutting had an impact on newspapers' main source of strength: they gave up quality, the quality that broad and deep journalism, that traditionally found in print papers, could offer.

On the other hand, newspapers didn't understand in time how to ride the wave of the rising Web. Even if they developed a Web version of their newspapers they were usually limited to re-purposing the same content of the print edition, and offering it free.

"The earlier decision made by all but a handful of papers that information posted on Web sites should be free, under the widely held belief (including initially by yours truly) that large numbers of people taking advantage of free information would attract large amounts of advertising" was wrong, Morton says. In fact that didn't happen. The major swift of advertising revenue was from newspapers to new competing Web sites, such as news aggregators' websites, the hardest hit by this advertising decrease being the big metropolitan dailies, while smaller newspapers operate in far less complex and competitive markets.

The same about the delay in understanding Web frontiers was discussed by Jay Rosen during the recent WEF Study Tour. In his opinion, news organizations realized too late both what the Web could offer, and the fact that their knowledge gained in the old system was not automatically transferable. As a valuable example of how news company can be revolutionized, he mentioned what John Paton of the Journal Register Company has done.

"In terms of money, Paton's only goal was to ensure that increases in digital revenue were equal to or more than the decline in print revenue", Rosen said to WEF.

So what are the prospects for the future of newspapers?

Christoph Riess, CEO of World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, during the latest World Editor's Forum in Hamburg, said that "paid content is the key". In his view newspapers will remain the dominant media: "Will paid content generate revenue? It's not a question of yes or no. It's question of how. In order to survive, we have to do it," he emphasised. The New York Times is going in this direction, for example.

Another way to follow for newspapers is to concentrate on the traditional, deep investigative work, which means quality journalism, trying to get back the role that no-profit news organizations, like Connecticut Health Investigative Team and ProPublica, are holding.

Lastly, specialization could help newspapers to carve out a niche, as Piero Macrì argues on EJO, about the new revealed plans of Forbes Media to launch a new European title next year, as the Telegraph revealed. How it is possible, Macrì wonders, to launch a new editorial adventure on a traditional media support, as the paper is, in a moment of general newspapers crisis?

"The Forbes case - continues Macrì - highlight that in the specialized publishing there still is a sufficient space to develop new initiative, even on the paper." But, as the Italian journalist points out, the Forbes case demonstrates also that news business models, whether on the paper or on the Web, must be unique and original, depending on their market of reference.

Or maybe, to finish with Morton's words, newspapers "should have accepted that the cost of maintaining quality journalism in tough times inevitably means lower profits. It's called public service".

Sources: AJR, EJO, The Telegraph

The Reynolds Journalism Institute has published the results of a research project on how Apple iPad users consume news content. The results refer to a first phase, based on a cross-sectional survey, conducted from September to November, of a multi-year project, the following phases to be in 2011. The respondents were 1,609, the majority of them (92%) located in the USA. The project is funded by the Digital Publishing Alliance.

The full results are going to be presented today, 10th December, at the RJI during the Fall 2010 Tablet/E-Reader Symposium and DPA Meeting, entitled "How are tablets changing the game for publishers?"

"Users are predominantly well-educated, affluent men between the ages of 35 and 64 who tend to be early adopters", the survey says. They tend to be very satisfied by the time they spent with iPad, which is usually (62%) more than an hour during a typical day and spread throughout the week (89%).

The research underlines that "Using the iPad to follow breaking news reports and current events is the most popular use for the device, with 84.4% of respondents saying this is one of their main uses. Next according to popularity: leisure reading of books, newspapers and magazines (81.5%); browsing the Web (80.8%); and e-mail (75.8%)."

Users who consume news on the iPad are more likely to do it using an app than on the newspaper's website. Even if users who consume news regularly do it across multiple media, the correlation between iPad news use and printed newspaper use is negative and statistically significant.

Crucially (and arguably unsurprisingly), the study found that app users tend to cancel their subscription to print when they switch to a digital one.

A positive iPad reading experience is influenced by age and traditional media habits: "For example, the older the users, the more likely they are to rate their reading experience on the iPad worse than their reading experience with printed newspapers and magazines."

Asked in an open-ended question about principal factors that influence users' decision to purchase newspaper subscription on the iPad, respondents answered low prices and ease to use.

Roger Fidler, who headed the project, says "publishers can see that the iPad and similar devices will be "an important new medium for newspapers and magazines" with several advantages compared to the Web. It allows for more visually rich and media-rich editorial and advertising presentations, more like print than the Web", Missourian reported.

Several publications have recently launched iPad apps iPad versions, such as the Economist, and i from the Independent, while Die Zeit has just launched an iPad-optimised website.

Source: Reynolds Journalism Institute, Missourian

How to be sure you get the most out from your newsroom page on Facebook?

Kim Wilson on the blog Journalistics provides eight ways "to make sure your newsroom is getting the most out of each and every fan."

While newsrooms have a huge advantage from their Facebook pages, Wilson writes, very few stations know what they hope to gain from their followers.

So, here the eight ways:

• 1. "Always include a link": post always a news update with its link, you'll get more interaction and more clicks.
• 2. "Ask questions": try to get people involved by asking questions and encouraging them to "Like" the story.
• 3. "Post every 2 hours": an NPR survey shows that posting too often or too infrequently both result in a loss of fans.
• 4. "Best time to post": Weekdays 11 a.m., 3 p.m., 8 p.m. are peak times on Facebook.
• 5. "Post provocative, passionate debate": make your Facebook page a real forum for debate.
• 6. "Don't forget sports": sports game wins attract more interaction from fans.
• 7. "Read and respond": read and respond to posts and comments at least twice per shift.
• 8. "Try a social media management tool": there are several free tools to help manage your Facebook interactions.

"Social media doesn't have to be just another drain on your newsroom's already limited time. It can be one of the most effective story-sourcing resources you have. And if used correctly, it can send thousands of page views to your website," Wilson concludes.

Undoubtedly, social media are very useful as news tools for news organizations. At one hand they help to improve the diffusion of news updates from the news websites, and on the other hand they could be interesting story-sourcing resources.

The importance of social media networks for newsrooms is attested by the mere existence of figures like social media editors, which are become more commons. Along with these there are also social media management organizations, like SND, Social News Desk, founded by Wilson, which aim to help you discover a thorough social media strategy.

The important thing, Roy Peter Clark says, is to focus on not merely "dumping" information, but of crafting it. No matter how personal and casual your posts may seem on a first read - he says - they always, upon further review, must show the effects of crafting, not dumping.

Sources: Journalistics, Poynter.org

"New research from Experian Hitwise suggests that 54,000 people a month are accessing content behind the paywall of The Times", Press Gazette reported.The article refers to research commissioned by Guardian News and Media, which was published internally by the company yesterday.

The GNM memo says, as Press Gazette reported, that they "estimate that a total of about 54,000 people globally are accessing content behind the paywall on the Times [and Sunday Times] website each month. Of the 54,000, approximately 28,000 are specifically paying for digital content. The remainder are print subscribers who get free access to the site as part of their newspaper subscription package."

The new figures released are the first to be published after the official ones released at the beginning of November, by News International, the parent's company of the Times, owned by Murdoch's News Corp. Those figures claimed 105,000 online customers, the half of these being monthly subscribers, including in this number subscribers to the websites and to the Times's iPad app and Kindle editions.

"According to the GMN memo", Press Gazette says, "their research suggests that 2.36 per cent of UK visitors to the www.thetimes.co.uk domain in September went on to access content behind the paywall".

"Pre-paywall", Press Gazette notes, "the Times had around 20 million unique website visitors per month, according to figures from ABCe."

The Times and its sister paper the Sunday Times went behind an online paywall last July. The cost to access is £1 a day or £2 a week , while the iPad app costs £9.99 a month. It is the most impenetrable paywall model, while others English-language newspapers, such as the New York Times, which is going to start a paid model in January, are planning to adopt more flexible models, where readers can access for free a certain number of articles each month before being asked to pay. On the contrary the Washington Post has declared it will not install a pawwall for the moment.

Paid online content is becoming a key area of experimentation for the Murdoch newspapers - after the Times and the Sunday Times also News of the World went behind a paywall and the Wall Street Journal-style paywall is going to be applied also at his Australian newspapers.

Source: Press Gazette