There have been many discussions about the contradiction between the huge profits that media giants demand and their newsrooms' role of producing quality journalism. Journalists feel that their publications, and their communities, are suffering greatly because of newsroom staff cuts which their corporate benefactors deem necessary in order to increase revenues as much of their audience and advertising migrates to new media, especially the Internet.

The Internet also furnishes a platform for journalism, but it has not yet been determined if it will be able to provide society with the kind of reporting it needs to remain informed.

In this respect, journalism is caught in a tug-of-war whose opposing sides are the old guard, which is seemingly cannibalizing it, and new media, which isn't quite yet sure how to embrace it. Depending on which side wins, either a brand new news model will emerge or journalism will be torn apart in the fight?

"Lines blur in the new media world. The only line that doesn’t is the bottom one: profit."

An interesting article by Michael Massing debating whether US journalists are failing in their responsibility to produce hard nosed reporting and uncover the truth for their readers.

Massing begins by comparing the fate of Judith Miller to that of Andersen Cooper of CNN, who "emerged during Hurricane Katrina as a tribune for the dispossessed and a scourge of do-nothing officials."

Making Up for Mistakes
Massing asserts reporting on Hurricane Katrina began in some way to make up for the mistakes made by journalists in the run-up to the war on Iraq.

The kind of reporting that resumed because of Katrina has continued, and Massing says that “In recent weeks, journalists have been asking more pointed questions at press conferences, attempting to investigate cronyism and corruption in the White House and Congress, and doing more to document the plight of people without jobs or a place to live.”

Will Change Endure?
Massing asks: "Will such changes prove lasting?" He outlines a number of problems that he feels “keep the press from fulfilling its responsibilities to serve as a witness to injustice and a watchdog over the powerful.”

For the first time in its history, The New York Times began printing outside the United States, in Toronto, this Sunday. The move will expand the paper's daily availability in the city; it has so far been distributed through delayed delivery and sold at retail outlets.

The New York Times' 10 year agreement with Transcontinental Printing of Toronto is one of a number of similar print site initiatives planned over the next two years.

The paper is already printed at 21 different locations across the United States.

Although the Times' circulation has declined in New York City over the past year, nationwide distribution was expanded and circulation rose by 0.5%.

New York Times President Scott Heekin-Canedy stated: “We are continuing to execute our plan to increase circulation with of our national edition.”

Source: NewYorkBusiness.com

Last month in Moscow, the Russian Guild of Press Publishers held the First Russian Publishers Conference. During the Press Freedom Seminar, President of the World Editors Forum and Saturday Editor of The Times (London), George Brock, gave a talk discussing the freedom of the press in Russia, whose text is posted below.

Moscow 28th Sept 2005.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and its communist government, Russia has been engulfed by advice from outsiders. Not all the results have been happy. In these circumstances, you might be understandably wary of an editor from London talking about press freedom. All that I can do here today is to describe some important aspects of press freedom outside Russia and make some observations, which I hope are constructive. Any decisions about anything to be done are yours alone.

People who use the term “freedom of the press” frequently don’t define that phrase, or don’t define it in ways which make much useful sense in the daily life of newspapers, broadcast channels and websites. What are the basic standards? Each country sees them differently and debates them differently.

Adding to previous rumors, (see posting) there is more speculation circulating about a new product from Google, called Google Base, that could affect newspaper classifieds even more.

The online free classified 'community' Craigslist has already had a significant impact on newspapers multi-billion dollar classifieds market (see previous posting). Google Base, described as "a database into which you can add all types of content... and make it searchable online for free," claims to be much more than a classified site.

But the fact that individuals will be able to describe in detail what they are selling placing it in a database with the power of Google's other products such as search and global map, could have even more serious implications for newspaper classified revenue.

Sources: Poynter (here and here), Business Week, Editor and Publisher

According to accounts filed at the UK's Companies House, converting The Independent to tabloid format has cost Independent News and Media over 12 million pounds sterling. Group accounts for the company show outgoings of 6.3 million in 2003 and 6.1 million last year, both related to the tabloid conversion.

Ivan Fallon, CEO of Independent News and Media in the UK, said in September that in 2005 losses on The Independent and The Independent on Sunday would be halved (to 5 million pounds sterling) and by 2006 the papers could be breaking even.

The Independent was the first British broadsheet to switch to tabloid format in September 2003; its circulation immediately increased by approximately 17% (see previous posting) but quickly reached a plateau. The Independent's circulation was at 262, 552 copies in September 2005.

Given the large cost of the redesign, it is pertinent to ask whether it was worth it?

Source: Guardian Media, Publicitas

WatchingAmerica.com is a website dedicated to showing Americans how their country is reported on in the foreign press. The site is edited by William Kern, former copy editor for the International Herald Tribune, and provides translations of interesting stories sourced from newspapers and broadcasts in Europe, The Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America.

No commentary is provided for any of the translated articles as the aim of the site is to be politically neutral.

Kern and his business partner British entrepreneur Robert Koerner view their site as responding to the growing interest among Americans in their country's image abroad. Kern says “With bookstores selling accounts of the anger that people of other nations feel toward the United States, the time seemed right to produce daily translations straight from overseas sources.”

The importance of translating articles from foreign sources is highlighted by Koerner, who asserts that there is a "key distinction" between information published in English by foreign media, and stories written in native languages. Koerner uses the following example: "What the Arabic press puts out for their home audience is very different from what they might publish for English-speaking readers.”

The act of hyperlinking, adding a link from one webpage to another, is now a standard practice among bloggers. Newspapers, on the other hand, have been rather slow to adopt the practice. But some journalists are catching on. If it becomes more common, hyperlinking could have the potential to change the way in which newspaper journalists write.

Firstly, I think this is a possibility because of the way I write articles for this blog. Let's take this quick example.

Look at this posting. It is essentially a paraphrase of an article in the Guardian apart from the last paragraph which is my own commentary. There are two links to background information in the short paragraph, one at "third largest newspaper" and one at the term "solid proof."

The way the paragraph is written, I should explain myself better. I should give the statistics for and names of the two journals ahead of "third largest newspaper." I should also cite which studies have not found any negative correlation between free paper distribution and paid-for sales. Instead, I have avoided these details by adding links to the articles with the relevant information.

At a time when virtually all circulations of major dailies are plummeting, ethnic papers are booming. Backed by steady streams of immigration and an editorial focus on the communities of the immigrant population, ethnic papers in cities around the country exemplify the trend toward local and niche coverage that many newspaper hounds have been predicting.

Noting their success, mainstream news organizations increasingly want a piece of the action. As of 2004, large newspaper companies owned 91 Spanish-speaking papers, or 13% of all Latino publications. And with stats showing that the number of Latino and Chinese media users will double by 2030, newspaper company interest is sure to keep rising.

But would purchases of local ethnic papers by mainstream organizations be beneficial?

For the papers themselves, it doesn't seem so.

Ivan Roman, executive director of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists said, "We're just concerned that more and more newspaper companies try and go the cheap route and outsource coverage. Spanish language papers that cover the Latino community in the United States have a particular mission and have stronger ties to the community -- qualities that an imported paper cannot fill."

Although these papers do not make much money, often functioning in the red, they keep printing because of the community service they provide to which their staffs are dedicated.

Pelle Tornberg, CEO of the Sweden-based Metro International, recently sat down with the Guardian to discuss the success of the freesheet, plans for expansion and the effects on paid-for newspapers.

Printing 59 editions in 83 cities, Tornberg likes to refer to the paper with the green masthead as "glocal", meaning it has a global reach but with local coverage. "Metro has the same editorial line, layout, template [around the world], but every Metro is perceived as being a local newspaper."

He emphasizes the objectivity that characterizes the paper saying, "It is absolutely important to stay neutral, to have the same editorial line in all countries." Tornberg thinks the paid-for press fills the analysis and opinion quota that free papers avoid. "If you have a strong editorial line you could change things, which is one of the duties of newspapers I think. Metro (is) not here to mobilise readers."

Being a freesheet actually makes neutrality easier to accomplish. "If you give away something for free you can actually do a very decent paper. We don't need to put bikini girls, crime, on our front page to sell papers."

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued a handbook containing information on avian flu which can be downloaded from the WHO website in PDF format.

The organisation describes the document as follows: "It's an introduction to everything you need to know about influenza, including about avian influenza and the potential for a pandemic."

It is a tool designed to help ensure factual reporting on the issue: "For journalists already familiar with avian and pandemic influenza, the handbook is an indispensable fact-checking reference. For those new to the issues, it's a pandemic primer to help put reporting in context, and a source for essential facts and figures."

As the situation changes updates will be posted on the WHO website.

Source: WHO (through the EJC newsletter)