Read All About It – some random links
Paid Content reports that Guardian News & Media sold 9,000 units of its guardian.co.uk iPhone app in its first two days. GNM is charging £2.39 in the UK.
Next up, in yet another bad day for newspapers, layoffs began yesterday at the New York Times, according to New York magazine, just over 70 people took buyouts but with a target number of 100 in editorial the remaining people were notified. On the flip side NYT was named best online newspaper by Mashable readers – they may not have much to read in a few years if staffers keep getting cut.
Finally, an interesting column by Rafe Needlemen over a Cnet. He has a subscription to WSJ online, which costs him $100 a year, but he is complaining that if he wants the iPhone app he will have to pay again albeit at a discounted rate. Would he expect to also get a copy of the paper edition for free too? Just because it’s another digital platform why should it be tossed in gratis?
Newstalk makes a pre-Budget statement
The editorial team at Newstalk has made a statement about Budget 2010, which was broadcast today:
Ireland is at an unprecedented economic and social crossroad. The country appears divided. The road ahead seems unbearably bleak. But here at Newstalk we believe that Ireland has a proud tradition of overcoming, of achieving, of finding a way. We believe this is a country worth fighting for.
Charm, culture, energy and engagement have always been part of who we are, but so too have ambition, determination and achievement. We need to lean on these talents to re-position our country. Old solutions will not solve new problems. We need to be imaginative, decisive.
Every one of us must be prepared to accept the challenges that constrained economic circumstances impose…..
Read or listen to the full Newstalk statement here.
B
The future of journalism more promising than ever – Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch is out and about again today in the Wall Street Journal with an opinion piece on the future of journalism.
While I may not agree with all he has to say in this piece, it is part of a much bigger debate that has kicked off about these issues – which is a very good thing.
The opinion piece is a version of what he presented recently to a Federal Trade Commission’s workshop on journalism and the Internet.
Some quick thoughts on what he says:
- He blames the editors, the producers, bloggers even governments – but why not the media companies who started giving away news for free to begin with?
- He is on the button when he says newspapers have prospered only because they provide the news that is important to the communities they serve:
- I disagree when he says organisations need to give the people the news they want. This idea can be taken too far. You can serve a community well without pandering to it and there is a middle ground between producing news for prizes and only news people want:
- He says customers are smart enough to know you don’t get something for nothing. Well this is what they’ve been getting for the past decade or so and are now complaining about losing – so I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Readers of the Wall Street Journal may be able to see the value of paying for the content of that publication (after-all it helps many of them make business decisions – so it’s a worthwhile investment), but will readers of the more-general publications like The Times or The Sun feel the same way?
- He says he is open to different pay models, which seems wise considering the various types of publications and products in News Corp’s stable.
- I am not so sure he is the best person to talk about competition particularly in an article in which he renews his calls to the FCC about cross-ownership.
That means covering the communities where they live, exposing government or business corruption, and standing up to the rich and powerful.
First, media companies need to give people the news they want. I can’t tell you how many papers I have visited where they have a wall of journalism prizes—and a rapidly declining circulation.
Whether the newspaper of the future is delivered with electrons or dead trees is ultimately not that important. What is most important is that the news industry remains free, independent—and competitive.
Despite asserting that the future of journalism is more promising than ever – this is not the overall tone of this opinion piece. In fact, it seems to me that even he is not sure of the future or maybe he’s just not ready to show his FULL hand.
B
Read All About It – some random links
Following the news that Jim VandeHei, co-founder of online and print-based publication Politico, has been elected to the Pulitzer Prize Board, a move it made to demonstrate its fondness for new media, Greg Marx at the Columbian Journalism Review asks if Politico really is new media. A good question considering 60% of Politicos’ income comes from small ads in its print edition. Read Marx’s article here
Next up, Robert Andrews at PaidContent has some interesting comments from Times Media’s digital development head Hector Arthur and News International’s strategy and product development director Dominic Young who are apparently ‘calm and relaxed’ about an impending paywall. Read here
Finally, I am sure it is no consolation to the employees who no longer have a job at McClatchy, but after earnings reports showed ‘improving trends’ the company has decided to end the wage freeze. However, more bad news made be around the corner as the group’s CEO did add that further cuts may be necessary next year. Read here
B
New mobile site for The Irish Times
For people who like news on the go, The Irish Times has launched a new mobile site m.irishtimes.com*
The IT’s Hugh Linehan has the details over a Mechanical Turk:
We’ve decided to launch a device-neutral site which will render well on iPhones, BlackBerries, Nokias and everything else. It has breaking news, business and sport stories, and selected content from the newspaper. Some other popular functions, such as Most Read stories and Weather, are also included.
Full post from him here.
B
*Of course you can always use RTE’s mobile news and sports site: m.rte.ie 
(DOI: RTE is my employer)
The Humble Bee – a multimedia series
I was lucky enough to be one of the journalists who received funding from the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund for a reporting project this year.
A few weeks ago I traveled to Kenya and Uganda. Going by road from Nairobi to Entebbe I reported on people who keep bees for a series of stories focused on food security.
I traveled alone with a backpack full of equipment: video camera, digital camera and lenses, audio recorder, plenty of tapes and leads and of course paper and pen. The aim was to come back with a multimedia project similar to a series I also did for RTE called Global Classroom.
Today, the first part of the series, The Humble Bee, went live on RTE.ie. It focuses on beekeeping as a means of improving food security on a macro and micro level. It looks at a family who keeps bees to make an income and a farmer who uses bees to improve pollination on his farm. There are videos and photos (more hopefully on the way) and an accompanying radio report, which was broadcast on RTE Radio One on World Report.
The rest of the series will look at other aspects of bee keeping in east Africa including women who keep bees, the environmental impact and the challenges some people face.
This has been a wonderful and challenging series to work on – I hope you enjoy it.
Check it out here
-B
TV ad spend overtaken by online
Joe Trippi points to a Guardian article discussing how internet advertising has outstripped TV advertising for the first time in the UK:
The UK has become the first major economy where advertisers spend more on internet advertising than on television advertising, with a record £1.75bn online spend in the first six months of the year.
The milestone marks a watershed for the embattled TV industry, the leading ad medium in the UK for almost half a century. It has taken the internet little more than a decade to become the biggest advertising sector in the UK.
UK advertisers spent £1.75bn on internet advertising in the six months to the end of June, a 4.6% year-on-year increase, according to a report by the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. To put this in perspective, in 1998, when the IAB first measured internet advertising, just £19.4m was spent online.
The internet now accounts for 23.5% of all advertising money spent in the UK, while TV ad spend accounts for 21.9% of marketing budgets.
This may just be a blip caused by advertisers pushing for value for money and seeing online as the route. However long-term internet advertising will more than likely be the dominant form. The Guardian notes some of the problems faced by the industry:
Despite the seemingly inexorable rise of internet ad spend, a closer examination of the IAB’s figures show that the recession has had an impact. In the first quarter £920m was spent on online advertising, representing 8.6% year-on-year growth. However, in the second quarter, spend fell almost £100m to £832m, representing only a 1.1% increase on the amount spent in the same period last year.
Blip aside, this is of course a more worrying story for TV than a positive one for online and it is not wholly good for online either. It would be an easy time for online advocates to get carried away but it should be treated with caution. Especially considering the costs associated with TV production when compared to online and how much TV content is reproduced online with advertising running alongside it. Of course there is a possibility that when economic growth returns the TV spend won’t come along with it and this blip turns more permanent.
Awaiting the next figures with interest.
HT Laura McGann
