October 31, 2006 • 8:10 pm
The circulation of the daily newspapers in the US has suffered one of the sharpest declines in recent history, but according to a New York Times memo, there is nothing to worry about.
The Innovations in Newspapers blog has published a memo by Scott Heekin-Canedy, president and general manager of The New York Times, which totally plays down the 3.5% drop in circulation of the paper.
The falling sales are “a result of the strategic decision we made to focus our efforts on the paid circulation that advertisers value most”, he writes.
And he goes on to insist that the newspaper’s “strategy is, in fact, working: our individual paid circulation, a key indicator of circulation quality, remains at 87%, one of the highest in the industry”.
Paid circulation is key, so I understand the point he is making. But surely pretending everything is fine is no way to tackle the challenge of the internet and declining audiences for print.
Filed under: newspapers
Before you post online those risque images from the Halloween party, remember that a prospective employer might be seeing them.
Apparently, one in four hiring managers use the internet to research potential employees.
At the very least, expect to be Googled. From the survey by CareerBuilder.com:
“Of those hiring managers who used Internet search engines to research job candidates, 51 percent did not hire the person based on what they found. Of those who used social networking sites to research candidates, the majority (63 percent) did not hire the person based on what they found.”
The rise of social networking sites like MySpace, personal blogs and photo-sharing sites like Flickr means that there is an entire generation living their lives in public online. But they need to be aware that anything they put on the internet is available to everyone – friends, parents, teachers, employers.
As a rule, don’t put anything online that could reflect badly on you.
Filed under: social media
More on the proposal to put ads on the BBC News website.
The Media Guardian reports that the BBC could make as much as £105m from international online advertising, according to a report by consultants Accenture.
From the article:
According to analysts – given the continued growth in all areas of online advertising, the appeal of the BBC globally and its premium brand status – it is feasible that in five years’ time it could easily net tens of millions of pounds.
It is thought that BBC executives have backed away from large-scale revenue generation plans and instead have focused on pitching in the idea of a “lite” advertising version targeting the “low tens of millions”.
I cannot help but be sceptical of the figures. The report was commissioned by BBC Worldwide, who are aggressively pushing the advertising proposal.
But more importantly, the report does not take into account how the plan could damage the BBC News brand and the long-term cost of this in terms of reputation and readership.
Filed under: BBC, broadcast
October 30, 2006 • 10:30 am
There has been growing unease among staff at the BBC News website over proposals to sell advertising on the international edition of the site.
The plan has been under consideration for several months but as a decision draws closer, opponents are becoming more vocal.
Supporters of the idea say that international visitors to the site are getting a service for free as they live outside the UK and don’t pay the licence fee that funds the BBC. They look at the millions of people who read the website outside the UK as a way of raising money to fund the BBC’s global TV ambitions.
But the plan has provoked strong opposition from many of the staff on the site and from veteran correspondents. Earlier this year, 170 of them signed a petition against the proposal.
Now employees from the website have circulated a 10-page document condemning the proposal, which they say could lead to less serious journalism and damage the BBC’s reputation. Here is a summary of their concerns about advertising on the news site:
- Readers don’t want them. This proposal will put advertisers, not audiences, at the heart of everything the site does.
- BBC Worldwide has user-tested the least intrusive kinds of ad, but acknowledges that it may have to move to more intrusive forms to sell the space
- The BBC News website relies in part on grant-in-aid funding. We are giving that away in return for the much riskier promise of commercial revenue
- Editorial decisions may very likely begin to be taken on commercial grounds
- Those who contribute articles, tips, photos and video for free are likely to charge
- Inappropriate ads are likely to find their way onto sensitive news stories
- Hundreds of thousands of UK citizens will see ads when they access the News website due to imprecise technology
- Download speeds will almost certainly slow, ruining the BBC’s recognised reputation as one of the leaders in the field
- Collaboration between journalists working for the News website and BBC World Service will become much more difficult, leading to duplication and waste, because of the sudden need for separation of commercial and public service activities. Clear, auditable separation of commercial and public revenue streams will be impossible
- Sizeable chunks of the commercial income will have to be spent on extra technical capacity required to put ads onto the page, rather than driving the editorial quality of products in a fast-changing media environment
This could be the thin end of the wedge; if ads appear here, where else will they be in a decade? World Service radio looks particularly vulnerable
- Familiar arguments accusing the BBC of alleged abuse of its position as a public sector broadcasting operating in a quasi-commercial environment will become harder to defend.
These are all good points. But additionally, there are questions over the business plan for the ads. The BBC would be competing for scarce advertising dollars with big, well-established news organisations, particularly in the US. While online ad revenue is rising, anyone working in the commercial sector will tell you that it is tough market.
So there is a question over how much revenue the ads would bring in. Ultimately, would a few million dollars make up for the damage to the brand and potential long-term repercussions?
Filed under: BBC, broadcast
October 27, 2006 • 2:53 pm
In the world of newspapers, Chief Executive of the Guardian Media Group Carolyn McCall is one media boss who gets it.
At the opening of the World Digital Publishing Conference and Expo in London, she outlined the challenges facing newspapers. The three main ones are using audio and video, as well as text, the irrelevance of geographical boundaries and engaging more with audiences.
She put forward a five-point plan of action. There were a couple of the points that struck me.
Firstly that newspapers have to embrace innovation and learn to take risks. This means they cannot be afraid of failing. In some ways, this is what the internet is all about – trying something, learning from the experience and improving it.
The other point is obvious – newspapers must drive digital revenue growth. At a time when the traditional sources of revenue for the print product are on the decline, newspapers have to look at ways of growing audiences and revenue online.
And this means taking chances.
Filed under: newspapers, online
October 26, 2006 • 2:34 pm
Some good advice to budding journalists on Journalistopic, the blog run by Danny Sanchez, a web producer for the Orlando Sentinel.
He recently visited his alma mater, the University of Florida, to speak with about 250 journalism freshmen. Before he went, he canvassed opinion and outlines the advice in this entry.
His advice:
“The changing media landscape means we have a whole array of new tools to tell a story. Sometimes a narrative is best. Other times, it’s a database-backed Flash graphic. You, the journalist, must have the wisdom to choose which is the best tool for a particular story.”
I agree with this entirely. Journalism today is all about using the right tools to tell a story in the best way possible for the audience. Just because we can do Flash, does not mean we should. Editorial judgement sound guide all our choices.
As Sanchez concludes:
“But above all else, it’s important to remember you are a storyteller with the responsibility to serve the readers. You might tell the story of crime in a city using a Google Map. You may tell it through a Soundslide, plain text, a graphic or in some other form. But in the end, you still need to have solid news judgment, a strong sense of ethics and the dedication to serve the public interest.”
Filed under: interactive journalism, multiplatform journalism
October 25, 2006 • 12:13 pm
The UK’s best-selling newspaper, The Sun, has quietly launched its community website, MySun.
The tabloid newspaper is part of News Corp, which also owns MySpace. But as PaidContent reports, the site is not intended to be a social networking site.
Instead it is designed as a community site, with discussion forums and the ability for anyone to set up their own blog.
“What this will do for us is create stickiness,” said Pete Picton, editor of The Sun website. “Readers have to register if they want to comment and once that happens, it creates loyalty – and that’s better for selling adverts and for creating revenue.”
The Sun is just the latest UK newspaper to embrace the idea of user-generated content. But by creating a separate space for readers, it is making a clear distinction between its journalism and that of its audience.
This is counter to the idea of participatory journalism. Essentially what The Sun has done is create a playpen (or is it a ghetto?) for its readers to express their views, while keeping them well away from the established news product.
Filed under: citizen journalism
October 24, 2006 • 10:01 am
UK website Journalism.co.uk has an interesting article on the plans by technology website ZDnet UK to reinvent itself as a social media site.
According to the article, ZDnet UK wants to put social networking at its core and is creating a new post of community editor to moderate discussions, grow the community and create a dialogue with the readership.
“We will still have our lead stories giving people an overview of what is going on because we have got a dozen people on staff monitoring the industry,” said Matt Loney, ZDNet UK site director.
“But equally a big part of this redesign was to let the reader decide what they want, how they get it and to give them more control over that because if we don’t do that someone else will.
“We have always let people interact with the website to a degree, but now what we are doing is allowing people to log in and collect all the stuff they need together; it’s like a MySpace for geeks.”
At this stage, it is impossible to separate the hype from the reality. But what is clear is that ZDnet has realised that it needs to get closer to its readers, building on the idea of news as a conversation, rather than a one-way monologue.
Filed under: Web 2.0
October 22, 2006 • 10:01 am
A memo by Philadelphia Newspapers publisher Brian Tierney to staff paints a sombre picture of the problems facing newspapers. A copy of the memo is on Poynter Online.
In the memo (PDF), Tierney talks about the dramatic decline in advertising revenue. In 2004 the company produced over $100 million in cash for Knight Ridder. This year, the company is projected to have about $50 million in cash flow, but only $10 million to invest in the business.
“Many of you may be asking – did you and the PMH investors see this coming? The answer is yes and no. While our forecasts did expect reduced revenue due to the loss of big Philadelphia retailers like Strawbridges and continued reductions in our classified business, we didn’t foresee the speed and extent of the decline, and didn’t anticipate the huge falloff in the National advertising category.”
To survive, Tierney says the company needs to make significant savings and that “some layoffs are unavoidable”.
The decline in print advertising is a problem across US newspapers. While online advertising is on the rise, it is no proving to be enough to fill the gap left by the changing habits of advertisers.
Filed under: newspapers
October 19, 2006 • 10:15 am
Big news at one of the main US TV networks, with NBC announcing it is cutting hundreds of jobs and streamline its news operations as part of its plans to overhaul the company.
According to Jeff Zucker, chief executive of NBC Universal’s television group, this is does not reflect less of a commitment to news:
“The growth in news is in different places – it’s online, it’s on wireless.”
As the Lost Remote blog points out, TV news staffers need to quickly expand their skill sets and become proactive about contributing content on multiple platforms.
“While it won’t look anything like TV news, it will still inform, educate and enlighten. And journalism will still play an important role.”
NBC is following in the footsteps of the BBC, which has also embarked on reinventing the broadcaster for a digital age.
Filed under: Web 2.0, television
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