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March 31, 2007 • 8:19 am 0

Newspapers and the war of innovation

A few words of wisdom from Jean-François Fogel, a consultant with Le Monde Interactif in France. He was speaking at a session at the Online Journalism Symposium in Texas on Friday.

His four key points:

  • The internet is the battlefield for an ongoing war of innovation and the press has lost every battle
  • Convergence is an excuse for a smaller newsroom. But he believes it is too early to close a separate website operation as this provides a lab for innovation
  • Print is facing crisis of story-telling. The audience using the web as a kit to put together their view of the world. So journalists need rethink how to write in a digital and discontinuous age
  • The book is the next missed opportunity. New technology for binding and distribution is here and newspapers have an opportunity to take the lead here

Fogel is spot on with his comments on innovation. The press has lost to Google, Craigslist, Flickr, the list goes on. We are a time of crisis, but also of opportunity. The press needs to be ready to take chances, innovate, and, sometimes fail.

Filed under: internet, new media, newspapers ,

March 30, 2007 • 6:31 am 0

The new networked architecture of news

Rosental Alves starts off the International Online Journalism Symposium by talking about the changes we are seeing in journalism. In his view, are in a revolution, not an evolution. In his view, the internet is not just the addition of a new form of media to existing forms. To Alves, we are experiencing the equivalent of the Gutenberg printing press.

Jeff Jarvis comes on. His line, the idea of “news wars” is old news. He gets tired of the bleating he hears in newsrooms.

He wants not more moaning, no more mewling, no more mourning. From newsrooms, what he hears is fear, rather than opportunity.

This is a great time to be in journalism, a magnificent time because it is now changing.

Journalism is very inefficient, it is built on old market realities, especially in newspapers, says Jarvis. Cutting certain things is necessary. He argues editors should wield the scalpel, otherwise others will.

What this means? Boil down to your essence. Work out what we do best and leave the rest to others. Journalism doesn’t have to be about delivering everything to everybody. Jarvis booms across the room that the key value of journalism is reporting.

So what should we cut? Don’t be afraid of losing a reader if you cut a feature such as stock tables. What else can you cut? Bridge columns, TV listings, even cartoons.

Do we really need to edit the wires? His message is that there are opportunities to cut and newspapers should refocus to what we do best, reporting.

Jarvis tells editors that their newspapers should be linking out to other news sites. If someone has done a story, why replicate it on your site? Instead a news site should link to its rivals, this supports journalism.

Do what we do best and link to the rest. There is a new architecture of news out there. Now that we have the power of the link, why don’t we use it?

Jarvis offers a new role for news organisations – to bring about elegant organisation to a networked world of media. In his words, think about what Google would do?

Filed under: broadcast, new media, news, newspapers

March 29, 2007 • 9:55 am 0

Get up to speed with the latest trends in online journalism

The International Online Journalism Symposium at the University of Texas in Austin is taking place this weekend.

It is fast becoming a key event on the journalism conference circuit. Part of its attraction is that it brings together both senior editors and academics. This year, more than 250 people have registered for it.

I am presenting a paper on Saturday, co-authored with Neil Thurman of City University London, that examines the attitudes of British newspaper websites to user-generated content.

Here is the PDF to download: Comments please: How the British news media are struggling with user-generated content

I’ll be blogging from there so make sure to check the blog for updates.

Filed under: citizen journalism, interactive journalism, multimedia, newspapers

March 27, 2007 • 4:56 pm 0

The foundations of good journalism

The Center for Citizen Media has published a set of principles for “citizen journalists”, which are remarkably similar to those for “professional journalists”.

They cover the essentials of good journalism – accuracy, thoroughness, fairness, transparency and independence. The Center says its goal is “to detail the bedrock foundations of journalism to help citizen reporters grasp the fundamentals of the craft in a networked age”.

The principles it outlines are the foundation of good journalism, regardless of who is doing it. Both professional and citizen reporters would benefit from exploring the site and tapping its resources.

(Via the Berkman Center blog).

Filed under: Web 2.0, citizen journalism, new media

March 25, 2007 • 8:22 pm 0

It’s about saving journalism, not just newspapers

A post by former Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble arguing that newspapers are dead has provoked the expected flurry of discussion online.

Scoble’s prediction was sparked off by Tim O’Reily talking about rumours that the San Francisco Chronicle is in deep trouble.

Among those pitching in with reactions worth reading are Dave Winner and Doc Searls.

They both make great points. But it strikes me that we should be discussing how to revitalise journalism, rather than just talking about newspapers. Is this just too obvious?

And Scoble is wrong in saying zero future journalists are being trained for the online world. We’re doing it at the University of British Columbia and so are many others.

Filed under: internet, new media, newspapers

March 24, 2007 • 1:17 pm 2

Sign the petition against BBC.com ads

Regular visitors to this blog will know that I harbour strong reservations about the BBC’s plan to take advertising on its international-facing sites.

So do many others, who have joined forces to petition the British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The e-petition, on the Downing Street site, was started by ex-BBC journalist Alex Kirby, and one of my former colleagues when I worked at the BBC News website.

Please add your voice to those who fear that, as the petition says, “the BBC’s editorial independence must at all costs be safeguarded and would be fatally compromised by the acceptance of any advertisements”.

Filed under: BBC, broadcast, internet, news

March 23, 2007 • 8:20 pm Comments Off

The Daily Show bites back

The legal spate between Viacom and Google over clips on YouTube has generated acres of coverage. For one of the best illustrations of how ridiculous the whole thing, head over to The Daily Show.

In a section labelled “Professional Important News”, it exposes how silly the whole thing is. The clip, is of course, available online. But Viacom would rather you watch it at Comedy Central, than search for it on YouTube.

You can also find the ciip at Lost Remote, which uses Comedy Central’s embedded player.

(WordPress doesn’t like people inserting video code in blogs it hosts, so unfortunately the clip is a click away).

Filed under: YouTube, broadcast, internet

March 22, 2007 • 7:18 pm 0

The BBC, ads and journalism’s billion dollar mystery

No news is good news when it comes to the controversy over advertising on BBC.com. The organisation’s governing body, the BBC Trust, has again deferred a decision over whether to approve ads on the international-facing sites.

It seems BBC management is not yet ready to press the Trust for a decision.

At least the Trust is taking its time. In February it said providing independent news and information to an international audience remained “integral” to the BBC’s purpose, describing the internet as an “essential” part of that service.

The Trust wanted from BBC management was more details on how advertising revenue would be reinvested in BBC Global News and the BBC’s UK services, funded by taxpayers.

The idea of ads on the BBC has stirred up opposition from the unions, some staff and the corporation’s commercial competitors.

One of the issues is the damage to the BBC’s brand abroad. But another question is how much the BBC can expect to make from taking advertising.

There is little in the State of the News Media 2007 report to allay these concerns. From the section of the economics of online news

The economics of the Internet remain journalism’s billion dollar mystery. And in 2006, that mystery only seemed to deepen

It highlights some of the challenges facing news organisations trying to make money from the web. The growth in online advertising in the US is starting to slow and advertisers are pushing for a more accurate way to measure web traffic.

But there is a more fundamental issue, which the BBC has yet to consider, as spelled out in the State of the News Media report:

Then there is another question, possibly even more baffling, to be sorted out — the idea that advertising works so differently online, the economics need to be rethought more completely. The old journalism model of advertising was broadly based on audiences coming to look at content and staying to read or view the ads. Online, that connection is looser. When people visit the Web for news, they often do so in short bursts, with little attention to ads. Advertising online is more like the Yellow Page listings

This does not see to factor in the BBC ads plan, whereas this is key for the strategy to generate enough revenue to make it worthwhile.

Filed under: BBC, broadcast, internet, newspapers

March 21, 2007 • 9:31 pm 0

Back to (digital) school for TV execs

One of the main TV channels in the UK is ITV, the main commercial competitor to the BBC. Or rather, maybe we should say it was one of the main stations in the days when there were only four channels on the box.

Now it is just one of the many choices and its audiences are declining.

So like so much MSM, ITV is going back to school to learn about digital media. Jemima Kiss at The MediaGuardian was able to sit on on an away-day for the entire marketing and communications department of ITV and provides an entertaining run through of the day.

Some of the stuff will sound familiar to people already working in digital media. It is all about time-shifting, place-shifting, interactivity, remixing, community and niches.

The best lines belong to British writer Ben Hammersley In a room full of people who spend their time trying to build up the ITV, he said no one gives a toss about brands. And nobody cares about ITV.

They don’t care what channel Lost is on – they just want to see Lost. This is really important to understand. They will conspire together online in communities to get more stuff. The only thing you can do is help them

This is hardly revolutionary thinking. But is surprising that TV executives still haven’t got to grips with this notion.

It is a very simple idea but challenges the top-down approach of television. In a digital world, control shifts away from the centre to the edges, from the TV station to the audience.

Filed under: broadcast, internet, new media, television

March 20, 2007 • 12:10 pm 1

UK newspapers seek to create community

The Daily Express website is the latest UK newspaper to overhaul its online presence to make greater use of community features.

As well as more blogs, the paper has created a MyExpress, which lets readers have their own space on the site.

Online editor Geoff March told Journalism.co.uk:

We have a loyal online readership and, while we’ve worked hard to improve the existing Daily Express website, it needed to evolve

The Express is following in the footsteps of other UK newspapers which have sought to build a sense of community among their online users. Last year, The Sun tabloid launched MySun, a sister site for readers to create their content.

With the explosion in user media, traditional news organisations are rushing to provide ways of letting readers participate. But in the case of both The Express and The Sun, there is a clear delineation between content produced by professional journalists and material from the public.

UPDATE: When is a blog not a blog? When it is The Express. As Paul Bradshaw points out, the so-called blogs have no links. These are a key ingredient of any blog. Maybe making it easy for people to leave The Express site was a click too far for this veteran news organisation.

Filed under: citizen journalism, internet, newspapers, publishing

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Alfred Hermida
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