Showing posts with label change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label change. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Online users still turn to newspapers' stories, content
Almost three-quarters of Internet users access newspaper content in some form during a typical week, according to a survey conducted for the Newspaper Association of America. About two-thirds of readers use a digital platform several times a day to read newspaper-generated content, and about the same proportion said they act on digital ads in the paper.
"Clearly, newspapers' embrace of multiplatform strategies provides significant opportunities for audience and revenue growth," NAA President Caroline Little said.
Meanwhile, another NAA study found that the number of unique adult visitors to newspaper websites increased 4.4 percent in the first quarter compared with the first quarter last year. An analysis of comScore data showed that the number of adult daily visitors increased 10 percent, with an identical increase among 18- to 24-year-olds.
Tribune taps Journatic for hyperlocal content
The Tribune Comapyn last week announced that it's made an investment in Chicago-based media content provider Journatic, which will take over production of TribLocal,the Chicago Tribune's five-year-old network of community web sites and print editions.
Terms were not disclosed for the deal, which will outsource all hyperlocal editorial content to reporters and editors at Journatic over the next three months. About half of TribLocal’s 40 staffers, including copy editors, designers and web producers, will see their jobs phased out during the transition, with 11 of 18 reporters being reassigned to provide beefed-up coverage for the Chicago Tribune's suburban bureaus.
Founded in 2006, Journatic aggregates data and employs 40 full-time staffers and hundreds of freelancers to provide content to media companies and marketers. Journatic produces the entire weekly real estate section for the San Francisco Chronicle and also owns blockshopper.com, which publishes real estate research and news for 20 major metros, including Chicago.
Launched in 2007, TribLocal uses staff reporters, freelance writers and user-generated content to produce hyperlocal Chicago-area community news.
“We've made an investment in this company because we believe that it is a more effective way of providing hyperlocal news, and we think we can do more of it in this way,” said Tribune Editor Gerould Kern.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Peoria market shows newspapers' web sites lead
Online presentation of news doesn't happen in a vacuum, according to Peoria Journal star business editor and media critic Steve Tarter. Newspapers provide the bulk of content online.
"Hardly a day doesn't go by when you don't hear something about the print media's fall from grace," he writes. "But the fact is that papers continue to inform in both print and online editions."
He quotes author Eric Alterman, also a professor of English and journalism at Brooklyn College, as bemoaning changes in presentation: "So long as our society treats the disappearance of newspapers as strictly a business matter - with no implications for the future health of our democracy - this problem will continue to worsen," Alterman wrote.
But Tarter points out that newspapers' newsroom are still the main source for the journalism the audience seeks.
"The newspaper remains," Tarter says, "just like the bulletin board that somehow still finds a place in this digital world."
"Hardly a day doesn't go by when you don't hear something about the print media's fall from grace," he writes. "But the fact is that papers continue to inform in both print and online editions."
He quotes author Eric Alterman, also a professor of English and journalism at Brooklyn College, as bemoaning changes in presentation: "So long as our society treats the disappearance of newspapers as strictly a business matter - with no implications for the future health of our democracy - this problem will continue to worsen," Alterman wrote.
But Tarter points out that newspapers' newsroom are still the main source for the journalism the audience seeks.
"The newspaper remains," Tarter says, "just like the bulletin board that somehow still finds a place in this digital world."
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Management, culture significantly affect newspapers' future: PEJ
In a new report from the Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) from Pew Research, Tom Rosenstiel and others say many newspapers aren't putting enough effort into new digital revenue opportunities, and they specifically point to decision makers as a problem.
"The future of newspapers, rather than being determined entirely by sweeping trends, can be significantly affected by company culture and management -- even at papers of quite different sizes," they write. "The industry is inhibited by several obstacles that executives themselves candidly acknowledge. One involves the difficulty of changing the behavior of people trained in the ways of a mature and monopolistic industry."
Still, the report puts into perspective the relative stability of a changing medium.
"There are roughly 1,350 surviving U.S. English-language daily newspapers, down from about 1,400 five years ago," the report notes. "The vast majority of these papers are smaller, less than 25,000 circulation. There are 70 papers remaining in the U.S. with circulations more than 100,000."
"The future of newspapers, rather than being determined entirely by sweeping trends, can be significantly affected by company culture and management -- even at papers of quite different sizes," they write. "The industry is inhibited by several obstacles that executives themselves candidly acknowledge. One involves the difficulty of changing the behavior of people trained in the ways of a mature and monopolistic industry."
Still, the report puts into perspective the relative stability of a changing medium.
"There are roughly 1,350 surviving U.S. English-language daily newspapers, down from about 1,400 five years ago," the report notes. "The vast majority of these papers are smaller, less than 25,000 circulation. There are 70 papers remaining in the U.S. with circulations more than 100,000."
Monday, December 19, 2011
No reason to keep ban on cameras in court
Springfield's State Journal Register last week ran this terrific editorial using the time peg of the recent sentencing of convicted ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich to revive the argument to stop excluding news photographers out of otherwise public proceedings in court.
The news peg is the bipartisan bill introduced by Illinois' U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and Iowa's Charles Grassley, a Democrat and Republican, respectively.
Their measure "would break the federal court taboo at the top by requiring television coverage of all open sessions of the U.S. Supreme Court. This is the court that makes decisions with profound effects on the entire country, yet it remains the most mysterious body in the American judiciary," the SJR writes.
For his part, Durbin commented, "In a democratic society that values transparency and participation, there can be no valid justification for such a powerful element of government to operate largely outside the view of the American people."
Read the whole piece: http://www.sj-r.com/breaking/x771104389/Our-Opinion-No-reason-to-keep-ban-on-cameras-in-court
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Kindle Fire could be game-changer, news sites could challenge book publishers
Katherine Travers on the editorsweblog writes that Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet would upend content consumers' puchase and use of tablets.
There are three main reasons, she says: Amazon is a huge force in media (with 50% growth in quarterly revenues and the possibility of reaching %50 billion in sales this year, according to Businessweek), Amazon is considerably different than Apple, bringing its tablet into the mainstream with a price tag reflecting Amazon's low profit margins (especially compare to Apple's), and Amazon is here to stay, and Kindle Fire is a long-term investment.
Meanwhile, Amazon and its "digital imprints" are just one challenge to traditional print-only book publishers, according to the New York Times. Authors who print their own e-books, new online-only efforts and now news organizations spinning off into e-products.
The Boston Globe and Politico, the New Yorker and Vanity Fair magazines and ABC News and the Huffington Post all have e-books out or imminent about topics ranging from Rupert Murdoch and 9-11 to ending the Pentagon's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy and the crisis in the Catholic Church.
E-books are a new platform for material that's shorter than many books, cheaper to price, and quick to produce -- often outgrowths of magazine features or newspaper series.
A Kindle, Nook or tablet is an efficient way to read such contents, according to Eric Simonoff, a literary agent.
“These devices are uniquely suited for mid-length content that runs too long for shrinking magazines and are too pamphletlike to credibly be called a book” he told the New York Times.
There are three main reasons, she says: Amazon is a huge force in media (with 50% growth in quarterly revenues and the possibility of reaching %50 billion in sales this year, according to Businessweek), Amazon is considerably different than Apple, bringing its tablet into the mainstream with a price tag reflecting Amazon's low profit margins (especially compare to Apple's), and Amazon is here to stay, and Kindle Fire is a long-term investment.
Meanwhile, Amazon and its "digital imprints" are just one challenge to traditional print-only book publishers, according to the New York Times. Authors who print their own e-books, new online-only efforts and now news organizations spinning off into e-products.
The Boston Globe and Politico, the New Yorker and Vanity Fair magazines and ABC News and the Huffington Post all have e-books out or imminent about topics ranging from Rupert Murdoch and 9-11 to ending the Pentagon's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy and the crisis in the Catholic Church.
E-books are a new platform for material that's shorter than many books, cheaper to price, and quick to produce -- often outgrowths of magazine features or newspaper series.
A Kindle, Nook or tablet is an efficient way to read such contents, according to Eric Simonoff, a literary agent.
“These devices are uniquely suited for mid-length content that runs too long for shrinking magazines and are too pamphletlike to credibly be called a book” he told the New York Times.
Friday, September 30, 2011
American Public Media funded for 'citizen sources'
It's less 'citizen journalism" than growing sources, but a $4.1 million grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced this week could greatly expand the voices, tips and reportinig on local and regional levels.
CPB "officials said the grant will add 100,000 more people to the network to share information with 50 more newsrooms," reported Brett Zongker of the Associated Press. "It will fund mobile apps to share content and tools to vet information from participants."
It's unclear where the funding will originate to pay the reporters and editors required to verify sources' information or to use news judgment in determining what's verifiable news and what's not. However, any help to improve local and regional journalism is welcome, of course.
Curiously, the money, to be spent over two years, if going to American Public Media and neither PBS nor NPR.
CPB "officials said the grant will add 100,000 more people to the network to share information with 50 more newsrooms," reported Brett Zongker of the Associated Press. "It will fund mobile apps to share content and tools to vet information from participants."
It's unclear where the funding will originate to pay the reporters and editors required to verify sources' information or to use news judgment in determining what's verifiable news and what's not. However, any help to improve local and regional journalism is welcome, of course.
Curiously, the money, to be spent over two years, if going to American Public Media and neither PBS nor NPR.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Nielsen contradicts Pew on online news use
More than 13 times as many U.S. Internet surfers list pornography and other miscellaneous uses than news, according to a new Nielsen report on social media summarized by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.
Further, Americans spend more than 22 percent of their web time on blogs and social networks.
Just 2.6 percent of the online audience noted "current events and global news."
This contradicts recent Pew research that shows that reading news online is becoming a regular American pastime. Internet news readership is increasing among consumers of all ages, Pew reports, and 75 percent of online Americans look for news on the web. Other figures suggest that up to 78 percent of Americans look for news online and 21 percent of social users are “News Junkies,” constantly looking for breaking information on the web.
Nielsen's report is being received with more than a little doubt.
"Skeptical readers may note that blogs could relate to news, and portals post news stories, so take that into account," writes Poynter's Steve Myers, who listed Nielsen's findings:
Activity % of Internet time spent on it
Other (including porn) 35.1%
Social networks & blogs 22.5
Online games 9.8
Email 7.6
Portals 4.5
Videos/movies 4.4
Search 4.0
Instant messaging 3.3
Software manufacturer 3.2
Classifieds/auctions 2.9
Current events & global news 2.6
Meanwhile, the New York Times this week noted the supposed drift away from mass-market news could be tied to a fragmentation of the Web.
David Carr writes, "Like newspapers, portals like AOL and Yahoo are confronting the cold fact that there is less general interest in general interest news. Readers have peeled off into verticals of information — TMZ for gossip, Politico for politics and Deadspin for sports, and so on."
Monday, April 4, 2011
Print pay walls increasing, responses to NYT vary
GateHouse Media's Peoria Journal Star and State Journal Register in Springfield have erected "paywalls" limiting free access to online contents, following several newspaper experiments -- most recently the New York Times.
A week ago, marketing experts from Washington University in St. Louis offered different reactions to the Times' attempt, with one forecasting a decline in audience and another pronouncing it a good business model.
Read the whole summary here --http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/22076.aspx
A week ago, marketing experts from Washington University in St. Louis offered different reactions to the Times' attempt, with one forecasting a decline in audience and another pronouncing it a good business model.
Read the whole summary here --http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/22076.aspx
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Journalism jobs outpacing overall economy
Mike Mandell at "Mandell on Innovation and Growth" shows that there's a communications boom resulting in expanding journalism jobs, and "we may be headed into a Golden Age of Journalism."
Using statistics from Current Population Survey from the Census Bureau and Labor Department, Mandel shows that employment levels for reporters and related journalism jobs have climbed back to where they were before the worst of the Great Recession hit in late 2008 (see chart, above).
Adding context, Mandell explains that journalists might be getting hired in nontraditional industries, are successfully self-employed, and are doing better than editors and news-production workers. However, some might be working fewer hours at less pay.
Friday, April 16, 2010
NYT shares morning meetings with world
Journalism students, much less news consumers, will be interested in the New York Times' latest web feature: scenes from the newspaper's regular morning budget meeting.
That's where editors pitch stories, update colleagues on works-in-progess, and generally plan the next day's editions -- and ongoing web updates.
Reporter Clark Hoyt also did a nice behind-the-scenes overview of some of the unintended consequences of the new feature -- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/opinion/11pubed.html
That's where editors pitch stories, update colleagues on works-in-progess, and generally plan the next day's editions -- and ongoing web updates.
Reporter Clark Hoyt also did a nice behind-the-scenes overview of some of the unintended consequences of the new feature -- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/opinion/11pubed.html
Saturday, April 10, 2010
iPads offer hope to print: 2 blogs
Two insightful posts from Alan Mutter (Newsosaur) and Susan Moeller (Huffington Post) are optimistic about what Apple's new iPad can offer to journalists and to operations depending on print.
"Fortunately, print publishers have a distinct edge over their digitally indigenous competitors in the race for tablet supremacy, because they have a depth of content that will work to great advantage on tablets," writes Mutter, a long-time newspaperman who once was Chicago Sun-Times editor.
"The strength of print is that it enables deep and subtle exploration of a subject," he contnued. "The [iPad] tablet combines the strengths of print, web and mobile into a satisfying -– and, yes, transformational –- experience."
Mutter expressed disappointment with most newspaper and magazine applications, however.
"Publishers who want to take full advantage of the iPad will have to do better by creating content that is media-rich, interactive, viral, transactional and mobile," Mutter said. "In other words, this is no time to cut corners."
On Huffington Post Moeller compares classic, decent journalism to traditional, nutritious food and sees parallels between the "slow food" movement and "slow journalism -- valuing content over speed."
She writes that "the iPad's capabilities align neatly with this agenda."
"Fortunately, print publishers have a distinct edge over their digitally indigenous competitors in the race for tablet supremacy, because they have a depth of content that will work to great advantage on tablets," writes Mutter, a long-time newspaperman who once was Chicago Sun-Times editor.
"The strength of print is that it enables deep and subtle exploration of a subject," he contnued. "The [iPad] tablet combines the strengths of print, web and mobile into a satisfying -– and, yes, transformational –- experience."
Mutter expressed disappointment with most newspaper and magazine applications, however.
"Publishers who want to take full advantage of the iPad will have to do better by creating content that is media-rich, interactive, viral, transactional and mobile," Mutter said. "In other words, this is no time to cut corners."
On Huffington Post
She writes that "the iPad's capabilities align neatly with this agenda."
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Journalism's past and future: ex-BBC news chief
BBC global news director Richard Sambrook is excited about what the web offers news consumers and news rooms, but frets about substance.
"The Internet for breaking and daily news is going to be more important, but where is the space on the web for current affairs and investigative journalism?" he asked in an interview with Vin Ray of the BBC College of Journalism.
After three decades in journalism, Sambrook is leaving the BBC to join the public relations firm Edelman.
Ustream has the conversation on video on the Reportr.net link above.
"The Internet for breaking and daily news is going to be more important, but where is the space on the web for current affairs and investigative journalism?" he asked in an interview with Vin Ray of the BBC College of Journalism.
After three decades in journalism, Sambrook is leaving the BBC to join the public relations firm Edelman.
Ustream has the conversation on video on the Reportr.net link above.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
'A fight I'd like to see'
The National Society of Newspaper Columnists this week re-printed the following essay, which is worth sharing.
Pictured at right is newspaperman/novelist/correspondent Ernest Hemingway -- "content provider"?
By Joyce Marcel
American Reporter Correspondent
DUMMERSTON, Vt. - The first time I was called a "content provider," I knew things were all downhill from there.
Think about Ernest Hemingway. Martha Gellhorn. Dorothy Thompson.
Then Damon Runyon. Alberto Moravia. Mark Twain. Jacob Riis and Lincoln Steffens. Graham Greene. Tom Wolfe. Gay Talese. Nellie Bly. H. L. Mencken. Grantland Rice. Hunter S. Thompson. Walter Winchell. Red Smith. Ernie Pyle. Russell Baker. Dave Barry. Carl Hiassen. Edna Buchanan. Ambrose Bierce. Mike Royko. Herb Caen. Janet Flanner. David Remnick. Seymour Hersh. Art Buchwald. George Seldes. I. F. Stone. David Halberstam. Geraldine Brooks. Jane Perlez. Tony Hillerman. Molly Ivins. A.J. Liebling. Murray Kempton. Ellen Goodman. Anna Quindlen.
Think about the sob sisters and advice-givers: Dorothy Dix. Amy Vanderbilt. The Lederer twins, Eppie and Pauline, also known as Dear Abby and Ann Landers. Heloise.
The great photojournalists: Mathew Brady. Margaret Bourke-White. Robert Capa. Weegee. Eddie Adams. Alfred Eisenstadt.
The New York columnists: Jimmy Breslin. Pete Hamill. Jimmy Cannon.
The ones who will forever be linked together: Katharine Graham. Ben Bradlee. Carl Bernstein. Bob Woodward. Or Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.
The great movies, The Front Page, His Girl Friday, the brutally cynical Ace in the Hole, Absence of Malice, All the President's Men, Sweet Smell of Success - god, Sweet Smell of Success! The Year of Living Dangerously, The Killing Fields, The Quiet American, Good Night and Good Luck. And the greatest one, Citizen Kane."
The arts writers - Gilbert Seldes. Brooks Atkinson. George Jean Nathan.
Donella Meadows. Rachel Carson. Truman Capote. Joan Didion.
Journalists have added immeasurable richness to our culture.
I've loved four great newspapers in my life: The New York Times, The Miami Herald, the San Francisco Chronicle and The Boston Globe.
These are all shell papers now, ghosts of their former selves. Today we are hearing the death rattle of the Globe as the Times struggles to stay afloat.
Some people say newspapers have outlived their usefulness. These folks have their iPhones and Twitter and podcasts and RSS feeds. Newspapers, they say, are like buggy whips. They served their usefulness and should pass quietly from the scene.
But it's hard to come up with the many cultural contributions of the buggy whip. Or to find instances where people have given their lives for it.
The International News Safety Institute recently estimated that more than 1,300 journalists and other news professionals have died trying to cover the news in 105 countries since 1996. In places like the Congo, Mexico, Darfur, Georgia, Iraq, Colombia, Gaza, Afghanistan. They didn't die to provide "content." Or to raise the price of a media company's stock. They died to bring us the truth.
Some people say that texting, community journalism and social networking will replace newspapers. Yes, it's easy to hear about a plane landing on the Hudson River from people with iPhones who were watching as the thing come down. But will they break the news on Twitter about the next Abu Ghraib, pedophile priests, or a corrupt President?
Newspapers are more than a place to learn what's happening in the world. They're more than a place to find out which congressman is stealing, which sports figure is on steroids, and which actor is secretly having an affair.
They're where you go to get a lead on the good movies and books. They tell you stories about people you've never heard of. They give you the scores and the past performances. They tell you about the latest hip restaurants. They even give you pages of recipes. How many of us have learned to cook our first turkey with the pages of some newspaper taking up too much counter space?
All in one place, mind you. And every day.
Every day in this country, about 1,400 daily newspapers large and small publish how many pages filled with how many words?
And who comes up with the words to fill those pages? Writers.
Mind you, I'm not saying that all newspaper writing is good writing. Far from it. A lot of reporters are terrible writers. They bury the important facts, or cling to the "narrative" opening even when it's a hard news story, or get their facts wrong, or misquote and misinterpret, or push their own agendas, or defend conventional wisdom even when it's clearly not true.
But when you've got that many pages to fill with that many words, you're going to unearth some damn fine writers along the way.
A world without newspapers is a world without a place for writers to be paid to start writing. It's a place where curious people won't be paid to start investigating. I fear a new set of Dark Ages ahead.
We're barely five months into the new year, and the number of laid-off or bought-out reporters is approaching 10,000. The number will rise if the Globe is closed.
Imagine if Hemingway was still alive and someone called him a "content provider." That's a fight I'd like to see.
American Reporter Correspondent
DUMMERSTON, Vt. - The first time I was called a "content provider," I knew things were all downhill from there.
Think about Ernest Hemingway. Martha Gellhorn. Dorothy Thompson.
Then Damon Runyon. Alberto Moravia. Mark Twain. Jacob Riis and Lincoln Steffens. Graham Greene. Tom Wolfe. Gay Talese. Nellie Bly. H. L. Mencken. Grantland Rice. Hunter S. Thompson. Walter Winchell. Red Smith. Ernie Pyle. Russell Baker. Dave Barry. Carl Hiassen. Edna Buchanan. Ambrose Bierce. Mike Royko. Herb Caen. Janet Flanner. David Remnick. Seymour Hersh. Art Buchwald. George Seldes. I. F. Stone. David Halberstam. Geraldine Brooks. Jane Perlez. Tony Hillerman. Molly Ivins. A.J. Liebling. Murray Kempton. Ellen Goodman. Anna Quindlen.
Think about the sob sisters and advice-givers: Dorothy Dix. Amy Vanderbilt. The Lederer twins, Eppie and Pauline, also known as Dear Abby and Ann Landers. Heloise.
The great photojournalists: Mathew Brady. Margaret Bourke-White. Robert Capa. Weegee. Eddie Adams. Alfred Eisenstadt.
The New York columnists: Jimmy Breslin. Pete Hamill. Jimmy Cannon.
The ones who will forever be linked together: Katharine Graham. Ben Bradlee. Carl Bernstein. Bob Woodward. Or Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.
The great movies, The Front Page, His Girl Friday, the brutally cynical Ace in the Hole, Absence of Malice, All the President's Men, Sweet Smell of Success - god, Sweet Smell of Success! The Year of Living Dangerously, The Killing Fields, The Quiet American, Good Night and Good Luck. And the greatest one, Citizen Kane."
The arts writers - Gilbert Seldes. Brooks Atkinson. George Jean Nathan.
Donella Meadows. Rachel Carson. Truman Capote. Joan Didion.
Journalists have added immeasurable richness to our culture.
I've loved four great newspapers in my life: The New York Times, The Miami Herald, the San Francisco Chronicle and The Boston Globe.
These are all shell papers now, ghosts of their former selves. Today we are hearing the death rattle of the Globe as the Times struggles to stay afloat.
Some people say newspapers have outlived their usefulness. These folks have their iPhones and Twitter and podcasts and RSS feeds. Newspapers, they say, are like buggy whips. They served their usefulness and should pass quietly from the scene.
But it's hard to come up with the many cultural contributions of the buggy whip. Or to find instances where people have given their lives for it.
The International News Safety Institute recently estimated that more than 1,300 journalists and other news professionals have died trying to cover the news in 105 countries since 1996. In places like the Congo, Mexico, Darfur, Georgia, Iraq, Colombia, Gaza, Afghanistan. They didn't die to provide "content." Or to raise the price of a media company's stock. They died to bring us the truth.
Some people say that texting, community journalism and social networking will replace newspapers. Yes, it's easy to hear about a plane landing on the Hudson River from people with iPhones who were watching as the thing come down. But will they break the news on Twitter about the next Abu Ghraib, pedophile priests, or a corrupt President?
Newspapers are more than a place to learn what's happening in the world. They're more than a place to find out which congressman is stealing, which sports figure is on steroids, and which actor is secretly having an affair.
They're where you go to get a lead on the good movies and books. They tell you stories about people you've never heard of. They give you the scores and the past performances. They tell you about the latest hip restaurants. They even give you pages of recipes. How many of us have learned to cook our first turkey with the pages of some newspaper taking up too much counter space?
All in one place, mind you. And every day.
Every day in this country, about 1,400 daily newspapers large and small publish how many pages filled with how many words?
And who comes up with the words to fill those pages? Writers.
Mind you, I'm not saying that all newspaper writing is good writing. Far from it. A lot of reporters are terrible writers. They bury the important facts, or cling to the "narrative" opening even when it's a hard news story, or get their facts wrong, or misquote and misinterpret, or push their own agendas, or defend conventional wisdom even when it's clearly not true.
But when you've got that many pages to fill with that many words, you're going to unearth some damn fine writers along the way.
A world without newspapers is a world without a place for writers to be paid to start writing. It's a place where curious people won't be paid to start investigating. I fear a new set of Dark Ages ahead.
We're barely five months into the new year, and the number of laid-off or bought-out reporters is approaching 10,000. The number will rise if the Globe is closed.
Imagine if Hemingway was still alive and someone called him a "content provider." That's a fight I'd like to see.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Mainstream newsrooms still produce most news
A new study finds that "most local news still flows from newspapers, and while broadcasters, web sites and blogs, and even social-network sites or podcasts distribute news, "the work of gathering that news is still the job of newspapers," adds the Pottstown (Pa.) Mercury.
The study, from the Pew research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, shows that mot actual reporting comes from U.S. newspapers.
"It does say that as digital platforms for information proliferate, most original reporting comes from traditional sources — local newspapers, television stations and radio stations," writes Majorie Cortez of the Deseret (Utah) News. "Most digital news outlets are regurgitating the reporting of newspapers, television and radio stations. They often add commentary but provide little new information.
The study, from the Pew research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, shows that mot actual reporting comes from U.S. newspapers.
"It does say that as digital platforms for information proliferate, most original reporting comes from traditional sources — local newspapers, television stations and radio stations," writes Majorie Cortez of the Deseret (Utah) News. "Most digital news outlets are regurgitating the reporting of newspapers, television and radio stations. They often add commentary but provide little new information.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
New report more in-depth, upbeat
Michael Schudson, a professor at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, said he was struck by "the really stunning enthusiasm and excitement of people engaged in many of these [Journalism] startups, who were just bubbling over with what they were doing."
Schudson co-authored the new paper "The Reconstruction of American Journalism" with Leonard Downie Jr., the Washington Post's former executive editor, who’s now a Journalism professor at Arizona State University.
Conceding changes in Journalism, their report includes all news media.
“The picture isn't much brighter in local television,” comments Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post. “KDNL in St. Louis and WYOU in Scranton, Pa., have dropped their newscasts altogether. At about 200 stations around the country, the local news is produced by other stations.
“Commercial radio stations, except for a handful of big-city outlets, do little or no local reporting,” Kurtz added. “At the same time, ‘only a relatively small number’ of public radio stations offer much on-the-ground reporting.”
The report notes, "The days of a kind of news media paternalism or patronage that produced journalism in the public interest, whether or not it contributed to the bottom line, are largely gone. American society must now take some collective responsibility for supporting independent news reporting in this new environment -- as society has, at much greater expense, for public needs like education, health care, scientific advancement and cultural preservation -- through varying combinations of philanthropy, subsidy and government policy."
Meanwhile, within weeks of its release third-quarter corporate reports came out, the newspaper chains Gannett (USA Today) showed a $73.8 million profit and McClatchy (Kansas City Star, Belleville Nws Democrat) showed a $23.6 million profit.
The study will appear in a forthcoming issue of Columbia Journalism Review and is online as a pdf file here -- https://stgcms.journalism.columbia.edu/cs/ContentServer?pagename=JRN/Render/DocURL&binaryid=1212611716626
Schudson co-authored the new paper "The Reconstruction of American Journalism" with Leonard Downie Jr., the Washington Post's former executive editor, who’s now a Journalism professor at Arizona State University.
Conceding changes in Journalism, their report includes all news media.
“The picture isn't much brighter in local television,” comments Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post. “KDNL in St. Louis and WYOU in Scranton, Pa., have dropped their newscasts altogether. At about 200 stations around the country, the local news is produced by other stations.
“Commercial radio stations, except for a handful of big-city outlets, do little or no local reporting,” Kurtz added. “At the same time, ‘only a relatively small number’ of public radio stations offer much on-the-ground reporting.”
The report notes, "The days of a kind of news media paternalism or patronage that produced journalism in the public interest, whether or not it contributed to the bottom line, are largely gone. American society must now take some collective responsibility for supporting independent news reporting in this new environment -- as society has, at much greater expense, for public needs like education, health care, scientific advancement and cultural preservation -- through varying combinations of philanthropy, subsidy and government policy."
Meanwhile, within weeks of its release third-quarter corporate reports came out, the newspaper chains Gannett (USA Today) showed a $73.8 million profit and McClatchy (Kansas City Star, Belleville Nws Democrat) showed a $23.6 million profit.
The study will appear in a forthcoming issue of Columbia Journalism Review and is online as a pdf file here -- https://stgcms.journalism.columbia.edu/cs/ContentServer?pagename=JRN/Render/DocURL&binaryid=1212611716626
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
TV's disappointing digital
It's been a month now since the digital conversion of all U.S. television stations, so it's awfully early to be crying, cautiously optimistic or critical of the consequences. However, many stations went digital long enough back that their efforts are creating some consternation after the hype that preceded what some see as a government giveaway of chunks of the broadcast spectrum to appease commercial interests with little regard for the public interest.
Business Week magazine senior writer Tom Lowry did a good roundup piece about the overall disappointing results from local stations' digital spinoffs.
"Most of the country's 1,700 TV stations have created them," he writes. "But only the 10% of U.S. households that receive digital TV over the air can watch the new programming because the cable, phone and satellite companies so far are usually disinclined to carry it."
That ties to disappointing ad sales linked to the new programming, he says.
"Local TV advertising fell 28% in the first quarter from the same period in 2008," Lowry writes. "[So] local broadcasters seem prepared to do an end run around the cable and phone companies. They are pinning their hopes on the next generation of cell phones, which will be able to receive digital TV signals."
(It must have been discomfiting for Lowry to see this published around the same time that Business Week owner McGraw-Hill announced it was losing money on the excellent periodical and would consider a buyer.)
Business Week magazine senior writer Tom Lowry did a good roundup piece about the overall disappointing results from local stations' digital spinoffs.
"Most of the country's 1,700 TV stations have created them," he writes. "But only the 10% of U.S. households that receive digital TV over the air can watch the new programming because the cable, phone and satellite companies so far are usually disinclined to carry it."
That ties to disappointing ad sales linked to the new programming, he says.
"Local TV advertising fell 28% in the first quarter from the same period in 2008," Lowry writes. "[So] local broadcasters seem prepared to do an end run around the cable and phone companies. They are pinning their hopes on the next generation of cell phones, which will be able to receive digital TV signals."
(It must have been discomfiting for Lowry to see this published around the same time that Business Week owner McGraw-Hill announced it was losing money on the excellent periodical and would consider a buyer.)
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Economy affecting TV as well as print: CNN/NBC vet
Journalists who assume they'll escape anxiety by concentrating on broadcasting instead of newspaper are missing the big picture, according to former CNN and NBC News video editor and camera operator David P. Burns.
The recession and expansion of consumer choices for media is affecting journalists and news companies across the board, Burns writes in the new Quill magazine.
"Studio production crews are getting smaller, forcing technicians to compete for a handful of jobs in a single market," Burns writes in a piece about moving from newsrooms to classrooms.
Susan Kirkwood, a special-projects producer for Baltimore's WMAR-TV until she was laid off, has started teaching part-time at Towson University, where students don't realize the reality of 21st century broadcast journalism.
"They always seem surprised to learn it's not glamorous," she said. "I told them about working overnights, and they couldn't believe that schedule existed."
The recession and expansion of consumer choices for media is affecting journalists and news companies across the board, Burns writes in the new Quill magazine.
"Studio production crews are getting smaller, forcing technicians to compete for a handful of jobs in a single market," Burns writes in a piece about moving from newsrooms to classrooms.
Susan Kirkwood, a special-projects producer for Baltimore's WMAR-TV until she was laid off, has started teaching part-time at Towson University, where students don't realize the reality of 21st century broadcast journalism.
"They always seem surprised to learn it's not glamorous," she said. "I told them about working overnights, and they couldn't believe that schedule existed."
Thursday, June 25, 2009
One-time reporter, 'Wired' creator testifies about newspapers, blasts new and old media as short-sighted
Former Baltimore Sun journalist David Simon is now better known as the creative force behind HBO's series The Wire, and that helped him gain some attention when he testified about newspapers this spring on Capitol Hill.
Simon didn't mince words in leveling blame at "old-media" ownership more than changes in technology, although he scoffed at the notion of "new media" bloggers and citizen journalists somehow replacing well-trained, dedicated and competent professional journalists.
"Readers acquire news from the aggregators [for free] and abandon its point of origin – namely, the newspapers themselves," he said. "The parasite is slowly killing the host."
And old media? Here's an excerpt:
“When you hear a newspaper executive claiming that his industry is an essential bulwark of society and that it stands threatened by a new technology that is, as of yet, unready to shoulder the same responsibility, you may be inclined to empathize. And indeed, that much is true enough as it goes,” he said.
“But when that same newspaper executive then goes on to claim that this predicament has occurred through no fault on the industry's part, that they have merely been undone by new technologies, feel free to kick out his teeth. At that point, he's as fraudulent as the most self-aggrandized blogger.
“In short, my industry butchered itself and we did so at the behest of Wall Street and the same unfettered, free-market logic that has proved so disastrous for so many American industries. And the original sin of American newspapering lies, indeed, in going to Wall Street in the first place.
“When locally-based, family-owned newspapers like The Sun were consolidated into publicly-owned newspaper chains, an essential dynamic, an essential trust between journalism and the communities served by that journalism was betrayed.
“Economically, the disconnect is now obvious. What do newspaper executives in Los Angeles or Chicago care whether or not readers in Baltimore have a better newspaper, especially when you can make more putting out a mediocre paper than a worthy one? The profit margin was all. And so, where family ownership might have been content with 10 or 15 percent profit, the chains demanded double that and more, and the cutting began – long before the threat of new technology was ever sensed…
“Absent this basic and belated acknowledgment that content has value -- if indeed it still does after so many destructive buyouts and layoffs – and that content is what ultimately matters, I don't think anything else can save high-end, professional journalism."
His complete testimony is online at -- http://reclaimthemedia.org/journalistic_practice/wire_creator_david_simon_testi0719/
Simon didn't mince words in leveling blame at "old-media" ownership more than changes in technology, although he scoffed at the notion of "new media" bloggers and citizen journalists somehow replacing well-trained, dedicated and competent professional journalists.
"Readers acquire news from the aggregators [for free] and abandon its point of origin – namely, the newspapers themselves," he said. "The parasite is slowly killing the host."
And old media? Here's an excerpt:
“When you hear a newspaper executive claiming that his industry is an essential bulwark of society and that it stands threatened by a new technology that is, as of yet, unready to shoulder the same responsibility, you may be inclined to empathize. And indeed, that much is true enough as it goes,” he said.
“But when that same newspaper executive then goes on to claim that this predicament has occurred through no fault on the industry's part, that they have merely been undone by new technologies, feel free to kick out his teeth. At that point, he's as fraudulent as the most self-aggrandized blogger.
“In short, my industry butchered itself and we did so at the behest of Wall Street and the same unfettered, free-market logic that has proved so disastrous for so many American industries. And the original sin of American newspapering lies, indeed, in going to Wall Street in the first place.
“When locally-based, family-owned newspapers like The Sun were consolidated into publicly-owned newspaper chains, an essential dynamic, an essential trust between journalism and the communities served by that journalism was betrayed.
“Economically, the disconnect is now obvious. What do newspaper executives in Los Angeles or Chicago care whether or not readers in Baltimore have a better newspaper, especially when you can make more putting out a mediocre paper than a worthy one? The profit margin was all. And so, where family ownership might have been content with 10 or 15 percent profit, the chains demanded double that and more, and the cutting began – long before the threat of new technology was ever sensed…
“Absent this basic and belated acknowledgment that content has value -- if indeed it still does after so many destructive buyouts and layoffs – and that content is what ultimately matters, I don't think anything else can save high-end, professional journalism."
His complete testimony is online at -- http://reclaimthemedia.org/journalistic_practice/wire_creator_david_simon_testi0719/
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
newspaper audiences increase -- online
Newspapers can once more exploit their reporting skills with breaking news since the World Wide Web provides them a platform as immediate as radio.
That's one of the findings of an annual survey from the Center for the Digital Future -- which also found that the source of most journalism -- newspapers -- have an increasing audience, but they're not print customers but online consumers.
Significant bright spots remain for newspapers, said CDF director Jeffrey Cole, including “the greatest opportunities in their existence.”
Read the news release and summary of the survey here -- http://annenberg.usc.edu/AboutUs/News/090429CDF.aspx
That's one of the findings of an annual survey from the Center for the Digital Future -- which also found that the source of most journalism -- newspapers -- have an increasing audience, but they're not print customers but online consumers.
Significant bright spots remain for newspapers, said CDF director Jeffrey Cole, including “the greatest opportunities in their existence.”
Read the news release and summary of the survey here -- http://annenberg.usc.edu/AboutUs/News/090429CDF.aspx
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