The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism has published a new report on digital news economics, which highlighted how the relationship between content and advertising is changing, and what this means for the news business. The report comes just after the Pew Research Center's report on how people navigate the digital news environment
The main aim of Columbia's research was to find out what kinds of digitally based journalism the US commercial market is likely to support, and how.
The definition of digital journalism is broad: it includes online phenomenon (the Internet and computers) as well as mobile devices like phones and tablets.
Amongst much interesting analysis - the report is 146 pages long and is divided in 9 chapters - one part is devoted to the relationship between the news industry and the advertising market.
Felix Salmon pointed this out on his Reuters' blog. He quotes a passage of the report saying:
"For decades, there has been a connection between the journalism that news organizations provide and the advertisements that generate most of their revenue. Whether it's a glossy spread that runs before the table of contents in a fashion magazine, or the anchor-man's "more after this message" assurance on the local Eyewitness News, ads and content have always been closely linked in the stream that appears before the consumer."
"That linkage is breaking down, and news organizations are scrambling to re- place it with something else. That may mean selling ads on sites they don't own or control."
Salmon argued that during his career he came across people with fantastic ideas for a website, relying as a business model on banner ads and of course, as a statistical inevitability, some of them will make money. But the ad-adjacency model can't be the business model to rely on. News organizations - he suggested referring to the report - should find ways to monetize the credibility they build within their communities.
One way could be to sell ad space not just on their own site but to use their brand for other ventures. Just to cite some examples: Wired has pop-up stores, New York Magazine has a bridal show, the Atlantic has a big events business which already brings in $6 million a year and which is growing fast.
The relationship between digital journalism and advertisers must be re-thinked, the New York Times summarized.
"That does not mean yielding editorial control to sponsors, but it might mean coming up with alternatives to impression-based pricing, creating higher-value content for the Web by tapping into page view data, and helping to ensure that Web ads have value on their own", the article wrote.
The article also quoted Bill Grueskin, the academic dean for the journalism school and a co-author of the report, who said: "We're not suggesting that journalists get marching orders from advertisers. We are suggesting that journalists get a much better understanding of why so many advertising dollars have left the traditional news media business."
The report ends with these considerations:
"We believe the public needs independent journalists who seek out facts, explain complex issues and present their work in compelling ways. We also believe that while philanthropic or government support can help, it is ultimately up to the commercial market to provide the economic basis for journalism. The industry has realized many of the losses from the digital era. It is time to start reaping some of the benefits."
Source: CJR, Felix Salmon's blog, New York Times
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
What Business Are Newspapers Really In?
Sitting at breakfast this morning in Washington, DC, I heard a familiar tale of woe from my friend. Both he and his wife are talented, experienced, and recognized journalists. He has first-rate credits as an op-ed page editor, she has won outright or shared in two Pulitzer prizes. But today she is an ex-journalist, having taken a buy-out from her paper and then gone on to form, with several other former journalists, an investigative service firm that does work for hire, often taking on difficult in-depth projects for law firms or corporations looking to use the skills of a proven reporter. He has endured involuntary furloughs and passed up, so far, various buy-out offers his paper has offered.
It was a familiar and sad story. The papers he and his wife have worked for have huge brand names--and also impenetrable bureaucracies. Like General Motors, they seem impervious to signals that tell them they must change, sluggish in their response to dramatic shifts in customer habits and preferences, indifferent to changing capabilities in technology, and stubborn in their insistence that they are right, they are important, they are special--and that if there is a problem, it must be that their competitors aren't playing fair or their customers aren't sufficiently grateful for what they have to offer.
Soon breakfast was over, ended with a sad shaking of hands and shaking of heads as both of us considered the almost inevitable demise of once-proud and once-great journalistic institutions. He headed back to work and I headed to the airport to board an Alaskan Airlines flight to Seattle.
In the course of the almost six hour flight I found myself re-thinking that breakfast conversation. Did it have to happen? Are newspapers doomed to extinction? What if, I wondered, I applied one of my favorite rules from my new book Rules of Thumb," Rule #6: If you want to see with fresh eyes, reframe the picture.
It's a rule that I learned from Harvard Business School's late, great marketing guru, Ted Levitt. In his legendary Harvard Business School article, "Marketing Myopia," Ted essentially invented the concept of re-framing. The problem with most failing businesses, he argued, was that they didn't understand what business they were really in. The demise of the once-great American railroads, he argued, was due to the fact that they thought they were in the railroad business when, in fact, they needed to see that they were in the transportation business. A company that made power tools thought it was selling drills; but its customers were buying holes.
What business are newspapers really in, I wondered? Clearly not the newspaper business--that is too prosaic, and clearly too one-dimensional. Only a fool would think he was in the newspaper business today and expect to survive. So what business--or businesses--are newspapers really in?
How is a newspaper like a comedy show? Jon Stewart ranks as the fourth most-trusted source of news in America today--and by his own description, he's proud to call himself a comic. What he offers that is so valuable is the truth behind the news--the truth that only comes clear through exaggeration, distortion, and outright lying. In other words through comedy. But it's not only Jon Stewart (and Stephen Colbert) who make sense of the news by making fun of the news; so does The Onion--to great success in both print and in web-based video. British newspapers, famously, take far more risks and make far more fun of the newsmakers they cover. When did American newspapers start taking themselves do seriously? Is it conceivable that reading a newspaper could be fun again?
How is a newspaper like a consulting firm? It's not just my friend's wife who's decided to take her core competency as an investigative journalist and ply her trade digging up material for lawyers and companies. There's a firm in Denmark that consists of a dozen or more former journalists who offer the same service--and who are flourishing in their new business. What is a newspaper if not the talents and skills, the experiences and capabilities of the people who work there? It's certainly not the sheets of newsprint and the ink--that's just the product. The paper itself is the applied intelligence of the people who work there. So why couldn't a newspaper offer investigative reporting services to outside clients? Well, in fact, at least one does: The Economist. The Economist, which is the magazine that both Time and Newsweek wish they were (and which calls itself a newspaper, incidentally), has its intelligence unit, an operation that does exactly the kind of work my friend's wife is setting up to do--because her newspaper didn't have the brains to see that it could be in that business itself.
How is a newspaper like a talk show? As an op-ed editor for one of America's great daily newspaper, my friend has carefully and thoughtfully built a stable of op-ed contributors who supply the paper with commentary, analysis, and opinion. And as large as that stable is, there's always room for new voices and fresh insights. But here's the problem: the stable of contributors is much larger than the op-ed page of the paper. Voices go unheard for long periods of time, simply because there isn't room in the paper to contain them. A phenomenal asset is going under-utilized. But what's to prevent the paper from becoming a talk show--both metaphorically and literally? Why shouldn't my friend conduct regular conversations with op-ed contributors, under the newspaper's auspices, and post them on the web? Right now we've got Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Larry King, Charlie Rose, and Oprah--and every aspiring author, pundit, and pontificator pines to be on their shows. Why not launch a newspaper-sponsored web-enabled talk show?
How is a newspaper like a credit card company? Membership, as the old credit card marketing saying goes, has its privileges. Why shouldn't newspapers sell memberships, instead of subscriptions? For a base level membership, you get the base level newspaper: standard-issue coverage of the news of the day, news as a commodity. Want to reach the level of a silver card holder? That gets you a slate of op-ed columnists, behind-the-scenes sports commentary, access to the newspapers pundits and sense-makers. Ready to go for the gold? With gold you get the investigative unit, the behind-the-scene interviews, the bells and whistles that a great newspaper now gives away for free. And platinum! That gets you a weekly conference call featuring the paper's top editors, smartest columnists, and coolest reporters--and chance to get briefed, along with other platinum members over the web, over the phone, or, on special occasions, in person.
How is a newspaper like Alaska Airlines? The airline industry is, arguably, as bad a business to be in as newspapers. But somehow, Alaska Airlines, on which I'm currently sitting, makes it actually pleasant. Despite an unendurably long flight, everyone on the plane is in a good mood. In part that's because the flight attendants are amazingly friendly, courteous, even funny. In part it's because the plane we're flying on is brand new. It's clean, it's fresh, the seats are comfortable, the carpet isn't worn, and the rest rooms are spotless. But it's also the way they do business. After we take off, the flight attendants come down the aisle with personal video units. For a small fee, you can rent one and watch movies all the way across America. A little while later, they come down the aisle with food carts. Want to buy a cheeseburger? A neatly packed variety of snacks, trail mix, pastry, or chocolates? It's all ala carte, you have to pay for it, but it's done well, it's done pleasantly, it's done with service, and it's done with a smile. If people are hungry for the news, or eager for some entertainment, can't newspapers serve those up ala carte, too? No self-respecting airline thinks its actually selling a seat on a plane. When will newspapers figure out they're not selling newspapers?
They've just announced that I need to shut off my computer; we're landing in Seattle. Seattle, a city that recently suffered the loss of its newspaper, Seattle, home of the defunct Post-Intelligencer. It died, undoubtedly because it thought it was in the newspaper business.
Source: huffingtonpost.com
It was a familiar and sad story. The papers he and his wife have worked for have huge brand names--and also impenetrable bureaucracies. Like General Motors, they seem impervious to signals that tell them they must change, sluggish in their response to dramatic shifts in customer habits and preferences, indifferent to changing capabilities in technology, and stubborn in their insistence that they are right, they are important, they are special--and that if there is a problem, it must be that their competitors aren't playing fair or their customers aren't sufficiently grateful for what they have to offer.
Soon breakfast was over, ended with a sad shaking of hands and shaking of heads as both of us considered the almost inevitable demise of once-proud and once-great journalistic institutions. He headed back to work and I headed to the airport to board an Alaskan Airlines flight to Seattle.
In the course of the almost six hour flight I found myself re-thinking that breakfast conversation. Did it have to happen? Are newspapers doomed to extinction? What if, I wondered, I applied one of my favorite rules from my new book Rules of Thumb," Rule #6: If you want to see with fresh eyes, reframe the picture.
It's a rule that I learned from Harvard Business School's late, great marketing guru, Ted Levitt. In his legendary Harvard Business School article, "Marketing Myopia," Ted essentially invented the concept of re-framing. The problem with most failing businesses, he argued, was that they didn't understand what business they were really in. The demise of the once-great American railroads, he argued, was due to the fact that they thought they were in the railroad business when, in fact, they needed to see that they were in the transportation business. A company that made power tools thought it was selling drills; but its customers were buying holes.
What business are newspapers really in, I wondered? Clearly not the newspaper business--that is too prosaic, and clearly too one-dimensional. Only a fool would think he was in the newspaper business today and expect to survive. So what business--or businesses--are newspapers really in?
How is a newspaper like a comedy show? Jon Stewart ranks as the fourth most-trusted source of news in America today--and by his own description, he's proud to call himself a comic. What he offers that is so valuable is the truth behind the news--the truth that only comes clear through exaggeration, distortion, and outright lying. In other words through comedy. But it's not only Jon Stewart (and Stephen Colbert) who make sense of the news by making fun of the news; so does The Onion--to great success in both print and in web-based video. British newspapers, famously, take far more risks and make far more fun of the newsmakers they cover. When did American newspapers start taking themselves do seriously? Is it conceivable that reading a newspaper could be fun again?
How is a newspaper like a consulting firm? It's not just my friend's wife who's decided to take her core competency as an investigative journalist and ply her trade digging up material for lawyers and companies. There's a firm in Denmark that consists of a dozen or more former journalists who offer the same service--and who are flourishing in their new business. What is a newspaper if not the talents and skills, the experiences and capabilities of the people who work there? It's certainly not the sheets of newsprint and the ink--that's just the product. The paper itself is the applied intelligence of the people who work there. So why couldn't a newspaper offer investigative reporting services to outside clients? Well, in fact, at least one does: The Economist. The Economist, which is the magazine that both Time and Newsweek wish they were (and which calls itself a newspaper, incidentally), has its intelligence unit, an operation that does exactly the kind of work my friend's wife is setting up to do--because her newspaper didn't have the brains to see that it could be in that business itself.
How is a newspaper like a talk show? As an op-ed editor for one of America's great daily newspaper, my friend has carefully and thoughtfully built a stable of op-ed contributors who supply the paper with commentary, analysis, and opinion. And as large as that stable is, there's always room for new voices and fresh insights. But here's the problem: the stable of contributors is much larger than the op-ed page of the paper. Voices go unheard for long periods of time, simply because there isn't room in the paper to contain them. A phenomenal asset is going under-utilized. But what's to prevent the paper from becoming a talk show--both metaphorically and literally? Why shouldn't my friend conduct regular conversations with op-ed contributors, under the newspaper's auspices, and post them on the web? Right now we've got Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Larry King, Charlie Rose, and Oprah--and every aspiring author, pundit, and pontificator pines to be on their shows. Why not launch a newspaper-sponsored web-enabled talk show?
How is a newspaper like a credit card company? Membership, as the old credit card marketing saying goes, has its privileges. Why shouldn't newspapers sell memberships, instead of subscriptions? For a base level membership, you get the base level newspaper: standard-issue coverage of the news of the day, news as a commodity. Want to reach the level of a silver card holder? That gets you a slate of op-ed columnists, behind-the-scenes sports commentary, access to the newspapers pundits and sense-makers. Ready to go for the gold? With gold you get the investigative unit, the behind-the-scene interviews, the bells and whistles that a great newspaper now gives away for free. And platinum! That gets you a weekly conference call featuring the paper's top editors, smartest columnists, and coolest reporters--and chance to get briefed, along with other platinum members over the web, over the phone, or, on special occasions, in person.
How is a newspaper like Alaska Airlines? The airline industry is, arguably, as bad a business to be in as newspapers. But somehow, Alaska Airlines, on which I'm currently sitting, makes it actually pleasant. Despite an unendurably long flight, everyone on the plane is in a good mood. In part that's because the flight attendants are amazingly friendly, courteous, even funny. In part it's because the plane we're flying on is brand new. It's clean, it's fresh, the seats are comfortable, the carpet isn't worn, and the rest rooms are spotless. But it's also the way they do business. After we take off, the flight attendants come down the aisle with personal video units. For a small fee, you can rent one and watch movies all the way across America. A little while later, they come down the aisle with food carts. Want to buy a cheeseburger? A neatly packed variety of snacks, trail mix, pastry, or chocolates? It's all ala carte, you have to pay for it, but it's done well, it's done pleasantly, it's done with service, and it's done with a smile. If people are hungry for the news, or eager for some entertainment, can't newspapers serve those up ala carte, too? No self-respecting airline thinks its actually selling a seat on a plane. When will newspapers figure out they're not selling newspapers?
They've just announced that I need to shut off my computer; we're landing in Seattle. Seattle, a city that recently suffered the loss of its newspaper, Seattle, home of the defunct Post-Intelligencer. It died, undoubtedly because it thought it was in the newspaper business.
Source: huffingtonpost.com
Friday, May 8, 2009
A newspaper business model that's working
We make community news free and have watched profits soar.
It's widely reported – and has become generally accepted – that the newspaper model is either dying or already dead, when, in fact, thousands of newspapers across the country are doing quite well. Thousands of newspapers deliver for their readers and advertisers every day. Thousands of newspapers are positioned to embrace – not be destroyed by – emerging technology.
But we don't get to read much about those newspapers. Sure it's news when giant corporations crash and burn and lives are disrupted. Stories that report on incompetent leaders who, ironically, receive outlandish compensation are widely read. Documenting the downfall of powerful entities, whether they are governments or businesses, is a legitimate pursuit. But, as any respectable journalist knows, when you tell only half the story, the story is incomplete – or just plain wrong.
In this instance, the half that receives little to no attention from big media involves the men and women in the newspaper industry who write the stories, sell the ads, print and deliver the papers and update the websites every day, without fail, for media companies that are far from dead.
The National Newspaper Association (NNA) last month reported on a study that showed community newspapers were far less affected by the challenging economy than the industry in general (or the economy in general, for that matter). The Suburban Newspapers of America and NNA's reporting group showed 2008 fourth-quarter advertising revenue of $428.7 million, only a 6.6 percent decline from the same quarter in 2007. The Glennco Consulting Group estimate was much worse, however, for the overall newspaper industry. There it showed decline in fourth-quarter advertising expenditures of 21 percent, according to the NNA.
So while advertisers cut their spending by 21 percent across the industry, the impact to community newspapers was less than 7 percent.
In addition, 26 percent of the SNA/NNA reporting group launched new products in 2008. Indeed, many community newspaper companies are growing.
The fact is that gains among progressive community newspaper companies are offsetting a large part of the massive losses being suffered by the staid, big newspaper companies.
"Community newspapers certainly are not immune to the economic downturn that is affecting all businesses, but, as the primary and sometimes sole provider of local news in a community, they remain strong and viable," NNA president John Stevenson said in the article.
These "strong and viable" companies recognized and adapted to the changing economy in a way that larger newspapers – for the most part – are not. They adapted to evolving reader habits and emerging business models. They abandoned the traditional, head-in-the-sand mentality of denial and exploited the opportunities presented by their often larger, but undeniably obsolete, brethren.
At Elauwit Media, we learned long ago that people don't want to "pay" for their news anymore.
We know that, for advertising to be effective, people have to actually see the ads. Our business model and philosophy of making sure "Everybody Gets It. Everybody Reads It." pushes us to bring local news not found elsewhere to everybody who has an address in town. It fills a very specific need for our readers and it works so well that, for the past two years, we have been listed among South Jersey's 10 fastest-growing privately held companies. We've gone from a start-up in 2004 with $100,000 in revenue to a thriving company with revenues in excess of $2.4 million in 2008.
That's certainly not the story we're hearing about newspaper companies today. But that's the story of so many of us smaller newspaper companies that have adapted to the changes in the market.
This success is no great mystery – it's the American way. Ingenuity, creativity, and the entrepreneurial spirit always have been rewarded. The newspaper companies that have altered circulation methods and policies, have focused their content and developed news delivery methods to fit today's audience and advertisers are thriving. They found new streams of revenue and ways to reduce costs that didn't eviscerate their core products.
In other words, they ran their businesses the way businesses ought to be run. For instance, huge regional daily newspapers would do better to stop requiring people to subscribe and instead deliver the paper to everybody in their target demographic (the market that key advertisers want to reach). If big newspapers would charge the advertisers, not the readers, they could still turn things around. That would be a bold way to evolve. It is highly doubtful they'll do that. We did.
So as the giant media conglomerates continue to watch their kingdoms crumble, and the self-styled scribes of truth chronicle their every misstep and blunder, the rest of us will continue to vacuum up their former readers and advertisers. We'll continue to grow. We'll continue to adapt. We'll continue to profit. And we'll do it all while upholding the standards of journalism that make newspapers so important. And therein lies the future of newspapers – one that's not so gloomy for everyone.
Source: CSMonitor.com
It's widely reported – and has become generally accepted – that the newspaper model is either dying or already dead, when, in fact, thousands of newspapers across the country are doing quite well. Thousands of newspapers deliver for their readers and advertisers every day. Thousands of newspapers are positioned to embrace – not be destroyed by – emerging technology.
But we don't get to read much about those newspapers. Sure it's news when giant corporations crash and burn and lives are disrupted. Stories that report on incompetent leaders who, ironically, receive outlandish compensation are widely read. Documenting the downfall of powerful entities, whether they are governments or businesses, is a legitimate pursuit. But, as any respectable journalist knows, when you tell only half the story, the story is incomplete – or just plain wrong.
In this instance, the half that receives little to no attention from big media involves the men and women in the newspaper industry who write the stories, sell the ads, print and deliver the papers and update the websites every day, without fail, for media companies that are far from dead.
The National Newspaper Association (NNA) last month reported on a study that showed community newspapers were far less affected by the challenging economy than the industry in general (or the economy in general, for that matter). The Suburban Newspapers of America and NNA's reporting group showed 2008 fourth-quarter advertising revenue of $428.7 million, only a 6.6 percent decline from the same quarter in 2007. The Glennco Consulting Group estimate was much worse, however, for the overall newspaper industry. There it showed decline in fourth-quarter advertising expenditures of 21 percent, according to the NNA.
So while advertisers cut their spending by 21 percent across the industry, the impact to community newspapers was less than 7 percent.
In addition, 26 percent of the SNA/NNA reporting group launched new products in 2008. Indeed, many community newspaper companies are growing.
The fact is that gains among progressive community newspaper companies are offsetting a large part of the massive losses being suffered by the staid, big newspaper companies.
"Community newspapers certainly are not immune to the economic downturn that is affecting all businesses, but, as the primary and sometimes sole provider of local news in a community, they remain strong and viable," NNA president John Stevenson said in the article.
These "strong and viable" companies recognized and adapted to the changing economy in a way that larger newspapers – for the most part – are not. They adapted to evolving reader habits and emerging business models. They abandoned the traditional, head-in-the-sand mentality of denial and exploited the opportunities presented by their often larger, but undeniably obsolete, brethren.
At Elauwit Media, we learned long ago that people don't want to "pay" for their news anymore.
We know that, for advertising to be effective, people have to actually see the ads. Our business model and philosophy of making sure "Everybody Gets It. Everybody Reads It." pushes us to bring local news not found elsewhere to everybody who has an address in town. It fills a very specific need for our readers and it works so well that, for the past two years, we have been listed among South Jersey's 10 fastest-growing privately held companies. We've gone from a start-up in 2004 with $100,000 in revenue to a thriving company with revenues in excess of $2.4 million in 2008.
That's certainly not the story we're hearing about newspaper companies today. But that's the story of so many of us smaller newspaper companies that have adapted to the changes in the market.
This success is no great mystery – it's the American way. Ingenuity, creativity, and the entrepreneurial spirit always have been rewarded. The newspaper companies that have altered circulation methods and policies, have focused their content and developed news delivery methods to fit today's audience and advertisers are thriving. They found new streams of revenue and ways to reduce costs that didn't eviscerate their core products.
In other words, they ran their businesses the way businesses ought to be run. For instance, huge regional daily newspapers would do better to stop requiring people to subscribe and instead deliver the paper to everybody in their target demographic (the market that key advertisers want to reach). If big newspapers would charge the advertisers, not the readers, they could still turn things around. That would be a bold way to evolve. It is highly doubtful they'll do that. We did.
So as the giant media conglomerates continue to watch their kingdoms crumble, and the self-styled scribes of truth chronicle their every misstep and blunder, the rest of us will continue to vacuum up their former readers and advertisers. We'll continue to grow. We'll continue to adapt. We'll continue to profit. And we'll do it all while upholding the standards of journalism that make newspapers so important. And therein lies the future of newspapers – one that's not so gloomy for everyone.
Source: CSMonitor.com
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Thomson Reuters CEO: No paper, please
THOMSON Reuters Corp, the company that employs me and runs this blog, posted fourth-quarter financial results on Tuesday. My colleague and I wrote them up for the wire, and you can see them here. Meanwhile, here’s something that didn’t make it in to the story that we wanted to share.
During a conference call with reporters, I asked Chief Executive Tom Glocer, who ran Reuters before Thomson Corp bought it, what the company plans to do regarding investing in news. I also asked if the company could ever be in the market for another print newspaper. Remember that Thomson Reuters likes to tout the fact that Thomson Corp long ago got out of the newspaper business, thinking there was more of a future in electronic information that you make people pay a lot of money for.
On news spending:
We’ve continued to invest in news and we think 2009 is a very good year in investment for us both in terms of having brought in some of the journalists who have joined from Thomson Financial, but also investments we’re making in new editorial systems, in the video, multimedia presentation of news. So I think one of the good things about the strength of our financial performance is that we can continue to invest when a lot of pure media companies aren’t.
On getting “back” into the newspaper business (I asked whether the Financial Times or The New York Times-owned International Herald Tribune would be good fits, specifically. But why not The New York Times? Everyone with more than a few pennies to rub together is a candidate to buy it these days.)
[Thomson was] so early in getting out of newspapers that now to go back in when our business model is so focused on professionals and so overwhemingly electronic doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. … If there were a fantastic information product that was 95 percent electronic and 5 percent a print output device, we would do it — maybe — if it otherwise made sense. I’m not convinced that we know how to run a newspaper any better than the ones running them today.
If newspapers keep cutting their print editions, it might not be long before the “95-5″ ratio is normal in big U.S. cities.
Source: Reuters
During a conference call with reporters, I asked Chief Executive Tom Glocer, who ran Reuters before Thomson Corp bought it, what the company plans to do regarding investing in news. I also asked if the company could ever be in the market for another print newspaper. Remember that Thomson Reuters likes to tout the fact that Thomson Corp long ago got out of the newspaper business, thinking there was more of a future in electronic information that you make people pay a lot of money for.
On news spending:
We’ve continued to invest in news and we think 2009 is a very good year in investment for us both in terms of having brought in some of the journalists who have joined from Thomson Financial, but also investments we’re making in new editorial systems, in the video, multimedia presentation of news. So I think one of the good things about the strength of our financial performance is that we can continue to invest when a lot of pure media companies aren’t.
On getting “back” into the newspaper business (I asked whether the Financial Times or The New York Times-owned International Herald Tribune would be good fits, specifically. But why not The New York Times? Everyone with more than a few pennies to rub together is a candidate to buy it these days.)
[Thomson was] so early in getting out of newspapers that now to go back in when our business model is so focused on professionals and so overwhemingly electronic doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. … If there were a fantastic information product that was 95 percent electronic and 5 percent a print output device, we would do it — maybe — if it otherwise made sense. I’m not convinced that we know how to run a newspaper any better than the ones running them today.
If newspapers keep cutting their print editions, it might not be long before the “95-5″ ratio is normal in big U.S. cities.
Source: Reuters
Friday, February 20, 2009
Newspapers: 25 things to try before turning off the lights
Here are some ideas on how newspapers could become viable media businesses:
1: Focus on original content, do not rewrite wire stories or press releases. If newspapers start charging for content people are more likely pay for content they can’t get anywhere else.
2: Focus on hyper-local coverage, newspapers should “own” their regional beat because they have the best contacts and the best understanding of local companies and issues. For example, SF Chronicle or the San Jose Mercury should be breaking all the top Apple or Google stories.
3: Don’t run foreign bureaus unless you are the New York Times or the like, or are publishing a unique perspective relevant to your community.
4: Be a regular and visible part of your local communities by making sure journalists get out of the office.
5: Become an active teacher of media literacy and also media production in your local communities. Help teach citizen journalists how to be great journalists, editors, photographers, videographers, etc. Teach how to be effective and ethical.
6: Celebrate the best citizen journalists/bloggers in your communities, publish them on your platform.
7: Become involved in local events, organize conferences. There is a lot of money in conferences. The newspaper becomes a vehicle for drawing people to the conferences.
8: Don’t let advertising networks sell your advertising. They take a huge cut for serving ads and you lose the customer connection. I often see newspapers running Google AdSense on their front page and at the bottom of the ads there is the message: “If you’d like to advertise on this site click here.” That click takes prospective customers to Google and not to the newspaper. Newspapers should always own their customer relationship.
9: Develop a hybrid content strategy for search engines and news aggregators that takes advantage of the distribution power of the Internet without giving away all the content.
10: Adopt a culture of a “news organization” rather than a “newspaper.” Paper or electron, it shouldn’t matter how the news is delivered.
11: Offer some way for readers to pay. Every newspaper has a group of fiercely loyal readers, some more than others, but there is no way for them to pay if they want to read their newspaper online. Many people like the positive ecological aspect of reading online and are proud they are saving resources–and many would be willing to pay for this vastly improved product yet the newspapers don’t offer any way to collect this easy revenue. One way might be witha PBS-style volunteer membership package? With discounts among local businesses.
12: Become the host for all important discussions about local issues and politics. Moderate the discussions to ensure civil discourse. Nothing kills discussions faster than offensive comments made by anonymous people.
13: Newspaper journalists need new publishing skills in video, audio, images, and should have some basic knowledge of HTML and CSS. Being able to type is not enough.
14: Help raise money for schools and other essential local services. Show you are part of the community.
15: Create a safe online experience, free from phishing, malware, and adverts for scam services.
16: Create a search site to search local resources and businesses.
17: Create a news aggregation site that provides your readers with access to news and other articles available elsewhere.
18: Each newspaper section should provide a search engine specific to its topic and region: Business: Company information and financial services. Home: Search for builders, furniture, decorators. Food: Search for recipes, local restaurants, etc.
19: Offer free classified adverts online and also have a free section in print. You can charge for a premium listing that offers better visibility.
20: Create informational pages to help people in your communities with common tasks such as how to get a business license. Where to find your car if it has been towed. Information for people that have recently moved into the area. In different languages. Have your web people create pages that are mashups of available online data but presented in a more accessible form, such as mapping police reports onto regional maps. School information, etc.
21: Hire additional salespeople. It is is a different sales environment today and it requires a fresh approach. Salespeople used to selling full page or half-page print ads are not the going to be able to transition easily.
22: Host web sites for important community groups in your region for free. You can run advertising on them and the groups will benefit from having an easy way to publish online.
23: Create a way of allowing readers to share in the ownership of the newspaper, or somehow give them a role in what the newspaper should be doing to become more useful to its community.
24: Create a directory of local businesses with space for user comments. Offer premium listings for a fee that also shows the business is supporting the newspaper, with a sticker. Yellow pages is a huge local business that the newspapers could easily own.
25: What are your ideas for helping newspapers transition into the online world?
Source: ZDNet
1: Focus on original content, do not rewrite wire stories or press releases. If newspapers start charging for content people are more likely pay for content they can’t get anywhere else.
2: Focus on hyper-local coverage, newspapers should “own” their regional beat because they have the best contacts and the best understanding of local companies and issues. For example, SF Chronicle or the San Jose Mercury should be breaking all the top Apple or Google stories.
3: Don’t run foreign bureaus unless you are the New York Times or the like, or are publishing a unique perspective relevant to your community.
4: Be a regular and visible part of your local communities by making sure journalists get out of the office.
5: Become an active teacher of media literacy and also media production in your local communities. Help teach citizen journalists how to be great journalists, editors, photographers, videographers, etc. Teach how to be effective and ethical.
6: Celebrate the best citizen journalists/bloggers in your communities, publish them on your platform.
7: Become involved in local events, organize conferences. There is a lot of money in conferences. The newspaper becomes a vehicle for drawing people to the conferences.
8: Don’t let advertising networks sell your advertising. They take a huge cut for serving ads and you lose the customer connection. I often see newspapers running Google AdSense on their front page and at the bottom of the ads there is the message: “If you’d like to advertise on this site click here.” That click takes prospective customers to Google and not to the newspaper. Newspapers should always own their customer relationship.
9: Develop a hybrid content strategy for search engines and news aggregators that takes advantage of the distribution power of the Internet without giving away all the content.
10: Adopt a culture of a “news organization” rather than a “newspaper.” Paper or electron, it shouldn’t matter how the news is delivered.
11: Offer some way for readers to pay. Every newspaper has a group of fiercely loyal readers, some more than others, but there is no way for them to pay if they want to read their newspaper online. Many people like the positive ecological aspect of reading online and are proud they are saving resources–and many would be willing to pay for this vastly improved product yet the newspapers don’t offer any way to collect this easy revenue. One way might be witha PBS-style volunteer membership package? With discounts among local businesses.
12: Become the host for all important discussions about local issues and politics. Moderate the discussions to ensure civil discourse. Nothing kills discussions faster than offensive comments made by anonymous people.
13: Newspaper journalists need new publishing skills in video, audio, images, and should have some basic knowledge of HTML and CSS. Being able to type is not enough.
14: Help raise money for schools and other essential local services. Show you are part of the community.
15: Create a safe online experience, free from phishing, malware, and adverts for scam services.
16: Create a search site to search local resources and businesses.
17: Create a news aggregation site that provides your readers with access to news and other articles available elsewhere.
18: Each newspaper section should provide a search engine specific to its topic and region: Business: Company information and financial services. Home: Search for builders, furniture, decorators. Food: Search for recipes, local restaurants, etc.
19: Offer free classified adverts online and also have a free section in print. You can charge for a premium listing that offers better visibility.
20: Create informational pages to help people in your communities with common tasks such as how to get a business license. Where to find your car if it has been towed. Information for people that have recently moved into the area. In different languages. Have your web people create pages that are mashups of available online data but presented in a more accessible form, such as mapping police reports onto regional maps. School information, etc.
21: Hire additional salespeople. It is is a different sales environment today and it requires a fresh approach. Salespeople used to selling full page or half-page print ads are not the going to be able to transition easily.
22: Host web sites for important community groups in your region for free. You can run advertising on them and the groups will benefit from having an easy way to publish online.
23: Create a way of allowing readers to share in the ownership of the newspaper, or somehow give them a role in what the newspaper should be doing to become more useful to its community.
24: Create a directory of local businesses with space for user comments. Offer premium listings for a fee that also shows the business is supporting the newspaper, with a sticker. Yellow pages is a huge local business that the newspapers could easily own.
25: What are your ideas for helping newspapers transition into the online world?
Source: ZDNet
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