BP journalism conf. ventures to the Web
By Tim Ellsworth
JACKSON, Tenn. (BP)--Christian journalists should excel at their work and give non-believers reason to consider the Gospel, a Baptist newspaper editor told collegiate journalists Oct. 29.
"Colossians 3:23 says, 'Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as unto the Lord and not to men,'" said Jennifer Rash, managing editor of The Alabama Baptist. "That's what we're called to do. If you're a believer, we're called to be different. We're called to a higher standard. We need to work at the best of our ability to stand out and shine."
Rash and Gary Fong, founder of the Genesis Photo Agency and president and co-founder of Christians in Photojournalism, were the principal speakers for the 2009 Baptist Press Collegiate Journalism Conference hosted by Union University in Jackson, Tenn.
In years past, Baptist Press has hosted the conference in Nashville, Tenn., with attendees primarily from Baptist colleges. In a different format this year, Union hosted the conference in its television studio and broadcast the speakers' presentations on the Internet.
Students from more than a dozen other colleges participated by watching the Internet broadcast and by submitting questions to speakers through Twitter. Participating institutions included Baylor University, California Baptist University, Liberty University, North Greenville University, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Campbell University, Shorter College, Corban College, Central Baptist College, Taylor University, Lipscomb University, Excelsior College, the University of North Florida and the World Journalism Institute.
Union University President David S. Dockery welcomed conference participants, both at Union and on the Internet, and expressed appreciation to Baptist Press for sponsoring such an event.
"It's a delight to have this conference hosted here," Dockery said. "We are committed here to being a partner in your work in helping to prepare the next generation of Christian journalists, broadcasters and people involved in photojournalism."
In his address, Fong discussed his career in photojournalism and encouraged students to be prayerful in all things, because "sometimes God will have things happen before you."
Fong described an experience in which he was driving across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and a collision caused traffic to stop on the bridge. While sitting in his car, he noticed another man get out of his vehicle and climb up on its roof.
"How many times do you see a person standing on their car on the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge?" Fong asked. "Well, you don't."
Fong retrieved his camera from his trunk, and the man stayed on his roof just long enough for Fong to shoot three photos. He attributed that to God.
"When I talk to God, it's like having a personal conversation with Him constantly," Fong said. "It started in 1968 and it's still going on to this day." He described many of the photos he has taken over the years as the result of watching God work in his life.
Fong also challenged students to be willing to pray for their subjects. "God is in the business of answering prayers," he said. "I think the best thing you can do in your life is have a constant conversation with God throughout your careers, whether it be in journalism or not. Let Him show you great things."
Rash talked to students about improving their writing skills and offered tips for a successful career in journalism.
"You are storytellers, so tell your story," Rash said. "But tell it well. And tell it interestingly. Tell it where people want to read it. You want to show the action. You want to move quickly, not be sluggish."
Rash discussed the importance checking facts to ensure accuracy and of writers engaging all the reader's senses.
"Help your reader see the waves as they ripple," Rash said. "Help your reader hear the screeching tires, smell the charred building, feel that prickly bush."
Rash encouraged the young journalists to remember that "you still don't know everything, and you still have a lot to learn. Be open to learning and growing and developing."
As Christians, Rash said students have an obligation to do their work excellently, and not in a shoddy way that would reflect poorly upon their Lord. She quoted Max Lucado in making her point: "A Christian in his surroundings should encourage everyone to be better, instead of being the one who stoops to be like everyone else."
--30--
Tim Ellsworth is director of news and media relations at Union University.
Friday, October 30, 2009
'A Pen is an Excellent Instrument'
From Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac:
Today is the birthday of the second president of the United States, John Adams, born in Braintree, Massachusetts (now part of Quincy, Massachusetts) (1735), who said, "A pen is certainly an excellent instrument to fix a man's attention and to inflame his ambition."
Today is the birthday of the second president of the United States, John Adams, born in Braintree, Massachusetts (now part of Quincy, Massachusetts) (1735), who said, "A pen is certainly an excellent instrument to fix a man's attention and to inflame his ambition."
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Indianapolis Star Writer Comments on Grace
From the blog of Terry Hutchens, of the Indianapolis Star. This is an excerpt--to read the entire entry, click here.
What do you think the IU basketball starting lineup will look like in the exhibition opener?
Indiana basketball opens the exhibition season next Wednesday night at Assembly Hall against Grace College. I know a little bit about Grace because last fall I had a job shadow from there attend an IU game with me. His name is Steve Copeland and I believe he's still a student there. So I got briefed a little bit about the Lancers at that time, and then I was surprised when the schedule came out to see that the Hoosiers would play Grace in an exhibition game this season.
Grace College is a private Christian school in Winona Lake, Indiana. They have an enrollment of about 1,200 and they play in the Mid-Central Conference in NAIA. Schools in their conference include Goshen, Taylor, St. Francis, Indiana Wesleyan, Bethel, Marian, Spring Arbor and Huntington. They've had some good teams in the past and won the NAIA national championship in 1992.
But that's the first of two exhibition games for IU. The Hoosiers play Grace on Wednesday Nov. 4 at 7 p.m., and then St. Joseph on Monday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. The regular season opener is Friday, Nov. 13 against Howard at 8 p.m. at Assembly Hall.
What do you think the IU basketball starting lineup will look like in the exhibition opener?
Indiana basketball opens the exhibition season next Wednesday night at Assembly Hall against Grace College. I know a little bit about Grace because last fall I had a job shadow from there attend an IU game with me. His name is Steve Copeland and I believe he's still a student there. So I got briefed a little bit about the Lancers at that time, and then I was surprised when the schedule came out to see that the Hoosiers would play Grace in an exhibition game this season.
Grace College is a private Christian school in Winona Lake, Indiana. They have an enrollment of about 1,200 and they play in the Mid-Central Conference in NAIA. Schools in their conference include Goshen, Taylor, St. Francis, Indiana Wesleyan, Bethel, Marian, Spring Arbor and Huntington. They've had some good teams in the past and won the NAIA national championship in 1992.
But that's the first of two exhibition games for IU. The Hoosiers play Grace on Wednesday Nov. 4 at 7 p.m., and then St. Joseph on Monday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. The regular season opener is Friday, Nov. 13 against Howard at 8 p.m. at Assembly Hall.
Internet Turns 40 Today
This is an excerpt. To read the entire article, click here.
Internet Turns 40 Today: First Message Crashed System
for National Geographic News
Everyone surfing for last-minute Halloween costumes and pictures of black Lolcats today—what you might call the 40th anniversary of the Internet—can give thanks to the simple network message that started it all: "lo."
On October 29, 1969, that message became the first ever to travel between two computers connected via the ARPANET, the computer network that would become the Internet.
The truncated transmission traveled about 400 miles (643 kilometers) between the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Stanford Research Institute.
The electronic dispatch was supposed to be the word "login," but only the first two letters were successfully sent before the system crashed.
Still, that humble greeting marked the start of a phenomenon that has become such an important part of modern life that many experts argue access to it should be a right rather than a privilege.
In fact, earlier this month Finland became the first country in the world to declare broadband Internet access a legal right for all of its 5.2 million citizens.
"I don't think it's quite on the level of food and water yet, but it's pretty close," said Jeffrey Cole, director of the Annenberg School for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California.
Internet Turns 40 Today: First Message Crashed System
for National Geographic News
Everyone surfing for last-minute Halloween costumes and pictures of black Lolcats today—what you might call the 40th anniversary of the Internet—can give thanks to the simple network message that started it all: "lo."
On October 29, 1969, that message became the first ever to travel between two computers connected via the ARPANET, the computer network that would become the Internet.
The truncated transmission traveled about 400 miles (643 kilometers) between the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Stanford Research Institute.
The electronic dispatch was supposed to be the word "login," but only the first two letters were successfully sent before the system crashed.
Still, that humble greeting marked the start of a phenomenon that has become such an important part of modern life that many experts argue access to it should be a right rather than a privilege.
In fact, earlier this month Finland became the first country in the world to declare broadband Internet access a legal right for all of its 5.2 million citizens.
"I don't think it's quite on the level of food and water yet, but it's pretty close," said Jeffrey Cole, director of the Annenberg School for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California.
'Little Guys' Are The Innovators
From FOLIO:Want to Innovate? Look to the Little Guys
Smaller publishers not crushed by debt have the freedom to change.
By Matt Kinsman
Recently, FOLIOmag.com did a story on Waukesha, Wisconsin-based enthusiast publisher Kalmbach Publishing Co. buying Cabin Life. It was a small deal, the type that pops up several times a week (or used to before M&A crashed along with everything else), yet it generated a volume of reads usually associated with stories about much larger transactions. Or lay-offs. Or Cygnus Business Media.
Why? Because Kalmbach, which publishes 15 special interest magazines with total circulation of 1 million plus, knows what they are and what they need to be, even amidst the changes of the media industry. In 2008, they generated more than $50 million in sales for the sixth year in a row (in April 2009, president Gerald "Butch" Boettcher made our FOLIO: 40 list honoring notables in the magazine industry).
As one reader commented on the story, "I'd venture a guess that's why these guys have been around 75 years and are able to make an acquisition while other publishers struggle to deal with the Internet and the economy."
At a time when many larger publishers that traditionally defined this market are stuck between a rock and a covenant, it's the smaller players who are coming through, reinventing themselves when it makes sense (such as Churm Media aggressively investing in digital and seeing triple-digit growth after enduring a 20 percent revenue plunge) or having faith in a model that works (like Kalmbach), and not just chasing the latest fad for its own sake.
At FOLIO:, we take pride in the fact that we've covered these smaller publishers all along. But after receiving two e-mail promotions from two different industry associations in the recent weeks announcing that-news flash-our "mindset has to change," I think it's time to recognize that the market leaders aren't who they used to be.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
CT Adds Digital Magazine
Christianity Today International Adds Digital Magazine
CAROL STREAM, Ill., Oct. 26 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today Kyria.com announced the release of the inaugural issue of their monthly digital magazine (digizine), titled "Born Identity: Chosen in Christ. Called to Influence."
In August 2009, Christianity Today International launched Kyria.com, a web-based resource for women who want to grow deeper in their relationship with Christ and in faithfully influencing the people around them to respond to Christ. The new paid- access website combines articles, blogs, downloadable resources, and now this monthly digizine.
Each issue of the Kyria digizine will be devoted to a specific aspect of spiritual formation or a spiritual discipline. Included is an interview with a woman who has devoted herself to becoming more like Christ, as well as practical tools, Bible studies, and challenging commentary.
Editor Ginger Kolbaba says, "Women are such powerhouses in their families, churches, and communities. It's exciting to lead and encourage them into greater depths of their faith through Kyria's resources. It's especially fulfilling to see women embrace the purposes and calling God has on their lives."
The November issue of the Kyria digizine is open- access for everyone to view and share, and features the following pieces:
God's Purpose for Women
Carolyn Custis James discusses women as helpers, who God really created us to be, and the surprising role model who changed the way she views herself and all women.
By Amy Simpson and Ginger Kolbaba
Who Are You?
Too often we lose ourselves in the midst of our roles. Here's how to find the way back.
By Julie B. Caton
What Our Bodies Say About Our Identities
If we're truly to be the women of influence God has called us to be, then we must first make peace with our physical natures.
By Jonalyn Grace Fincher
The Revolution That Paul Started
What the Capernaum steps to nowhere taught me about women in ministry.
By Ginger Kolbaba
I've Got Something Wonder Woman Doesn't
By Susy Flory
The December issue will be titled "The Discipline of Rest," and will feature an interview with Ruth Haley Barton along with other pieces by Keri Wyatt Kent, Brenda Jank, Catherine Hart Weber, and Lauren Winner.
CAROL STREAM, Ill., Oct. 26 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today Kyria.com announced the release of the inaugural issue of their monthly digital magazine (digizine), titled "Born Identity: Chosen in Christ. Called to Influence."
In August 2009, Christianity Today International launched Kyria.com, a web-based resource for women who want to grow deeper in their relationship with Christ and in faithfully influencing the people around them to respond to Christ. The new paid- access website combines articles, blogs, downloadable resources, and now this monthly digizine.
Each issue of the Kyria digizine will be devoted to a specific aspect of spiritual formation or a spiritual discipline. Included is an interview with a woman who has devoted herself to becoming more like Christ, as well as practical tools, Bible studies, and challenging commentary.
Editor Ginger Kolbaba says, "Women are such powerhouses in their families, churches, and communities. It's exciting to lead and encourage them into greater depths of their faith through Kyria's resources. It's especially fulfilling to see women embrace the purposes and calling God has on their lives."
The November issue of the Kyria digizine is open- access for everyone to view and share, and features the following pieces:
God's Purpose for Women
Carolyn Custis James discusses women as helpers, who God really created us to be, and the surprising role model who changed the way she views herself and all women.
By Amy Simpson and Ginger Kolbaba
Who Are You?
Too often we lose ourselves in the midst of our roles. Here's how to find the way back.
By Julie B. Caton
What Our Bodies Say About Our Identities
If we're truly to be the women of influence God has called us to be, then we must first make peace with our physical natures.
By Jonalyn Grace Fincher
The Revolution That Paul Started
What the Capernaum steps to nowhere taught me about women in ministry.
By Ginger Kolbaba
I've Got Something Wonder Woman Doesn't
By Susy Flory
The December issue will be titled "The Discipline of Rest," and will feature an interview with Ruth Haley Barton along with other pieces by Keri Wyatt Kent, Brenda Jank, Catherine Hart Weber, and Lauren Winner.
Newspaper Circulation Drops 10.6 Percent
From USA Today. This is an excerpt--to read the entire article click here.
Newspaper circulation falling fast, down 10.6%
The latest daily circulation figures for U.S. newspapers provided more bad news for the embattled industry. USA TODAY saw its worst decline ever, dropping more than 17% to 1.90 million.
NEW YORK — The decline in U.S. newspaper circulation is accelerating as the industry struggles with defections to the Internet and tumbling ad revenue.
Figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations show that average daily circulation dropped 10.6% in the April-September period from the same six-month span in 2008. That was greater than the 7.1% decline in the October 2008-March 2009 period and the 4.6% drop in the April-September period of 2008.
Sunday circulation fell 7.5% in the latest six-month span.
As expected, The Wall Street Journal has surpassed USA TODAY as the top-selling newspaper in the United States. The Journal's average Monday-Friday circulation edged up 0.6% to 2.02 million — making it the only daily newspaper in the top 25 to see an increase.
USA TODAY saw its worst decline ever, dropping more than 17% to 1.90 million. The newspaper has blamed reductions in travel for much of the circulation shortfall, because many of its single-copy sales come in airports and hotels.
Newspaper circulation falling fast, down 10.6%
The latest daily circulation figures for U.S. newspapers provided more bad news for the embattled industry. USA TODAY saw its worst decline ever, dropping more than 17% to 1.90 million.
NEW YORK — The decline in U.S. newspaper circulation is accelerating as the industry struggles with defections to the Internet and tumbling ad revenue.
Figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations show that average daily circulation dropped 10.6% in the April-September period from the same six-month span in 2008. That was greater than the 7.1% decline in the October 2008-March 2009 period and the 4.6% drop in the April-September period of 2008.
Sunday circulation fell 7.5% in the latest six-month span.
As expected, The Wall Street Journal has surpassed USA TODAY as the top-selling newspaper in the United States. The Journal's average Monday-Friday circulation edged up 0.6% to 2.02 million — making it the only daily newspaper in the top 25 to see an increase.
USA TODAY saw its worst decline ever, dropping more than 17% to 1.90 million. The newspaper has blamed reductions in travel for much of the circulation shortfall, because many of its single-copy sales come in airports and hotels.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
A Great Quote
Norman Rush said, "The main effort of arranging your life should be to progressively reduce the amount of time required to decently maintain yourself so that you can have all the time you want for reading."
Kudos to the Press Pool
From the Baptist Press News:
Kudos to the press pool
By Kelly Boggs
ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP)--Whatever you may think about the mainstream media in general and the major television news outlets in particular, it is clear they are in solidarity when it comes to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. And that is a good thing.
On Oct. 22, White House officials tried to bar Fox News White House correspondent Major Garrett from a press pool event. The administration was making Executive Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg available for interviews, and Fox was told that while other members of the pool would have access to Feinberg, it would not be allowed to participate.
The White House press pool is a five network rotation that shares the cost and responsibility for providing daily coverage of the presidency. It has been in place for decades and Fox News has been a member since 1997.
When the four other members of the pool -- ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN -- were apprised of the Administration's decision to bar Fox News, they told the White House that if Fox was not allowed to participate then none of them would participate in the event. The interviews all were to use the same camera crews.
Faced with a potential boycott by all the members of the press pool, the White House relented and Fox News was allowed to participate. In recent days the White House has made it clear that is does not appreciate or respect the editorial content that airs on Fox News, going so far as to say it is not a legitimate news organization.
While the White House is certainly entitled to its opinion concerning Fox News, it is not entitled to selectively apply the Constitution -- especially the freedom of the press. "The First Amendment is often inconvenient," someone once said. "But that is beside the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech."
Most news organizations, whether print or electronic, present two major type of content. One type is news and the other is editorial or opinion content.
News content should be, in the words of one of Fox's catch-phrases, "fair and balanced." Editorial content is likely going to be slanted toward the bias of the publisher. That said, some news organizations sometimes even carry editorial content that dissents from their particular bias.
The news content reports the who, what, where, when, why and how of a situation or event. The editorial content focuses on debate and discussion. News content is about facts; editorial content is about judgment, criticism and sometimes speculation.
Of the five networks that make up the White House press pool, Fox News has by far the most conservative editorial content. As a result, the White House is under constant scrutiny and criticism by the hosts of editorial programs like Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Glen Beck. On the news front, Fox News tries as hard has any news organization to report the facts of every situation or event, seeking to live up to another of its catch phrases, "We report, you decide."
It appears that the White House simply does not like the treatment it receives from the editorial watchdogs at Fox News. I can sympathize. Who wants to be constantly questioned and criticized? However, public scrutiny is part of the price one must pay as an elected official in the United States.
America's Founders understood that good government is possible only when leaders are held to account for their decisions. Accountability is only possible when citizens are kept informed of the government's activity. And the primary reporter of government performance is the press.
Leadership that is unwilling to be accountable, face tough questions and endure criticism is leadership that cannot be trusted. America's Founding Fathers understood this well. Hence, with the First Amendment they ensured that the press would be free to report and editorialize on the actions of the government.
The Constitution is the foundation of not only our liberties, also our democratic republic.
"This democracy, we know this, only works with a free and unfettered press to provide information," Baltimore Sun television critic David Zurawik said in commenting on the Fox News controversy.
Our Founders would agree with Zurawik's statement. More importantly for us, by refusing to allow the White House to exclude Fox News from a press pool event, the major news networks of our day have shown that they, too, agree.
ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN all deserve kudos for taking a strong and principled stand in favor of the First Amendment of the Constitution.
--30--
Kelly Boggs is a weekly columnist for Baptist Press and editor of the Baptist Message (www.baptistmessage.com), newsjournal of the Louisiana Baptist Convention.
Kudos to the press pool
By Kelly Boggs
ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP)--Whatever you may think about the mainstream media in general and the major television news outlets in particular, it is clear they are in solidarity when it comes to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. And that is a good thing.
On Oct. 22, White House officials tried to bar Fox News White House correspondent Major Garrett from a press pool event. The administration was making Executive Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg available for interviews, and Fox was told that while other members of the pool would have access to Feinberg, it would not be allowed to participate.
The White House press pool is a five network rotation that shares the cost and responsibility for providing daily coverage of the presidency. It has been in place for decades and Fox News has been a member since 1997.
When the four other members of the pool -- ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN -- were apprised of the Administration's decision to bar Fox News, they told the White House that if Fox was not allowed to participate then none of them would participate in the event. The interviews all were to use the same camera crews.
Faced with a potential boycott by all the members of the press pool, the White House relented and Fox News was allowed to participate. In recent days the White House has made it clear that is does not appreciate or respect the editorial content that airs on Fox News, going so far as to say it is not a legitimate news organization.
While the White House is certainly entitled to its opinion concerning Fox News, it is not entitled to selectively apply the Constitution -- especially the freedom of the press. "The First Amendment is often inconvenient," someone once said. "But that is beside the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech."
Most news organizations, whether print or electronic, present two major type of content. One type is news and the other is editorial or opinion content.
News content should be, in the words of one of Fox's catch-phrases, "fair and balanced." Editorial content is likely going to be slanted toward the bias of the publisher. That said, some news organizations sometimes even carry editorial content that dissents from their particular bias.
The news content reports the who, what, where, when, why and how of a situation or event. The editorial content focuses on debate and discussion. News content is about facts; editorial content is about judgment, criticism and sometimes speculation.
Of the five networks that make up the White House press pool, Fox News has by far the most conservative editorial content. As a result, the White House is under constant scrutiny and criticism by the hosts of editorial programs like Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Glen Beck. On the news front, Fox News tries as hard has any news organization to report the facts of every situation or event, seeking to live up to another of its catch phrases, "We report, you decide."
It appears that the White House simply does not like the treatment it receives from the editorial watchdogs at Fox News. I can sympathize. Who wants to be constantly questioned and criticized? However, public scrutiny is part of the price one must pay as an elected official in the United States.
America's Founders understood that good government is possible only when leaders are held to account for their decisions. Accountability is only possible when citizens are kept informed of the government's activity. And the primary reporter of government performance is the press.
Leadership that is unwilling to be accountable, face tough questions and endure criticism is leadership that cannot be trusted. America's Founding Fathers understood this well. Hence, with the First Amendment they ensured that the press would be free to report and editorialize on the actions of the government.
The Constitution is the foundation of not only our liberties, also our democratic republic.
"This democracy, we know this, only works with a free and unfettered press to provide information," Baltimore Sun television critic David Zurawik said in commenting on the Fox News controversy.
Our Founders would agree with Zurawik's statement. More importantly for us, by refusing to allow the White House to exclude Fox News from a press pool event, the major news networks of our day have shown that they, too, agree.
ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN all deserve kudos for taking a strong and principled stand in favor of the First Amendment of the Constitution.
--30--
Kelly Boggs is a weekly columnist for Baptist Press and editor of the Baptist Message (www.baptistmessage.com), newsjournal of the Louisiana Baptist Convention.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Barnes & Noble Unveils Digital Reader
Barnes & Noble Unveils the Nook 3G/Wi-fi Digital Reader
By Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 10/20/2009 5:22:00 PM
Turns out that the mysterious photos released last week of a rumored Barnes & Noble-sponsored digital reader were the real deal. B&N CEO Steve Riggio along with B&N.com president William Lynch were on hand to show off the new device—called the nook—at a packed press conference on the west side of Manhattan Tuesday afternoon. The nook is an unusual dual screen digital reader—it has 6” grayscale e-ink display screen with a full color backlit touch control screen situated just below—that raises the ante on E-Ink devices. The nook offers a virtual keyboard, 2 GB of internal memory with expandable (16 gig) SD card and 5 different fonts.
The device will go on sale exclusively in B&N stores and through B&N.com at the end of November, and the nook.com site has already gone live. Priced, unsurprisingly, at $259, the same price as the Amazon Kindle 2, the nook not only offers wireless connectivity over a 3G network (AT&T) but also limited wi-fi connectivity as well. Nook owners can also wirelessly lend/transmit titles for up to 14 days (although once lent, the book’s owner cannot access it) to anyone else with a nook, iPhone or other selected smartphone OS that has the B&N eReader software installed.
The device supports ePub and PDF as well as the Fictionwise eReader format (the e-tailer was acquired by B&N last year) and consumers can purchase titles directly through the machine. Indeed, B&N is going all out to highlight its e-book flexibility—nook owners will be able to move their e-books around from device to device and read their B&N e-books on their iPhone, Blackberry or what have you. Lynch claimed the nook will synch with more than 100 mobile devices. In addition to the LendMe function, B&N plans to step up its in-store wi-fi broadcasting to allow nook owners to browse freely through any e-book they have for sale, while in the store—no downloading; content will be streamed.
In fact, the nook’s wi-fi will initially be limited to in-store access and Lynch said B&N plans to offer all manner of exclusive wireless content—including free e-book downloads—only in its stores. To promote the device the first 10,000 customers to buy a nook will get a free copy of Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point—and to prove it, Gladwell was on hand at the press conference and walked across the stage, Nook in hand, reading from his book.
Looking to leverage its bookstore network, B&N will roll out a specially designed in-store nook, well, display nook for the device. Yes, there’s more. Lynch expects to offer nook apps, although he declined to specify whether the apps would be B&N developed or if third party software developers would be invited. Oh, no web browsing, “web browsing is clumsy on e-ink devices,” he said. Lynch also said to look for bundling of e-books and print books; perhaps a larger format nook for the educational market and maybe library sales.
Asked about exclusive releases through the nook—in other words, original e-publishing—Lynch gave a kind of non-affirmative affirmation along the lines of “we’re working with our publishing partners.” Of course Amazon is publishing exclusively to the Kindle right now and no doubt B&N will as well. The reader is launching with over 1 million books available for download, a figure that includes over 500,000 public domain titles. Price for bestsellers is $9.99 and Lynch said B&N will remain competitive on price--no matter what the eventual price points turn out to be.
The nook is certainly another step forward in the evolution of E-Ink digital reading devices. While B&N will continue to sell e-books with DRM, they are offering consumers a much more open and flexible digital reading system than the Kindle or even the now-open Sony Reader.
The nook’s price is attractive and while the color touchscreen controls seem more about being cool than being necessary, the LendMe function, the synching with other mobile devices and B&N’s planned in-store wireless broadcasting/promotions have a very good chance of offering Amazon and the Kindle 2 some very stiff competition over the holiday sales season.
By Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 10/20/2009 5:22:00 PM
Turns out that the mysterious photos released last week of a rumored Barnes & Noble-sponsored digital reader were the real deal. B&N CEO Steve Riggio along with B&N.com president William Lynch were on hand to show off the new device—called the nook—at a packed press conference on the west side of Manhattan Tuesday afternoon. The nook is an unusual dual screen digital reader—it has 6” grayscale e-ink display screen with a full color backlit touch control screen situated just below—that raises the ante on E-Ink devices. The nook offers a virtual keyboard, 2 GB of internal memory with expandable (16 gig) SD card and 5 different fonts.
The device will go on sale exclusively in B&N stores and through B&N.com at the end of November, and the nook.com site has already gone live. Priced, unsurprisingly, at $259, the same price as the Amazon Kindle 2, the nook not only offers wireless connectivity over a 3G network (AT&T) but also limited wi-fi connectivity as well. Nook owners can also wirelessly lend/transmit titles for up to 14 days (although once lent, the book’s owner cannot access it) to anyone else with a nook, iPhone or other selected smartphone OS that has the B&N eReader software installed.
The device supports ePub and PDF as well as the Fictionwise eReader format (the e-tailer was acquired by B&N last year) and consumers can purchase titles directly through the machine. Indeed, B&N is going all out to highlight its e-book flexibility—nook owners will be able to move their e-books around from device to device and read their B&N e-books on their iPhone, Blackberry or what have you. Lynch claimed the nook will synch with more than 100 mobile devices. In addition to the LendMe function, B&N plans to step up its in-store wi-fi broadcasting to allow nook owners to browse freely through any e-book they have for sale, while in the store—no downloading; content will be streamed.
In fact, the nook’s wi-fi will initially be limited to in-store access and Lynch said B&N plans to offer all manner of exclusive wireless content—including free e-book downloads—only in its stores. To promote the device the first 10,000 customers to buy a nook will get a free copy of Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point—and to prove it, Gladwell was on hand at the press conference and walked across the stage, Nook in hand, reading from his book.
Looking to leverage its bookstore network, B&N will roll out a specially designed in-store nook, well, display nook for the device. Yes, there’s more. Lynch expects to offer nook apps, although he declined to specify whether the apps would be B&N developed or if third party software developers would be invited. Oh, no web browsing, “web browsing is clumsy on e-ink devices,” he said. Lynch also said to look for bundling of e-books and print books; perhaps a larger format nook for the educational market and maybe library sales.
Asked about exclusive releases through the nook—in other words, original e-publishing—Lynch gave a kind of non-affirmative affirmation along the lines of “we’re working with our publishing partners.” Of course Amazon is publishing exclusively to the Kindle right now and no doubt B&N will as well. The reader is launching with over 1 million books available for download, a figure that includes over 500,000 public domain titles. Price for bestsellers is $9.99 and Lynch said B&N will remain competitive on price--no matter what the eventual price points turn out to be.
The nook is certainly another step forward in the evolution of E-Ink digital reading devices. While B&N will continue to sell e-books with DRM, they are offering consumers a much more open and flexible digital reading system than the Kindle or even the now-open Sony Reader.
The nook’s price is attractive and while the color touchscreen controls seem more about being cool than being necessary, the LendMe function, the synching with other mobile devices and B&N’s planned in-store wireless broadcasting/promotions have a very good chance of offering Amazon and the Kindle 2 some very stiff competition over the holiday sales season.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Former Religion Reporter Now Pastor
Former religion reporter now preaches from pulpit
By PATRICK CONDON
Associated Press Writer
AP Photo/Dawn Villella
FALL CREEK, Wis. (AP) -- On the first Sunday morning of October, pastor Steve Scott looked far beyond the surroundings of his western Wisconsin congregation to find worthy subjects for their prayers: recent natural disaster victims in Indonesia and the Philippines.
There's nothing unusual about clergy taking inspiration from headlines, but for Scott it's instinctive. He spent 23 years as a journalist at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, most of the last five as religion reporter for Minnesota's second-biggest newspaper.
"What you get with Steve is someone who is able to take current events and use them as a launching pad for sermons and biblical study," said Glen Mabie, a parishioner and a former TV newsman in the nearby city of Eau Claire.
Scott's previous job seemed tailored to his lifelong interest in faith and spirituality and he figured it would be his for decades. But in 2005 his newspaper eliminated the beat, a step many other newspapers are making in lean times. At least seven other metro dailies also cut religion beats, and many others ended or trimmed weekly religion sections, according to the Religion Newswriters Association.
Scott, now 49, was reassigned to cover several St. Paul suburbs. He was "petulant ... pouting ... not very professional," he recalled. When the paper offered buyouts at the end of 2006, he took the opportunity without knowing what he wanted to do next.
He was interested in religion even before he covered it as a reporter. His father, who died when Scott was 6, was a Methodist pastor; after his death, Scott's mother for many years was organist at a Methodist church in Eau Claire, where Scott sang in the choir and was active in the teen youth group.
Once at college Scott stopped worshipping regularly, but he said he never stopped believing in God, and he minored in religious studies.
Even as a sports journalist, Scott kept that interest alive. In 1999, a year before he got the religion beat, he took a seminary class at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. He did so because it "sounded fun."
Scott likes to talk about the notion of a calling. Though the term is most often applied to clergy, he believes it's pertinent to anyone trying to figure out how they can best use their abilities to make the world a better place.
"I absolutely believe, as corny as it might sound, that I was called to be a journalist when I was 14," he said.
But one's calling can change, he said.
The buyout money gave him a few months to think about what to do with his life, and soon he returned to the seminary. He planned to earn a master's degree and approach religion as an academic. He got work as a consultant for North Presbyterian Church in Eau Claire, but when the pastor there died unexpectedly, the congregation asked Scott to take over.
"We can see the signs when we look back that there was something more coming for him," said the Rev. Ann Scott, Scott's wife since 2007 and a Methodist pastor in nearby Chippewa Falls. "We weren't exactly sure what that was. But we believe now that God was at work."
Scott serves every Sunday at the churches in Fall Creek (9 a.m.) and Eau Claire (10:30 a.m.), tackling the challenges of two tiny, graying congregations. Next summer he'll become a full-fledged Methodist minister and get his own congregation somewhere in Wisconsin.
At the Oct. 3 service, he apologized to his parishioners for the chill in the sanctuary.
"You'll be happy to know if you weren't at the church council meeting - we discussed the furnace," Scott told the 15 people scattered through the pews. He vowed it would be fixed soon.
These days, Scott earns about a third of his Pioneer Press salary. It could approach half once he's a commissioned minister; he won't be ordained until the end of a three-year probationary period.
Would he still be at the newspaper if he'd never lost his religion beat? "That's a lot of ifs," he said.
Twice called to professions that are suffering declines, Scott ponders another "if" question about journalism and religion.
"Cynically, some of my friends have asked me: 'What are you thinking? You left the newspaper business, and you're going into the church business?' They sort of share a demographic of a certain age, and they're both wondering why young people don't seem that interested.
"Perhaps there's a point. But I believe in newspapers, and I believe in the church, and despite their flaws, if we didn't have either one ..."
Scott trailed off, not completing the thought.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Fewer Magazines Folding in 2009
From Folio:
Believe It or Not, Fewer Magazines Folding in 2009
Report: 383 titles shuttered so far compared with 613 in '08, 643 in '07.
By Vanessa Voltolina
Once again, the number of magazine closings has outpaced the number of titles being launched, according to the latest report from U.S. and Canadian online magazine database MediaFinder.com. But when comparing the number of titles (383) folded through the third quarter of 2009 to the same time period in 2008 and 2007, the pace is significantly less.
According to MediaFinder's most up-to-date numbers, 643 magazines ceased publication in 2007, and a total of 613 magazines closed in 2008. Right now, that means we’re 230 titles off from last year’s total. So unless there’s a dramatic push in closings through the fourth quarter, it looks like the industry may be looking at fewer magazine closings from the past two years (we can only hope!).
Of the 259 titles to launch so far in 2009, the report showed that publishers have pulled the plug on 104 more magazines since the first half this year, when 279 folded publications were counted. During the third quarter, 72 titles launched while 104 magazines closed, including the high-profile closings of publishing giant Condé Nast's four titles—Gourmet, Cookie, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride. Other titles to vanish in ’09 included Meredith’s Country Home, Hallmark, American Express Publishing’s Travel & Leisure Golf, Time Inc.’s Southern Accents and Rodale’s Best Life.
Of the launches in 2009, the regional category topped the list with 15, but also experienced the most folded titles (31), including Tampa Bay Living. Both business and lifestyle categories also declined, folding 14 and 13 titles each, respectively.
The food (14), health & fitness (13), and home (13) categories proved to be popular for launches this year.
B-to-b publications accounted for 75 of the new title launches, 130 of the shuttered magazines, and 24 of the magazines that ceased print editions over the past nine months, the report said.
Believe It or Not, Fewer Magazines Folding in 2009
Report: 383 titles shuttered so far compared with 613 in '08, 643 in '07.
By Vanessa Voltolina
Once again, the number of magazine closings has outpaced the number of titles being launched, according to the latest report from U.S. and Canadian online magazine database MediaFinder.com. But when comparing the number of titles (383) folded through the third quarter of 2009 to the same time period in 2008 and 2007, the pace is significantly less.
According to MediaFinder's most up-to-date numbers, 643 magazines ceased publication in 2007, and a total of 613 magazines closed in 2008. Right now, that means we’re 230 titles off from last year’s total. So unless there’s a dramatic push in closings through the fourth quarter, it looks like the industry may be looking at fewer magazine closings from the past two years (we can only hope!).
Of the 259 titles to launch so far in 2009, the report showed that publishers have pulled the plug on 104 more magazines since the first half this year, when 279 folded publications were counted. During the third quarter, 72 titles launched while 104 magazines closed, including the high-profile closings of publishing giant Condé Nast's four titles—Gourmet, Cookie, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride. Other titles to vanish in ’09 included Meredith’s Country Home, Hallmark, American Express Publishing’s Travel & Leisure Golf, Time Inc.’s Southern Accents and Rodale’s Best Life.
Of the launches in 2009, the regional category topped the list with 15, but also experienced the most folded titles (31), including Tampa Bay Living. Both business and lifestyle categories also declined, folding 14 and 13 titles each, respectively.
The food (14), health & fitness (13), and home (13) categories proved to be popular for launches this year.
B-to-b publications accounted for 75 of the new title launches, 130 of the shuttered magazines, and 24 of the magazines that ceased print editions over the past nine months, the report said.
Manila Eyewitness Account
Here are some additional thoughts and observations on the storms which recently hit the Philippines. The reporter is Dr. Michael Smith (pictured), professor of journalism at Campbell University in North Carolina, who followed BMH publisher Terry White as a trainer for the Magazine Training Institute. This is an excerpt. To read the entire entry, click here.Storm batters Manila, writers hone their craft
Editor’s note: The Fayetteville Observer in North Carolina published a variation of this piece Oct. 12, 2009.
MANILA—Clerks in the Kultura Store in the 600-shop Mall of Asia stopped dusting and greeting customers when a favorite Filipino song comes on over the in-store stereo system.
The girls in matching tan jackets and skirts, their hair styled in a tight bun customary in traditional Filipino fashion, began clapping and dancing down the aisles of a store known for its rice pearls, wood accessories and uptown fashions in Asia’s largest mall, the kind that could include Fayetteville, N.C.’s Cross Creek Mall, Cary Towne Center and Raleigh, N.C.’s Southpoint Mall with plenty of room leftover.
Shoppers, up to 200,000 a day, look on delighted as the young clerks are joined by their male counterparts and dance with élan.
Just a few miles a way, a young man, about the same age as the clerks, teetered on the unsteady debris of Manila Bay, home to nearly 20 million people and location of the U.S. Embassy off Roxas Boulevard. The man collected what he could from the trash leftover from two back-to-back typhoons from the past two weeks. That man, like so many others, may find something to sell to thousands of Americans who visit Manila just like me. As cars stream along Roxas Boulevard, young men and some small children dart in and out of traffic offering to sell some dubious item or two.
Reuters reported that Tropical Storm Ondoy and the storms that followed led to more than 200 deaths as of mid-October yet this city and the country of 92 million, the 12th most populous in the world, is soldiering on. Yet while I was there late last week, business went on as usual.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Bloomberg Buys BusinessWeek Magazine
Bloomberg buys BusinessWeek
The financial news and data company, founded by New York City's mayor, will take 80-year-old magazine off McGraw-Hill's hands. What's next for BusinessWeek is unclear
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Looking to expand its reach beyond Wall Street, Bloomberg LP said Tuesday it would buy BusinessWeek magazine from McGraw Hill Cos.
Bloomberg, founded in 1981 by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is purchasing the 80-year-old weekly newsmagazine to tap into its audience of decision makers around the world. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but reports say Bloomberg is paying up to $5 million.
Though it has a presence on the Web, radio and television, Bloomberg primarily transmits financial information through 300,000 proprietary terminals that are a mainstay in investment banks and financial firms worldwide. It also publishes a monthly magazine.
"BusinessWeek helps better serve our customers by reaching into the corporate suite and corridors of power in government, where news that affects markets and business is made by CEOs, CFOs [chief financial officers], deal lawyers, bankers and government officials who typically are not terminal customers," said Daniel Doctoroff, president of Bloomberg.
McGraw Hill (MHP, Fortune 500), owner of Standard & Poors rating agency, put BusinessWeek up for sale as advertising plummeted. Financial magazines saw their ad revenue sink 40.6% in the first nine months of the year, far more than the 20.3% drop for the magazine industry overall. Several bidders expressed interest.
Bloomberg's plans for the newsweekly remain unclear, though BusinessWeek's powerful brand will likely remain in some form. This is Bloombert's first acquisition, though it has made deals with print publications to distribute its stories.
"The acquisition of BusinessWeek will strengthen Bloomberg's online, television and mobile products," said Bloomberg Chairman Peter Grauer. "We also expect to build Bloomberg Television content around the powerful BusinessWeek brand and its world-class journalists."
The BusinessWeek sale comes on the heels of Conde Nast's shuttering of four magazine, including the venerable Gourmet. Beset by falling ad revenue and readership, the magazine industry has been closing titles and laying off workers during the economic downturn.
The financial news and data company, founded by New York City's mayor, will take 80-year-old magazine off McGraw-Hill's hands. What's next for BusinessWeek is unclear
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Looking to expand its reach beyond Wall Street, Bloomberg LP said Tuesday it would buy BusinessWeek magazine from McGraw Hill Cos.
Bloomberg, founded in 1981 by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is purchasing the 80-year-old weekly newsmagazine to tap into its audience of decision makers around the world. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but reports say Bloomberg is paying up to $5 million.
Though it has a presence on the Web, radio and television, Bloomberg primarily transmits financial information through 300,000 proprietary terminals that are a mainstay in investment banks and financial firms worldwide. It also publishes a monthly magazine.
"BusinessWeek helps better serve our customers by reaching into the corporate suite and corridors of power in government, where news that affects markets and business is made by CEOs, CFOs [chief financial officers], deal lawyers, bankers and government officials who typically are not terminal customers," said Daniel Doctoroff, president of Bloomberg.
McGraw Hill (MHP, Fortune 500), owner of Standard & Poors rating agency, put BusinessWeek up for sale as advertising plummeted. Financial magazines saw their ad revenue sink 40.6% in the first nine months of the year, far more than the 20.3% drop for the magazine industry overall. Several bidders expressed interest.
Bloomberg's plans for the newsweekly remain unclear, though BusinessWeek's powerful brand will likely remain in some form. This is Bloombert's first acquisition, though it has made deals with print publications to distribute its stories.
"The acquisition of BusinessWeek will strengthen Bloomberg's online, television and mobile products," said Bloomberg Chairman Peter Grauer. "We also expect to build Bloomberg Television content around the powerful BusinessWeek brand and its world-class journalists."
The BusinessWeek sale comes on the heels of Conde Nast's shuttering of four magazine, including the venerable Gourmet. Beset by falling ad revenue and readership, the magazine industry has been closing titles and laying off workers during the economic downturn.
Wall Street Journal Now #1 Selling Newspaper
Wall Street Journal surpasses USA Today as No. 1
NEW YORK — The Wall Street Journal is now the top-selling daily newspaper in the United States.
The Audit Bureau of Circulations won't be releasing figures until later this month, but the Journal issued its numbers Wednesday.
It says the average number of copies sold in the April to September period reached 2.02 million, up about 12,000 from the same period a year earlier.
That tops USA Today, which said last week that it had its worst circulation decline ever, dropping 17 percent to 1.88 million. USA Today has long been No. 1.
Audit rules allow newspapers to count some online-only subscriptions. The Journal, a unit of News Corp.-owned Dow Jones & Co., is among the major newspapers to charge for access to much of its Web site. USA Today does not.
NEW YORK — The Wall Street Journal is now the top-selling daily newspaper in the United States.
The Audit Bureau of Circulations won't be releasing figures until later this month, but the Journal issued its numbers Wednesday.
It says the average number of copies sold in the April to September period reached 2.02 million, up about 12,000 from the same period a year earlier.
That tops USA Today, which said last week that it had its worst circulation decline ever, dropping 17 percent to 1.88 million. USA Today has long been No. 1.
Audit rules allow newspapers to count some online-only subscriptions. The Journal, a unit of News Corp.-owned Dow Jones & Co., is among the major newspapers to charge for access to much of its Web site. USA Today does not.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Joel Belz: 'Not for Sale'
From World Magazine's Joel Belz:
Not for sale
Government should stay out of the newspaper business | Joel Belz
In an era when more business enterprises than you ever dreamed of are being auctioned off to Uncle Sam, who's to say what shouldn't be on the bidding block?
If it's now OK for the government to be making and selling Corvettes and Chevy pickups, but deciding that Saturns and Oldsmobiles have no future; if it's OK for Washington to decide which banks are paying their top officers too much and which ones are within the bounds of propriety; if it's OK for Congress to decide (however indirectly) that John Doe, with no income and no assets, qualifies for a home loan, but that Jack Smith, with no income and no assets, doesn't qualify . . .
It goes on. No one knows yet whether Uncle Sam will soon be in charge at least of our health insurance system, if not the whole medical system itself. If that happens, another 17 percent of our economy will come under the watchful eye of whichever political party has the most appealing—if not the most competent—candidates in any election cycle.
So I ask: If in a few short months all those unthinkable transfers can happen, why not just one more? Specifically, why shouldn't we also move quickly now to a government takeover of the nation's newspapers?
Goodness knows, they're needy enough. The cumulative capital value of all newspapers in the United States is said to have dropped 83 percent just during the 12 months of 2008. What used to be a sure-fire investment has been transformed by the internet into a sure loser. Just apply the "pinch test": Pinch this morning's paper, and you'll be shocked how skinny it is. At least 50 daily newspapers are said right now to be in some stage of bankruptcy proceedings.
So, of course. Uncle Sam to the rescue! Why not? As the Columbia Journalism Review concluded in a discussion of so obvious a possibility: "Journalism and journalists need to let go of their aversion to Uncle Sam."
But here's why not: The very idea of a governmentally subsidized newspaper should be both offensive and terrifying to anyone who understands the historic role of the news media in America and the true significance of First Amendment freedom of the press.
For hundreds of years in Western society, the press has properly been seen as a counterbalance to government. After taking note of the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners, thoughtful social observers have also referred to a "Fourth Estate"—journalists who keep the other segments of society honest by digging for "the rest of the story."
It would be wrong for me to let the year 2009 pass—the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin—without noting in this context how much that man contributed to that purifying role for the press. WORLD writer Warren Smith notes in a chapter he's just written for a new book that while Martin Luther may be more widely known as a champion of the Reformation, it wasn't long before Lutheranism became the state church in Germany. That was a lot less likely to happen with Calvin's followers, where development of a journalism independent of government control was a key concept and a foundational preparation even for secular modern journalism.
Advocates of government subsidies to newspapers, of course, line up with their calming reassurances. They note that National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System both regularly get perhaps 15 percent of their operating budgets from the federal government. But that's about all the argument we need for our side of the issue. I also have friends who remind me that even WORLD magazine gets some benefit from the U.S. Postal Service both for our use of second-class mail and for our role as a nonprofit mailer. But again, for anyone to use the Postal Service as an example of how things might get better under federal auspices strikes me as nervy indeed.
Or I hear that I shouldn't worry about government-sponsored media because it won't be all that different from government-sponsored education. "They'll be objective," I'm told. "They'll be even-handed. They'll present every side of the story." Sure. Just like state schools are so even-handed about creation and evolution, about abortion and same-sex marriage, and about global warming.
Yes, indeed. I'll be ready for state-subsidized newspapers just about when I'll also decide that a budget crisis in my local church would be best handled by an annual subsidy from the state or federal government. And for those folks with the audacity to argue that churches already get such a subsidy because of their tax-exempt status, I'll say their ignorance about whose money it is in the first place is just one more reason we still need a free and robust press.
Pittsburgh Newspapers Form Ad Network
Pittsburgh Newspapers Form Ad Network
Six newspaper companies in Pennsylvania are making it easier for advertisers to purchase ads targeted to those in the Pittsburgh area.
The newspaper companies, including the Beaver County Times, the Butler Eagle, the Indiana Gazette, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Trib Total Media and the Washington Observer-Reporter, have formed the Greater Pittsburgh Newspaper Network, allowing advertisers to purchase pre-prints in the papers through a single point of contact.
Gail Arena, formerly advertising director at The New York Times, has been named executive director of the group, reports Editor & Publisher.
The network allows marketers to reach nearly a million unduplicated readers, the Greater Pittsburgh Newspaper Network says.
Purchasing print newspaper advertising has long been a challenge to media buyers. Buyers must negotiate deals with each individual newspaper, as there is no national network. Smaller networks such as the GPNN can make newspaper buys easier for local advertisers hoping to reach a targeted demo.
Six newspaper companies in Pennsylvania are making it easier for advertisers to purchase ads targeted to those in the Pittsburgh area.
The newspaper companies, including the Beaver County Times, the Butler Eagle, the Indiana Gazette, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Trib Total Media and the Washington Observer-Reporter, have formed the Greater Pittsburgh Newspaper Network, allowing advertisers to purchase pre-prints in the papers through a single point of contact.
Gail Arena, formerly advertising director at The New York Times, has been named executive director of the group, reports Editor & Publisher.
The network allows marketers to reach nearly a million unduplicated readers, the Greater Pittsburgh Newspaper Network says.
Purchasing print newspaper advertising has long been a challenge to media buyers. Buyers must negotiate deals with each individual newspaper, as there is no national network. Smaller networks such as the GPNN can make newspaper buys easier for local advertisers hoping to reach a targeted demo.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Did Twitters and Bloggers Kill 'Gourmet?'
Twitter and the bloggers killed Gourmet, one editor says. We beg to differ
Sarah Gilbert
Christopher Kimball, the bow-tied founder, editor and publisher of Cook's Illustrated magazine and its related media empire, has an opinion about why Gourmet will fold this month after 68 glorious years at the top of America's food-magazine newsstand. Amanda Hesser, a food writer who in 2008 accepted a buyout from the New York Times, where she had been food editor of the Sunday magazine, agrees.
Both say: It was the internet whodunnit. But that's where their agreement ends.
Kimball and Hesser, both titans among foodies, consider Gourmet a valued institution, and seem genuinely sad about its demise. But while Hesser sees Gourmet as the Titanic of the food media world -- gorgeous, expensive, doomed by the iceberg of the internet -- Kimball's maritime analogies are more blunt. Gourmet is, he says, "ending a long and masterful turn at the helm of the food publishing world." He goes on to worry that professional writers will be put out of business, that media will "fully become an everyman's playing field, without the need for credentials or paid membership."
The failing of the magazine, Kimball says, "reminds us that in a click-or-die advertising marketplace, one ruled by a million instant pundits, where an anonymous Twitter comment might be seen to pack more resonance and useful content than an article that reflects a lifetime of experience, experts are not created from the top down but from the bottom up." And then comes the zinger: real food writers, he says, should "refuse to climb aboard this ship of fools, the one where everyone has an equal voice. Google "broccoli casserole" and make the first recipe you find. I guarantee it will be disappointing."
This caused a lot of consternation on the part of the food-blogging audience, which is nothing if not loud and, as Julie and Julia reminds us, the breeding ground for food writers of the future -- even if they are, too, set to be roundly ridiculed by their eventual cinematic biographers. In other words, they're the most rapt audience for Kimball's unwelcome message. And there was backlash: Kimball was by turns "pedantic and elitist" and "a pompous ass," and worst of all, his "magazine is the dullest, most brain-numbing one around."
Kimball, cowed but unapologetic, responded on his own blog. I suppose he felt it was smart to make up with the Tweeters: "Yes, I have made many friends on Twitter and found many of the voices there better informed on coffee-making and similar topics that I am. Plus, some of you are actually quite funny." He still thinks his broccoli casserole (made 75 times in his test kitchen) is better than Google's favorite.
Hesser, to be fair, has built her career upon the belief that the internet -- the crowdsourced, search engine-optimized broccoli casserole recipe -- is the future. Her new venture, food52.com, is exactly what Kimball would identify as a really, really bad idea: readers submit a collection of recipes each week on one theme, then vote upon the recipes they love (or that their friends contributed), and the winning recipes are finally collected in a cookbook of, yes, 52 recipes.
Hesser's got this figured out, and Kimball's wrong. For her, it is all about the Web site. Gourmet, she noted, understood that much of its readers' conversation on food took place online, and last year it created Gourmet.com. "They saw the iceberg, but couldn't turn the ship in time, and in true Condé Nast style, the band kept playing until they were under water," Hesser writes. "Gourmet's Web site, which is still running, is handsome and sleek, but it is like an insect in amber -- an object to admire, impossible to touch." And so bad, she says, that it annoyed its readers.
I'll bite. Yes, Gourmet.com is annoying, its design unintelligible. And yes, it's hard to compete against the Twittered complaints and raves of minor social-media celebs. Gourmet's recipes surely don't have the search engine power of that-one-with-the-Ritz-crackers.
But I don't buy the internet-killed-the-magazine-star argument. I've long thought that Gourmet's management (along with the rest of Condé Nast) cheapened its image by selling its subscriptions in the traditional sweepstakes model -- at super-low cost, and often as a perk with your frequent-flier miles or the association with some sketchy door-to-door sales organization or another. As the economy faltered, the traditional ad sales model needed to be rethought. And the really successful magazines are selling subscriptions for three times the cost of a one-year sub to Condé's Gourmet or Bon Appétit. Magazines like Saveur and, oddly, Kimball's Cook's Illustrated.
I say "oddly" because, as Hamilton Nolan at Gawker points out, Kimball should know this way better than anyone else. In 1990, Condé Nast bought Kimball's magazine and proceeded to close it, all the while throwing money about in the way Condé Nast publications are (or used to be) wont to do. Kimball relaunched Cook's Illustrated much later, on a subscription-only model, and has a premium content web site that keeps him in silk bowties and test-kitchen aprons.
The model that makes a successful magazine is simple -- impossible for Gourmet to have achieved, given its history, but simple. It goes like this: Don't spend too much on expense accounts, fabulous perks, fancy offices, and overwrought photo shoots. Instead, spend on high-quality writing and one careful test kitchen. Price your magazine so that readers and advertisers associate it with quality. Price it for your target market. Not for Publisher's Clearing House.
I do believe that, by and large, the magazine-publishing industry of yesteryear is being quickly dismantled. But the "credentialed" writers and editors of that time are being replaced by personable, approachable, creative food writers of the future. Their models of publishing can be vastly cheaper, because they don't expect the Anna Wintour treatment. And, now as ever, when it comes down to it, quality content will win.
Try not to upset your Twitter audience, though, Mr. Kimball, or your quality will be tainted by your personality. And Ms. Hesser? Your bias is showing. Best keep that under your toque for now and let your web site win on its content, not on its lucky comparison to a sorely missed magazine.
Sarah Gilbert
Christopher Kimball, the bow-tied founder, editor and publisher of Cook's Illustrated magazine and its related media empire, has an opinion about why Gourmet will fold this month after 68 glorious years at the top of America's food-magazine newsstand. Amanda Hesser, a food writer who in 2008 accepted a buyout from the New York Times, where she had been food editor of the Sunday magazine, agrees.
Both say: It was the internet whodunnit. But that's where their agreement ends.
Kimball and Hesser, both titans among foodies, consider Gourmet a valued institution, and seem genuinely sad about its demise. But while Hesser sees Gourmet as the Titanic of the food media world -- gorgeous, expensive, doomed by the iceberg of the internet -- Kimball's maritime analogies are more blunt. Gourmet is, he says, "ending a long and masterful turn at the helm of the food publishing world." He goes on to worry that professional writers will be put out of business, that media will "fully become an everyman's playing field, without the need for credentials or paid membership."
The failing of the magazine, Kimball says, "reminds us that in a click-or-die advertising marketplace, one ruled by a million instant pundits, where an anonymous Twitter comment might be seen to pack more resonance and useful content than an article that reflects a lifetime of experience, experts are not created from the top down but from the bottom up." And then comes the zinger: real food writers, he says, should "refuse to climb aboard this ship of fools, the one where everyone has an equal voice. Google "broccoli casserole" and make the first recipe you find. I guarantee it will be disappointing."
This caused a lot of consternation on the part of the food-blogging audience, which is nothing if not loud and, as Julie and Julia reminds us, the breeding ground for food writers of the future -- even if they are, too, set to be roundly ridiculed by their eventual cinematic biographers. In other words, they're the most rapt audience for Kimball's unwelcome message. And there was backlash: Kimball was by turns "pedantic and elitist" and "a pompous ass," and worst of all, his "magazine is the dullest, most brain-numbing one around."
Kimball, cowed but unapologetic, responded on his own blog. I suppose he felt it was smart to make up with the Tweeters: "Yes, I have made many friends on Twitter and found many of the voices there better informed on coffee-making and similar topics that I am. Plus, some of you are actually quite funny." He still thinks his broccoli casserole (made 75 times in his test kitchen) is better than Google's favorite.
Hesser, to be fair, has built her career upon the belief that the internet -- the crowdsourced, search engine-optimized broccoli casserole recipe -- is the future. Her new venture, food52.com, is exactly what Kimball would identify as a really, really bad idea: readers submit a collection of recipes each week on one theme, then vote upon the recipes they love (or that their friends contributed), and the winning recipes are finally collected in a cookbook of, yes, 52 recipes.
Hesser's got this figured out, and Kimball's wrong. For her, it is all about the Web site. Gourmet, she noted, understood that much of its readers' conversation on food took place online, and last year it created Gourmet.com. "They saw the iceberg, but couldn't turn the ship in time, and in true Condé Nast style, the band kept playing until they were under water," Hesser writes. "Gourmet's Web site, which is still running, is handsome and sleek, but it is like an insect in amber -- an object to admire, impossible to touch." And so bad, she says, that it annoyed its readers.
I'll bite. Yes, Gourmet.com is annoying, its design unintelligible. And yes, it's hard to compete against the Twittered complaints and raves of minor social-media celebs. Gourmet's recipes surely don't have the search engine power of that-one-with-the-Ritz-crackers.
But I don't buy the internet-killed-the-magazine-star argument. I've long thought that Gourmet's management (along with the rest of Condé Nast) cheapened its image by selling its subscriptions in the traditional sweepstakes model -- at super-low cost, and often as a perk with your frequent-flier miles or the association with some sketchy door-to-door sales organization or another. As the economy faltered, the traditional ad sales model needed to be rethought. And the really successful magazines are selling subscriptions for three times the cost of a one-year sub to Condé's Gourmet or Bon Appétit. Magazines like Saveur and, oddly, Kimball's Cook's Illustrated.
I say "oddly" because, as Hamilton Nolan at Gawker points out, Kimball should know this way better than anyone else. In 1990, Condé Nast bought Kimball's magazine and proceeded to close it, all the while throwing money about in the way Condé Nast publications are (or used to be) wont to do. Kimball relaunched Cook's Illustrated much later, on a subscription-only model, and has a premium content web site that keeps him in silk bowties and test-kitchen aprons.
The model that makes a successful magazine is simple -- impossible for Gourmet to have achieved, given its history, but simple. It goes like this: Don't spend too much on expense accounts, fabulous perks, fancy offices, and overwrought photo shoots. Instead, spend on high-quality writing and one careful test kitchen. Price your magazine so that readers and advertisers associate it with quality. Price it for your target market. Not for Publisher's Clearing House.
I do believe that, by and large, the magazine-publishing industry of yesteryear is being quickly dismantled. But the "credentialed" writers and editors of that time are being replaced by personable, approachable, creative food writers of the future. Their models of publishing can be vastly cheaper, because they don't expect the Anna Wintour treatment. And, now as ever, when it comes down to it, quality content will win.
Try not to upset your Twitter audience, though, Mr. Kimball, or your quality will be tainted by your personality. And Ms. Hesser? Your bias is showing. Best keep that under your toque for now and let your web site win on its content, not on its lucky comparison to a sorely missed magazine.
USA Today Loses First Place
USA Today no longer America's largest paper. Is mass-market media dead?
Douglas McIntyre
USA Today, founded in 1982 by Gannett (GCI) CEO Al Neuharth as a radical experiment to create a national newspaper, may no longer be the largest paper in the U.S. based on circulation.
Industry trade magazine Editor & Publisher obtained information from Gannett management that says that "USA Today's circulation fell 17 percent to 1.88 million for the six months ending September 2009, a drop of about 390,000 copies." Gannett also indicated that because it had raised the subscription and newsstand price for the paper, its circulation revenue would be about the same as in the same period a year ago.
That would mean that The Wall Street Journal became the biggest paper in America for the six months ending in September, based on paid circulation.
In many ways, the news should not be a surprise. The entire publishing industry -- both newspapers and magazines -- is cutting unprofitable circulation. When advertising was robust, these money-losing subscribers were part of the reader base sold to advertisers. The advertising revenue made up for the red ink that they created.
Now that print advertising has collapsed, each subscriber and newsstand buyer has to be his own profit center. This is likely to cause a number of the country's largest magazines and newspapers to cut their circulations by 30 percent or more. Newsweek recently cut its circulation base by more than that, and so has Readers' Digest. The days of mass market publications are coming to an end.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.
Douglas McIntyre
USA Today, founded in 1982 by Gannett (GCI) CEO Al Neuharth as a radical experiment to create a national newspaper, may no longer be the largest paper in the U.S. based on circulation.
Industry trade magazine Editor & Publisher obtained information from Gannett management that says that "USA Today's circulation fell 17 percent to 1.88 million for the six months ending September 2009, a drop of about 390,000 copies." Gannett also indicated that because it had raised the subscription and newsstand price for the paper, its circulation revenue would be about the same as in the same period a year ago.
That would mean that The Wall Street Journal became the biggest paper in America for the six months ending in September, based on paid circulation.
In many ways, the news should not be a surprise. The entire publishing industry -- both newspapers and magazines -- is cutting unprofitable circulation. When advertising was robust, these money-losing subscribers were part of the reader base sold to advertisers. The advertising revenue made up for the red ink that they created.
Now that print advertising has collapsed, each subscriber and newsstand buyer has to be his own profit center. This is likely to cause a number of the country's largest magazines and newspapers to cut their circulations by 30 percent or more. Newsweek recently cut its circulation base by more than that, and so has Readers' Digest. The days of mass market publications are coming to an end.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Bloggers Must Disclose Payments, Free Products
From the Christian Bookseller's Association:
FTC issues new guidelines: Bloggers must disclose payments, free product received for reviews.
In an article that appeared on yesterday’s CNNMoney.com, the site’s staff writer, David Goldman, reported that the Federal Trade Commission is “going after bloggers, celebrities and tall tales in the first revision of its rules for endorsements and product reviews in nearly 30 years.”
According to the article, the new guidelines, effective Dec. 1, “are designed to adapt to a new world in which blogs and social media Web sites such as Facebook and Twitter have quickly become go-to destinations for consumers to get an opinion about a product. The last FTC rules revision was in 1980.”
Furthermore, “an existing FTC rule that states product reviewers must reveal any connection they have with advertisers was extended to bloggers. Companies will often distribute free products to bloggers for their review, and sometimes advertisers offer payment for endorsements. The FTC said that endorsements on blogs appear to be ‘word of mouth,’ but that is not always the case—sometimes companies create their own blogs that can give the aura of objectivity.
The new rules also clarify that celebrity endorsers of products must reveal their relationships with advertisers when making endorsements if they are pushing a product on a blog, social network or television talk show.”
If product endorsers and reviewers don’t comply, “the existing rules carry a fine as high as $11,000.”
Because enforcement could be difficult, the FTC said it is “more likely to go after advertisers rather than bloggers to ensure ad companies are giving product reviewers proper instructions about disclosure compliance.”
FTC issues new guidelines: Bloggers must disclose payments, free product received for reviews.
In an article that appeared on yesterday’s CNNMoney.com, the site’s staff writer, David Goldman, reported that the Federal Trade Commission is “going after bloggers, celebrities and tall tales in the first revision of its rules for endorsements and product reviews in nearly 30 years.”
According to the article, the new guidelines, effective Dec. 1, “are designed to adapt to a new world in which blogs and social media Web sites such as Facebook and Twitter have quickly become go-to destinations for consumers to get an opinion about a product. The last FTC rules revision was in 1980.”
Furthermore, “an existing FTC rule that states product reviewers must reveal any connection they have with advertisers was extended to bloggers. Companies will often distribute free products to bloggers for their review, and sometimes advertisers offer payment for endorsements. The FTC said that endorsements on blogs appear to be ‘word of mouth,’ but that is not always the case—sometimes companies create their own blogs that can give the aura of objectivity.
The new rules also clarify that celebrity endorsers of products must reveal their relationships with advertisers when making endorsements if they are pushing a product on a blog, social network or television talk show.”
If product endorsers and reviewers don’t comply, “the existing rules carry a fine as high as $11,000.”
Because enforcement could be difficult, the FTC said it is “more likely to go after advertisers rather than bloggers to ensure ad companies are giving product reviewers proper instructions about disclosure compliance.”
Monday, October 5, 2009
Michael Ray Smith Teaching at College Media Convention
Note: Michael Ray Smith (pictured) is teaching article writing in the Philippines this week to some of the same students I had for editing last week. Michael and I had a nice leisurely breakfast together Saturday in the Bayview Park Hotel in Manila (TW)
Smith of Campbell heads WJI Team at Student Media Convention
New York, September 28, 2009—World Journalism Institute (WJI) announces that Dr. Michael R. Smith, professor of journalism at Campbell University (Buies Creek, N.C.), will head its team of journalism teachers at the fall National College Media Convention. The convention is the largest annual gathering of college journalists and advisers in the country and this year will be held October 28 – November 1, in Austin, Texas.
The WJI sessions will be taught by Smith and Drs. Wally Metts (Spring Arbor University) and August Grant (University of South Carolina). The focus of this year’s WJI team will be convergence media with instruction in digital media and surviving the current newspaper revenue crisis.
Smith, one of America’s leading authorities on convergence, backpack, and multi-platform journalism, has written numerous articles and books and has been associated with WJI for several years. Smith will lecture on “Going Digital Without Going Broke.” Metts is currently the president of the Associate of Christian Collegiate Media and has been a frequent presenter at CMA conventions in the past.
His topic will be “Survive and Thrive: Five Models for Newspapers in the Coming Decade.” Grant, a pioneer in convergence media instruction, will speak on “Online Models That Will Give Your Newspaper Greater Reach.” All the sessions are free to college journalists and advisers attending the convention.
The World Journalism Institute is entering its second decade of instruction and exists to recruit, equip, place and encourage Christians in the mainstream newsrooms first of America and then the world.
For more information:
Kim Collins
Deputy Director
World Journalism Institute
800-769-7870
office@worldji.com
www.worldji.com
Yes, There are Still Journalism Jobs to be Had
From Journalism 2.0:
Yes, there are still good journalism jobs to be had
Posted: 30 Sep 2009 08:56 AM PDT
One of the most frequent questions I’m asked when speaking to college journalists or young professionals is about jobs. How do I get one? Do they exist? What kind should I look for?
It’s natural to worry about how you will take your passion and training and turn it into a salary so you can afford such luxuries as food and heat. Those of my generation who entered the job market in 1991 know what you’re up against. That was a time of recession, as well, but we didn’t have the opportunities that digital media offer budding journalists today.
Consider the experience of Jon Glass who teaches and manages the Collaborative Media Room at Syracuse University. Glass is the former online editor of the Palm Beach Post so he knows how the professional news game works. Last year’s grads did quite well in landing interesting journalism jobs, despite the recession and significant downturn at most news companies.
“The common thread is that they entered college on a traditional journalism path but shifted gears late in college enough to land a full-time position where they jobs are in media companies,” Glass told me via email, where he also provided the following overview:
Lauren Bertolini (@MsLaurenRae) graduated with a newspaper degree in May 2008 and took a calculated risk by accepting an unpaid internship as a social media coordinator for NBC Local, which helps run the Web sites in major markets such as New York, Chicago and Miami (ex. http://www.nbcnewyork.com). This was a new position so she became the voice of their social media efforts on Twitter, Facebook, Digg and more. By summer’s end Lauren was offered a job for at least the next year as NBC Local’s social media editor.
Christine Petrozzo (@capetroz ) was a standout magazine major when she graduated in 2008. She took an internship with NBCOlympics.com before the 2008 Summer Olympics and stayed with the NBC family later that fall when she moved to IVillage.com where she’s an associate Web producer.
Sunnivie Brydum (@sunnivie) thought she’d be writing for a magazine until her final semester this year when she crash-coursed herself on Twitter, blogging and multimedia reporting. Sunnivie had interned at Out Front Colorado and started blogging for them again before leaving Syracuse. Soon after graduation in May, she was hired as full-time Web editor given editorial control of http://www.outfrontcolorado.com.
Dipti Khatri-Kapadia graduated with a broadcast journalism degree in 2008. Dipti tried to land a full-time reporting job at a local TV station in the Northeast but eventually her marriage took her to London. Passionate about doing multimedia work, this past summer Dipti landed the first-ever digital producer job for WSJ.com Europe based in London.
Jon Davenport (@JonDavenport1) already knew the media industry was rapidly changing so spent his year in the Magazine-Newspaper-Online master’s program learning anything he could from multimedia reporting to Flash to site and code development. The investment paid off in that he landed a job late this summer as Online Editor for the Glens Falls Post-Star — http://www.post-star.com — where he’s using all those skills.
Yes, there are still good journalism jobs to be had
Posted: 30 Sep 2009 08:56 AM PDT
One of the most frequent questions I’m asked when speaking to college journalists or young professionals is about jobs. How do I get one? Do they exist? What kind should I look for?
It’s natural to worry about how you will take your passion and training and turn it into a salary so you can afford such luxuries as food and heat. Those of my generation who entered the job market in 1991 know what you’re up against. That was a time of recession, as well, but we didn’t have the opportunities that digital media offer budding journalists today.
Consider the experience of Jon Glass who teaches and manages the Collaborative Media Room at Syracuse University. Glass is the former online editor of the Palm Beach Post so he knows how the professional news game works. Last year’s grads did quite well in landing interesting journalism jobs, despite the recession and significant downturn at most news companies.
“The common thread is that they entered college on a traditional journalism path but shifted gears late in college enough to land a full-time position where they jobs are in media companies,” Glass told me via email, where he also provided the following overview:
Lauren Bertolini (@MsLaurenRae) graduated with a newspaper degree in May 2008 and took a calculated risk by accepting an unpaid internship as a social media coordinator for NBC Local, which helps run the Web sites in major markets such as New York, Chicago and Miami (ex. http://www.nbcnewyork.com). This was a new position so she became the voice of their social media efforts on Twitter, Facebook, Digg and more. By summer’s end Lauren was offered a job for at least the next year as NBC Local’s social media editor.
Christine Petrozzo (@capetroz ) was a standout magazine major when she graduated in 2008. She took an internship with NBCOlympics.com before the 2008 Summer Olympics and stayed with the NBC family later that fall when she moved to IVillage.com where she’s an associate Web producer.
Sunnivie Brydum (@sunnivie) thought she’d be writing for a magazine until her final semester this year when she crash-coursed herself on Twitter, blogging and multimedia reporting. Sunnivie had interned at Out Front Colorado and started blogging for them again before leaving Syracuse. Soon after graduation in May, she was hired as full-time Web editor given editorial control of http://www.outfrontcolorado.com.
Dipti Khatri-Kapadia graduated with a broadcast journalism degree in 2008. Dipti tried to land a full-time reporting job at a local TV station in the Northeast but eventually her marriage took her to London. Passionate about doing multimedia work, this past summer Dipti landed the first-ever digital producer job for WSJ.com Europe based in London.
Jon Davenport (@JonDavenport1) already knew the media industry was rapidly changing so spent his year in the Magazine-Newspaper-Online master’s program learning anything he could from multimedia reporting to Flash to site and code development. The investment paid off in that he landed a job late this summer as Online Editor for the Glens Falls Post-Star — http://www.post-star.com — where he’s using all those skills.
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