Monday, December 30, 2013
Facebook still leads social media, but sees slower growth among young users
Facebook still leads social media, but sees slower growth among young users
By Hayley Tsukayama, Updated: Monday, December 30, 12:02 PM E-mail the writer
This is not your father’s Facebook. It’s your grandfather’s.
New data from the Pew Center for Internet and American Life released Monday show that Facebook’s strongest growth over the past year has come from users over the age of 65, as more older users sign onto the site to keep in touch with their friends, children and grandchildren.
The survey found that 45 percent of American seniors who use the Internet are on Facebook, up from 35 percent the previous year.
Use among teens, however, has stagnated at 84 percent. That’s in keeping with growing concern that Facebook is seeing lower engagement with the younger users that drove its early popularity, something that the company has acknowledged itself in an earnings call this year.
Facebook may be a victim of its own success after nearly ten years as the country’s leading social network, said Pew senior researcher Aaron Smith.
“It’s hard to get more than 85 percent of anyone doing anything,” he said. “A lot of the easy converts in the younger group, or even in the older and middle-aged group, are already on the site. The senior group is the only area that has any substantial area for growth.”
Facebook is seeing an uptick in teen use on Instagram, which it bought for $1 billion in 2012, indicating that it’s far from being down for the count.
Still, a stagnating teen audience — the percentage of those in the 18-29 age group that use the site felltwo percentage points compared with ast year — fits in with a recent study from researchers at University College London, which found some British teens at are leaving Facebook because of the influx of older users.
An ethnographic study of 16-18 year olds north of London found teens are opting to use private messaging services such as WhatsApp and Snapchat to communicate with their friends. In many cases, the study said, teens stay on Facebook at the behest of their parents, who have made it a tool for keeping track of their children.
“You just can’t be young and free if you know your parents can access your every indiscretion,” wrote Daniel Miller, a professor of Material Culture at UCL, who ran the study.
In other words, teens are using Facebook, but not for the same reasons that they once did. And that, Smith said, fits in with a larger trend in the social media space: Americans are diversifying the social networks that they use.
More than 40 percent of Americans, Pew found, maintain multiple social network accounts for different purposes.
Facebook, which has more than 1 billion users and is used by 71 percent of Americans, seems to be the “default” social network, he said, while Pinterest skews more heavily to women, LinkedIn to more educated or wealthier users and Twitter among young adults and African Americans.
“People are pretty utilitarian,” Smith said. “This fits really well with a lot of the research we’ve seen in terms of how people navigate all of these things.”
Users go to specific places based on what they’re trying to do, Smith said, and so engagement for many of the smaller sites are on par with Facebook, Smith noted. Fifty-seven percent of Instagram users, for example, return daily to the site to check for updates, compared to 63 percent of Facebook users. Nearly half of Twitter’s users, 46 percent, also make the site a daily habit.
Pew researchers surveyed 1,800 adults in English and Spanish via landline and cellphone for the study. The survey was conducted in August and September.
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Number of Magazine Closures Falls Significantly This Year
From MediaPost.com:
Number Of Magazine Closures Falls Significantly This Year
Folio, Thursday, December 19, 2013 3:32 PM
Good news in magazine statistics for 2013: "Just 56 titles shuttered in 2013, down more than 30 percent from the prior year and [down more than] 60 percent from 2011," writes Michael Rondon. However, there were fewer launches than in 2011 -- only 185, down 18%. These numbers came from a year-end report by MediaFinder.
Number Of Magazine Closures Falls Significantly This Year
Folio, Thursday, December 19, 2013 3:32 PM
Good news in magazine statistics for 2013: "Just 56 titles shuttered in 2013, down more than 30 percent from the prior year and [down more than] 60 percent from 2011," writes Michael Rondon. However, there were fewer launches than in 2011 -- only 185, down 18%. These numbers came from a year-end report by MediaFinder.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
About That Obama Selfie at Mandela's Funeral . . .
Editor's note: David Burnett is an award winning photojournalist and co-founder of the Contact Press Images agency.
(CNN) -- When photography first became a method to document events, both large and small, more than a century ago, there was a certain understanding that what one was seeing in a picture was more or less what happened.
The ability to use photography to recount life in a visual way and replicate it in the mass media allowed people around the world to see and understand things they may only have imagined before. The "truth" of photography, embodied by the phrase "the camera doesn't lie," was something that came to be generally accepted. Yet the camera, like most tools used by people, is more than capable of lying if used in the wrong way.
A picture is simply a moment, and although we might think we can divine what it is we are looking at, there are times when a visual representation of life is simply neither the whole truth, nor nothing but the truth.
Increasingly, with the ubiquitous arrival of smartphones, what matters most is simply that someone, not necessarily a trained professional, was able to take a photograph by the simple fact that he or she was present. According to an old press photography saw, when a long-time pro was asked how he made a picture, he replied "f/8, and be there," capturing the essence of what news photography is really about. It is the ability to witness, and capture, a moment in time. Does it always tell the "truth?" That is a good question, since what we define as truth can sometimes have many meanings.
If a picture is meant to be the sole, definitive description of what happened, and no one else is around to see, then to a certain degree, we might have to accept its veracity. But the ever-increasing presence of cameras, both traditional and camera phones, has added a new dimension to what we see. And with the invention and perfection of Photoshop and other photo editing software, it has become much easier to add to, take away from, or alter an image to change its very nature. Can the camera lie? Not sure. Can photographers or editors lie? Most assuredly, if they are of a mind to.
The photograph of President Obama taking a "selfie" with the British and Danish prime ministers is a case in point. Many news organizations and social media platforms jumped on the bandwagon to showcase the photographs where Michelle Obama is looking away, with what could be considered an angry expression. Yet those pictures may not necessarily tell the whole story.
Obama selfie controversy is not new
The AFP photographer who took the photos wrote a blog describing how surprised he was at the reaction to them. And though he released no photos showing the first lady looking more light-hearted, he says, the glum look in the published pictures was simply a moment "captured by chance."
A photojournalist covering an event will take dozens, sometimes hundreds, of pictures in the process. For large-scale events -- the Olympics, political conventions -- often the photographer doesn't even get to edit his own pictures, that job being handed off to an editor. In the digital, WiFi, connected age, this becomes the efficient way of getting work processed and out into the real world. In the end, as viewers, we have to try to sift through not only what we are seeing, but try to understand what we are not seeing.
The growth of social media and the concept of so-called "citizen-journalists," has created a real quandary for the older forms of media and news delivery. Most professional journalists, both photographers and writers, try to adhere to a code of fairness and objectivity.
In the United States, it's only in the last generation that politically charged, partisan reporting has started to become the norm.
It may seem old-fashioned to think that the light of truth is the most important force for good. But that is the place where most professional photographers stand. When you decide on your message first, and then try to make the reporting adjust to it, you have created a place where truth becomes the first casualty. And if you ask it to, the camera -- like the people who use it -- can certainly lie.
(CNN) -- When photography first became a method to document events, both large and small, more than a century ago, there was a certain understanding that what one was seeing in a picture was more or less what happened.
The ability to use photography to recount life in a visual way and replicate it in the mass media allowed people around the world to see and understand things they may only have imagined before. The "truth" of photography, embodied by the phrase "the camera doesn't lie," was something that came to be generally accepted. Yet the camera, like most tools used by people, is more than capable of lying if used in the wrong way.
A picture is simply a moment, and although we might think we can divine what it is we are looking at, there are times when a visual representation of life is simply neither the whole truth, nor nothing but the truth.
Increasingly, with the ubiquitous arrival of smartphones, what matters most is simply that someone, not necessarily a trained professional, was able to take a photograph by the simple fact that he or she was present. According to an old press photography saw, when a long-time pro was asked how he made a picture, he replied "f/8, and be there," capturing the essence of what news photography is really about. It is the ability to witness, and capture, a moment in time. Does it always tell the "truth?" That is a good question, since what we define as truth can sometimes have many meanings.
If a picture is meant to be the sole, definitive description of what happened, and no one else is around to see, then to a certain degree, we might have to accept its veracity. But the ever-increasing presence of cameras, both traditional and camera phones, has added a new dimension to what we see. And with the invention and perfection of Photoshop and other photo editing software, it has become much easier to add to, take away from, or alter an image to change its very nature. Can the camera lie? Not sure. Can photographers or editors lie? Most assuredly, if they are of a mind to.
The photograph of President Obama taking a "selfie" with the British and Danish prime ministers is a case in point. Many news organizations and social media platforms jumped on the bandwagon to showcase the photographs where Michelle Obama is looking away, with what could be considered an angry expression. Yet those pictures may not necessarily tell the whole story.
Obama selfie controversy is not new
The AFP photographer who took the photos wrote a blog describing how surprised he was at the reaction to them. And though he released no photos showing the first lady looking more light-hearted, he says, the glum look in the published pictures was simply a moment "captured by chance."
A photojournalist covering an event will take dozens, sometimes hundreds, of pictures in the process. For large-scale events -- the Olympics, political conventions -- often the photographer doesn't even get to edit his own pictures, that job being handed off to an editor. In the digital, WiFi, connected age, this becomes the efficient way of getting work processed and out into the real world. In the end, as viewers, we have to try to sift through not only what we are seeing, but try to understand what we are not seeing.
The growth of social media and the concept of so-called "citizen-journalists," has created a real quandary for the older forms of media and news delivery. Most professional journalists, both photographers and writers, try to adhere to a code of fairness and objectivity.
In the United States, it's only in the last generation that politically charged, partisan reporting has started to become the norm.
It may seem old-fashioned to think that the light of truth is the most important force for good. But that is the place where most professional photographers stand. When you decide on your message first, and then try to make the reporting adjust to it, you have created a place where truth becomes the first casualty. And if you ask it to, the camera -- like the people who use it -- can certainly lie.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Self-Publishing and EBooks Continue Strong Growth
From Dan Poynter’s industry e-newsletter, December, 2013:
SELF-PUBLISHING AND EBOOKS CONTINUE STRONG GROWTH
2012 ISBN’s show nearly 60% more self-published works than in 2011. The number of
self-published titles in 2012 jumped to more than 391,000, up 59% over 2011 and
422% over 2007.
Ebooks continue to gain on print, comprising 40% of the ISBNs that were publ
ished in 2012, up from 11% in 2007. Smashwords was the top producer of ebooks.
See the fascinating numbers at
http://www.bowker.com/assets/downloads/products/selfpublishingpubcounts_2007_201
2.pdf
http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/bowker-smashwords-is-top-producer-of-ebooks
SELF-PUBLISHING AND EBOOKS CONTINUE STRONG GROWTH
2012 ISBN’s show nearly 60% more self-published works than in 2011. The number of
self-published titles in 2012 jumped to more than 391,000, up 59% over 2011 and
422% over 2007.
Ebooks continue to gain on print, comprising 40% of the ISBNs that were publ
ished in 2012, up from 11% in 2007. Smashwords was the top producer of ebooks.
See the fascinating numbers at
http://www.bowker.com/assets/downloads/products/selfpublishingpubcounts_2007_201
2.pdf
http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/bowker-smashwords-is-top-producer-of-ebooks
Newsweek to bring print edition back from the dead
Newsweek to bring print edition back from the dead
By Brian Stelter @brianstelter December 4, 2013: 12:00 AM ET, Newsweek
Print is dead? Not so fast. Newsweek's new owners are planning a return to physical media.,
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Newsweek's new owners think they can succeed at something its previous owners failed at: printing a weekly magazine in the United States.
IBT Media, the obscure media company that bought Newsweek in August, said Tuesday that it intends to revive the magazine's print edition early next year, possibly as soon as January.
The announcement is a remarkable twist in Newsweek's evolution, coming less than a year after its previous owner, IAC, stopped printing the magazine. The brand was basically left for dead -- but now the cover of IAC's final edition, with the phrase "#LastPrintIssue" rendered as a Twitter hashtag, seems decidedly premature.
First reported by the New York Times, IBT Media's decision is at odds with a general magazine industry move away from print and toward the Web, at least when it comes to the kind of news coverage that the Newsweek brand is known for.
On Monday, one of the nation's most esteemed weeklies, New York magazine, announced that it would soon shift to an every-other-week publishing schedule while beefing up its Web production. But some publishers continue to see money-making opportunities in print. Hours before the Newsweek announcement on Tuesday, the owner of The Week, a digest that summarizes news from other outlets, said that it had decided to slightly expand its publishing schedule, from 48 weeks a year to 51 weeks.
Related story: New York magazine to go bi-weekly
The new iteration of Newsweek will apparently have something in common with The Week: a reliance on paying customers rather than advertisers. The Week has ads, and Newsweek will too. But the bulk of The Week's revenues come from circulation.
Jim Impoco, who became Newsweek's editor in chief shortly after IBT Media acquired it, said "ads will be icing" for the reborn print edition of his magazine. Subscriber revenues will cover expenses, he said, because "we won't charge less than it costs to produce."
"The new owners, Johnathan Davis and Etienne Uzac, are digital natives who saw a great journalistic and commercial opportunity in print," Impoco added. "And I'm so glad they suggested it."
Related story: Sam Champion exits ABC for Weather Channel
Most of the print material will presumably be repurposed from Newsweek.com, the website that Impoco oversees, which includes a once-a-week online "magazine" that looks and feels a lot like a printed one. All of that is free currently. Enticing former Newsweek subscribers -- or brand-new readers -- to pay for it in print will be a stiff challenge.
But the new print edition will attract some attention, if only for its name and journalistic legacy. Publications like The Economist have proven that there is still some room in the marketplace for thoughtful recaps of the week's news.
Asked what readers of the previous Newsweek print edition would recognize about the new one, Impoco said, "The new Newsweek will be deeply reported and global, which is what it was when it first came out 80-odd years ago and is what it should be now."
The print edition of Newsweek was a long-time rival of Time. Time is published by Time Inc., a partner in CNNMoney with its fellow Time Warner unit CNN.
By Brian Stelter @brianstelter December 4, 2013: 12:00 AM ET, Newsweek
Print is dead? Not so fast. Newsweek's new owners are planning a return to physical media.,
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Newsweek's new owners think they can succeed at something its previous owners failed at: printing a weekly magazine in the United States.
IBT Media, the obscure media company that bought Newsweek in August, said Tuesday that it intends to revive the magazine's print edition early next year, possibly as soon as January.
The announcement is a remarkable twist in Newsweek's evolution, coming less than a year after its previous owner, IAC, stopped printing the magazine. The brand was basically left for dead -- but now the cover of IAC's final edition, with the phrase "#LastPrintIssue" rendered as a Twitter hashtag, seems decidedly premature.
First reported by the New York Times, IBT Media's decision is at odds with a general magazine industry move away from print and toward the Web, at least when it comes to the kind of news coverage that the Newsweek brand is known for.
On Monday, one of the nation's most esteemed weeklies, New York magazine, announced that it would soon shift to an every-other-week publishing schedule while beefing up its Web production. But some publishers continue to see money-making opportunities in print. Hours before the Newsweek announcement on Tuesday, the owner of The Week, a digest that summarizes news from other outlets, said that it had decided to slightly expand its publishing schedule, from 48 weeks a year to 51 weeks.
Related story: New York magazine to go bi-weekly
The new iteration of Newsweek will apparently have something in common with The Week: a reliance on paying customers rather than advertisers. The Week has ads, and Newsweek will too. But the bulk of The Week's revenues come from circulation.
Jim Impoco, who became Newsweek's editor in chief shortly after IBT Media acquired it, said "ads will be icing" for the reborn print edition of his magazine. Subscriber revenues will cover expenses, he said, because "we won't charge less than it costs to produce."
"The new owners, Johnathan Davis and Etienne Uzac, are digital natives who saw a great journalistic and commercial opportunity in print," Impoco added. "And I'm so glad they suggested it."
Related story: Sam Champion exits ABC for Weather Channel
Most of the print material will presumably be repurposed from Newsweek.com, the website that Impoco oversees, which includes a once-a-week online "magazine" that looks and feels a lot like a printed one. All of that is free currently. Enticing former Newsweek subscribers -- or brand-new readers -- to pay for it in print will be a stiff challenge.
But the new print edition will attract some attention, if only for its name and journalistic legacy. Publications like The Economist have proven that there is still some room in the marketplace for thoughtful recaps of the week's news.
Asked what readers of the previous Newsweek print edition would recognize about the new one, Impoco said, "The new Newsweek will be deeply reported and global, which is what it was when it first came out 80-odd years ago and is what it should be now."
The print edition of Newsweek was a long-time rival of Time. Time is published by Time Inc., a partner in CNNMoney with its fellow Time Warner unit CNN.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Self-Published Titles Up 59%
From GalleyCat:
The Number of Self-Published Titles on the Market Up 59% Last Year: Bowker
By Dianna Dilworth on November 13, 2013 3:30 PM
The amount of self-published book titles available in the marketplace went up 59% between 2011 and 2012, according to Bowker’s latest self-pubishing report. The report looked at U.S. ISBN data to identify that there were more than 391,000 books self-published in 2012. eBooks made up 40 percent of these ISBNs.
The report examined how the self-publishing industry has grown over the past six years, illustrating a large proliferation of self-published titles in the marketplace. Amazon’s CreateSpace, Smashwords and Lulu.com led the list for putting out the most ISBNs of self-published works in the U.S. for both print & eBook from 2007-2012. For instance, CreateSpace’s output grew 3355.84% from 2007 to 2012. When broken out between print and eBooks, CreateSpace led with the highest volume for print books. Smashwords was the top player for eBooks.
The Number of Self-Published Titles on the Market Up 59% Last Year: Bowker
By Dianna Dilworth on November 13, 2013 3:30 PM
The amount of self-published book titles available in the marketplace went up 59% between 2011 and 2012, according to Bowker’s latest self-pubishing report. The report looked at U.S. ISBN data to identify that there were more than 391,000 books self-published in 2012. eBooks made up 40 percent of these ISBNs.
The report examined how the self-publishing industry has grown over the past six years, illustrating a large proliferation of self-published titles in the marketplace. Amazon’s CreateSpace, Smashwords and Lulu.com led the list for putting out the most ISBNs of self-published works in the U.S. for both print & eBook from 2007-2012. For instance, CreateSpace’s output grew 3355.84% from 2007 to 2012. When broken out between print and eBooks, CreateSpace led with the highest volume for print books. Smashwords was the top player for eBooks.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Newspapers Aren't Dead Yet
Extra, extra: Newspapers aren't dead yet
Rem Rieder, USA TODAY
Painfully slowly, not all that surely, but still, a new business model for newspapers is taking shape.
It's hardly time to uncork the Champagne. The challenges remain formidable. But after years of steady, ominous decline in the face of digital disruption, the long-derided dinosaurs are showing signs that they may not be leaving the building anytime soon.
The business will be smaller. The sky-high profits of years past are as over as the Spice Girls. But oblivion is not necessarily part of the equation.
The core question for newspapers in recent years has been, where is the money going to come from? The Internet blew up their lucrative advertising monopolies. Craigslist took their classifieds. And while newspaper websites significantly increased the size of their audiences, digital advertising, once seen as the holy grail, has been profoundly disappointing.
There are two major elements in the emerging survival strategy:
• Circulation revenue is increasing. The key: Charging for digital content. Newspapers are now making money from digital-only subscriptions and, more important, bundled subscriptions that give readers access to information in a multitude of ways.
• Newspapers are leveraging their skills to bring in revenue from activities other than journalism. Most significant is providing marketing services to local businesses trying to figure out how to flourish in a transforming environment. But newspapers are also earning money through e-commerce and hosting events.
"We are beginning to see a glimmer of a 2018 business model, one that is at least stable and at best shows some growth," says news industry analyst Ken Doctor, author of Newsonomics: Twelve New Trends That Will Shape the News You Get. He adds, "We have pieces of the puzzle."
The outlines of the future are sketched out in an important report released Monday by the Newspaper Association of America. Commendably, the study made a concerted effort to, for the first time, tally up money flowing in via the new revenue streams. The result is a much more accurate picture of the industry's health.
It's a sign of how grim things have been that a report indicating revenue declined by 2% could be considered a hopeful sign. But it was the smallest drop in six years.
While advertising, once the lifeline of newspapers, continued to plummet (by 6% last year), circulation revenue was up 5%, the first year of growth since 2003. New ventures, such as marketing services, brought in $3 billion, and revenue from sources the NAA hadn't counted before, such as niche publications, brought in nearly as much.
The study underscores what a huge mistake it was for the industry to give away its content on the Internet for all of those years. Now about 400 papers are charging, and many more, including The Washington Post, will start doing so this year. "The key is the metered paywall (which allows readers to access a number of articles before they have to pay), and it works," Doctor says. By 2015 he believes such arrangements will be the default position for newspapers both in the United States and elsewhere.
To Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute, a critical finding is that after years of decline, "now things are growing" in certain categories. At this point, he says, the newspaper business "is a mature industry and an emerging industry at the same time."
Newspapers were awfully slow to react to the ramifications of the digital revolution. "We're beginning to see signs of adaptation," says Rosenstiel, who worked on the report (API is now under the aegis of the NAA). "Skeptics might say it's been a long time coming, but it's coming."
Rosenstiel, the longtime director of the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, thinks the mobile market offers newspapers a bright opportunity for future growth. "Before, newspapers saw technology as a threat," he says. "Mobile gives them a second bite. It could be very significant."
Media analyst John Morton, a longtime columnist for American Journalism Review, takes the long view. He points out that newspapers have been challenged before and lived to tell about it, citing the advent of television as an example. TV pretty much wiped out the metropolitan evening paper, and is one of the reasons there were once about 1,800 daily papers and now there are 1,400.
The digital juggernaut, Morton says, "is not going to kill the industry. But it's certainly going to change it."
Rieder is editor and senior vice president of American Journalism Review.
Rem Rieder, USA TODAY
Painfully slowly, not all that surely, but still, a new business model for newspapers is taking shape.
It's hardly time to uncork the Champagne. The challenges remain formidable. But after years of steady, ominous decline in the face of digital disruption, the long-derided dinosaurs are showing signs that they may not be leaving the building anytime soon.
The business will be smaller. The sky-high profits of years past are as over as the Spice Girls. But oblivion is not necessarily part of the equation.
The core question for newspapers in recent years has been, where is the money going to come from? The Internet blew up their lucrative advertising monopolies. Craigslist took their classifieds. And while newspaper websites significantly increased the size of their audiences, digital advertising, once seen as the holy grail, has been profoundly disappointing.
There are two major elements in the emerging survival strategy:
• Circulation revenue is increasing. The key: Charging for digital content. Newspapers are now making money from digital-only subscriptions and, more important, bundled subscriptions that give readers access to information in a multitude of ways.
• Newspapers are leveraging their skills to bring in revenue from activities other than journalism. Most significant is providing marketing services to local businesses trying to figure out how to flourish in a transforming environment. But newspapers are also earning money through e-commerce and hosting events.
"We are beginning to see a glimmer of a 2018 business model, one that is at least stable and at best shows some growth," says news industry analyst Ken Doctor, author of Newsonomics: Twelve New Trends That Will Shape the News You Get. He adds, "We have pieces of the puzzle."
The outlines of the future are sketched out in an important report released Monday by the Newspaper Association of America. Commendably, the study made a concerted effort to, for the first time, tally up money flowing in via the new revenue streams. The result is a much more accurate picture of the industry's health.
It's a sign of how grim things have been that a report indicating revenue declined by 2% could be considered a hopeful sign. But it was the smallest drop in six years.
While advertising, once the lifeline of newspapers, continued to plummet (by 6% last year), circulation revenue was up 5%, the first year of growth since 2003. New ventures, such as marketing services, brought in $3 billion, and revenue from sources the NAA hadn't counted before, such as niche publications, brought in nearly as much.
The study underscores what a huge mistake it was for the industry to give away its content on the Internet for all of those years. Now about 400 papers are charging, and many more, including The Washington Post, will start doing so this year. "The key is the metered paywall (which allows readers to access a number of articles before they have to pay), and it works," Doctor says. By 2015 he believes such arrangements will be the default position for newspapers both in the United States and elsewhere.
To Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute, a critical finding is that after years of decline, "now things are growing" in certain categories. At this point, he says, the newspaper business "is a mature industry and an emerging industry at the same time."
Newspapers were awfully slow to react to the ramifications of the digital revolution. "We're beginning to see signs of adaptation," says Rosenstiel, who worked on the report (API is now under the aegis of the NAA). "Skeptics might say it's been a long time coming, but it's coming."
Rosenstiel, the longtime director of the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, thinks the mobile market offers newspapers a bright opportunity for future growth. "Before, newspapers saw technology as a threat," he says. "Mobile gives them a second bite. It could be very significant."
Media analyst John Morton, a longtime columnist for American Journalism Review, takes the long view. He points out that newspapers have been challenged before and lived to tell about it, citing the advent of television as an example. TV pretty much wiped out the metropolitan evening paper, and is one of the reasons there were once about 1,800 daily papers and now there are 1,400.
The digital juggernaut, Morton says, "is not going to kill the industry. But it's certainly going to change it."
Rieder is editor and senior vice president of American Journalism Review.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Today's Christian Woman launching weekly digital edition
Today's Christian Woman Launches Weekly Digital Issue
CAROL STREAM, Ill., Oct. 10, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today's Christian Woman (TCW), a Christianity Today publication, announced today the launch of its weekly, themed digital issue, providing women timely, relevant content in a compact format that is easy to read and quick to access. First launched in the mid-seventies, Today's Christian Woman now offers a diverse look at a single theme or topic relevant to Christian women every week -- on your laptop, smartphone, and iPad app.
Increasing from bi-monthly to weekly issues ensures women have access to fresh ideas and information when and where they choose to read. Every week the compact, digital issue covers a single theme from diverse angles. Themes range from sexuality to creativity to identity, vocation, calling, and more. The issues are simple and sleek, designed to remove clutter and distraction from the reading experience. The inaugural issue, Let's Talk about Sex, is a Christian perspective on romance, cultivating healthy sexuality, and healing from the past.
"Today's Christian Woman equips and inspires women to live out their faith wherever God places them," says Carol Thompson, executive vice president and publisher of Today's Christian Woman. "Our new weekly, compact issue is designed to speak clearly and frequently into the lives of women, delivering the inspiration they need to impact the world."
For more information about Today's Christian Woman or to obtain a subscription, visit TodaysChristianWoman.com.
CAROL STREAM, Ill., Oct. 10, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today's Christian Woman (TCW), a Christianity Today publication, announced today the launch of its weekly, themed digital issue, providing women timely, relevant content in a compact format that is easy to read and quick to access. First launched in the mid-seventies, Today's Christian Woman now offers a diverse look at a single theme or topic relevant to Christian women every week -- on your laptop, smartphone, and iPad app.
Increasing from bi-monthly to weekly issues ensures women have access to fresh ideas and information when and where they choose to read. Every week the compact, digital issue covers a single theme from diverse angles. Themes range from sexuality to creativity to identity, vocation, calling, and more. The issues are simple and sleek, designed to remove clutter and distraction from the reading experience. The inaugural issue, Let's Talk about Sex, is a Christian perspective on romance, cultivating healthy sexuality, and healing from the past.
"Today's Christian Woman equips and inspires women to live out their faith wherever God places them," says Carol Thompson, executive vice president and publisher of Today's Christian Woman. "Our new weekly, compact issue is designed to speak clearly and frequently into the lives of women, delivering the inspiration they need to impact the world."
For more information about Today's Christian Woman or to obtain a subscription, visit TodaysChristianWoman.com.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Arizona Republic editors to reporters: Do your work at Starbucks or McDonald's
Arizona Republic editors to reporters: Do your work at Starbucks or McDonald's
Jim Poulin/Phoenix Business Journal
The Arizona Republic is telling many reporters that they need to work remotely.
Starbucks and McDonald’s will soon be the new offices for roughly 20 community reporters at The Arizona Republic.
Top Republic editors met with reporters from the Mesa, Scottsdale and Phoenix community sections Thursday to tell the reporters they were getting laptops. They would become “mobile reporters” without any traditional desk in an office, according to multiple reporters who wished to remain anonymous.
Because Starbucks and McDonald’s have free Wi-Fi, those were the two places editors suggested reporters take advantage of as they work out in the field.
Some reporters said they could work from home, but others said they were being asked not to work from home and instead be out in the field as much as possible. Reporters are being asked to take home their files, and keep them in their car or at home.
Complete story here: http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2013/10/03/arizona-republic-editors-to-reporters.html?ana=twt
Jim Poulin/Phoenix Business Journal
The Arizona Republic is telling many reporters that they need to work remotely.
Starbucks and McDonald’s will soon be the new offices for roughly 20 community reporters at The Arizona Republic.
Top Republic editors met with reporters from the Mesa, Scottsdale and Phoenix community sections Thursday to tell the reporters they were getting laptops. They would become “mobile reporters” without any traditional desk in an office, according to multiple reporters who wished to remain anonymous.
Because Starbucks and McDonald’s have free Wi-Fi, those were the two places editors suggested reporters take advantage of as they work out in the field.
Some reporters said they could work from home, but others said they were being asked not to work from home and instead be out in the field as much as possible. Reporters are being asked to take home their files, and keep them in their car or at home.
Complete story here: http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2013/10/03/arizona-republic-editors-to-reporters.html?ana=twt
Monday, September 30, 2013
CT Introduces Re-Design
'Christianity Today' Surprises with a Completely Redesigned Magazine
CAROL STREAM, Ill., Sept. 30, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- Christianity Today magazine, the storied flagship publication from the ministry of the same name, will launch a bold, new print redesign with its October issue. The redesign comes exactly four years after its last redesign in October 2009, which was slighter in nature.
The redesign was done by José and Nikolle Reyes' firm, Metaleap Creative. The Atlanta-based design firm's résumé includes redesigning music magazine Paste, D.C. lifestyle magazine the Washingtonian, and Presbyterian publication byFaith. Executive Editor Andy Crouch, who oversaw the redesign process, says, "We wouldn't have retained Metaleap simply to help us tweak our existing look – we asked them to give us something smart, bold, and beautiful, and we believe they succeeded."
With wider margins, new typefaces, restructured magazine sections, and a simpler color palette, Christianity Today is investing in its print medium with changes they hope will be met with surprise and delight by both new and long-time readers. Publisher Terumi Echols says, "The core values of Christianity Today -- providing our readers in-depth news, cultural analysis, and insightful, theology commentary about the God's church on mission in the world -- haven't changed. We wanted to set that kind of journalistic excellence in a design that would be fresh and surprising."
Along with the re-imagined layout, Christianity Today has moved away from its long-time full-width masthead logo in favor of a truncated CT logo, which also marks a change in the magazine's naming convention. "We plan on starting to call ourselves what everyone already calls us – CT," says Crouch.
Following the print redesign, Christianity Today is now hard at work on revamping their website, ChristianityToday.com. The team hopes to launch the site in early 2014 with a user-friendly layout, new content, and more subscriber benefits. "The biggest thing we want to signal is that you can trust CT to surprise you, in great ways, month after month. And to signal how much we delight in excellence and creative work that serves our customers well," says Crouch.
You can subscribe to receive the redesigned magazine at OrderCT.com/NewCT and look out for the newly redesigned ChristianityToday.com coming in early 2014.
Christianity Today is a nonprofit, global media ministry that serves the church through digital and print publications, as well as practical and accessible web resources that together reach more than 2.5 million people every month.
CAROL STREAM, Ill., Sept. 30, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- Christianity Today magazine, the storied flagship publication from the ministry of the same name, will launch a bold, new print redesign with its October issue. The redesign comes exactly four years after its last redesign in October 2009, which was slighter in nature.
The redesign was done by José and Nikolle Reyes' firm, Metaleap Creative. The Atlanta-based design firm's résumé includes redesigning music magazine Paste, D.C. lifestyle magazine the Washingtonian, and Presbyterian publication byFaith. Executive Editor Andy Crouch, who oversaw the redesign process, says, "We wouldn't have retained Metaleap simply to help us tweak our existing look – we asked them to give us something smart, bold, and beautiful, and we believe they succeeded."
With wider margins, new typefaces, restructured magazine sections, and a simpler color palette, Christianity Today is investing in its print medium with changes they hope will be met with surprise and delight by both new and long-time readers. Publisher Terumi Echols says, "The core values of Christianity Today -- providing our readers in-depth news, cultural analysis, and insightful, theology commentary about the God's church on mission in the world -- haven't changed. We wanted to set that kind of journalistic excellence in a design that would be fresh and surprising."
Along with the re-imagined layout, Christianity Today has moved away from its long-time full-width masthead logo in favor of a truncated CT logo, which also marks a change in the magazine's naming convention. "We plan on starting to call ourselves what everyone already calls us – CT," says Crouch.
Following the print redesign, Christianity Today is now hard at work on revamping their website, ChristianityToday.com. The team hopes to launch the site in early 2014 with a user-friendly layout, new content, and more subscriber benefits. "The biggest thing we want to signal is that you can trust CT to surprise you, in great ways, month after month. And to signal how much we delight in excellence and creative work that serves our customers well," says Crouch.
You can subscribe to receive the redesigned magazine at OrderCT.com/NewCT and look out for the newly redesigned ChristianityToday.com coming in early 2014.
Christianity Today is a nonprofit, global media ministry that serves the church through digital and print publications, as well as practical and accessible web resources that together reach more than 2.5 million people every month.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
AP Style in the Digital Age
Here's a great little article from the Burrelles Luce Newsletter:
AP Style in the Digital Age
Do you ever find yourself wondering whether to write a historic day or an historic day? Maybe not, but you're probably wondering now.*
One of the foremost resources for answering that and many other linguistic predicaments is The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law. The AP Stylebook was first published in 1953 (more than 100 years after the AP first started breaking news in 1846) and has since become the industry standard for many newspapers, magazines and other media.
The first edition was 60 pages; the 2013 edition is nearly 500. Though some may consider AP style – or grammar in general – erudite, The AP Stylebook is revised every year to reflect modern changes in language.
Why adhere to AP style?
Just because modern technology has abbreviated our language with "GTG," "BRB" and "IDK" (all AP-approved, thx) doesn't mean that modern professional PR writers should throw vowels to the wind.
You want members of the media to read the information you send them. Editors are paid to work with language, and a press release or info blast filled with errors is more likely to be ignored – or worse, mocked – by recipients.
When SEO and AP collide (NOTE: SEO means search engine optimization)
SEO is a vital component of any online publication, but when, if ever, should AP take precedence over SEO? In fact, it seems somewhat rare that the two collide in an impactful way; many tenets of web writing, like keeping paragraphs short and striving for brevity, are completely in line with AP style.
Some AP-SEO conflicts arise regarding keywords, when AP mandates that certain words be hyphenated or be two words instead of one. (Google has a brief guide to punctuation and how it can affect search engine results.)
But since AP changed "e-mail" to "email" and "Web site" to "website," there are fewer sources for dispute (though AP currently stands by "live-blog" instead of "liveblog" and "e-book" instead of "ebook").
Google algorithms change 500 to 600 times per year, so it's getting harder to win the Google search game with strictly SEO. And many of the most common SEO mistakes are related to problems separate from punctuation. End conclusion: don't sacrifice a cohesive style for SEO; instead, use AP as a guideline, not a rulebook, and tailor it to your company's needs.
Don't just write like the AP – link like AP
In its Social Media Guidelines for AP Employees, the AP reminds staffers to "link to content that has been published online rather than directly uploading or copying and pasting the material." This is not only best practice to avoid copyright issues, but linking and being linked to can help to increase your site's value.
*According to AP style, the answer is a historic event. And if any grammarian sticklers are wondering why we flout AP style and write The AP Stylebook instead of AP-sanctioned "The AP Stylebook," the italics follow our BurrellesLuce house style, which draws heavily on AP style but makes a few of its own modifications.
About BurrellesLuce
BurrellesLuce is the U.S. media content monitoring leader, providing curated, copyright-compliant content from local and national print (traditional and online), broadcast, video, proprietary online content, blogs and social media sources. Our comprehensive suite of affordable services is fully integrated in one convenient and easy-to-use portal, BurrellesLuce WorkFlow™. BurrellesLuce WorkFlow™ gives you everything you need to organize and manage your media relations and public relations efforts.
AP Style in the Digital Age
Do you ever find yourself wondering whether to write a historic day or an historic day? Maybe not, but you're probably wondering now.*
One of the foremost resources for answering that and many other linguistic predicaments is The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law. The AP Stylebook was first published in 1953 (more than 100 years after the AP first started breaking news in 1846) and has since become the industry standard for many newspapers, magazines and other media.
The first edition was 60 pages; the 2013 edition is nearly 500. Though some may consider AP style – or grammar in general – erudite, The AP Stylebook is revised every year to reflect modern changes in language.
Why adhere to AP style?
Just because modern technology has abbreviated our language with "GTG," "BRB" and "IDK" (all AP-approved, thx) doesn't mean that modern professional PR writers should throw vowels to the wind.
You want members of the media to read the information you send them. Editors are paid to work with language, and a press release or info blast filled with errors is more likely to be ignored – or worse, mocked – by recipients.
When SEO and AP collide (NOTE: SEO means search engine optimization)
SEO is a vital component of any online publication, but when, if ever, should AP take precedence over SEO? In fact, it seems somewhat rare that the two collide in an impactful way; many tenets of web writing, like keeping paragraphs short and striving for brevity, are completely in line with AP style.
Some AP-SEO conflicts arise regarding keywords, when AP mandates that certain words be hyphenated or be two words instead of one. (Google has a brief guide to punctuation and how it can affect search engine results.)
But since AP changed "e-mail" to "email" and "Web site" to "website," there are fewer sources for dispute (though AP currently stands by "live-blog" instead of "liveblog" and "e-book" instead of "ebook").
Google algorithms change 500 to 600 times per year, so it's getting harder to win the Google search game with strictly SEO. And many of the most common SEO mistakes are related to problems separate from punctuation. End conclusion: don't sacrifice a cohesive style for SEO; instead, use AP as a guideline, not a rulebook, and tailor it to your company's needs.
Don't just write like the AP – link like AP
In its Social Media Guidelines for AP Employees, the AP reminds staffers to "link to content that has been published online rather than directly uploading or copying and pasting the material." This is not only best practice to avoid copyright issues, but linking and being linked to can help to increase your site's value.
*According to AP style, the answer is a historic event. And if any grammarian sticklers are wondering why we flout AP style and write The AP Stylebook instead of AP-sanctioned "The AP Stylebook," the italics follow our BurrellesLuce house style, which draws heavily on AP style but makes a few of its own modifications.
About BurrellesLuce
BurrellesLuce is the U.S. media content monitoring leader, providing curated, copyright-compliant content from local and national print (traditional and online), broadcast, video, proprietary online content, blogs and social media sources. Our comprehensive suite of affordable services is fully integrated in one convenient and easy-to-use portal, BurrellesLuce WorkFlow™. BurrellesLuce WorkFlow™ gives you everything you need to organize and manage your media relations and public relations efforts.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
More Innovation Happening in Face of Newspaper Decline
Source: http://paidcontent.org/2013/09/23/theres-one-good-thing-about-the-newspaper-industry-decline-more-innovation-is-happening/
There’s one good thing about the newspaper industry decline — more innovation is happening
By Mathew Ingram
There are a couple of different ways that newspapers and other media companies have chosen to respond to the inexorable decline of their former market dominance: one is to moan about how Google is stealing their content, and talk incessantly about the good old days, and the other is to try and adapt to the shifts going on around them — by experimenting to see what their readers respond to and learning from that. It’s refreshing to see at least a few newspapers choosing the latter path, including the Boston Globe and the Washington Post.
Neither newspaper is doing particularly well, in the larger scheme of things: the Globe was just sold to a local hedge-fund billionaire for $70 million — which means it has lost a staggering 90 percent of its former value in the last two decades. The Washington Post, meanwhile, was just acquired by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, after the paper’s former owners admitted that they couldn’t see a future in which they didn’t have to cut more staff and continue to lose money. Not a great environment for innovation, you might think — but you’d be wrong.
A Twitter-based local news aggregator
As Justin Ellis at the Nieman Journalism Lab notes in a recent post, the Boston Globe‘s in-house research lab has built what amounts to a Twitter-powered news aggregator called 61Fresh — a tool that pulls in tweets based on a number of factors, but most importantly whether the content comes from a number of sites and services of interest to Boston residents. The algorithm-driven experiment is designed to produce a kind of Techmeme-style news aggregator, but one based on geographic parameters rather than topic-specific ones.
Every 10 minutes, the algorithm goes searching for the most viral news items. And because it uses Twitter as its source material, it isn’t just a soul-less feed of the latest headlines, but a snapshot of what people in the community (or at least connected to that community, since some may be ex-residents) see as interesting content worth sharing — whether it’s about Tom Brady or a local fire.
Is this going to somehow save the Globe by generating millions of dollars in revenue? Of course not. But it might help the company figure out how content works now, and how social sharing helps drive engagement, and that certainly couldn’t hurt as it tries to carve out a new path — not to mention that those working on it could develop new skills that might come in handy.
A visual interface for mobile news
Along the same lines, the Washington Post is experimenting with a visually-driven news interface called Topicly, which it launched this week: in a nutshell, it takes the top stories from the newspaper and sorts them based on the number of updates — and then displays them as a series of images tiled across a page, so that when readers click on a topic like “Chemical Weapons,” they get all of the stories the newspaper has written that related to that topic.
Cory Haik, senior director of digital news for the paper, told Ad Week she thought of the interface as a good way to present news for mobile users who don’t want to scroll through a lot of headlines, since it’s easy to see what the top stories are and what they are about (Circa, the San Francisco-based news startup, is also trying to rethink news for mobile). The new Post feature also has its own advertising format, which should make it easy to insert native ads into the stream as well.
Again, this probably isn’t going to make the difference between profitability and unprofitability for the Post, but it is a welcome sign of experimentation and a desire to learn how to present content differently for a mobile, digital audience. And to be fair to the Post, the paper has a long history of that sort of thing — from a Facebook news reader (which didn’t wind up working out) to its algorithmic news-recommendation app Trove and a socially-driven advertising unit.
Since no one really knows what the future of digital media looks like, it’s worth experimenting with as many new things as possible — in part because the next new thing always starts out looking like a toy. So kudos to the Post and the Globe for doing so, despite the gloom all around them.
There’s one good thing about the newspaper industry decline — more innovation is happening
By Mathew Ingram
There are a couple of different ways that newspapers and other media companies have chosen to respond to the inexorable decline of their former market dominance: one is to moan about how Google is stealing their content, and talk incessantly about the good old days, and the other is to try and adapt to the shifts going on around them — by experimenting to see what their readers respond to and learning from that. It’s refreshing to see at least a few newspapers choosing the latter path, including the Boston Globe and the Washington Post.
Neither newspaper is doing particularly well, in the larger scheme of things: the Globe was just sold to a local hedge-fund billionaire for $70 million — which means it has lost a staggering 90 percent of its former value in the last two decades. The Washington Post, meanwhile, was just acquired by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, after the paper’s former owners admitted that they couldn’t see a future in which they didn’t have to cut more staff and continue to lose money. Not a great environment for innovation, you might think — but you’d be wrong.
A Twitter-based local news aggregator
As Justin Ellis at the Nieman Journalism Lab notes in a recent post, the Boston Globe‘s in-house research lab has built what amounts to a Twitter-powered news aggregator called 61Fresh — a tool that pulls in tweets based on a number of factors, but most importantly whether the content comes from a number of sites and services of interest to Boston residents. The algorithm-driven experiment is designed to produce a kind of Techmeme-style news aggregator, but one based on geographic parameters rather than topic-specific ones.
Every 10 minutes, the algorithm goes searching for the most viral news items. And because it uses Twitter as its source material, it isn’t just a soul-less feed of the latest headlines, but a snapshot of what people in the community (or at least connected to that community, since some may be ex-residents) see as interesting content worth sharing — whether it’s about Tom Brady or a local fire.
Is this going to somehow save the Globe by generating millions of dollars in revenue? Of course not. But it might help the company figure out how content works now, and how social sharing helps drive engagement, and that certainly couldn’t hurt as it tries to carve out a new path — not to mention that those working on it could develop new skills that might come in handy.
A visual interface for mobile news
Along the same lines, the Washington Post is experimenting with a visually-driven news interface called Topicly, which it launched this week: in a nutshell, it takes the top stories from the newspaper and sorts them based on the number of updates — and then displays them as a series of images tiled across a page, so that when readers click on a topic like “Chemical Weapons,” they get all of the stories the newspaper has written that related to that topic.
Cory Haik, senior director of digital news for the paper, told Ad Week she thought of the interface as a good way to present news for mobile users who don’t want to scroll through a lot of headlines, since it’s easy to see what the top stories are and what they are about (Circa, the San Francisco-based news startup, is also trying to rethink news for mobile). The new Post feature also has its own advertising format, which should make it easy to insert native ads into the stream as well.
Again, this probably isn’t going to make the difference between profitability and unprofitability for the Post, but it is a welcome sign of experimentation and a desire to learn how to present content differently for a mobile, digital audience. And to be fair to the Post, the paper has a long history of that sort of thing — from a Facebook news reader (which didn’t wind up working out) to its algorithmic news-recommendation app Trove and a socially-driven advertising unit.
Since no one really knows what the future of digital media looks like, it’s worth experimenting with as many new things as possible — in part because the next new thing always starts out looking like a toy. So kudos to the Post and the Globe for doing so, despite the gloom all around them.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Henry Blackaby and the Power of Social Media
From Thom Rainer's blog at ThomRainer.com
Henry Blackaby and the Positive Power of Social Media
We received the information early Friday morning that well-known Christian author and speaker Dr. Henry Blackaby was missing. Because of his close relationship to LifeWay professionally and to many of us personally, we made the decision to change the blog schedule at ThomRainer.com and related social media so we could get the word out about Dr. Blackaby.
The hours that followed were tense and ultimately extremely gratifying. We would soon learn that Dr. Blackaby had a heart attack and became disoriented. Christians around the world were able to hear through social media of his latest purported location according to his credit card charges. Of course, we were praying that he was the one actually using the credit cards—and he was.
Social Media and the Unity of the Body of Christ
It was amazing to see Christians from various backgrounds come together in unity for this man so many people love. Whether the social media venue was Facebook, Twitter, blogs, or many other forms, we were united in purpose.
The level of disagreement and nitpicking among Christians was turned down dramatically for a brief season. The critical spirit that we Christians often exhibit for the world to see subsided. We were one with one purpose.
Social Media and the Power of Prayer
One part of the social media exchange regarding Henry Blackaby was informational. Through various venues, we learned that he was missing. We learned where his credit card was being used. We learned the make, color, and model of the automobile he was driving. And we would soon learn the license plate number on the car. All of this information going out through social media became instrumental in finding him.
The greater use of social media, however, was the articulation of prayers by hundreds of thousands of believers. You could be thousands of miles from a brother or sister in Christ and still have an awareness that you were praying together. Nearly 200,000 unique visitors visited this blog Friday. I was overwhelmed with the numbers of people expressing prayers in writing. Christians from all over the world were banded together for good and for God’s glory; the power of prayer was so clearly evident.
Social Media and the Glory of God
We are all well aware of the evil and hurt that takes place on social media. We Christians are keenly aware that our own witness is often compromised by the words we choose to write, and the invectives we hurl at one another.
But the problem is not social media; the problem is our hearts. We make a conscious choice to use this instrument for good or for evil.
The story of the disappearance of Henry Blackaby is a poignant and powerful reminder of what we Christians can do when we unite in love, even over something like Twitter or Facebook. Though Dr. Blackaby faces a road of surgery, treatment, and recovery, this story did have a good ending. He was found. He is safe with his family. For that we give thanks to God.
But even if God had not answered our prayers in the way most of us were hoping, this story would still have been incredible. Christians were united in purpose. Christians were united in prayer. Christians focused on our commonalities instead of our differences for a brief season.
Ultimately, the story of Henry Blackaby and the social media response was a reminder for all of us who call Christ our Savior. I for one can say without reservation that I was reminded that I am to do all things for His glory. And that includes my participation in social media. I pray that God will remind me to ask before I strike another key on the keyboard, before I write another blog post, before I comment one more word on Facebook, before I tweet anything or post a photo on Instagram, am I doing this for good or evil, for myself or for the glory of God?
Thank God for the safe return of Henry Blackaby. And thank God that we believers got to a get a taste for a brief season of what it means to come together for His purpose and His glory.
Henry Blackaby and the Positive Power of Social Media
We received the information early Friday morning that well-known Christian author and speaker Dr. Henry Blackaby was missing. Because of his close relationship to LifeWay professionally and to many of us personally, we made the decision to change the blog schedule at ThomRainer.com and related social media so we could get the word out about Dr. Blackaby.
The hours that followed were tense and ultimately extremely gratifying. We would soon learn that Dr. Blackaby had a heart attack and became disoriented. Christians around the world were able to hear through social media of his latest purported location according to his credit card charges. Of course, we were praying that he was the one actually using the credit cards—and he was.
Social Media and the Unity of the Body of Christ
It was amazing to see Christians from various backgrounds come together in unity for this man so many people love. Whether the social media venue was Facebook, Twitter, blogs, or many other forms, we were united in purpose.
The level of disagreement and nitpicking among Christians was turned down dramatically for a brief season. The critical spirit that we Christians often exhibit for the world to see subsided. We were one with one purpose.
Social Media and the Power of Prayer
One part of the social media exchange regarding Henry Blackaby was informational. Through various venues, we learned that he was missing. We learned where his credit card was being used. We learned the make, color, and model of the automobile he was driving. And we would soon learn the license plate number on the car. All of this information going out through social media became instrumental in finding him.
The greater use of social media, however, was the articulation of prayers by hundreds of thousands of believers. You could be thousands of miles from a brother or sister in Christ and still have an awareness that you were praying together. Nearly 200,000 unique visitors visited this blog Friday. I was overwhelmed with the numbers of people expressing prayers in writing. Christians from all over the world were banded together for good and for God’s glory; the power of prayer was so clearly evident.
Social Media and the Glory of God
We are all well aware of the evil and hurt that takes place on social media. We Christians are keenly aware that our own witness is often compromised by the words we choose to write, and the invectives we hurl at one another.
But the problem is not social media; the problem is our hearts. We make a conscious choice to use this instrument for good or for evil.
The story of the disappearance of Henry Blackaby is a poignant and powerful reminder of what we Christians can do when we unite in love, even over something like Twitter or Facebook. Though Dr. Blackaby faces a road of surgery, treatment, and recovery, this story did have a good ending. He was found. He is safe with his family. For that we give thanks to God.
But even if God had not answered our prayers in the way most of us were hoping, this story would still have been incredible. Christians were united in purpose. Christians were united in prayer. Christians focused on our commonalities instead of our differences for a brief season.
Ultimately, the story of Henry Blackaby and the social media response was a reminder for all of us who call Christ our Savior. I for one can say without reservation that I was reminded that I am to do all things for His glory. And that includes my participation in social media. I pray that God will remind me to ask before I strike another key on the keyboard, before I write another blog post, before I comment one more word on Facebook, before I tweet anything or post a photo on Instagram, am I doing this for good or evil, for myself or for the glory of God?
Thank God for the safe return of Henry Blackaby. And thank God that we believers got to a get a taste for a brief season of what it means to come together for His purpose and His glory.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Fox Sports Sacks Outspoken Christian
Fox Sports Sacks Outspoken Christian
As a former NFL running back, Craig James isn’t used to being on the defensive. Unfortunately, that’s exactly where Fox Sports is putting him in a story that should rock the football world.
The retired Pro-Bowler became the latest face of the war on religious liberty when—after one day on the job—Fox gave James the boot for his conservative views on marriage. And here’s the kicker: He made the comments not at the sports desk but during last year’s Senate campaign!
Apart from being a popular analyst, James also had political aspirations—aspirations he followed to Texas in an unsuccessful bid against Ted Cruz during the primary. In the course of the campaign, James was asked—as all candidates are—about his views on marriage and sexuality. James’ opinion happens to coincide with the research, which is that no one is born gay. And as an orthodox Christian, he didn’t shy away from the eternal consequences of this sin or any other.
“They are going to have to answer to the Lord for their actions,” he said before pledging not to support same-sex unions.
To read the entire article: http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/40945-fox-sports-sacks-outspoken-christian
As a former NFL running back, Craig James isn’t used to being on the defensive. Unfortunately, that’s exactly where Fox Sports is putting him in a story that should rock the football world.
The retired Pro-Bowler became the latest face of the war on religious liberty when—after one day on the job—Fox gave James the boot for his conservative views on marriage. And here’s the kicker: He made the comments not at the sports desk but during last year’s Senate campaign!
Apart from being a popular analyst, James also had political aspirations—aspirations he followed to Texas in an unsuccessful bid against Ted Cruz during the primary. In the course of the campaign, James was asked—as all candidates are—about his views on marriage and sexuality. James’ opinion happens to coincide with the research, which is that no one is born gay. And as an orthodox Christian, he didn’t shy away from the eternal consequences of this sin or any other.
“They are going to have to answer to the Lord for their actions,” he said before pledging not to support same-sex unions.
To read the entire article: http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/40945-fox-sports-sacks-outspoken-christian
Monday, September 9, 2013
Co-Anchors Blaze New TV Trail
Co-anchors blaze new TV trail
‘Newshour’ first to have 2 women on national broadcast
Paul Farhi | Washington Post
WASHINGTON – National TV newscasts have tried just about every kind of anchor configuration over the past six decades: A lone male anchor. A lone female. Two men. A man and a woman. Even three men.
But two women? Perish the thought. No national evening broadcast has ever dared put a pair of women on air together to read the news each day. Apparently, as a character in the 2004 satire of 1970s culture “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” put it: “It’s anchorman, not anchorlady! And that is a scientific fact.”
Until now.
Starting with its broadcast this evening, the “PBS Newshour” will feature two women in the anchor chairs. The venerable program – anchored for years by founding fathers Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer and lately by a series of rotating anchors – will be co-anchored by Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill.
Read the entire article: http://www.journalgazette.com/article/20130909/NEWS03/309099962/1006/NEWS
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Style Errors That Scream 'Amateur'
From Emily Akin's blog for writers:
Style Errors That Scream “Amateur”
By Emily Akin on September 4, 2013
Writers, show professionalism by knowing your grammar and style—and by proofreading your work. Recently, I’ve noticed obvious grammar and style errors in both print and online publications. Either they aren’t using editors or their editors are overworked.
Make sure your work is free of these marks of the amateur.
Plural for words ending with “st.” Is it guest or guests? It depends on whether you have one guest or more than one. Correct plural example: “We will have about 40 guests at the party.” I’ve seen published writing with “guest” where it should be “guests.” Remember, you must add the “s” on nouns like list, request, or mast. The rule for plurals is to add an “s” unless the word ends in “s.” See this summary.
Exclamation points. Use them sparingly!!!! Many beginning writers think they are adding emphasis by using exclamation points. However, overuse of emphasis defeats the purpose. Rachelle Gardner has a great blog post on the subject here.
All caps—avoid them altogether. The proper format for emphasis is italics or underline. All caps in a work submitted for publication will mark you as an amateur for certain. It is the typographical equivalent of shouting.
Spacing after periods. If you learned to type on a typewriter, you learned to space twice after periods or other ending punctuation marks. The computer age has changed that. Re-train yourself to space only once at the end of a sentence. When I point this out to the writers I mentor, they just don’t believe me. That’s because they have no experience in publishing. See the Grammar Girl’s article on this subject.
Its vs. it’s. The only time you’ll use an apostrophe with the word “it” is when you are using it as a contraction for “it is.” The word “it” may be the only word in the language that does not have an apostrophe in its possessive form. This error is so prevalent that it’s distressing to grammarphobes like me. For one thing, the spellchecker will not catch this error. I’ve seen it on television captions, campaign literature, and advertising signs. I even caught it on a publishing industry executive’s blog. Review the basic principles here.
Rid your writing of these marks of the amateur. It may take some effort, but it will be worth it in the long run.
Style Errors That Scream “Amateur”
By Emily Akin on September 4, 2013
Writers, show professionalism by knowing your grammar and style—and by proofreading your work. Recently, I’ve noticed obvious grammar and style errors in both print and online publications. Either they aren’t using editors or their editors are overworked.
Make sure your work is free of these marks of the amateur.
Plural for words ending with “st.” Is it guest or guests? It depends on whether you have one guest or more than one. Correct plural example: “We will have about 40 guests at the party.” I’ve seen published writing with “guest” where it should be “guests.” Remember, you must add the “s” on nouns like list, request, or mast. The rule for plurals is to add an “s” unless the word ends in “s.” See this summary.
Exclamation points. Use them sparingly!!!! Many beginning writers think they are adding emphasis by using exclamation points. However, overuse of emphasis defeats the purpose. Rachelle Gardner has a great blog post on the subject here.
All caps—avoid them altogether. The proper format for emphasis is italics or underline. All caps in a work submitted for publication will mark you as an amateur for certain. It is the typographical equivalent of shouting.
Spacing after periods. If you learned to type on a typewriter, you learned to space twice after periods or other ending punctuation marks. The computer age has changed that. Re-train yourself to space only once at the end of a sentence. When I point this out to the writers I mentor, they just don’t believe me. That’s because they have no experience in publishing. See the Grammar Girl’s article on this subject.
Its vs. it’s. The only time you’ll use an apostrophe with the word “it” is when you are using it as a contraction for “it is.” The word “it” may be the only word in the language that does not have an apostrophe in its possessive form. This error is so prevalent that it’s distressing to grammarphobes like me. For one thing, the spellchecker will not catch this error. I’ve seen it on television captions, campaign literature, and advertising signs. I even caught it on a publishing industry executive’s blog. Review the basic principles here.
Rid your writing of these marks of the amateur. It may take some effort, but it will be worth it in the long run.
Monday, September 2, 2013
Amish Newspapers Thrive - WSJ
Interesting article about the success of Amish newspapers. Here's an excerpt -- read the entire article at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323608504579025273046278380.html?mod=itp
The two Amish newspapers, which their publishers say are profitable, have advantages other newspapers don't—notably a growing and captive readership, says Steve Nolt, a Mennonite history professor at Goshen College in Goshen, Ind. While the use of modern conveniences varies among Amish and Mennonite groups, the most conservative Amish group, whose members limit access to technology, stands at 280,000 in the U.S. and doubles about every 20 years, he says. Families are large—averaging seven children—although one woman who recently died had 19 children and 1,140 living direct descendants, her son-in-law reported in the Budget.
The two Amish newspapers, which their publishers say are profitable, have advantages other newspapers don't—notably a growing and captive readership, says Steve Nolt, a Mennonite history professor at Goshen College in Goshen, Ind. While the use of modern conveniences varies among Amish and Mennonite groups, the most conservative Amish group, whose members limit access to technology, stands at 280,000 in the U.S. and doubles about every 20 years, he says. Families are large—averaging seven children—although one woman who recently died had 19 children and 1,140 living direct descendants, her son-in-law reported in the Budget.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
If Clark Kent Tried to get a Newspaper Job Today
If Clark Kent (Superman) tried to get a newspaper job today:
http://observationdeck.io9.com/if-clark-kent-tried-to-get-a-newspaper-job-today-1163162396
http://observationdeck.io9.com/if-clark-kent-tried-to-get-a-newspaper-job-today-1163162396
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Bradley Manning Raises Style Questions on Gender References
From Poynter.org:
Bradley Manning news raises questions about how to refer to transgender people in stories
by Andrew Beaujon Published Aug. 22, 2013, The New York Times
Television reporters “weren’t immediately sure how to tell” the story of Bradley Manning’s announcement on “Today” that he identifies as a woman and will seek hormone therapy, Brian Stelter writes.
Savannah Guthrie, who broke the story, “used the pronoun ‘she’ to refer to Private Manning throughout most of the interview, but used ‘he’ when trying to emphasize the change had just been announced.”
Manning picked a bad time of the year to send journalists running to their stylebooks: The New York Times’ associate managing editor for standards, Phil Corbett? “[A]way until Tuesday, Aug. 27,” according to an auto-reply email. Washington Post standards editor Tracy Grant? “[O]ut of the office until Monday, August 26.” Los Angeles Times copy overlord Henry Fuhrmann? “I will be away from the office this week.”
“I think that’s being discussed,” says Washington Post copy editor Bill Walsh (who says he’s “away for a few days”) when asked about Post style. What’s a media reporter to do? In a later email, Grant confirmed the discussions: “We’re in the process of reviewing our style in light of the Manning situation,” she wrote.
Corbett’s email refers reporters to Greg Brock, the Times’ senior editor for standards, who sent Poynter the Times’ stylebook entry, which he says he’s sending “to those who might be working on the coverage.”
transgender (adj.) is an overall term for people whose current identity differs from their sex at birth, whether or not they have changed their biological characteristics. Cite a person’s transgender status only when it is pertinent and its pertinence is clear to the reader. Unless a former name is newsworthy or pertinent, use the name and pronouns (he, his, she, her, hers) preferred by the transgender person. If no preference is known, use the pronouns consistent with the way the subject lives publicly.{new 3/05}
A few minutes after that email, Corbett emailed to say pretty much the same thing: In general, he writes, “We use the names and pronouns preferred by the subject. And we would refer to someone’s transgender status only if it is relevant to the story.”
Here’s the Associated Press’ style:
transgender: Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.
If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.
And here’s GLAAD’s style, from its media reference guide:
Transgender An umbrella term (adj.) for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. The term may include but is not limited to: transsexuals, cross-dressers and other gender-variant people. Transgender people may identify as female-to-male (FTM) or male-to-female (MTF). Use the descriptive term (transgender, transsexual, cross-dresser, FTM or MTF) preferred by the individual. Transgender people may or may not decide to alter their bodies hormonally and/or surgically.
Some more from GLAAD:
Problematic: “transgenders,” “a transgender”
Preferred: “transgender people,” “a transgender person”
Transgender should be used as an adjective, not as a noun. Do not say, “Tony is a transgender,” or “The parade included many transgenders.” Instead say, “Tony is a transgender man,” or “The parade included many transgender people.”
Problematic: “transgendered”
Preferred: “transgender”
The adjective transgender should never have an extraneous “-ed” tacked onto the end. An “-ed” suffix adds unnecessary length to the word and can cause tense confusion and grammatical errors. For example, it is grammatically incorrect to turn transgender into a participle, as it is an adjective, not a verb, and only verbs can be used as participles by adding an “-ed” suffix.
Problematic: “sex change,” “pre-operative,” “post-operative”
Preferred: “transition”
Referring to a sex change operation, or using terms such as pre- or post-operative, inaccurately suggests that one must have surgery in order to transition. Avoid overemphasizing surgery when discussing transgender people or the process of transition.
Here’s the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association’s stylebook entry:
transgender: An umbrella term that refers to people whose biological and gender identity or expression may not be the same. This can but does not necessarily include preoperative, postoperative or nonoperative transsexuals, female and male cross-dressers, drag queens or kings, female or male impersonators, and intersex individuals. When writing about a transgender person, use the name and personal pronouns that are consistent with the way the individual lives publicly. When possible, ask which term the subject prefers.
Fuhrmann, who is attending the Asian American Journalists Association’s annual convention in New York City, emailed as this post was being published:
We’re in the process of drafting an update to our guidelines, which date to about 2003. Not having a copy of either version at hand, I can say generally that we refer to subjects by their chosen gender identification, in line with the guidelines recommended by GLAAD and NLGJA and with AP style. We use the name and personal pronoun that conform with how a person lives publicly.
Later in the afternoon, I heard from Valentina Djeljosevic, the Chicago Tribune’s deputy editor of Editing & Presentation. “The Chicago Tribune follows AP style,” she wrote in an email. “We’ll say Bradley Manning on first reference since that’s the name readers know. We’ll add that Manning identifies as Chelsea, and we’ll use ‘she’ when a pronoun is needed.”
Bradley Manning news raises questions about how to refer to transgender people in stories
by Andrew Beaujon Published Aug. 22, 2013, The New York Times
Television reporters “weren’t immediately sure how to tell” the story of Bradley Manning’s announcement on “Today” that he identifies as a woman and will seek hormone therapy, Brian Stelter writes.
Savannah Guthrie, who broke the story, “used the pronoun ‘she’ to refer to Private Manning throughout most of the interview, but used ‘he’ when trying to emphasize the change had just been announced.”
Manning picked a bad time of the year to send journalists running to their stylebooks: The New York Times’ associate managing editor for standards, Phil Corbett? “[A]way until Tuesday, Aug. 27,” according to an auto-reply email. Washington Post standards editor Tracy Grant? “[O]ut of the office until Monday, August 26.” Los Angeles Times copy overlord Henry Fuhrmann? “I will be away from the office this week.”
“I think that’s being discussed,” says Washington Post copy editor Bill Walsh (who says he’s “away for a few days”) when asked about Post style. What’s a media reporter to do? In a later email, Grant confirmed the discussions: “We’re in the process of reviewing our style in light of the Manning situation,” she wrote.
Corbett’s email refers reporters to Greg Brock, the Times’ senior editor for standards, who sent Poynter the Times’ stylebook entry, which he says he’s sending “to those who might be working on the coverage.”
transgender (adj.) is an overall term for people whose current identity differs from their sex at birth, whether or not they have changed their biological characteristics. Cite a person’s transgender status only when it is pertinent and its pertinence is clear to the reader. Unless a former name is newsworthy or pertinent, use the name and pronouns (he, his, she, her, hers) preferred by the transgender person. If no preference is known, use the pronouns consistent with the way the subject lives publicly.{new 3/05}
A few minutes after that email, Corbett emailed to say pretty much the same thing: In general, he writes, “We use the names and pronouns preferred by the subject. And we would refer to someone’s transgender status only if it is relevant to the story.”
Here’s the Associated Press’ style:
transgender: Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.
If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.
And here’s GLAAD’s style, from its media reference guide:
Transgender An umbrella term (adj.) for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. The term may include but is not limited to: transsexuals, cross-dressers and other gender-variant people. Transgender people may identify as female-to-male (FTM) or male-to-female (MTF). Use the descriptive term (transgender, transsexual, cross-dresser, FTM or MTF) preferred by the individual. Transgender people may or may not decide to alter their bodies hormonally and/or surgically.
Some more from GLAAD:
Problematic: “transgenders,” “a transgender”
Preferred: “transgender people,” “a transgender person”
Transgender should be used as an adjective, not as a noun. Do not say, “Tony is a transgender,” or “The parade included many transgenders.” Instead say, “Tony is a transgender man,” or “The parade included many transgender people.”
Problematic: “transgendered”
Preferred: “transgender”
The adjective transgender should never have an extraneous “-ed” tacked onto the end. An “-ed” suffix adds unnecessary length to the word and can cause tense confusion and grammatical errors. For example, it is grammatically incorrect to turn transgender into a participle, as it is an adjective, not a verb, and only verbs can be used as participles by adding an “-ed” suffix.
Problematic: “sex change,” “pre-operative,” “post-operative”
Preferred: “transition”
Referring to a sex change operation, or using terms such as pre- or post-operative, inaccurately suggests that one must have surgery in order to transition. Avoid overemphasizing surgery when discussing transgender people or the process of transition.
Here’s the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association’s stylebook entry:
transgender: An umbrella term that refers to people whose biological and gender identity or expression may not be the same. This can but does not necessarily include preoperative, postoperative or nonoperative transsexuals, female and male cross-dressers, drag queens or kings, female or male impersonators, and intersex individuals. When writing about a transgender person, use the name and personal pronouns that are consistent with the way the individual lives publicly. When possible, ask which term the subject prefers.
Fuhrmann, who is attending the Asian American Journalists Association’s annual convention in New York City, emailed as this post was being published:
We’re in the process of drafting an update to our guidelines, which date to about 2003. Not having a copy of either version at hand, I can say generally that we refer to subjects by their chosen gender identification, in line with the guidelines recommended by GLAAD and NLGJA and with AP style. We use the name and personal pronoun that conform with how a person lives publicly.
Later in the afternoon, I heard from Valentina Djeljosevic, the Chicago Tribune’s deputy editor of Editing & Presentation. “The Chicago Tribune follows AP style,” she wrote in an email. “We’ll say Bradley Manning on first reference since that’s the name readers know. We’ll add that Manning identifies as Chelsea, and we’ll use ‘she’ when a pronoun is needed.”
The Joy of Christian Journalism
Here's a little excerpt from an excellent column by Marvin Olasky of WORLD magazine. To read the entire article, click on this link: http://www.worldmag.com/2013/08/the_joy_of_christian_journalism/page1
Many media organizations, sadly, include journalists bored with life, which they see as purposeless. Not all secular journalists are that way: David Halberstam, who wrote about wars and politics but also baseball, said shortly before he died, “The legwork of reporting is critical and most of the fun. Think of it as part of a continuing education; we’re paid to learn. It isn’t just getting a byline that drives you; it isn’t just where the story lands in the paper. Fifty-two years later, I still like what I do.”
Christian journalists especially should have that attitude. We know human interest is important because every human is created in God’s image. Over 3,000 years ago the Egyptian Ptahotep gave career advice: “Be a scribe! You sit grandly in your house, beer is poured copiously. All who see you rejoice in good cheer. … Happy is the heart of him who writes; he is young each day.” How much more so should Christians relish the joy of journalism, making it part of a life’s goal: As the Westminster Catechism states, our chief end is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever”—and forever begins right now.
To enjoy fully our craft, Christian journalists often need two crucial understandings. One is that the children’s song “It’s a Small World (After All)” is dumb. It’s not a small world: It’s a large one, with millions of nooks and crannies and opportunities for adventure. In Robert Boynton’s book, The New New Journalism, writer Susan Orlean recalls with excitement an article she wrote about a gospel singing group: “It was astonishing for me to glimpse a world that was so fully developed—with its own stars, sagas, myths, history, millions of devotees—that I, in my narrow life, I had no idea existed.”
The second necessary understanding comes from pastor Tim Keller’s analysis of the parable of the prodigal son. Keller argues (The Prodigal God, 2008) that the parable should have a plural in its name: sons. We remember that the younger brother, of course, takes his inheritance, runs, and eventually finds that that his existence is truly oppressive. But the elder brother also has a problem: He is self-righteous and lacks joy. He works by the sweat of his brow and is angry with the younger brother for not doing his share, and then angry with the father for celebrating the prodigal’s return
When Christian journalists become solemn like some full-of-themselves pundits, we are not truly following Jesus, who regularly in the gospels flashes His sense of humor.
Many media organizations, sadly, include journalists bored with life, which they see as purposeless. Not all secular journalists are that way: David Halberstam, who wrote about wars and politics but also baseball, said shortly before he died, “The legwork of reporting is critical and most of the fun. Think of it as part of a continuing education; we’re paid to learn. It isn’t just getting a byline that drives you; it isn’t just where the story lands in the paper. Fifty-two years later, I still like what I do.”
Christian journalists especially should have that attitude. We know human interest is important because every human is created in God’s image. Over 3,000 years ago the Egyptian Ptahotep gave career advice: “Be a scribe! You sit grandly in your house, beer is poured copiously. All who see you rejoice in good cheer. … Happy is the heart of him who writes; he is young each day.” How much more so should Christians relish the joy of journalism, making it part of a life’s goal: As the Westminster Catechism states, our chief end is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever”—and forever begins right now.
To enjoy fully our craft, Christian journalists often need two crucial understandings. One is that the children’s song “It’s a Small World (After All)” is dumb. It’s not a small world: It’s a large one, with millions of nooks and crannies and opportunities for adventure. In Robert Boynton’s book, The New New Journalism, writer Susan Orlean recalls with excitement an article she wrote about a gospel singing group: “It was astonishing for me to glimpse a world that was so fully developed—with its own stars, sagas, myths, history, millions of devotees—that I, in my narrow life, I had no idea existed.”
The second necessary understanding comes from pastor Tim Keller’s analysis of the parable of the prodigal son. Keller argues (The Prodigal God, 2008) that the parable should have a plural in its name: sons. We remember that the younger brother, of course, takes his inheritance, runs, and eventually finds that that his existence is truly oppressive. But the elder brother also has a problem: He is self-righteous and lacks joy. He works by the sweat of his brow and is angry with the younger brother for not doing his share, and then angry with the father for celebrating the prodigal’s return
When Christian journalists become solemn like some full-of-themselves pundits, we are not truly following Jesus, who regularly in the gospels flashes His sense of humor.
Friday, August 23, 2013
Were You Thinking About Working in Television?
TV Guide‘s Stephen Battaglio and Michael Schneider tally up the highest-paid talent in television for this week’s magazine. The highest paid on-air individual in all of TV is syndicated judge “Judge Judy” Sheindlin, who rakes in an estimated $45 million a year for her eponymous program.
In the world of TV news, NBC “Today” co-anchor Matt Lauer leads the way, drawing an estimated $22-25 million every year. The highest-paid anchor on ABC News is “ABC World News” anchor Diane Sawyer, who pulls in an estimated $12 million a year, while “CBS Evening News” anchor Scott Pelley leads that network with $5 million a year.
On cable, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly is king, drawing an estimated $17 million a year, while MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow leads her channel with a $7 million a year deal. CNN’s Anderson Cooper tops that channel with an estimated $10 million a year deal.
Other notable names: Megyn Kelly‘s new deal is estimated to be worth $6 million a year, twice what Hoda Kotb draws, and more than three times as much as ABC’s Josh Elliott. Ann Curry is still one of the highest-paid reporters at NBC, drawing $5 million a year, while Sarah Palin‘s new FNC contract is believed to be in the $250,000 range.
In the world of TV news, NBC “Today” co-anchor Matt Lauer leads the way, drawing an estimated $22-25 million every year. The highest-paid anchor on ABC News is “ABC World News” anchor Diane Sawyer, who pulls in an estimated $12 million a year, while “CBS Evening News” anchor Scott Pelley leads that network with $5 million a year.
On cable, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly is king, drawing an estimated $17 million a year, while MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow leads her channel with a $7 million a year deal. CNN’s Anderson Cooper tops that channel with an estimated $10 million a year deal.
Other notable names: Megyn Kelly‘s new deal is estimated to be worth $6 million a year, twice what Hoda Kotb draws, and more than three times as much as ABC’s Josh Elliott. Ann Curry is still one of the highest-paid reporters at NBC, drawing $5 million a year, while Sarah Palin‘s new FNC contract is believed to be in the $250,000 range.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Barnes & Noble Chair Halts Plan to Buy Stores, Sales Slide
From Reuters:
Barnes & Noble chairman halts plan to buy stores as sales slide
By Jessica Wohl and Phil Wahba, Tue Aug 20, 2013 3:31pm EDT
(Reuters) - Barnes & Noble Inc's founder and largest shareholder on Tuesday suspended his plan to buy the bookseller's stores, dashing investor hopes for a deal as the company again reported poor quarterly results.
B&N shares fell 15 percent to $14.17, their lowest level since February, when Leonard Riggio, who is also chairman, said he planned to make an offer for B&N's retail business.
News of Riggio's change of heart came as the company reported a 10 percent decline in sales at its bookstores and bn.com website for the latest quarter, hurt by a drop in sales of Nook e-readers and tablets at its stores and the absence of a mega-bestseller like the "Fifty Shades of Grey" trilogy that boosted business last year.
A deal would have resulted in splitting stores off from B&N's Nook and college bookstore businesses.
Now, investors who were waiting for a deal are moving on.
"Right now, the issue is you've got a lot of short-term deal investors in the stock and there's no deal," said Maxim Group analyst John Tinker. Investors will now focus on business fundamentals instead, he said.
And those were weak - comparable sales fell at its college bookstore chain in the latest quarter, while the Nook unit's revenue fell 20 percent and Barnes & Noble's share of the U.S. ebooks market slipped.
Despite another quarter of losses, the company said its cash position was sound and its $1 billion credit facility nearly untouched. Its stores generate a lot of cash and are still very profitable.
The largest U.S. bookstore chain said it would still entertain offers for all or part of the company, and Riggio said he reserved the right to make another bid someday, but the focus now would be on a more "integrated" company.
"Nothing is taken off the table," B&N President Michael Huseby told Reuters. "We're at the point now where we're going to focus on operating the businesses to improve the value of each one."
This includes launching a new website next year with up-to-date technology to reverse an online sales slide and compete more forcefully with archrival Amazon.com Inc.
"Every publisher I've talked to fervently wants Barnes & Noble to retain its viability both at retail and in e-commerce," said Lorraine Shanley, co-founder of Market Partners International.
She said thousands of author readings the retailer hosts each year help lift book and author profiles.
B&N has said it still plans to close about 15 stores a year and could easily close more if needed: 442 leases out of 674 superstores are up for renewal within the next three years.
The company put itself up for sale in 2010, but the only offer came from Liberty Interactive. Liberty backed down from an initial $1 billion bid and instead bought $204 million of preferred shares convertible for $17 apiece in 2011.
Last year, Microsoft Corp took a 17.6 percent stake in Nook Media, and British publisher Pearson Plc bought 5 percent. Barnes & Noble owns the rest.
Riggio bought the original Barnes & Noble store in Manhattan in the 1970s and used it to launch a national chain of big-box stores. He holds nearly 30 percent of the company's stock.
FIRING ON NO CYLINDERS
The latest quarter was a tumultuous one.
William Lynch resigned as CEO on July 8, soon after the company announced a 34 percent quarterly revenue drop in its Nook digital business, a venture he spearheaded that has cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars. The company on Tuesday blamed those losses on overly optimistic projections in the past for the Nook.
Company executives said B&N has a 22 percent share of the U.S. e-books market, down from 27 percent in February.
B&N said in June it would no longer make new tablets unless it found a partner. An August Ipsos poll conducted for Reuters found that only 2 percent of those very or somewhat interested in purchasing a tablet in the upcoming holiday season were inclined toward a Nook, with Apple's Inc's iPad, Amazon's Kindle Fire and the Samsung Galaxy far ahead.
B&N hasn't given up on color and black-and-white e-readers: The company said on Tuesday it plans to release at least one new Nook device for the upcoming holiday season and that other products are in development.
Still, the chain has slashed prices on its Simple Touch e-readers, suggesting demand for the device was weak.
Sales of B&N's Nook device and e-books plunged 20.2 percent in the latest quarter, and same-store sales at its college chain fell 1.2 percent.
B&N reported a net loss of $87 million, or $1.56 per share, for the fiscal first quarter ended July 27, compared with a loss of $39.8 million, or 76 cents per share, a year earlier.
An adjusted loss of 86 cents per share, which excludes a valuation allowance against certain deferred tax assets, was narrower than the loss of 89 cents per share expected by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue fell 8.5 percent to $1.33 billion, slightly better than the $1.32 billion analysts had expected.
B&N said it still expects retail comparable-store sales to be down by a high-single-digit percentage in the current fiscal year.
Barnes & Noble chairman halts plan to buy stores as sales slide
By Jessica Wohl and Phil Wahba, Tue Aug 20, 2013 3:31pm EDT
(Reuters) - Barnes & Noble Inc's founder and largest shareholder on Tuesday suspended his plan to buy the bookseller's stores, dashing investor hopes for a deal as the company again reported poor quarterly results.
B&N shares fell 15 percent to $14.17, their lowest level since February, when Leonard Riggio, who is also chairman, said he planned to make an offer for B&N's retail business.
News of Riggio's change of heart came as the company reported a 10 percent decline in sales at its bookstores and bn.com website for the latest quarter, hurt by a drop in sales of Nook e-readers and tablets at its stores and the absence of a mega-bestseller like the "Fifty Shades of Grey" trilogy that boosted business last year.
A deal would have resulted in splitting stores off from B&N's Nook and college bookstore businesses.
Now, investors who were waiting for a deal are moving on.
"Right now, the issue is you've got a lot of short-term deal investors in the stock and there's no deal," said Maxim Group analyst John Tinker. Investors will now focus on business fundamentals instead, he said.
And those were weak - comparable sales fell at its college bookstore chain in the latest quarter, while the Nook unit's revenue fell 20 percent and Barnes & Noble's share of the U.S. ebooks market slipped.
Despite another quarter of losses, the company said its cash position was sound and its $1 billion credit facility nearly untouched. Its stores generate a lot of cash and are still very profitable.
The largest U.S. bookstore chain said it would still entertain offers for all or part of the company, and Riggio said he reserved the right to make another bid someday, but the focus now would be on a more "integrated" company.
"Nothing is taken off the table," B&N President Michael Huseby told Reuters. "We're at the point now where we're going to focus on operating the businesses to improve the value of each one."
This includes launching a new website next year with up-to-date technology to reverse an online sales slide and compete more forcefully with archrival Amazon.com Inc.
"Every publisher I've talked to fervently wants Barnes & Noble to retain its viability both at retail and in e-commerce," said Lorraine Shanley, co-founder of Market Partners International.
She said thousands of author readings the retailer hosts each year help lift book and author profiles.
B&N has said it still plans to close about 15 stores a year and could easily close more if needed: 442 leases out of 674 superstores are up for renewal within the next three years.
The company put itself up for sale in 2010, but the only offer came from Liberty Interactive. Liberty backed down from an initial $1 billion bid and instead bought $204 million of preferred shares convertible for $17 apiece in 2011.
Last year, Microsoft Corp took a 17.6 percent stake in Nook Media, and British publisher Pearson Plc bought 5 percent. Barnes & Noble owns the rest.
Riggio bought the original Barnes & Noble store in Manhattan in the 1970s and used it to launch a national chain of big-box stores. He holds nearly 30 percent of the company's stock.
FIRING ON NO CYLINDERS
The latest quarter was a tumultuous one.
William Lynch resigned as CEO on July 8, soon after the company announced a 34 percent quarterly revenue drop in its Nook digital business, a venture he spearheaded that has cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars. The company on Tuesday blamed those losses on overly optimistic projections in the past for the Nook.
Company executives said B&N has a 22 percent share of the U.S. e-books market, down from 27 percent in February.
B&N said in June it would no longer make new tablets unless it found a partner. An August Ipsos poll conducted for Reuters found that only 2 percent of those very or somewhat interested in purchasing a tablet in the upcoming holiday season were inclined toward a Nook, with Apple's Inc's iPad, Amazon's Kindle Fire and the Samsung Galaxy far ahead.
B&N hasn't given up on color and black-and-white e-readers: The company said on Tuesday it plans to release at least one new Nook device for the upcoming holiday season and that other products are in development.
Still, the chain has slashed prices on its Simple Touch e-readers, suggesting demand for the device was weak.
Sales of B&N's Nook device and e-books plunged 20.2 percent in the latest quarter, and same-store sales at its college chain fell 1.2 percent.
B&N reported a net loss of $87 million, or $1.56 per share, for the fiscal first quarter ended July 27, compared with a loss of $39.8 million, or 76 cents per share, a year earlier.
An adjusted loss of 86 cents per share, which excludes a valuation allowance against certain deferred tax assets, was narrower than the loss of 89 cents per share expected by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue fell 8.5 percent to $1.33 billion, slightly better than the $1.32 billion analysts had expected.
B&N said it still expects retail comparable-store sales to be down by a high-single-digit percentage in the current fiscal year.
Al Jazeera Has to Fix a Brand Problem
From Digiday.com:
Al Jazeera Has to Fix a Brand Problem
Josh Sternberg | August 20, 2013
Andre Agassi once told us that image is everything. Al Jazeera America, the newest entrant into the cable news fray, is learning this quite quickly.
Al Jazeera America goes live this afternoon, eight months after the Qatari government-funded media company bought Al Gore’s struggling network, Current TV, for $500 million. Its brand promise is a deeper dive into news and less shouting than other American cable networks like CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. A big hurdle: Some Americans associate its name, fairly or not, with terrorism. The bigger hurdle: Even more Americans have never heard of it and aren’t likely to trust it based on name alone.
“Perception of the company is absolutely their biggest obstacle; from the name, which is Arabic, to their competition,” said Christopher Penn, vp of marketing technology at Shift Communications. “It might actually be a positive for MSNBC and CNN, as Fox News will likely immediately brand it as the Terrorist News Network.”
Any entity entering the news category, which is so crowded now and undifferentiated, would have trouble, said Cohn & Wolfe’s North American president Jim Joseph. Al Jazeera America is at best an unknown brand, and Joseph believes since the average American doesn’t know it, she won’t trust it.
Joseph said that Al Jazeera America is going to have to deal with what might be perceived as a biased coverage coming from “a certain region of the world.” Any cable news watcher knows about bias. Political bias in the U.S. is a form of targeting. People watch voices they agree with. An Arab bias, he argued, won’t work.
“This kind of bias — it’s unknown, untrusted and scary — people won’t align with,” Joseph said. “They probably won’t touch it.”
The company’s negative image goes beyond potential viewers. Advertisers are also not completely on board. The NYT reports that Al Jazeera declined to mention major advertisers. Translation: We’re having troubles. Adweek also reports that buyers are having a difficult time getting their clients to lay their money down on the fledgling network.
In a conference call last week, Al Jazeera America’s CEO, Ehab Al Shihabi, emphasized its programming of “fact-based, unbiased and in-depth news,” as well as “less yelling and fewer celebrity sightings” as the way it will combat any negative perception and get people to tune in. But it’ll be a long slog.
In a 2009 study, Gallup found that 53 percent of respondents said their opinion of Islam was either “not too favorable” or “not favorable at all.” Americans are also twice as likely to express negative feelings about Muslims as they are about people who subscribe to other religions. Pew reported in May that post-September 11, 2001 attacks, Al Jazeera Arabic, the company’s flagship network, was seen as a mouthpiece for Al Qaeda. American attitudes towards Muslims are complicated.
Through this lens, Al Jazeera may have a difficult time getting Americans to watch. But there’s another issue Al Jazeera America faces. The cable network will start off in 48 million homes, or roughly half the number of households that CNN, Fox and MSNBC are in. This was the biggest problem Current TV had: People didn’t watch because it wasn’t offered to everyone (and it was hard to find on the dial).
“When the parent company created the Al Jazeera English satellite news channel seven years ago, most U.S. cable and satellite operators declined to carry it, and most American viewers could access it only online,” Pew reported.
Now that Al Jazeera America has its place on the TV spectrum it will no longer stream its services online because, as the New York Times reports, “distributors discourage their partners from giving programming away on the Internet.”
Other foreign TV networks, like the BBC, have made stronger footholds in America. This is not surprising given Americans’ fascination with all things British. Also, BBC America shows more than just news, airing popular shows like “Dr. Who” and “Top Gear.”
Al Jazeera America’s 900 staffers, including 400 in the newsroom (with names like former CNN’s Ali Velshi and Soledad O’Brien, former NBC News’ Mike Viqueira and John Seigenthaler and former MSNBC and Current TV’s David Shuster) and 12 bureaus across the country try to bolster its chances of adhering to American-centric programming.
Ultimately, according to Penn, Al Jazeera needs to determine what its brand wants to be in America.
“If they want to appeal to the mainstream, then they need to run news content that showcases exactly why they’re better than the alternatives,” Penn said. “They have to provide a compelling alternative to the existing mainstream news and establish a strong brand immediately, lest their competitors play dirty and marginalize them as nothing more than an ethnic news network.”
Al Jazeera Has to Fix a Brand Problem
Josh Sternberg | August 20, 2013
Andre Agassi once told us that image is everything. Al Jazeera America, the newest entrant into the cable news fray, is learning this quite quickly.
Al Jazeera America goes live this afternoon, eight months after the Qatari government-funded media company bought Al Gore’s struggling network, Current TV, for $500 million. Its brand promise is a deeper dive into news and less shouting than other American cable networks like CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. A big hurdle: Some Americans associate its name, fairly or not, with terrorism. The bigger hurdle: Even more Americans have never heard of it and aren’t likely to trust it based on name alone.
“Perception of the company is absolutely their biggest obstacle; from the name, which is Arabic, to their competition,” said Christopher Penn, vp of marketing technology at Shift Communications. “It might actually be a positive for MSNBC and CNN, as Fox News will likely immediately brand it as the Terrorist News Network.”
Any entity entering the news category, which is so crowded now and undifferentiated, would have trouble, said Cohn & Wolfe’s North American president Jim Joseph. Al Jazeera America is at best an unknown brand, and Joseph believes since the average American doesn’t know it, she won’t trust it.
Joseph said that Al Jazeera America is going to have to deal with what might be perceived as a biased coverage coming from “a certain region of the world.” Any cable news watcher knows about bias. Political bias in the U.S. is a form of targeting. People watch voices they agree with. An Arab bias, he argued, won’t work.
“This kind of bias — it’s unknown, untrusted and scary — people won’t align with,” Joseph said. “They probably won’t touch it.”
The company’s negative image goes beyond potential viewers. Advertisers are also not completely on board. The NYT reports that Al Jazeera declined to mention major advertisers. Translation: We’re having troubles. Adweek also reports that buyers are having a difficult time getting their clients to lay their money down on the fledgling network.
In a conference call last week, Al Jazeera America’s CEO, Ehab Al Shihabi, emphasized its programming of “fact-based, unbiased and in-depth news,” as well as “less yelling and fewer celebrity sightings” as the way it will combat any negative perception and get people to tune in. But it’ll be a long slog.
In a 2009 study, Gallup found that 53 percent of respondents said their opinion of Islam was either “not too favorable” or “not favorable at all.” Americans are also twice as likely to express negative feelings about Muslims as they are about people who subscribe to other religions. Pew reported in May that post-September 11, 2001 attacks, Al Jazeera Arabic, the company’s flagship network, was seen as a mouthpiece for Al Qaeda. American attitudes towards Muslims are complicated.
Through this lens, Al Jazeera may have a difficult time getting Americans to watch. But there’s another issue Al Jazeera America faces. The cable network will start off in 48 million homes, or roughly half the number of households that CNN, Fox and MSNBC are in. This was the biggest problem Current TV had: People didn’t watch because it wasn’t offered to everyone (and it was hard to find on the dial).
“When the parent company created the Al Jazeera English satellite news channel seven years ago, most U.S. cable and satellite operators declined to carry it, and most American viewers could access it only online,” Pew reported.
Now that Al Jazeera America has its place on the TV spectrum it will no longer stream its services online because, as the New York Times reports, “distributors discourage their partners from giving programming away on the Internet.”
Other foreign TV networks, like the BBC, have made stronger footholds in America. This is not surprising given Americans’ fascination with all things British. Also, BBC America shows more than just news, airing popular shows like “Dr. Who” and “Top Gear.”
Al Jazeera America’s 900 staffers, including 400 in the newsroom (with names like former CNN’s Ali Velshi and Soledad O’Brien, former NBC News’ Mike Viqueira and John Seigenthaler and former MSNBC and Current TV’s David Shuster) and 12 bureaus across the country try to bolster its chances of adhering to American-centric programming.
Ultimately, according to Penn, Al Jazeera needs to determine what its brand wants to be in America.
“If they want to appeal to the mainstream, then they need to run news content that showcases exactly why they’re better than the alternatives,” Penn said. “They have to provide a compelling alternative to the existing mainstream news and establish a strong brand immediately, lest their competitors play dirty and marginalize them as nothing more than an ethnic news network.”
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Despite Odds, Calif. City Becomes Two-Newspaper Town
Despite odds, Calif. city becomes 2 newspaper town
JUSTIN PRITCHARD, Associated Press
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The latest experiment in American journalism is a throwback: a new daily newspaper to compete against an established one in a big city.
With Monday's debut of the Long Beach Register, the ambitious owners of the Orange County Register are expanding their bet that consumers will reward an investment in news inked on paper and delivered to their doorsteps.
The competition is the Long Beach Press-Telegram, which was founded more than a century ago and maintains an average weekday circulation of about 55,000.
As a result of the budding newspaper battle, this city of 468,000 is joining the likes of Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston as what has become a rarity in 21st century America — the two newspaper town. Never mind shrinking circulations and online news migration.
"We believe that a city with the size and vibrancy of Long Beach should be happy to support a great newspaper of the variety we want to provide," said Aaron Kushner, who since buying the Orange County Register a year ago with a partner has surprised industry watchers by expanding reporting staff and page counts. "If it is, we'll make healthy money. If it's not, that'll be unfortunate for everyone. But we believe we'll be successful."
By launching the Long Beach Register, Kushner, publisher of the Register and CEO of Freedom Communications, is taking his contrarian instincts outside of Orange County.
Media business analyst Rick Edmonds said the last time he can recall a major U.S. city adding a new daily paper was around World War II, when Chicago got the Sun-Times and New York got Newsday. A brewing newspaper war in New Orleans between that city's Times-Picayune and a challenger based about 80 miles away in Baton Rouge, La., is the closest to what's unfolding in Long Beach.
"How will it play out?" asked Edmonds, of the Poynter Institute, a journalism foundation in St. Petersburg, Fla. "Don't really know until it happens."
Long Beach is a diverse city better known for its sprawling container ship port — one of the world's largest — than its beaches.
While its oceanfront drive features a large aquarium and the historic Queen Mary ocean liner, it also has big city problems including gangs. Bordering Orange County's urbanized north, it is in Los Angeles County, about 20 miles south of downtown LA.
In their small, sunlight-flooded newsroom, reporters for the new Register were greeted Thursday by two boxes of doughnuts and the kinds of issues that bedevil startups: who sits where, how come this outlet has no power, and how to get an Internet connection?
After a round of introductions, editor Paul Eakins told his staff that with at least 16 pages to fill each day, the paper would both cover "hyperlocal" news and welcome contributions from readers. In all, the paper has about 20 editorial employees.
Write about a boy becoming an Eagle Scout? Yes. Opening of the new dog park? You bet.
"I don't think they quite know what's coming," Eakins said of readers.
The plan Monday is to distribute 10,000 copies, publisher Ian Lamont said. It will be wrapped around the Orange County Register, so readers will get coverage of Long Beach's schools, sports, courts, happenings and City Hall — plus news from around the region and world. There will be no separate Long Beach paper on weekends.
Several reporters at the Long Beach Register are Press-Telegram alums, and though Eakins downplayed any rivalry, at the staff meeting there were gentle jabs about besting an old employer.
For their part, the Press-Telegram's bosses are giving no ground.
"We're not going to let a competitor come into our city and take it," said Michael A. Anastasi, vice president of news and executive editor of the Los Angeles News Group, which owns the Press-Telegram and eight other daily papers in the area.
The competition's certain winners, Anastasi said, will be local residents.
JUSTIN PRITCHARD, Associated Press
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The latest experiment in American journalism is a throwback: a new daily newspaper to compete against an established one in a big city.
With Monday's debut of the Long Beach Register, the ambitious owners of the Orange County Register are expanding their bet that consumers will reward an investment in news inked on paper and delivered to their doorsteps.
The competition is the Long Beach Press-Telegram, which was founded more than a century ago and maintains an average weekday circulation of about 55,000.
As a result of the budding newspaper battle, this city of 468,000 is joining the likes of Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston as what has become a rarity in 21st century America — the two newspaper town. Never mind shrinking circulations and online news migration.
"We believe that a city with the size and vibrancy of Long Beach should be happy to support a great newspaper of the variety we want to provide," said Aaron Kushner, who since buying the Orange County Register a year ago with a partner has surprised industry watchers by expanding reporting staff and page counts. "If it is, we'll make healthy money. If it's not, that'll be unfortunate for everyone. But we believe we'll be successful."
By launching the Long Beach Register, Kushner, publisher of the Register and CEO of Freedom Communications, is taking his contrarian instincts outside of Orange County.
Media business analyst Rick Edmonds said the last time he can recall a major U.S. city adding a new daily paper was around World War II, when Chicago got the Sun-Times and New York got Newsday. A brewing newspaper war in New Orleans between that city's Times-Picayune and a challenger based about 80 miles away in Baton Rouge, La., is the closest to what's unfolding in Long Beach.
"How will it play out?" asked Edmonds, of the Poynter Institute, a journalism foundation in St. Petersburg, Fla. "Don't really know until it happens."
Long Beach is a diverse city better known for its sprawling container ship port — one of the world's largest — than its beaches.
While its oceanfront drive features a large aquarium and the historic Queen Mary ocean liner, it also has big city problems including gangs. Bordering Orange County's urbanized north, it is in Los Angeles County, about 20 miles south of downtown LA.
In their small, sunlight-flooded newsroom, reporters for the new Register were greeted Thursday by two boxes of doughnuts and the kinds of issues that bedevil startups: who sits where, how come this outlet has no power, and how to get an Internet connection?
After a round of introductions, editor Paul Eakins told his staff that with at least 16 pages to fill each day, the paper would both cover "hyperlocal" news and welcome contributions from readers. In all, the paper has about 20 editorial employees.
Write about a boy becoming an Eagle Scout? Yes. Opening of the new dog park? You bet.
"I don't think they quite know what's coming," Eakins said of readers.
The plan Monday is to distribute 10,000 copies, publisher Ian Lamont said. It will be wrapped around the Orange County Register, so readers will get coverage of Long Beach's schools, sports, courts, happenings and City Hall — plus news from around the region and world. There will be no separate Long Beach paper on weekends.
Several reporters at the Long Beach Register are Press-Telegram alums, and though Eakins downplayed any rivalry, at the staff meeting there were gentle jabs about besting an old employer.
For their part, the Press-Telegram's bosses are giving no ground.
"We're not going to let a competitor come into our city and take it," said Michael A. Anastasi, vice president of news and executive editor of the Los Angeles News Group, which owns the Press-Telegram and eight other daily papers in the area.
The competition's certain winners, Anastasi said, will be local residents.
Friday, August 16, 2013
AOL's Patch Begins Massive Layoffs
AOL’s Patch Layoffs Coming Friday
August 15, 2013 at 8:49 pm PT
Tim_armstrong will begin laying off employees at its Patch unit on Friday, according to people familiar with the company’s plans.
Last week, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong announced that he would shutter or try to find partners for up to 400 of his 900 local news sites. I don’t know if Armstrong was able to find takers for any of the sites, but we should learn more about their status when the cuts begin today.
If I hear more about their scope, I’ll update this post. If you’re an AOL employee who would like to share your story, feel free to reach me at peter@allthingsd.com.
Armstrong co-founded Patch in 2007, when he was still running sales at Google. After taking the top job at AOL in 2009, he had the Web giant buy the local news startup, and since then has poured a lot of money into the venture, to the concern of AOL investors.
It’s relatively easy to understand Armstrong’s bet on Patch. No Internet company has truly cracked the local news and information business at scale. And if someone could do that, they could capture a huge pool of ad money that has yet to migrate to the Web.
But Patch hasn’t done that, either. Last year, it lost money on $35 million in revenue. Earlier this year, Armstrong promised that Patch would become profitable by the end of 2013.
But it’s hard to see how that would happen without significant cuts. As Bloomberg’s Ed Lee pointed out in June, even if Patch doubled its sales from last year, to $70 million, it would still be much less than its operating expenses of approximately $140 million.
Source: http://allthingsd.com/20130815/aols-patch-layoffs-coming-friday/
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Balow's Warning on 'Doomsday Words'
Industry veteran Dan Balow (whom I admire very much) has a good, reasonable perspective on the future of the industry in this blogpost from Steve Laube's blog:
Doomsday Words
by Dan Balow
“Nobody is buying print books anymore”
“Nobody is buying printed magazines or newspapers anymore”
“No one shops at bookstores anymore”
“No one is reading anymore”
“No one goes to the trade shows anymore”
“No one needs a traditional publisher anymore”
“Everyone should just self-publish”
When the speed of change is faster than we can easily comprehend, our language has a difficult time catching up with reality, so we have a tendency to use over-stated terms to describe what is happening. Our very choice of words open the door to making some very poor business decisions. How? Rather than seeking wise solutions by understanding the facts, we make fast decisions based on incomplete information. Simply…it’s faster.
Nobody, no one, everyone, always, never, etc.
Not limited to publishing, over-stated language fills our political process, the financial markets, our personal lives and even our churches.
Overall, eBooks represent about 25% of all book sales…so digital-only books miss 75% of the market.
Print magazines, newspapers and trade shows are a lot alike…they reach a point where the cost cannot justify continuing, even though hundreds of thousands of people still read them or thousands of people attend an exposition. Readers Digest declared chapter 11 bankruptcy but had millions of print subscribers.
Bookstores still sell half of all print editions of most books. Sure, it is less than it was years ago, but it is still significant.
Traditional publishers still publish hundreds of thousands of new titles every year and account for significant majority of all books sold. Alternative methods of publishing have surpassed the title output of traditional publishers, but hold a small % of the overall dollar and unit volume.
So why use the word “nobody” to describe 75% of the market or “no one” applied to something that still holds a majority of a segment’s business? Information and facts always make things complicated. Wise decision-making is harder to come by. Take time, see the truth, then make wise decisions and hold realistic opinions.
As the great social commentator and sage Yogi Berra once said, “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.”
Doomsday Words
by Dan Balow
“Nobody is buying print books anymore”
“Nobody is buying printed magazines or newspapers anymore”
“No one shops at bookstores anymore”
“No one is reading anymore”
“No one goes to the trade shows anymore”
“No one needs a traditional publisher anymore”
“Everyone should just self-publish”
When the speed of change is faster than we can easily comprehend, our language has a difficult time catching up with reality, so we have a tendency to use over-stated terms to describe what is happening. Our very choice of words open the door to making some very poor business decisions. How? Rather than seeking wise solutions by understanding the facts, we make fast decisions based on incomplete information. Simply…it’s faster.
Nobody, no one, everyone, always, never, etc.
Not limited to publishing, over-stated language fills our political process, the financial markets, our personal lives and even our churches.
Overall, eBooks represent about 25% of all book sales…so digital-only books miss 75% of the market.
Print magazines, newspapers and trade shows are a lot alike…they reach a point where the cost cannot justify continuing, even though hundreds of thousands of people still read them or thousands of people attend an exposition. Readers Digest declared chapter 11 bankruptcy but had millions of print subscribers.
Bookstores still sell half of all print editions of most books. Sure, it is less than it was years ago, but it is still significant.
Traditional publishers still publish hundreds of thousands of new titles every year and account for significant majority of all books sold. Alternative methods of publishing have surpassed the title output of traditional publishers, but hold a small % of the overall dollar and unit volume.
So why use the word “nobody” to describe 75% of the market or “no one” applied to something that still holds a majority of a segment’s business? Information and facts always make things complicated. Wise decision-making is harder to come by. Take time, see the truth, then make wise decisions and hold realistic opinions.
As the great social commentator and sage Yogi Berra once said, “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.”
Friday, May 31, 2013
Reporters often cry along with the rest of us in sorrowful times like these
By Mark Masse for The News-Sentinel
Friday, May 31, 2013 - 12:01 am
Once again, the death of innocent children in an American elementary school dominates the news. This time, the fatalities are a result of violent weather — a devastating tornado — not a deranged gunman. But our emotions of shock, sorrow and grief are the same, as are many of the questions.
How could this happen? Why did some live while many died? How are surviving family members and friends coping with the unbearable loss of loved ones? Will they ever really recover?
Some of those asking such questions stand in front of the cameras, holding reporters’ notebooks or voice recorders. Still others take photos or video to capture the details on the scene. They are bearing witness so the rest in society can try to understand the import and impact of such an unfathomable act of God, nature, fate or bad luck. And many of those journalists are crying while they ask their questions, observe acres of destruction, gather their facts and compile their narratives.
Most of these are caring, professional reporters, not unfeeling “info-bots.” Certainly, there are notorious exceptions — on and off camera — of news media workers who manipulate people to garner emotional reactions. But, thankfully, these are rarer in an era where American tragedies and traumas arrive in waves and are universally known by just uttering a few words: Oklahoma City, Columbine, 9/11, Katrina, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Newtown and, once again, Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City journalists have been frontline first responders through major crises during the last two decades: the bombing in 1995 that claimed 168 lives, killer tornadoes in 1999, the airplane crash in 2001 that claimed members of the Oklahoma State University basketball team and then more deadly tornadoes through the young 21st century, notably the one that struck on May 20 in Moore, a suburb of Oklahoma City, leaving a 17-mile path of destruction.
Contrary to the old newsroom myth stating that journalists are supposed to suspend any emotional involvement in their news coverage, a more enlightened generation of contemporary media workers realizes that observing the suffering of others indeed takes an emotional toll and carries serious responsibilities: Take care of yourself while being empathetic and respectful to those affected by tragic circumstances; ask questions sensitively so as not to retraumatize those dealing with loss; above all, be professional so audiences can better understand the world, especially in times of trouble.
Joe Hight, former managing editor of The Oklahoman newspaper and founding president of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, calls the current reform movement in the news media “a culture of caring” for journalists, their sources and communities affected by tragedy and trauma. Yes, print, broadcast and online reporters can be emotional while doing their jobs. And they can cry along with the rest of us at sorrowful times like these.
Mark H. Masse is a professor of literary journalism at Ball State University. He is the author of “Trauma Journalism: On Deadline in Harm’s Way” (2011, Bloomsbury) and other book-length works of narrative nonfiction as well as two novels.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Chicago Paper Lays Off Photographic Staff
Chicago Sun-Times lays off its photo staff
By Robert Channick Tribune staff reporter
1:14 p.m. EDT, May 30, 2013
The Chicago Sun-Times has laid off its entire photography staff, and plans to use freelance photographers and reporters to shoot photos and video going forward, the newspaper said.
A total of 28 full-time staffers received the news Thursday morning at a meeting held at the Sun-Times offices in Chicago, according to sources familiar with the situation. The layoffs are effective immediately.
The newspaper released a statement suggesting the move reflected the increasing importance of video in news reporting:
"The Sun-Times business is changing rapidly and our audiences are consistently seeking more video content with their news. We have made great progress in meeting this demand and are focused on bolstering our reporting capabilities with video and other multimedia elements. The Chicago Sun-Times continues to evolve with our digitally savvy customers, and as a result, we have had to restructure the way we manage multimedia, including photography, across the network."
The company is also preparing to supplement its freelance staff with reporters to shoot more video and photos, according to sources.
Among those laid off was longtime Sun-Times photographer John H. White, who won a Pulitzer Prize for feature photography in 1982. In winning the award, White was praised for his “consistently excellent work on a variety of subjects.”
By Robert Channick Tribune staff reporter
1:14 p.m. EDT, May 30, 2013
The Chicago Sun-Times has laid off its entire photography staff, and plans to use freelance photographers and reporters to shoot photos and video going forward, the newspaper said.
A total of 28 full-time staffers received the news Thursday morning at a meeting held at the Sun-Times offices in Chicago, according to sources familiar with the situation. The layoffs are effective immediately.
The newspaper released a statement suggesting the move reflected the increasing importance of video in news reporting:
"The Sun-Times business is changing rapidly and our audiences are consistently seeking more video content with their news. We have made great progress in meeting this demand and are focused on bolstering our reporting capabilities with video and other multimedia elements. The Chicago Sun-Times continues to evolve with our digitally savvy customers, and as a result, we have had to restructure the way we manage multimedia, including photography, across the network."
The company is also preparing to supplement its freelance staff with reporters to shoot more video and photos, according to sources.
Among those laid off was longtime Sun-Times photographer John H. White, who won a Pulitzer Prize for feature photography in 1982. In winning the award, White was praised for his “consistently excellent work on a variety of subjects.”
Friday, April 12, 2013
How Many Christians Are There in Newsrooms?
from Poynter.org
There’s no good data on how many Christians are in newsrooms
by Andrew Beaujon Published Apr. 12, 2013 3:52 pm Updated Apr. 12, 2013 4:20 pm
Matt K. Lewis says newspapers need to hire more Christians: “Media outlets who want to understand America should at least have a few journalists hanging around who share — or at least, aren’t hostile to — the Christian faith.”
But Lewis doesn’t quantify his claim that Christians are unwelcome in newsrooms: He cites a New York Times obituary of McCandlish Phillips — an evangelical who said there were no fellow-travelers when he started at the paper in 1952 and who was leading prayer meetings there before he left in 1973 — and says that if more journalists were Christians, there’d be more coverage of Kermit Gosnell’s trial.
Lewis didn’t reply to a query about whether he had any data about Christians in newsrooms. Another problem: As happens way too often in media criticism, he lets the Times and The Washington Post stand in for all of newspapering.
The American Society of News Editors surveys newsrooms across the country annually about sex and race, but not religion, Executive Director Arnie Robbins told Poynter in an email. The closest I could find to industry-wide data was a 2007 Pew study that surveyed journalists on their churchgoing habits. The table is on page 55; here’s a somewhat hard-to-read screenshot (click to view a little bigger):
8 percent of journalists at national publications and 14 percent of those at local publications reported attending worship services weekly, compared with 39 percent of the general public who reported the same. But attendance and belief don’t always correlate neatly, and it’s important also to note that newsroom employment has plunged between 2007 and today.
So that leaves anecdotal evidence. Reached by phone, Huffington Post religion reporter Jaweed Kaleem said he’s had Mormon and evangelical colleagues approach him after he’s written a story touching on their faiths: “Sometimes it takes writing a story to have people come and let you know they are there,” he said. HuffPost senior religion editor Paul Raushenbush, for instance, is an ordained American Baptist minister, and HuffPost reporter Jon Ward, as Lewis noted in his piece, described himself as a “sinner saved by grace” in a recent interview.
Kaleem said he agrees with Lewis’ call for more religious diversity. “I agree on that broad point,” he said. “I just don’t know what numbers back that up.”
Marvin Olasky is the editor-in-chief of World Magazine and the dean of the World Journalism Institute, whose mission is to “recruit, equip, place and encourage journalists who are Christians in the newsrooms of America first and then the world.”
Reached by phone, he said he hadn’t seen any data about Christian representation in newsrooms but said encountering a politically conservative and “theologically Christian” employee at a major newspaper is akin to “spotting a unicorn.”
When training students at WJI, Olasky said, “I basically say to kids that are going to work on secular newspapers if you can actually follow the various journalistic codes” — writing balanced stories, giving equal space to, say, pro-life and pro-choice voices — “you’re doing a lot better than most newspapers tend to do.”
Christian reporters at some newspapers, he said, “run into a wall, they’re told implicitly we don’t want you giving equal space to the other side.” Journalism is a great discipline for a Christian, Olasky said: “What distinguishes the evangelical way of looking at things is you take experience very seriously, and you also take the Bible very seriously. And at least what I’ve seen in the 37 years I’ve been a Christian and journalist is they go together.”
Reporting on poverty, for example: “It is easy to find particular verses that you can use to justify one set of policies or another set of policies,” said Olasky, whose writings on poverty deeply influenced President George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservative” philosophy.
Reporting out stories and letting facts take you where they will informs his understanding of the Bible and his subject, he said. “It cuts both ways.”
There’s no good data on how many Christians are in newsrooms
by Andrew Beaujon Published Apr. 12, 2013 3:52 pm Updated Apr. 12, 2013 4:20 pm
Matt K. Lewis says newspapers need to hire more Christians: “Media outlets who want to understand America should at least have a few journalists hanging around who share — or at least, aren’t hostile to — the Christian faith.”
But Lewis doesn’t quantify his claim that Christians are unwelcome in newsrooms: He cites a New York Times obituary of McCandlish Phillips — an evangelical who said there were no fellow-travelers when he started at the paper in 1952 and who was leading prayer meetings there before he left in 1973 — and says that if more journalists were Christians, there’d be more coverage of Kermit Gosnell’s trial.
Lewis didn’t reply to a query about whether he had any data about Christians in newsrooms. Another problem: As happens way too often in media criticism, he lets the Times and The Washington Post stand in for all of newspapering.
The American Society of News Editors surveys newsrooms across the country annually about sex and race, but not religion, Executive Director Arnie Robbins told Poynter in an email. The closest I could find to industry-wide data was a 2007 Pew study that surveyed journalists on their churchgoing habits. The table is on page 55; here’s a somewhat hard-to-read screenshot (click to view a little bigger):
8 percent of journalists at national publications and 14 percent of those at local publications reported attending worship services weekly, compared with 39 percent of the general public who reported the same. But attendance and belief don’t always correlate neatly, and it’s important also to note that newsroom employment has plunged between 2007 and today.
So that leaves anecdotal evidence. Reached by phone, Huffington Post religion reporter Jaweed Kaleem said he’s had Mormon and evangelical colleagues approach him after he’s written a story touching on their faiths: “Sometimes it takes writing a story to have people come and let you know they are there,” he said. HuffPost senior religion editor Paul Raushenbush, for instance, is an ordained American Baptist minister, and HuffPost reporter Jon Ward, as Lewis noted in his piece, described himself as a “sinner saved by grace” in a recent interview.
Kaleem said he agrees with Lewis’ call for more religious diversity. “I agree on that broad point,” he said. “I just don’t know what numbers back that up.”
Marvin Olasky is the editor-in-chief of World Magazine and the dean of the World Journalism Institute, whose mission is to “recruit, equip, place and encourage journalists who are Christians in the newsrooms of America first and then the world.”
Reached by phone, he said he hadn’t seen any data about Christian representation in newsrooms but said encountering a politically conservative and “theologically Christian” employee at a major newspaper is akin to “spotting a unicorn.”
When training students at WJI, Olasky said, “I basically say to kids that are going to work on secular newspapers if you can actually follow the various journalistic codes” — writing balanced stories, giving equal space to, say, pro-life and pro-choice voices — “you’re doing a lot better than most newspapers tend to do.”
Christian reporters at some newspapers, he said, “run into a wall, they’re told implicitly we don’t want you giving equal space to the other side.” Journalism is a great discipline for a Christian, Olasky said: “What distinguishes the evangelical way of looking at things is you take experience very seriously, and you also take the Bible very seriously. And at least what I’ve seen in the 37 years I’ve been a Christian and journalist is they go together.”
Reporting on poverty, for example: “It is easy to find particular verses that you can use to justify one set of policies or another set of policies,” said Olasky, whose writings on poverty deeply influenced President George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservative” philosophy.
Reporting out stories and letting facts take you where they will informs his understanding of the Bible and his subject, he said. “It cuts both ways.”
Upcoming Writers Conferences
Upcoming Christian writing conferences & book events:
April 12-13, 2013ACW Mentoring Retreat, Nashville, TN
http://www.acwriters.com/
April 17, 2013: Santa Barbara Christian Writing & Book Marketing Sym.Santa Barbara, CA www.cwgsb.com
April 20, 2013:North Alabama Book Fair, Albertville, AL
http://northalabamabookfair.weebly.com/index.html
April 27, 2013: Writing Success One Day Conference, Stoneboro, PA
http://writingsuccess.info
May 15-18, 2013: Colorado Christian Writers Conference, Estes Park, CO
http://www.writehisanswer.com/
May 17-18, 2013ACW Mentoring Retreat, Charlotte, NC
http://www.acwriters.com/
May 17-18, 2013: Northwest Christian Writers Renewal, Redmond, WA,
http://www.nwchristianwriters.org/
June 20-22, 2013: KY Christian Writers Conference, Elizabethtown, KY
www.kychristianwriters.com
July 21-26, 2013: Montrose Christian Writers Conference, Montrose, PA
http://www.montrosebible.org/writers.htm
July 31-Aug 3, ’13: Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference, Langhorne, PA
http://www.writehisanswer.com/philadelphia/
Aug. 22-24, 2013: Catch the Wave Writer’s Conference, Atlanta, Georgia
http://www.christianauthorsguild.org/201202catch-the-wave-writers-conference-conference/
Sept 13-15: ACFW 2013 Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana
http://www.acfw.com/conference
October 10-12, 2013: AntelopeValley Christian Writers’ Conference, Lake Hughes, CA http://www.avwriters.com/
Oct. 17-19, 2013: CLASS Christian Writers Conference, Albuquerque, NM
www.classeminars.org
Upcoming secular writing conferences and book events:
April 12-14, 2013, NY Writers Workshop Perfect Pitch Fiction Conference, NY, NY http://newyorkwritersworkshop.com/category/conferences/fictionpitch
April 12-14, 2013: Texas Mountain Trail Writers Retreat, Alpine, TX www.texasmountaintrailwriters.org
May 17-19, 2013: Pennwriters Conference Pittsburgh, PA http://www.pennwriters.org/prod/
June 22-23, 2013: CA Crime Writers Conference, Pasadena, CA
http://www.ccwconference.org/index.html
June 9-23: Iowa Summer Writing Festival, Iowa City, IA http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/iswfest/
June 8-13, 2013: The Santa Barbara Writers Conference, Santa Barbara, CA
http://www.sbwriters.com/conference
Sep 20-22, 2013, Southern California Writers' Conference, Los Angeles, CA
http://www.writersconference.com/la
April 12-13, 2013ACW Mentoring Retreat, Nashville, TN
http://www.acwriters.com/
April 17, 2013: Santa Barbara Christian Writing & Book Marketing Sym.Santa Barbara, CA www.cwgsb.com
April 20, 2013:North Alabama Book Fair, Albertville, AL
http://northalabamabookfair.weebly.com/index.html
April 27, 2013: Writing Success One Day Conference, Stoneboro, PA
http://writingsuccess.info
May 15-18, 2013: Colorado Christian Writers Conference, Estes Park, CO
http://www.writehisanswer.com/
May 17-18, 2013ACW Mentoring Retreat, Charlotte, NC
http://www.acwriters.com/
May 17-18, 2013: Northwest Christian Writers Renewal, Redmond, WA,
http://www.nwchristianwriters.org/
June 20-22, 2013: KY Christian Writers Conference, Elizabethtown, KY
www.kychristianwriters.com
July 21-26, 2013: Montrose Christian Writers Conference, Montrose, PA
http://www.montrosebible.org/writers.htm
July 31-Aug 3, ’13: Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference, Langhorne, PA
http://www.writehisanswer.com/philadelphia/
Aug. 22-24, 2013: Catch the Wave Writer’s Conference, Atlanta, Georgia
http://www.christianauthorsguild.org/201202catch-the-wave-writers-conference-conference/
Sept 13-15: ACFW 2013 Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana
http://www.acfw.com/conference
October 10-12, 2013: AntelopeValley Christian Writers’ Conference, Lake Hughes, CA http://www.avwriters.com/
Oct. 17-19, 2013: CLASS Christian Writers Conference, Albuquerque, NM
www.classeminars.org
Upcoming secular writing conferences and book events:
April 12-14, 2013, NY Writers Workshop Perfect Pitch Fiction Conference, NY, NY http://newyorkwritersworkshop.com/category/conferences/fictionpitch
April 12-14, 2013: Texas Mountain Trail Writers Retreat, Alpine, TX www.texasmountaintrailwriters.org
May 17-19, 2013: Pennwriters Conference Pittsburgh, PA http://www.pennwriters.org/prod/
June 22-23, 2013: CA Crime Writers Conference, Pasadena, CA
http://www.ccwconference.org/index.html
June 9-23: Iowa Summer Writing Festival, Iowa City, IA http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/iswfest/
June 8-13, 2013: The Santa Barbara Writers Conference, Santa Barbara, CA
http://www.sbwriters.com/conference
Sep 20-22, 2013, Southern California Writers' Conference, Los Angeles, CA
http://www.writersconference.com/la
Thursday, March 14, 2013
When Journalists Cross Over
From Digiday:
When Journalists Cross Over
Giselle Abramovich
When Steve Wildstrom left Businessweek in 2009, he’d spent 35 years there as a journalist, including 15 years of which he spent writing the “Technology & You” column. It wasn’t the most auspicious time to be a seasoned journalist looking for a job. The old path would be to “sell out” and go into public relations. But with the rise of “brands as publishers,” Wildstrom found himself dabbling in “brand journalism.”
His first corporate reporting gig was with technology company Nvidia, and he later moved on to report for Cisco, where he still writes today. That’s in addition to him founding and writing for Tech.pinions, a site for tech industry analysis and commentary.
The rise in demand for branded content means brands hire seasoned journalists as “corporate reporters,” who work inside the company and produce media like blog posts, videos, webinars and more. It certainly isn’t exactly the work of “speaking truth to power,” but times are tough in the media world.
The twist is this path isn’t exactly like public relations. Brands are realizing, to a degree, that if they truly want to be publishers they can’t just have people churning out corporate boilerplate. They’re loosening the reins a bit in a bid to attract actual reporters. Still, within the journalism ranks writing for brands carries some stigma. That said, the money can be good and the work regular.
“I was a little a little skeptical with my first gig like this with Nvidia,” Wildstrom said. “My worries were about reputation and the reaction of my colleagues, the types of pressures I would come under, you know, the obvious things.”
Cisco got into the content game two years ago, when it launched The Network, a blog covering Cisco-relevant industry trends and challenges. A member of Cisco’s PR team realized that a lot of the same journalists he was pitching Cisco stories to were now out of jobs, and so he suggested hiring one or two and having them provide unbiased, honest reporting of what’s going on in networking. Wildstrom was approached, and he accepted the position.
Wildstrom says he’s happy with how Cisco handles its role as publisher. There are, however, sensitive subjects. The touchiest is spectrum allocation for wireless data, which is a subject Wildstrom follows closely. Cisco’s sensitive on the matter because it doesn’t want to step on the FCC’s toes. But spectrum allocation would be bad for business.
“The limitations don’t really pose a challenge in terms of how honest I can be in an article because I’ve learned that the trick is to avoid subjects where that becomes a problem,” Wildstrom said. “That’s how I have chosen to handle it. If I can’t be honest, I won’t write it.”
Wildstrom helps populate “The Network” about twice a month. Each time he writes a story, he shares it with his 4,200 Twitter followers, who are just the kind of people that Cisco is trying to reach. Wildstrom is, after all, an influencer in the tech world.
Along with 15 other journalists, he’s paid on a per-column basis. Cisco’s editorial policy is to forbid its writers from covering the company or its competitors. Instead, it wants them to write about areas of focus for the company around networking technology. Wildstrom’s most recent piece, however, was about smart cars, a business Cisco is heavily involved in. Wildstrom had to request to mention the brand — an interesting turnabout.
“They are so deeply involved in that,” Wildstrom said. “It would not make sense without Cisco in the piece.”
Cisco professes that its main goal is quality content. To do so, it realizes it must employ experienced reporters who will chafe at too many heavy-handed restrictions, said Karen Snell, social media communications manager at Cisco.
“Hiring seasoned journalists is just another approach to developing content that may resonate with a particular sector of your audience,” she said.
If you look at “The Network” and the stories being produced, they’re quite the opposite of what you’d expect from branded content. A lot of journalists think that writing for a brand is like crossing over to the “dark side.” However, there are certainly downsides with any organization that produces media, as noted by Jonah Bloom, chief strategy officer of kbs+, and former editor of Ad Age.
“Whatever organization you work for, shy of BBC, NPR or PBS, it has commercial motives,” he said. “It’s ultimately the shareholders you are serving, and if you think otherwise, you are naïve. In that sense, whether you are working for News Corp. or Amex, there isn’t really a big difference. Ultimately, the consumer is the arbiter of whether your info is credible, useful and has integrity. And I don’t think consumers care whether they’re getting small-business advice from Amex or Acme Business Publishing. In either case, if it’s not good, sound advice, helping them achieve their business goals, they will turn to other sources.”
When Journalists Cross Over
Giselle Abramovich
When Steve Wildstrom left Businessweek in 2009, he’d spent 35 years there as a journalist, including 15 years of which he spent writing the “Technology & You” column. It wasn’t the most auspicious time to be a seasoned journalist looking for a job. The old path would be to “sell out” and go into public relations. But with the rise of “brands as publishers,” Wildstrom found himself dabbling in “brand journalism.”
His first corporate reporting gig was with technology company Nvidia, and he later moved on to report for Cisco, where he still writes today. That’s in addition to him founding and writing for Tech.pinions, a site for tech industry analysis and commentary.
The rise in demand for branded content means brands hire seasoned journalists as “corporate reporters,” who work inside the company and produce media like blog posts, videos, webinars and more. It certainly isn’t exactly the work of “speaking truth to power,” but times are tough in the media world.
The twist is this path isn’t exactly like public relations. Brands are realizing, to a degree, that if they truly want to be publishers they can’t just have people churning out corporate boilerplate. They’re loosening the reins a bit in a bid to attract actual reporters. Still, within the journalism ranks writing for brands carries some stigma. That said, the money can be good and the work regular.
“I was a little a little skeptical with my first gig like this with Nvidia,” Wildstrom said. “My worries were about reputation and the reaction of my colleagues, the types of pressures I would come under, you know, the obvious things.”
Cisco got into the content game two years ago, when it launched The Network, a blog covering Cisco-relevant industry trends and challenges. A member of Cisco’s PR team realized that a lot of the same journalists he was pitching Cisco stories to were now out of jobs, and so he suggested hiring one or two and having them provide unbiased, honest reporting of what’s going on in networking. Wildstrom was approached, and he accepted the position.
Wildstrom says he’s happy with how Cisco handles its role as publisher. There are, however, sensitive subjects. The touchiest is spectrum allocation for wireless data, which is a subject Wildstrom follows closely. Cisco’s sensitive on the matter because it doesn’t want to step on the FCC’s toes. But spectrum allocation would be bad for business.
“The limitations don’t really pose a challenge in terms of how honest I can be in an article because I’ve learned that the trick is to avoid subjects where that becomes a problem,” Wildstrom said. “That’s how I have chosen to handle it. If I can’t be honest, I won’t write it.”
Wildstrom helps populate “The Network” about twice a month. Each time he writes a story, he shares it with his 4,200 Twitter followers, who are just the kind of people that Cisco is trying to reach. Wildstrom is, after all, an influencer in the tech world.
Along with 15 other journalists, he’s paid on a per-column basis. Cisco’s editorial policy is to forbid its writers from covering the company or its competitors. Instead, it wants them to write about areas of focus for the company around networking technology. Wildstrom’s most recent piece, however, was about smart cars, a business Cisco is heavily involved in. Wildstrom had to request to mention the brand — an interesting turnabout.
“They are so deeply involved in that,” Wildstrom said. “It would not make sense without Cisco in the piece.”
Cisco professes that its main goal is quality content. To do so, it realizes it must employ experienced reporters who will chafe at too many heavy-handed restrictions, said Karen Snell, social media communications manager at Cisco.
“Hiring seasoned journalists is just another approach to developing content that may resonate with a particular sector of your audience,” she said.
If you look at “The Network” and the stories being produced, they’re quite the opposite of what you’d expect from branded content. A lot of journalists think that writing for a brand is like crossing over to the “dark side.” However, there are certainly downsides with any organization that produces media, as noted by Jonah Bloom, chief strategy officer of kbs+, and former editor of Ad Age.
“Whatever organization you work for, shy of BBC, NPR or PBS, it has commercial motives,” he said. “It’s ultimately the shareholders you are serving, and if you think otherwise, you are naïve. In that sense, whether you are working for News Corp. or Amex, there isn’t really a big difference. Ultimately, the consumer is the arbiter of whether your info is credible, useful and has integrity. And I don’t think consumers care whether they’re getting small-business advice from Amex or Acme Business Publishing. In either case, if it’s not good, sound advice, helping them achieve their business goals, they will turn to other sources.”
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Buffett Positive on Newspapers
Warren Buffett on why his company has bought 28 daily newspapers in recent years:
"Charlie and I believe that papers delivering comprehensive and reliable information to tightly-bound communities and having a sensible Internet strategy will remain viable for a long time. We do not believe that success will come from cutting either the news content or frequency of publication. Indeed, skimpy news coverage will almost certainly lead to skimpy readership. And the less-than-daily publication that is now being tried in some large towns or cities – while it may improve profits in the short term – seems certain to diminish the papers' relevance over time. Our goal is to keep our papers loaded with content of interest to our readers and to be paid appropriately by those who find us useful, whether the product they view is in their hands or on the Internet."
"Charlie and I believe that papers delivering comprehensive and reliable information to tightly-bound communities and having a sensible Internet strategy will remain viable for a long time. We do not believe that success will come from cutting either the news content or frequency of publication. Indeed, skimpy news coverage will almost certainly lead to skimpy readership. And the less-than-daily publication that is now being tried in some large towns or cities – while it may improve profits in the short term – seems certain to diminish the papers' relevance over time. Our goal is to keep our papers loaded with content of interest to our readers and to be paid appropriately by those who find us useful, whether the product they view is in their hands or on the Internet."
Thursday, February 7, 2013
IPFW Student Paper in Jeopardy
From today's Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette:
Published: February 7, 2013 3:00 a.m.
Campus paper’s future in jeopardy
Sarah Janssen | The Journal Gazette
FORT WAYNE – IPFW’s student newspaper, The Communicator, could cease to exist or publish less frequently without additional financial support, its publisher says.
The publication, which has won national awards, started a letter-writing campaign to secure grants and donations from alumni, organizations and local businesses, Publisher Matt McClure said.
It needs about $20,000 to finish out the year, but McClure hopes to adopt a new operating model so The Communicator can continue to operate in the long term.
The Communicator functions as a nonprofit with an operating partnership with IPFW Student Government Association. The agreement provides a yearly allocation of money from student fees while maintaining the publication’s independence from the university.
Beyond that funding, the publication relies on advertising revenue to pay employees, rent and other expenses. But it has seen a dip in ad revenue since the recession, and last year the Student Government Association cut funding to the publication to fund other programs, McClure said.
The university is also facing budget problems, with a deficit of at least $4.2 million. That figure could rise as high as $9 million depending on enrollment and state funding, which will be determined after the General Assembly passes a two-year budget. IPFW officials have said a significant part of the shortfall is caused by declining enrollment.
The newspaper’s budget crisis comes just two weeks before the launch of a new online initiative, which McClure said would be yet another tool for student training and professional development but wouldn’t bring in enough extra revenue to support the publication.
“To keep going, we’ll need support directly from the university,” McClure said.
McClure is hoping a commitment for the additional funding comes before the end of the month. But with IPFW dealing with its own deficit, additional money from the university is up in the air. Attempts to reach administrative officials Wednesday night were unsuccessful.
The publication’s board of directors – which includes students, faculty and professionals – has offered different proposals to move forward. One is to shut down in March. Another is to go from publishing print and online editions weekly to publishing them monthly for the rest of the year.
McClure hopes the final decision includes a two-year transition plan that changes the operating agreement for The Communicator to ensure it can continue.
“Our organization is very strong, it’s just that the operating arrangement needs to be renegotiated,” McClure said.
McClure tried to make changes to that agreement about two years ago, but talks about changes were stalled, then halted, during the transition from one chancellor to another, he said. Then-chancellor Mike Wartell was forced to retire under Purdue University’s mandatory retirement age of 65. Vicky Carwein became chancellor in September.
Since the letter-writing campaign started, the publication has seen an outpouring of support from alumni, academic departments and state press associations, McClure said.
Kristan Mensch has been involved with the publication for three years and is currently editor-in-chief. She said she has put in as many as 50 hours a week in the newsroom but wouldn’t trade her experience.
“The Communicator is an incredibly important resource for students,” she said. “It provides a unified voice for the campus while also serving as a learning lab for those associated with it.”
McClure said the university hasn’t shown any malice, and he hopes it values the work of The Communicator enough to keep it going.
“If the university chooses to value free speech and media education; … I see there’s immense potential to keep going. But if it’s not something the administration values as a service, as a tool, then we are expendable.”
Published: February 7, 2013 3:00 a.m.
Campus paper’s future in jeopardy
Sarah Janssen | The Journal Gazette
FORT WAYNE – IPFW’s student newspaper, The Communicator, could cease to exist or publish less frequently without additional financial support, its publisher says.
The publication, which has won national awards, started a letter-writing campaign to secure grants and donations from alumni, organizations and local businesses, Publisher Matt McClure said.
It needs about $20,000 to finish out the year, but McClure hopes to adopt a new operating model so The Communicator can continue to operate in the long term.
The Communicator functions as a nonprofit with an operating partnership with IPFW Student Government Association. The agreement provides a yearly allocation of money from student fees while maintaining the publication’s independence from the university.
Beyond that funding, the publication relies on advertising revenue to pay employees, rent and other expenses. But it has seen a dip in ad revenue since the recession, and last year the Student Government Association cut funding to the publication to fund other programs, McClure said.
The university is also facing budget problems, with a deficit of at least $4.2 million. That figure could rise as high as $9 million depending on enrollment and state funding, which will be determined after the General Assembly passes a two-year budget. IPFW officials have said a significant part of the shortfall is caused by declining enrollment.
The newspaper’s budget crisis comes just two weeks before the launch of a new online initiative, which McClure said would be yet another tool for student training and professional development but wouldn’t bring in enough extra revenue to support the publication.
“To keep going, we’ll need support directly from the university,” McClure said.
McClure is hoping a commitment for the additional funding comes before the end of the month. But with IPFW dealing with its own deficit, additional money from the university is up in the air. Attempts to reach administrative officials Wednesday night were unsuccessful.
The publication’s board of directors – which includes students, faculty and professionals – has offered different proposals to move forward. One is to shut down in March. Another is to go from publishing print and online editions weekly to publishing them monthly for the rest of the year.
McClure hopes the final decision includes a two-year transition plan that changes the operating agreement for The Communicator to ensure it can continue.
“Our organization is very strong, it’s just that the operating arrangement needs to be renegotiated,” McClure said.
McClure tried to make changes to that agreement about two years ago, but talks about changes were stalled, then halted, during the transition from one chancellor to another, he said. Then-chancellor Mike Wartell was forced to retire under Purdue University’s mandatory retirement age of 65. Vicky Carwein became chancellor in September.
Since the letter-writing campaign started, the publication has seen an outpouring of support from alumni, academic departments and state press associations, McClure said.
Kristan Mensch has been involved with the publication for three years and is currently editor-in-chief. She said she has put in as many as 50 hours a week in the newsroom but wouldn’t trade her experience.
“The Communicator is an incredibly important resource for students,” she said. “It provides a unified voice for the campus while also serving as a learning lab for those associated with it.”
McClure said the university hasn’t shown any malice, and he hopes it values the work of The Communicator enough to keep it going.
“If the university chooses to value free speech and media education; … I see there’s immense potential to keep going. But if it’s not something the administration values as a service, as a tool, then we are expendable.”
The Great Oreo Debate
From Digiday:
It’s now been four days since the Super Bowl, and the digital marketing industry is still talking about Oreo’s quick response to the blackout. But not everyone’s convinced that the fast move by Oreo is a great example of real-time marketing. Some brand and agency executives are claiming it’s only resonating in the insular digital marketing world.
Digiday reached out to brand and agency executives and asked them whether the Oreo quick response is a sign of the future of marketing or a one-time, circumstantial event that didn’t have that much impact anyway?
Anonymous Brand Exec A
This is nothing new. Brands do this more often than they get credit for. The Super Bowl just happens to be a huge event that gets the attention of a lot of people, so the Oreo effort was amplified because of that. At the end of the day, who’s going to complain about 17,000 retweets? And the effort was worth it just for all the press they’re getting. In fact, the PR value alone probably did a lot for them. But other brands, like Tide and Jim Beam, also responded super fast to the blackout and Oreo is the only one getting the attention.
Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus
I think making too big of a deal out of the one tweet, or the result, is misguided. I think when talking about the retweets, it’s such a small number in the context of the Super Bowl audience. The reality is, the whole thing is big and Oreo should not be getting praise for just this one tweet. Oreo should be praised for its overall commitment, and it’s been doing this for a while. I have created a group within the agency to do [real-time marketing] cost effectively. The results we’ve seen from doing this for clients are substantially higher numbers, in the millions. I think we’re focusing too much on this one action.
John Leeman, CMO of FreshDirect
If Oreo’s brand was suffering because of its old-school, non-digitally savvy image, I suppose this kind of a reaction might have helped make a positive difference. But since Oreo is a timeless brand that most people probably hope will never change, it seems unlikely this would help much, beyond the fact that you are publishing an article to your readers about it for free.
Anonymous Brand Exec B
I’m a bit neutral. I think it’s good for any marketing team to be constantly thinking out of the box, being timely and being relevant. That said, one in several of these types of efforts will really hit home. While I have my doubts that this was one of those “success stories,” it certainly was worth the minimal cycles it most likely took to execute.
Brian J. Maynard, director of Jenn-Air brand marketing at Whirlpool
Reacting quickly to a real-time incident isn’t anything new; you don’t have to look hard to find good and bad examples. I do think there is more opportunity to do so in today’s “always on” world. Having a team in place to react to something that might happen during an event like the Super Bowl is really smart. Just think of the possibilities if there had been another wardrobe malfunction. So what if this time they only received 17,000 retweets. They should get credit for reacting quickly. And it is 17,000 more retweets than they would have otherwise. I am assuming they have learned from this, and next time they may hit on something that really gains traction. I say bravo for the effort.
Anonymous Agency Exec
This is definitely a sign of the future of marketing. Yes, this one tweet received under 20,000 retweets, but once compared to Oreo’s normal activity, its performance was far above average. If anything, this is a case study as to how much more engaging a brand’s content becomes when the focus is on real-time relevance. The present challenge for brands is identifying cost-effective ways to execute this regularly. I think it’s feasible to see a marketing landscape 10 years from now where brands are competing hourly for this kind of attention and personally tailoring such content to the consumer.
It’s now been four days since the Super Bowl, and the digital marketing industry is still talking about Oreo’s quick response to the blackout. But not everyone’s convinced that the fast move by Oreo is a great example of real-time marketing. Some brand and agency executives are claiming it’s only resonating in the insular digital marketing world.
Digiday reached out to brand and agency executives and asked them whether the Oreo quick response is a sign of the future of marketing or a one-time, circumstantial event that didn’t have that much impact anyway?
Anonymous Brand Exec A
This is nothing new. Brands do this more often than they get credit for. The Super Bowl just happens to be a huge event that gets the attention of a lot of people, so the Oreo effort was amplified because of that. At the end of the day, who’s going to complain about 17,000 retweets? And the effort was worth it just for all the press they’re getting. In fact, the PR value alone probably did a lot for them. But other brands, like Tide and Jim Beam, also responded super fast to the blackout and Oreo is the only one getting the attention.
Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus
I think making too big of a deal out of the one tweet, or the result, is misguided. I think when talking about the retweets, it’s such a small number in the context of the Super Bowl audience. The reality is, the whole thing is big and Oreo should not be getting praise for just this one tweet. Oreo should be praised for its overall commitment, and it’s been doing this for a while. I have created a group within the agency to do [real-time marketing] cost effectively. The results we’ve seen from doing this for clients are substantially higher numbers, in the millions. I think we’re focusing too much on this one action.
John Leeman, CMO of FreshDirect
If Oreo’s brand was suffering because of its old-school, non-digitally savvy image, I suppose this kind of a reaction might have helped make a positive difference. But since Oreo is a timeless brand that most people probably hope will never change, it seems unlikely this would help much, beyond the fact that you are publishing an article to your readers about it for free.
Anonymous Brand Exec B
I’m a bit neutral. I think it’s good for any marketing team to be constantly thinking out of the box, being timely and being relevant. That said, one in several of these types of efforts will really hit home. While I have my doubts that this was one of those “success stories,” it certainly was worth the minimal cycles it most likely took to execute.
Brian J. Maynard, director of Jenn-Air brand marketing at Whirlpool
Reacting quickly to a real-time incident isn’t anything new; you don’t have to look hard to find good and bad examples. I do think there is more opportunity to do so in today’s “always on” world. Having a team in place to react to something that might happen during an event like the Super Bowl is really smart. Just think of the possibilities if there had been another wardrobe malfunction. So what if this time they only received 17,000 retweets. They should get credit for reacting quickly. And it is 17,000 more retweets than they would have otherwise. I am assuming they have learned from this, and next time they may hit on something that really gains traction. I say bravo for the effort.
Anonymous Agency Exec
This is definitely a sign of the future of marketing. Yes, this one tweet received under 20,000 retweets, but once compared to Oreo’s normal activity, its performance was far above average. If anything, this is a case study as to how much more engaging a brand’s content becomes when the focus is on real-time relevance. The present challenge for brands is identifying cost-effective ways to execute this regularly. I think it’s feasible to see a marketing landscape 10 years from now where brands are competing hourly for this kind of attention and personally tailoring such content to the consumer.
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