US News & World Report abandons print for web
US News & World Report, the third-largest news-oriented magazine in the U.S. (behind Time and Newsweek), announced plans to abandon print and focus on the Web.
"We're accelerating this transformation in response to our rapid growth online where our audience is now about 7 million uniques a month and growing," US News president Bill Holiber and editor Brian Kelly said in a memo to employees. "For all of you who have worked so hard to make this transition possible, say good-bye to Web 2.0 and welcome to Journalism 5.0," they added.
The memo did not give details for the future of the print edition, which earlier this year cut back from weekly to biweekly, but the Washington Post reported that US News will only published only once a month, and that the new monthly edition will be devoted to consumer guides, such as the magazine's popular annual lists of America's "best colleges" and "best hospitals."
Earlier this year, US News announced plans to move "away from a weekly magazine with a discrete website to become a multi-platform digital publisher of news you can use and analysis."
The 100-year-old Christian Science Monitor recently announced plans to end its daily print edition and become the first national US newspaper to become entirely Web-based.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Dpes Facebook Replace Face Time or Enhance It?
This is an excerpt. To read the entire article, click here.
Does Facebook Replace Face Time or Enhance It?
By Lisa Selin Davis
Jenny has not returned my calls in roughly a year. She has, however, sent me a poinsettia, poked me and placed a gift beneath my Christmas tree. She's done all this virtually, courtesy of Facebook, the social-networking site on which users create profiles, gather "friends" and join common-interest groups, not to mention send digital gifts.
Although Jenny has three children, ages 4 to 14, and rarely finds time for visits, phone calls or even e-mail, the full-time mom in upstate New York regularly updates her status on Facebook ("Jenny is fixing a birthday dinner," "Jenny took the kids sledding") and uploads photos (her son in the school play).
After 24 years, our friendship is now relegated to the online world, filtered through Facebook. Call it Facebook Recluse Syndrome — and Jenny is far from the site's only social hermit.
Although Facebook started as an online hub for college students, its fastest-growing demographic is the over-25 crowd, which now accounts for more than half of the site's 140 million active members. Why is Facebook catching on among harried parents and professionals?
"It makes me feel like I have a grip on my world," says Emily Neill, a 39-year-old single mother of two. Neill isn't a techie, per se — "I'll never have a phone that does anything but make calls," says the fashion consultant in Watertown, Mass. — but she stays logged on to Facebook all day at work and then spends an hour or two — or lately three — at night checking in with old acquaintances, swapping photos with close friends and instant-messaging those who fall somewhere in between.
"It makes you feel like you're part of something even if you're neglecting people in the flesh," she says. (See the 50 best websites of 2008.)
Retreating behind a digital veil started long before the Internet existed, with the advent of answering machines. "People would call a phone when they knew the other person wasn't available to pick up," says Charles Steinfield, a professor at Michigan State University who co-authored a peer-reviewed study called "The Benefits of Facebook 'Friends.' " "It enabled them to convey information without forcing them to interact."
Enter Facebook, which provides a constant flow of information via short updates from everyone a user knows: a distant cousin is glad he skipped the cheeseburger chowder; a colleague has a new book on sale; a close friend is engaged or newly single. Jenny and I, along with three of our childhood pals from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., learned that a dear old friend had ended her seven-year relationship through a Facebook status change. We expressed dismay, albeit through Facebook's IM feature, that we had to learn such potent information in this impersonal way.
Does Facebook Replace Face Time or Enhance It?
By Lisa Selin Davis
Jenny has not returned my calls in roughly a year. She has, however, sent me a poinsettia, poked me and placed a gift beneath my Christmas tree. She's done all this virtually, courtesy of Facebook, the social-networking site on which users create profiles, gather "friends" and join common-interest groups, not to mention send digital gifts.
Although Jenny has three children, ages 4 to 14, and rarely finds time for visits, phone calls or even e-mail, the full-time mom in upstate New York regularly updates her status on Facebook ("Jenny is fixing a birthday dinner," "Jenny took the kids sledding") and uploads photos (her son in the school play).
After 24 years, our friendship is now relegated to the online world, filtered through Facebook. Call it Facebook Recluse Syndrome — and Jenny is far from the site's only social hermit.
Although Facebook started as an online hub for college students, its fastest-growing demographic is the over-25 crowd, which now accounts for more than half of the site's 140 million active members. Why is Facebook catching on among harried parents and professionals?
"It makes me feel like I have a grip on my world," says Emily Neill, a 39-year-old single mother of two. Neill isn't a techie, per se — "I'll never have a phone that does anything but make calls," says the fashion consultant in Watertown, Mass. — but she stays logged on to Facebook all day at work and then spends an hour or two — or lately three — at night checking in with old acquaintances, swapping photos with close friends and instant-messaging those who fall somewhere in between.
"It makes you feel like you're part of something even if you're neglecting people in the flesh," she says. (See the 50 best websites of 2008.)
Retreating behind a digital veil started long before the Internet existed, with the advent of answering machines. "People would call a phone when they knew the other person wasn't available to pick up," says Charles Steinfield, a professor at Michigan State University who co-authored a peer-reviewed study called "The Benefits of Facebook 'Friends.' " "It enabled them to convey information without forcing them to interact."
Enter Facebook, which provides a constant flow of information via short updates from everyone a user knows: a distant cousin is glad he skipped the cheeseburger chowder; a colleague has a new book on sale; a close friend is engaged or newly single. Jenny and I, along with three of our childhood pals from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., learned that a dear old friend had ended her seven-year relationship through a Facebook status change. We expressed dismay, albeit through Facebook's IM feature, that we had to learn such potent information in this impersonal way.
Be Careful About Insulting the Leader!
Author jailed for insulting Thai kingStory Highlights
BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- An Australian author was sentenced Monday to three years in prison in Thailand after falling foul of a Thai law that makes it a crime to insult the country's royal family.
Harry Nicolaides was arrested last August over a 2005 book called "Verisimilitude," which includes a paragraph about the king and crown prince that the authorities deemed a violation of the Lese Majeste law.
Nicolaides, 41, was bombarded with questions from foreign journalists as he arrived at the court Monday, wearing shackles as he stepped from a prison bus. In tears, he said he would plead guilty.
"Truth is stranger than fiction," he said. "It's been an ordeal for months. It feels like a bad dream." Watch shackled Nicolaides at court »
The Thai Criminal Court originally sentenced Nicolaides to six years in jail but cut the punishment in half because of the guilty plea. He listened calmly as the verdict was translated to him.
After hearing his verdict Nicolaides said: "I wish my family the best." Watch Nicolaides' brother's reaction »
One of his lawyers said no decision had been made about whether to appeal or seek a royal pardon. King Bhumibol Adulydej has pardoned foreigners in other similar cases in the past.
CNN has chosen not to repeat the allegations made by Nicolaides because it could result in CNN staff being prosecuted in Thailand.
Nicolaides had been living in Thailand since 2003, lecturing at two universities about tourism.
He was about to leave Thailand when he was arrested on August 31 last year. It is not clear why the authorities waited three years after the publication of his book to bring charges against him.
"I think there are individuals who have exploited an obscure law for their own self-interest," he said.
Only 50 copies of the book were published, and only seven were sold.
The law Nicolaides was convicted of breaking is section 112, known as the Lese Majeste law.
It says: "Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, the Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to fifteen years."
Thailand's king is highly revered in this Buddhist nation, but even he has said in the past that he can be criticized.
Thailand's new prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, also told CNN he is concerned about the misuse of the Lese Majeste law.
"There are cases in the past where this law has been abused for political purposes, and I agree this has to stop," he said.
Despite the rhetoric there's little sign the prime minister will change the law. Other cases are pending against both foreigners and Thais.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
The Changing World of the Writer
Here is some stimulating and thoughtful material on the world of the writer from one who is among the industry's most experienced publishers, agents, writers, and mentors.
International Christian Writers Report, JANUARY 2009
The Changing World of the Writer
What can you do when your dream of writing a book is finally realized, only
to discover that the publishing world has changed and is not interested in
your book? That has been happening a lot to authors recently and is most
disconcerting. There are, however, alternatives to books in getting out your
message, if that is what is really your purpose in writing your book.
Why do I bring up this topic? Christian book publishing had already changed
a lot before the recession began, but change has accelerated because of the
financial pressures of dropping book sales. What are some of the factors
influencing change?
* Changing ownerships, with large secular houses buying up Christian
publishing houses to try to capitalize on the flurry of bestsellers in the
Christian market. They are merely going where they think there is money to
be made.
* While the advent of television did not have the expected negative
effect on book reading, the availability of information and entertainment on
the Internet is impacting available reading time and sources people use to
get their information.
* The extraordinary growth of storage/listening devices like the i-pod
and MP3 is also impinging on reading time. Add amazon.com's Kindle and
Sony's reading instrument and you have a technological change that both
reduces time availability for traditional ways of reading books and
satisfies the need for entertainment.
When a market begins to slip those participating in it have to make changes
to try to regain market share. From the publishers' perspective that means
several things:
* You reduce risk as much as possible by refusing to take on books by
authors who do not have guaranteed sales through their platform. That means
if you are known only locally or regionally, you have an extremely small
chance of your book being published by a royalty publisher.
* Publishers are moving to POD, Kindle and other opportunities to gain
a foothold in the digital information market. Books that were once declared
out of print are now having their "shelf life" extended through these
avenues.
* Authors also have access to these new technologies if all efforts to
enlist a royalty publisher have failed. They are, however, a totally
different world from traditional book sales and require a quite different
marketing approach. Some Christian writers conferences now have workshops on
how to enter these digital markets.
If getting out your message of what it means to be a Christian and live as a
Christian is important, you as a writer will quickly adapt to the new
realities. As I see it, there are two alternatives.
* You can refocus from book writing to article writing. There is still
a wealth of print media available for writers who know what it takes to
write and market articles. The quickest way to discover what those markets
are is to acquire Sally Stuart's Christian Writers Market Guide and spend
some hours in research on what publications are taking your kind of written
material. Print media editors also show up consistently at Christian
writers' conferences in all parts of the country and can be approached on
what they are looking for. The reality is that while as a book author you
might reach 2,500 to 10,000 homes, with an article you can reach up to
100,000 or more homes.
* You can explore the digital world of articles on the Internet. More
and more e-zines are popping up. Most of them still do not reimburse the
author in cash, but do provide writing experience and exposure. Blogs are
also great opportunities to get exposure as a writer.
We live in a fast-moving technological age in terms of information
dissemination. Traditional means are shrinking. Even the newspaper is now an
endangered species. But as writers who are Christian our job is to get the
Word out by whatever means. In reading through 1 Thessalonians in The
Message I was struck by the apostle Paul's admonition in 1 Thessalonians
4:1, "We ask you-urge is more like it-that you keep on doing what we told
you to do to please God, not in a dogged religious plod, but in a living,
spirited dance."
If you are interested in some of the changes I have seen in 54 years in
publishing, go to
and the IdeaBlog on the home page.
Les Stobbe, Director
International Christian Writers
International Christian Writers Report, JANUARY 2009
The Changing World of the Writer
What can you do when your dream of writing a book is finally realized, only
to discover that the publishing world has changed and is not interested in
your book? That has been happening a lot to authors recently and is most
disconcerting. There are, however, alternatives to books in getting out your
message, if that is what is really your purpose in writing your book.
Why do I bring up this topic? Christian book publishing had already changed
a lot before the recession began, but change has accelerated because of the
financial pressures of dropping book sales. What are some of the factors
influencing change?
* Changing ownerships, with large secular houses buying up Christian
publishing houses to try to capitalize on the flurry of bestsellers in the
Christian market. They are merely going where they think there is money to
be made.
* While the advent of television did not have the expected negative
effect on book reading, the availability of information and entertainment on
the Internet is impacting available reading time and sources people use to
get their information.
* The extraordinary growth of storage/listening devices like the i-pod
and MP3 is also impinging on reading time. Add amazon.com's Kindle and
Sony's reading instrument and you have a technological change that both
reduces time availability for traditional ways of reading books and
satisfies the need for entertainment.
When a market begins to slip those participating in it have to make changes
to try to regain market share. From the publishers' perspective that means
several things:
* You reduce risk as much as possible by refusing to take on books by
authors who do not have guaranteed sales through their platform. That means
if you are known only locally or regionally, you have an extremely small
chance of your book being published by a royalty publisher.
* Publishers are moving to POD, Kindle and other opportunities to gain
a foothold in the digital information market. Books that were once declared
out of print are now having their "shelf life" extended through these
avenues.
* Authors also have access to these new technologies if all efforts to
enlist a royalty publisher have failed. They are, however, a totally
different world from traditional book sales and require a quite different
marketing approach. Some Christian writers conferences now have workshops on
how to enter these digital markets.
If getting out your message of what it means to be a Christian and live as a
Christian is important, you as a writer will quickly adapt to the new
realities. As I see it, there are two alternatives.
* You can refocus from book writing to article writing. There is still
a wealth of print media available for writers who know what it takes to
write and market articles. The quickest way to discover what those markets
are is to acquire Sally Stuart's Christian Writers Market Guide and spend
some hours in research on what publications are taking your kind of written
material. Print media editors also show up consistently at Christian
writers' conferences in all parts of the country and can be approached on
what they are looking for. The reality is that while as a book author you
might reach 2,500 to 10,000 homes, with an article you can reach up to
100,000 or more homes.
* You can explore the digital world of articles on the Internet. More
and more e-zines are popping up. Most of them still do not reimburse the
author in cash, but do provide writing experience and exposure. Blogs are
also great opportunities to get exposure as a writer.
We live in a fast-moving technological age in terms of information
dissemination. Traditional means are shrinking. Even the newspaper is now an
endangered species. But as writers who are Christian our job is to get the
Word out by whatever means. In reading through 1 Thessalonians in The
Message I was struck by the apostle Paul's admonition in 1 Thessalonians
4:1, "We ask you-urge is more like it-that you keep on doing what we told
you to do to please God, not in a dogged religious plod, but in a living,
spirited dance."
If you are interested in some of the changes I have seen in 54 years in
publishing, go to
and the IdeaBlog on the home page.
Les Stobbe, Director
International Christian Writers
Can Google Save the Newspaper?
Here is an excerpt--to read the entire article click here.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt wishes he could rescue newspapers.
By Adam Lashinsky, editor at large
(Fortune Magazine) -- Metaphorically speaking, Google is killing the newspaper industry. Online news is quickly hollowing out the traditional paper - the Christian Science Monitor eliminates its print edition, Tribune Co. declares bankruptcy, Detroit's two dailies slash home delivery to three days a week - while Google rakes in advertising profits.
Turns out that Google CEO Eric Schmidt professes a passionate desire to lend a hand. In an interview with Fortune's Adam Lashinsky, he shares some thoughts on how newspapers might yet survive - and how Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) might help.
Is there some grand gesture Google can make to solve the newspaper industry's problems?
It's not obvious what the grand gesture would be. Google can't make the cost of newsprint go down. We also can't materially change the way consumers behave, and consumers are in fact moving their lives online. We have been able to send clicks to their Web sites, which they can monetize. So that provides some revenue. The problem is that doesn't provide enough revenue to offset the loss of the other revenue.
Maybe their time has just come and gone?
No. They don't have a problem of demand for their product, the news. People love the news. They love reading, discussing it, adding to it, annotating it. The Internet has made the news more accessible. There's a problem with advertising, classifieds and the cost itself of a newspaper: physical printing, delivery and so on. And so the business model gets squeezed.
So what else can Google do?
We have a mechanism that enhances online subscriptions, but part of the reason it doesn't take off is that the culture of the Internet is that information wants to be free. We've tried to get newspapers to have more tightly integrated products with ours. We'd like to help them better monetize their customer base. We have tools that make that easier. I wish I had a brilliant idea, but I don't. These little things help, but they don't fundamentally solve the problem.
How about just buying them?
The good news is we could purchase them. We have the cash. But I don't think our purchasing a newspaper would solve the business problems. It would help solidify the ownership structure, but it doesn't solve the underlying problem in the business. Until we can answer that question we're in this uncomfortable conversation.
I think the solution is tighter integration. In other words, we can do this without making an acquisition. The term I've been using is 'merge without merging.' The Web allows you to do that, where you can get the Web systems of both organizations fairly well integrated, and you don't have to do it on exclusive basis.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt wishes he could rescue newspapers.
By Adam Lashinsky, editor at large
(Fortune Magazine) -- Metaphorically speaking, Google is killing the newspaper industry. Online news is quickly hollowing out the traditional paper - the Christian Science Monitor eliminates its print edition, Tribune Co. declares bankruptcy, Detroit's two dailies slash home delivery to three days a week - while Google rakes in advertising profits.
Turns out that Google CEO Eric Schmidt professes a passionate desire to lend a hand. In an interview with Fortune's Adam Lashinsky, he shares some thoughts on how newspapers might yet survive - and how Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) might help.
Is there some grand gesture Google can make to solve the newspaper industry's problems?
It's not obvious what the grand gesture would be. Google can't make the cost of newsprint go down. We also can't materially change the way consumers behave, and consumers are in fact moving their lives online. We have been able to send clicks to their Web sites, which they can monetize. So that provides some revenue. The problem is that doesn't provide enough revenue to offset the loss of the other revenue.
Maybe their time has just come and gone?
No. They don't have a problem of demand for their product, the news. People love the news. They love reading, discussing it, adding to it, annotating it. The Internet has made the news more accessible. There's a problem with advertising, classifieds and the cost itself of a newspaper: physical printing, delivery and so on. And so the business model gets squeezed.
So what else can Google do?
We have a mechanism that enhances online subscriptions, but part of the reason it doesn't take off is that the culture of the Internet is that information wants to be free. We've tried to get newspapers to have more tightly integrated products with ours. We'd like to help them better monetize their customer base. We have tools that make that easier. I wish I had a brilliant idea, but I don't. These little things help, but they don't fundamentally solve the problem.
How about just buying them?
The good news is we could purchase them. We have the cash. But I don't think our purchasing a newspaper would solve the business problems. It would help solidify the ownership structure, but it doesn't solve the underlying problem in the business. Until we can answer that question we're in this uncomfortable conversation.
I think the solution is tighter integration. In other words, we can do this without making an acquisition. The term I've been using is 'merge without merging.' The Web allows you to do that, where you can get the Web systems of both organizations fairly well integrated, and you don't have to do it on exclusive basis.
NY Times Looks to Mexican Billionaire for Cash
Here is an excerpt. To read the entire article, click here.
Times, Mexican billionaire in talks
Carlos Slim, who holds 6.4% stake now, is in talks to make big investment in New York Times Co.
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The New York Times Co. is in talks to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, a source told Reuters Saturday, a move that would give the ailing newspaper publisher a critical cash infusion to pay its debt.
An investment by Slim, the world's second-richest man according to Forbes magazine, could also be a vote of confidence in the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose control of the Times for more than a century has been threatened by changes shaking the foundations of the U.S. newspaper business.
The Times, which owns its namesake newspaper and The Boston Globe as well as other papers in the United States, is grappling with a decline in advertising revenue on a level that it and other newspaper publishers have never seen before.
According to the source, the Times might give Slim, who already owns a 6.4% stake in the company, preferred stock with no voting rights but with an annual dividend.
The Times is planning a special board meeting next week about the investment, the source said. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. A New York Times spokeswoman declined to comment.
The money could help the Times pay off $400 million in debt in a credit facility that will retire in May.
Times, Mexican billionaire in talks
Carlos Slim, who holds 6.4% stake now, is in talks to make big investment in New York Times Co.
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The New York Times Co. is in talks to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, a source told Reuters Saturday, a move that would give the ailing newspaper publisher a critical cash infusion to pay its debt.
An investment by Slim, the world's second-richest man according to Forbes magazine, could also be a vote of confidence in the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose control of the Times for more than a century has been threatened by changes shaking the foundations of the U.S. newspaper business.
The Times, which owns its namesake newspaper and The Boston Globe as well as other papers in the United States, is grappling with a decline in advertising revenue on a level that it and other newspaper publishers have never seen before.
According to the source, the Times might give Slim, who already owns a 6.4% stake in the company, preferred stock with no voting rights but with an annual dividend.
The Times is planning a special board meeting next week about the investment, the source said. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. A New York Times spokeswoman declined to comment.
The money could help the Times pay off $400 million in debt in a credit facility that will retire in May.
Friday, January 16, 2009
A Retiring Editor Reflects on His Six Years
The editor of the Minnesota Christian Chronicle, one of the nation's leading Christian regional newspapers, is leaving to take another position. Here are his thoughts and insights after six years in the job--they can be instructive to those considering media work. More at www.mcchronicle.com.
What this job has done for me
by Bryan Malley
When I started as editor of the Minnesota Christian Chronicle in January 2003, I always told people, candidly, that I thought I’d be here for no more than five years.
Here we are in January 2009, exactly six years later, and I’m wondering where the time has gone as I prepare to take a new job.
Back then, five years seemed like an eternity to me. I was relatively fresh out of college, in a new dating relationship, and had no idea what the future might hold—except that I had just agreed to become the new editor of an established, highly respected local Christian community newspaper that I had barely ever read.
Was I up for it? Would anyone be interested in hearing what I had to say? Who am I to decide what stories get told, and what great stories don’t get told, each issue? Could I handle the certain criticism?
Let’s just say I possessed a healthy sense of self-doubt about my new job as I set foot in the office on my first day. It was immediately more “exciting” than I bargained for. Turns out it was press day! The previous editor had already moved on two weeks prior, and big decisions needed to be made—even before I had a chance to set my box of office stuff down on my new desk.
We got through that first issue just fine, and it didn’t take me too long to get into a groove of writing, editing and issue production. Five months into the job, just as I was “getting it down,” I was given a leave of absence to work at summer camp one last time.
I returned from the summer engaged to my now wife and excited to find that editorial groove again. I started working hard to make what I considered to be improvements to the paper.
It was not a quick process, and it was certainly not always an easy process, but we did our best to self-evaluate content and design of the Minnesota Christian Chronicle with a focus on increasing readership and living out our mission to uplift godly harmony and unity in the local body of Christ.
Over time we expanded local editorial space, increased our focus on local Christian organizations doing unique service, expanded the scope of issues we addressed, and redesigned many graphic elements of the publication to reflect current visual styles.
I have had a lot of help along the way, and it has been my privilege to work with some amazing and dedicated brothers and sisters in Christ.
The skilled freelance writers who have helped me fill the pages over the years have been our eyes and ears all over the Twin Cities. The stories they have told on our pages have affected the lives of many believers and non-believers alike.
The many new editorial contributors I have worked with have really helped bring balance and new perspectives to our pages with grace and style. It has been my goal that our pages could be a place where civil Christian discussion could take place on issues that really matter, and for the most part, we have succeeded.
As I get ready to hand the reins over to a new editor, I mostly just feel privileged to have served such a great readership and local Christian community. I’ve met many wonderful people and made many great new friends in ministry through my time as editor. And I’ve always been encouraged by the work done, and often the unity displayed, by Christians in Minnesota.
I will look forward to becoming another faithful reader and supporter of this ministry throughout the coming years.
God bless.
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