So let’s assume somebody wants to set up an Internet-only competitor for your newspaper. Something that could deliver the same types of news you do, just online. A competitor for advertising dollars. Someone who would offer the news and photos and videos of your community, and probably at no cost to readers. You know how much it might cost another newspaper to come into town and set up a duplicate version of your operation – but how much would it cost an Internet start-up to come in and do exactly what you do, but do it online? Warren Webster, president of AOL’s Patch, which is doing just that, has a figure: 4.1 percent of what you are spending now, to duplicate everything you’re doing on the Web. Aaaarrrrgh! Check out this article. (And by the way: I talked with an editor at Patch last month, and she said they are already in the initial stages of getting ready to enter the Texas market.)
Category: Link topic
As if women journalists didn’t have enough trouble in a traditionally male-dominate field, now there’s Journalism Barbie. It’s the newest Barbie, available for Christmas. She’s dressed in pink and has a microphone and camera and, of course, black stilettos adorned with tiny bows. And every blonde hair is in place.
The good news for newspaper advertising is that it just experienced its smallest drop in any one quarter since 2007. Spending for print ads was down 7.6 percent. It shows you how bad things have been overall that we consider that figure hopeful. But online spending was actually up by 13.9 percent. – giving us a total drop of 5.5 percent. Here’s the official glass-is-half-full interpretation from John F. Sturm, president and CEO of NAA: “The steady transformation of the newspaper industry is clearly evident in these latest revenue figures. Despite a highly competitive environment, online advertising growth rebounded back into double digits, while declines in traditional revenue categories continue to moderate as the general advertising recovery progresses. The fact that online now represents nearly 12 percent of overall newspaper advertising revenues bodes well for our medium’s future in an increasingly digital environment. Even as the economy is slow to rebound, there is heightened optimism within the industry – a confidence reflected in second quarter earnings reports from public newspaper companies. New business models are taking hold, with publishers continuing to invest in platforms that deepen audience engagement in print and online. In a world where trusted, high-quality content is in demand, newspaper companies are uniquely positioned to benefit from the advertising recovery.” Or, if you’re a half-empty type, try this observation, from Alan Mutter: “Following a historic pattern that shows newspapers take in roughly 47 percent of their ad revenue in the first half of the year, it is possible to project that full-year sales for the industry will drop some $2 billion this year to finish at approximately $26.5 billion. Assuming no major positive or negative changes in the economy between now and the end of the year, this will put newspaper ad sales back to the lowest level they have seen since 1985.”
English King Canute once took his throne to the seashore and commanded the tide not to come in. Of course, his feet got wet. Don’t judge him; newspapers are still erecting paywalls and expecting people to pay their newspaper for what they can get for free. To be fair, there are some specialized situations — niche publications and some community papers that hold a near-monopoly on news — that have experienced some success with paywalls. But if you’re still wrestling with this issue, take time to read blogger Alan Mutter’s latest posting. His thesis is that a growing number of free local news sites are driving another nail in the coffin of paywalls. An example from his blog: “While newspaper executives have agonized for the better part of two years about whether and how to charge for their costly-to-produce content, every indication is that the portals, local broadcasters and other media companies have no intention of asking anyone to pay for access to the increasingly ambitious local sites they are building. With a fast-proliferating number of respectable local sites giving away news to build traffic for their ad-supported ventures, newspapers simply won’t be able to charge for access – especially when their own stories are likely to become freely available within minutes at any number of competing sites.” And as frequently happens with well-thought-out blogs like Mutter’s, some of the comments from readers are as interesting as the blog itself. Here’s an example from one reader: “The only way newspapers can make the transition to online is to radically cut costs. We’re talking 80 to 90 percent cuts in personnel. An online news business needs to be built from the ground up, not have a legacy news module imposed on it. This is why I continue to believe the newspapers original sin wasn’t a failure to charge for content, but a failure to create completely separate online companies.” So add this posting to your consideration as you consider your paywall options.
Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, recently spoke at a meeting I attended and shared a PowerPoint presentation I thought you’d be interested in. Al has graciously shared that with us. Look it over – it has some information that can be helpful with you as you make presentations about the overall health of community newspapers – and some information your ad reps need to have to share with customers who have questions about the effectiveness of a newspaper ad buy.
Copyeditor-types, if you just can’t find someone to engage in a deep discussion of comma splices and arcane points of word usage, check out this weekly column online from The New York Times. There’s enough there every week to delight you and bore the pants off anyone around you. And if that still doesn’t satisfy, check out writing coach Roy Peter Clark’s fascinating new book, The Glamour of Grammar: A Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English. Fascinating book – you’ll agree when you read the Times’ interview with Roy at http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/stray-questions-for-roy-peter-clark/?ref=review.
Some newspapers and online news sites trying “news cafes” – sending reporters to coffee shops to interact with patrons. The model is a little different everywhere, but basically reporters go into a coffee shop with the permission of the proprietors and set up shop. They write, phone, do interviews. One even has a sign that says “the journalist is in.” The idea is to make the paper and its reporters accessible, to demystify the news process, and to connect with readers. The Poynter story has lots of hyperlinks to various places that are trying this, if you want to get more information on how it works.
So you heard someone talking about Ruby on Rails and it sounded like a Merle Haggard ballad — and then you found out it was a Net platform? And you’ve always wanted a plain-English explanation of SEO, CSS and cloud computing? You’re in luck. Poynter has posted a glossary of Internet terms that every digital journalist should know. And even if you don’t “need” to know, imagine how impressed everyone in your office will be when you throw terms like metadata and data visualization into the conversation.
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Conquering the semicolon
If you have reporters (or maybe even yourself, but I’ll never tell) who have trouble knowing when to use a comma and when to use a semicolon, check out this hilarious explanation. It’s well-illustrated and it answers questions some folk have had since eighth grade. Of course, in journalism we don’t use that many semicolons — periods and new sentences often work better. But check this out anyway; you’ll enjoy it; I promise. (Three in one sentence; are you impressed?)
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Great resource for multimedia newbies
Mindy McAdams of the University of Florida is the queen bee of multimedia educators in universities. And she’s able to make multimedia accessible for non-geeks, too. So consider this Multimedia 101: In a downloadable pdf you can put on your desktop and visit when you have time, Mindy walks you through basic multimedia use. If you know, or don’t care to know, some competency she discusses, just skip to the next one. And as I said, this is for the non-geek/wonk/nerd/dweeb, etc. In other words, it’s plain English explanations. If you’re serious about expanding your multimedia horizons, this is the place to start.