Globe and Mail shows way in modern dailies

So, if the Postmedia group is showing the wrong way to do business, the revamped Globe and Mail is showing the right way. After about a year or so into its new format, circulation is up, higher than other dailies. The reason? Simply because the Globe has adapted its content, giving up the day to day stuff well covered by the 24 hour news channels and the web, except in such major things as Jack Layton’s death, and focusing more on commentary, background and features. It provides a double spread daily providing good depth (and great design) on a major issue and it has columns throughout. In short, it’s adopted the sports model of coverage. Since Joe Fan knows the score already, he doesn’t pick up the paper looking for a game report; he looks for the commentary and background to give the game report some greater meaning. So it is for news, now. The net gives us the day to day stuff, updated regularly. The printed page gives us something deeper and different from the net. A great combination; beats the convergence model all to hell.

Steve Jobs on Mainstream media and the blogosphere

Steve Jobs is getting the kind of adulation that Bill Gates can only dream of. Anyway, in all the chat with his unfortunate demise, some comments from him on the importance of mainstream media versus the blogosphere, and of an intervening force between brain and keyboard:

 

Traditional media remains vital.

“I don’t want to see us descend into a nation of bloggers. I think we need editorial oversight now more than ever. Anything we can do to help newspapers find new ways of expression that will help them get paid, I am all for.”

[D8 conference, via All Things Digital, June 2010]

MSM still more trusted than social/digital media

Notwithstanding certain elements of public opinion that views “lame” mainstream media as overwhelmingly dead, defunct, decease and demised, a recent UBC poll shows that in fact newspaper, television, online news and radio news are all more trusted than any other news source. That’s probably why these “old” technologies continue to exist, if not thrive, despite the digital revolution. Young people continue to have higher levels of trust in social media, but even they still put the dinosaurs of technology at the top of the trusted list. I suspect a simple reason is that professional reporters have higher standards of what and how to report than does bloggerworld, where all opinion is unfiltered, unchallenged and so forth.

Public to media: we want it free on the web

A new survey by the Canadian Media Research Consortium shows that only four per cent of Canadians want to pay for accessing media on the web, and 81 per cent said they wouldn’t. Given the New York Times gambit, and that a bunch of people have already figured out how to get around their paywall, makes you wonder if this is ever going to work. Too early to tell what this means for Canadian media, most of whom are trying to monetize news by other media. Wonder why no one has thought of giving free web access to subscribers of newspapers/magazine, and charging everyone else a web access fee?

Globe and Mail March 30 2011

NY Times finally figures out paywall financing

It took some time, and no doubt more thought, but the New York Times has finally figured out a fairly sophisticated way to charge for web content, essentially charging heavier users while letting casual users continue to access content free. Basically, we’ve got 20 chances a month to access any aspect of their web site — stories, crosswords, recipes, streaming videos, interviews etc. — before a fee kicks in. Also, they are not charging for secondary referral to their sites, from Google searches say. The extremists on both ends will howl — either all free or all pay — but I think it’s a reasoned, thoughtful way to balance access with costs of producing content. Aristotelian, in fact.

journalism.co.uk, March 17 2011

Lessons from the Guardian on digital

The Guardian newspaper is one of the leading digital newspapers in the world. How did they do it? By stop thinking of themselves as traditional print journalists and pushing the new technologies as far as possible. And by stop giving orders to reporters on how to use the new media, and letting them find out for themselves how the new media can be used to expand and build on the old.

J-source, March 8, 2011

Groping the way forward on digital mags

Good, long, detailed and thoughtful article in the Report on Business yesterday (Feb. 26) about the wary struggle between digital media and MSM to come to some sort of mutually profitable reconciliation. Apple has a program in which it slices off 30 per cent of the magazine subscription to download it through iTunes to its tablet. Meanwhile, other tablet producers like Google and RIM my come out with their own system of monetizing with the mags. Biggest issue thought is that Apple wants to keep the subscriber data (age, income, purchasing preferences) to itself and not share with the mags. The mags meed that detailed info to sell ads and persuade advertisers that their messages reach their potential customers’ eyeballs. Both sides very wary now, knowing this is not a good deal, but hoping to find their way forward. Reminds me of the early days of movies, when Edison patented a camera and demanded a piece of the action from every movies made with it. The producers had a more novel solution; they moved from New York to some place called Hollywood far from the eastern lawyers. Wonder if either side on this dispute will come up with a lateral solution like that.

Report on Business, Feb. 26 22011

Prof scolds J-schools for not teaching enough digital

Journalism prof Wayne McPhail berates journalism schools for still being mired in the old technology and old patterns of thought and not being aggressive enough in teaching use of new, digital technology as a means of journalism. He notes he has grad students who don’t know what RSS is. This is a bit of a conundrum, since the latest crop of undergrads comes in with the reputation of being the most tech-savvy ever, and they will be supplanted by next year’s crop. Still, I think he has a point, since most journalism profs are still practitioners leaving the field for a better, more predictable job, teaching what they’ve been doing in the last 15 years. Still don’t see as much digital in MSM as the technology seems to imply it can do.

MediaShift, September 29 2010

Hyperlocalist journalism: next trend or next dead end?

But worth giving a try, to see if very local writers/bloggers/whateverists can practice good journalism at a local level. Prof. Robert Washburn puts out a challenge, let’s try to see if it works:

Over the next few months, the J-Source Innovation section will seek to provide information about hyperlocal journalism, post resources and stimulate discussion. As well, you can follow @jsourceinnovate on Twitter for more up to the minute ideas, trends and news. We would also like to start an inventory of Canadian examples of hyperlocal journalism. If you are aware of a hyperlocal journalism project, send us the link. Let us know what you would like; what you think; and what is possible.

J-Source, March 3 2010

MSM makes huge bucks, end is not in sight

So, Time Warner, CBS and News Corp all reported profits, monster share price increases over the last year, and in some cases increased dividends. So, what’s this about Mainstream Media facing imminent death? They seem to be doing just fine, partly because they’re now fairly diverse companies, with Time Warner and News Corp making money off movies (sometimes called content). So it would seem a large part of the bad media news in 2009 was related to the worst recession since the Great Depression, not systemic technological change.

Wall Street Journal, Feb. 3 2010