28 November
Germany: Paid-for Magazine Received
Positive Reviews
A new paid-for magazine, eMag, owned by the publishing conglomerate Axel
Springer, was launched on 27 November. eMag is the supplementary
weekly magazine of the German ‘quality' Sunday newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
The creator, Jördis Guzmán Bulla is confident that most audiences are prepared
to pay €1.50 for its ‘high
quality'. Media analysts predict that if eMag is successful, it will set a new
business model for the publishing industry.
http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2009/11/welt_am_sonntag_makes_presence_felt_onli.php
UK: £5.5m Raised to Launch London Freesheet
While British freesheets
have ceased publications in the past few months (see previous MCJ), a group of
unknown investors from the Global Publishing Group raised £5.5m to launch
a new weekly freesheet, London
Weekly. Despite the economic downturn, the publishing group expects to
publish 250, 000 copies to be distributed twice a week outside rail and tube
stations in London.
It also plans to charge the optimistic prices for its full-page advert at £5,
250 and £9, 291 for double-page spread.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/30/freesheet-launch-london-weekly
US: AOL to Employ 3,000
Freelancers to Run its ‘Popular' News
AOL,
the global media company owned by Timed Warner
announced the launch of its news site, employing around 3, 000
freelancer editors to produce news articles, videos and photos. The
news topics will be
predetermined by a system that can analyse the most popular topics from
data
collected from the AOL subscribers. Freelancers then will make the
‘more
palatable' articles to match the marketers. Final article will be
edited by the
editors after it has gone through an automated system to screen its
grammar, spelling
and plagiarism. There will also be an automated tracking system tracing
the
secondary use of the news, which could provide additional remuneration
for the
freelancers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/nov/30/digital-media-aol
26 November
France:
Financial Daily "Les Echos" First to Merge Newsrooms According to
« Hadopi » Law
Management and trade union SNJ at
French financial daily Les Echos agreed on a merger of the newsrooms of
the paper version and the online version, following the
implementation of the « hadopi » law stating that « the
collaboration between a company and a professional journalist concerns all
platforms of the media ». The merger was negotiated with the unions who
welcomed the agreement and the fact that journalists are « linked to a
title » and will not be asked to work for other titles of the same
company. Journalists will earn around 600€ per year for authors' rights and a new
professional category of "web editors" will be created. However unions deplored
the risks that the merger will leave less time for investigative journalism.
http://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2009/11/26/le-quotidien-les-echos-fusionne-sa-redaction-avec-ses-equipes-internet_1272482_3236.html#ens_id=1244166
UK:
- Mixed Tendencies as Media
Companies Records Drastic Drop in Profit
Daily Mail & General Trust
(DMGT), one of the largest media companies in Europe,
recorded a 23% fall in profits for the year ending 4 October. Associated
Newspapers (AN), recorded a year on year decline of 11% while digital revenues
of the AN websites recorded an annual growth of 11%. However its flagship
newspaper, the Daily Mail, reported the second-highest profits in its history
despite the economic recession and the structural change in the media industry.
The UK
magazine publisher, Future, also recorded a 61% fall in profit.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/26/future-profits-fall-us-operation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/26/daily-mail-general-trust-profit
-More Papers Erect Paywall
The UK regional newspaper publisher,
Johnston Press, announced plans to erect paywalls at six of its weekly
newspaper websites from next Monday. Users have to pay £5 subscription fee for
three months. Johnston Press is the second largest newspaper owner in the UK, owning 147
weekly paid-for titles and 116 free titles. The move to paid content model is
to experiment the reaction of readers and advertisers to its six chosen news
sites.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2009/nov/25/johnston-press-charging-for-content
US: Media Lawyer Calls for
‘Compulsory Licensing Fee System' for News Aggregators
Gerry Byrne, the media lawyer
called for the introduction of a ‘compulsory licensing fee system' for news
aggregators or re-distributors like Google to protect online content. The
compulsory licensing fee system will provide the legal certainty for newspaper
publishers to require news aggregators like Google to pay a portion of the
profits.
http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/11/copyright_law_reform_as_a_novel_way_to_p.php
25 November
US
-More Newspapers
Consider Blocking Google Search
MediaNews Group, one of the largest
newspaper companies in the US, considers blocking Google News when it starts
charging online content for its newspapers in Pennsylvania and California. However, it free online content
will still be available through Google search. Early this month, the media
conglomerate News Corporation also announced that it will block Google search
from its news website once the pay wall is set (see MCJ 9
Nov).
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aRVlZEzbmNu0&pos=13#
- Magazine
Publishers in Talk to Set up Digital Newsstand
Magazine publishers including the
Time Inc. and Conde Nast are in talk to set up an online newsstand for their
digital magazines. The online newsstand will be like an ‘iTunes for magazines',
which makes it easier to buy print and electronic copies of publications. As the
media industry is in transition from print to online publishing, magazine
publishers want to get hold of its digital readers by providing easy access to
readers. Some newspaper owners also expressed their interests the online
newsstand.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/business/media/25mag.html?ref=media
24 November
Portugal: Motorpress to Lay off 28 Jobs
The publishing company Motorpress announced to lay off 28 jobs and
cease the publications of its journals Auto Loan and Maxi Tuning.
Early this year, Motorpress already made seven jobs redundant and cut its
staff's salaries as a result of the financial crisis. The journalists union in
Portugal, Sindicato dos Journalistas, expressed its concern over the
restructuring plan and the working conditions of the journalists.
http://www.jornalistas.online.pt/noticia.asp?id=7697&idselect=3&idCanal=3&p=0
Spain: Paid Online News Site ‘Factual' Lanches
The Spanish journalist, Arcadi Espada, who is currently working as
a columnist for the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, announced his venture on
launching the paid online news website Factual on 30 November. Factual will have a start-up budget of €250, 000 and it plans to charge readers
an annual fee of €50 for unlimited access to all of its content
online. Some
media critics are skeptical about the prospect of the pay online news
site as
the award-winning Spanish news site Soitu just announced its closure
(see MCJ
28 Oct) due to its unsustainable business model.
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2009/11/17/comunicacion/1258470215.html
23
November
US:
First Joint Reporting by Ohio Newspaper Groups to be Published
In response to
the changing media landscape, a group of Ohio newspapers decided to corporate and share
their resources with each other instead of competing. The first joint reporting
project investigating pensions of public employees will be published on 29
November by the seven Ohio newspapers (The Columbus, the Dispatch,
the Repository, the Plain Dealer, the Akron Beacon Journal, The Blade of Toledo,
the Dayton Daily News and The Vindicator) involved in the consortium, the Ohio
News Orgainsation (ONO). Newspapers in the ONO started working together since
2008 after complaints about the coverage by the Associated Press on some of the
local issues.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004044375
UK: BBC Changes to
Longer Headlines to Reach ‘Search Engine
Optimisation'
The changing
patterns of how readers consume news (through news aggregators and social media)
have also changed how news is produced today. The BBC announced today that its
news website will change its short headlines to longer ones. As the BBC
explained, there are a growing number of readers who are using search engines,
news aggregators, Twitter and other media to consume news, longer headlines will
enable readers to retrieved BBC news via search engines easily.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2009/11/changing_headlines.html
20
November
UK: News Corp Sets its Priority on
Entertainment over Journalism
James
Murdoch, head of the media conglomerate News Corporation, said that journalism
no longer plays a big role in the corporation's future. Talking the future
business plan of the Corporation, he said the Corporation will focus on the
profitable entertainment. He also signaled that the Corporation is working with
publishers to speed up the process of transition from print to online media and
developing a wholesale market place for digital journalism.
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=44672&c=1
US:
AP Confirms 90 Layoffs
The
Associated Press (AP) confirmed today it laid off 90 news employees worldwide
after it was reported that 71 AP union members has been laid off on Tuesday
(see MCJ 17 Sept). In October 2008, the AP set a target of reducing 10% of its
annual payroll costs to compensate the reduction in the subscription fees for
newspapers and broadcasters. Recently, it was reported that around 130
newspapers submitted their cancellation notices to the AP (see MCJ 6 Nov).
http://www.ap.org/pages/about/whatsnew/wn_111909a.html
19 November
Spain:
-More than 5,000 Unemployed Journalists in Spain
The media industry in Spain is still facing tough times with La
Opinión de Granada announcing 45 jobs cuts (25 of them are journalists) on
the top of the 3, 000 redundancies made in the last twelve months. The
IFJ affiliate, the Federación de Asociaciones de Periodistas de España (FAPE) has created an Observatory for the Crisis and its member, the Asociación
de la Prensa de Madrid (APM) just recorded 5,155 unemployed journalists
registered with the National Institute for Employment (INEM). The APM will
publish a report regarding the situation of the journalists' profession in the
middle of December.
http://www.fape.es/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1632&Itemid=125
http://www.fape.es
-New Draft Broadcasting Law Will Put 10, 000 Jobs at Risks
The Forum of Journalists Organisations (Foro de Organizaciones de
Periodistas) revealed that a new draft broadcasting law, concerning the
scrapping of fourteen audiovisual laws and a wider privatisation plan, could
put 10,000 jobs at risk. Journalists working in the public broadcasting sectors
will be the most affected by the draft law. Wider privatisation means that it
will become easier for media tycoons to merge with other media and worsen the
situation of media concentration in Spain. This will pose further
threat to media pluralism in Spain
and in Europe.
http://hl47.dinaserver.com/hosting/foroperiodistas.com/index.php?lang=es
http://www.fesp.org
http://www.fsc.ccoo.es/webfsc/menu.do?Inicio:67537
UK: ITN Is to Cut 20 Jobs
The Independent Television News (ITN), the UK news and content provider, is to
cut around 20 staff posts as part of its restructuring plan to tackle its £39.9
million pension deficit. The company has already decided to close its final
pension salary scheme and a decision will be made by March 2010 regarding its
future pension plan.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/19/itn-job-cuts
Japan Launches Manga Style Newspapers
Japan launches two manga style newspaper
websites, Manga no Shimbun and Nihon IT Manga Shimbun, presenting news in a
comical perspective. The manga style newspapers put complicated news such as
politics, economics and social issues in a simple narrative to attract young
readers. The two newspapers also plan to translate their content into different
languages (such as English, French and Korean) in the future, depending on the
readers' responses and demands.
http://www.sfnblog.com/circulation_and_readership/2009/11/two_comic-book_style_newspapers_launched.php#more
18
November
US: ‘Computational Journalism' to Help
Holding Media Accountable
As the media landscape is deeply
affected by the technological advancement, a report published by DeWitt Wallace
Centre for Media and Democracy advocates the use of ‘computational journalism'
(CJ) to hold media accountable and improve reporting of corruption, for
example . According to the report, ‘computational journalism' could promote
media accountability by enabling reporters and citizens to interact with news
through the computer tools (e.g. text from scanned government documents , tools to
create information timelines, databases and alerts) and reduce the costs for
investigative journalism. Further, this will engage new ‘players' such as
citizens and NGOs as watchdogs. It also suggests a ‘customisable Google News'
service for ‘beat reporters' to update them on the latest news from different
media platforms (including the traditional media and social media).
http://knightcenter.utexas.edu/blog/?q=en/node/5728
http://dewitt.sanford.duke.edu/index.php/about/area-of-research/computational_journalism
17 November
France:
"Le Parisien" to Axe 100 Jobs
A special meeting of the works council at the French daily
LeParisien will decide on 26 November on major staff
restructuring including cutting one hundred jobs -25 in national news and the
rest in local editions. Sales of the first semester in 2009 decreased by 7%
compared with the previous year, whereas commercial income dropped by 20%.
Journalists fear their paper will become a "super freely" without relevant
local news.
http://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2009/11/17/la-direction-du-parisien-veut-supprimer-une-centaine-de-postes_1268484_3236.html#ens_id=1268479
Americas:
"Black Tuesday" at AP
Dozens of Associated Press (AP) staff were laid off on
Tuesday 17 November, as the company plans to achieve a ten percent payroll
reduction by the end of 2009. According to estimations of the Newspaper Guild,
more than 38 terminations took place in the US, affecting managers, reporters,
editors, photographers, and editorial assistants. The company has not yet
provided formal notice to the union and it is still unknown how many non-US employees
are affected. Earlier in the year, about 100 employees accepted a voluntary
early retirement package. In early November, the Puerto
Rico branch of AP laid off eight staff, who learned of the
reductions from clients before being informed by AP.
http://newsmediaguild.org/newsroom/news_releases/black_tuesday_at_ap
News Organisations Can Now Call for ‘Citizen Reporting
' through Youtube Direct
Youtube, the popular video sharing website owned by Google
Inc, launches a new feature called Youtube Direct that enables news
organisations to ‘request, review and re-broadcast user-submitted videos'
directly. Youtube Direct will serve as a platform for news organisations,
non-profit orangisations and businesses to call for ‘citizen journalists' and
amateurs to submit their ‘breaking news' and ‘promotional videos'. US Media
organisations like the Huffington Post, the National Public Radio (NPR),
Politico, the San Francisco Chronicle and some of Boston TV stations are
testing the service. Meanwhile, the largest Spanish-language television
network, Univision, agreed to feature its programmes in the US on Youtube
(including the latest programmes and archives). In return, Univision will receive
most of the advertising revenues.
http://knightcenter.utexas.edu/blog/?q=en/node/5824
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE5AF4QT20091117
Europe: Mecom
Records 18% Fall in Ad revenue
Mecom, the Pan-European publishing Group which owns around
300 titles has recorded a massive drop of 18% in its advertising revenue for
the third quarter of this year. Its operations in the Netherlands
suffered a decline of 20% in advertising revenue year on year. So far
this year, Mecom has made €115m cuts. However, the group still has to meet its
11% of cost-cutting target year on year to make up the fall in advertising
revenue.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/17/mecom-ad-revenue-down
UK:
-The Times to Be the First National Newspaper to Charge
Online Content
At the Society of Editors' conference, the Times editor
James Harding revealed the plan to charge its online content by early next year
and admitted that the Times ‘had contributed to the culture of free'. The
planned paywall package will include a subscription service for loyal readers
and a 24 hour access for less frequent readers. However, the Times has not
decided the pricing level. Once the plan is implemented, the Times will
become the first national newspaper in the UK
to charge its online content and end the ‘culture of free' in the UK newspaper
industry.
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=44649&c=1
-Closure
of Media Week Will Cost 18 Jobs
The weekly magazine, Media Week, owned by the Haymarket
Group, announced its closure and redundancies of 18 editorial staff.
Affected staff are undergoing a consultation with Haymarket. Other titles in
the Haymarket Group are also affected by the business restructuring plan. The
monthly publication, Revolution, will become a quarterly supplement within
Marketing. A ‘centralised hub' of reporters is expected to be formed to cover
the media, advertising and marketing sectors across the weekly titles within
the Brand Republic portal of the Haymarket Group.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/17/media-week-to-close
16 November
Europe: Online Ad Spending to Increase More
than 7% in 2010
In the recent report, the Marketers' Internet Ad
Barometer, conducted by the European Interactive Advertising Association
(EIAA), predicts that online advertising spending across Europe
will be increased by 7.6% yearly. Meanwhile, traditional TV advertising
spending will certainly follow an opposite tendency.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/16/online-ad-spend-climb-2010
Europe/US:
Europeans More Likely to Pay for Online News as Americans
A study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
shows that 48% of American internet users would pay for online news at an
average rate of $3 a month. However, respondents from European countries showed
a higher percent (around 60%) of support for online paid content. The
Italians would pay an average of $7 for online news. John Rose, head of the BCG
explained that the low percentage of Americans who would pay for online news is
due to the vast and rich amount of free online news that are available to them
than to their European counterparts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/business/media/16paywall.html?_r=1&ref=media
13 November
US: More Job Cuts at the NYT and Change of Strategy at CNN
The New York Times Service is to
cut around 28 jobs in the editorial team and move its office for services to Florida. Non-union
employees were also told that contributions to their pensions will be stopped
at the end of this year. They will only receive an additional 3% of their
salaries as the new pension contribution scheme. In October, the New York Times
already announced its plan to cut 100 jobs by the end of this year (see MCJ 20
Oct). In broadcasting, CNN has taken ‘cost-effective' measures cutting back its
web video production and laid off four web anchors. The management claims that
the current practice at CNN.com is not ‘cost-effective' and that the company
will put more resources to on-demand video. Under the new plan, seven employees
will be hired for the production of on-demand video.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/business/media/13times.html?ref=media
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/business/media/13anchor.html?_r=1&ref=media
12 November
France: French Broadcasting
Giant Announces over 50% Drop of Revenues
The largest French private television, TF1, announced a drastic drop of
54% of overall revenues since the beginning of this year. Compared to last
year's figure, the economic contraction led to a 19% decrease of advertising
revenues in TF1. Contrary to many observers, the recent removal of advertising on
public broadcasters did not boost revenues of private broadcasters.
http://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2009/11/10/le-benefice-de-tf1-en-baisse-de-54-sur-neuf-mois_1265493_3236.html#ens_id=1264772
Finland: YLE May Resort to
Cutting Jobs or Channels to Cut Costs
One the sanctuary of the public
broadcasting in Europe, the Finnish public broadcasting Yleisradio (YLE), may resort to cutting jobs or
channels to meet its €31 savings scheme by 2012. Faced with decreasing general
revenues, the financial condition of YLE was further worsened by the replacing
of the television licence fee by a lower "media fee". Currently the YLE is
cutting its number of imported programmes and giving up some of its expensive
sports broadcasting rights to cut costs.
http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2009/11/yles_cost-cutting_plan_may_cut_channels_1152699.html
US: New York Times Publishes
‘Community-Funded' Reporting
The New York Time published an
investigative article on the pollution in the Pacific
Ocean, which was reported by the ‘self-identified' freelance
journalist Lindsey Hoshaw. Hoshaw has raised $6000 over the past three months
from more than 100 donors through the community-funded reporting project
Spot.Us, a project of the non-profit Centre for Media Change. Concretely this
means that people can donate money for stories they want to be investigated and
"journalists" would receive up to $1,400 for their reports.
http://spot.us/
UK: Drop in GNM's Revenues
Results in More than 100 Job Cuts and Reshuffling at Observer
The Guardian News and Media (GNM)
announced to cut more than 100 jobs due to ‘worse-than-anticipated' drop of
revenues by £33m. The cuts will affect its staff in the editorial and
commercial departments but according to the management "only around 8% to 10%
of editorial staff would leave" after voluntary redundancies and redeployment.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) expressed ‘extreme concern' over its
plans as they ‘have not seen any creative plans taken by the GNM'.
Part of the plan is also to
integrate the Observer's four monthly magazines (Observer Food Monthly,
Observer, Observer Sport Monthly, Music Monthly and Observer Woman) into a
single four-section paper. Affected journalists at the Observer will be
integrated into GNM's other titles, the Guardian and its website
guardian.co.uk.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/10/observer-sections-redesign
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/11/guardian-news-and-media#start-of-comments
NUJ's response: http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1416
Birmingham Post Publishes its
First 180-page Weekly for Just £1
After the reshuffling in Trinity
Mirror's news groups in Midlands (see MCJ 21
Oct), the Birmingham Post launched its first weekly offering its 180-page
comprehensive coverage at £1 only. In addition to the weekly, dozens of
regional reports will be uploaded to its website birminghampost.net. Online
readers can also subscribe to its daily news update E-zine for breaking news
service in a daily basis. So far 15, 000 readers subscribed to this service.
Online readers can also print or download the news to their Kindle
10 November
US: Star Tribune to Cut 100 jobs
Star Tribune, the largest daily
newspaper in the U.S. state
of Minnesota
announced to cut 100 jobs. The newspaper was deeply affected by the recession
and the structural changes in the media industry, which forced it to file
bankruptcy in January. Its number of staff has shrunk by nearly 40% since 2006.
The cut is due to the continuous falling circulation and advertising revenue.
http://www.startribune.com/business/69570982.html?page=2&c=y
9 November
Canada:Toronto Star to
Replace Editors with Outsourced Contract Workers
The Toronto Star, Canada's
most widely circulated paper, plans to replace one third of its editors (up to
100 people) with contract workers, maybe even outside the country. The
management of the paper announced voluntary buyouts to its 1,300 employees in
all divisions. "Star readers will be shocked to hear that core aspects of its
daily journalism, that vital role in our society, are now to be farmed out"
said Maureen Dawson, the head of the Star's union. The Toronto Star has already
moved circulation jobs to India
and classified-call-centre jobs to Buffalo,
USA.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=afWQnj2nAp_A
http://knightcenter.utexas.edu/blog/?q=en/node/5704
Global: Google Launches Digitalised
Magazine Stand While News Corp. Considers Blocking Searches for Google News
Google launched its digitalised
magazine stand displaying a comprehensive list of magazine archives including
the Life, the Liberty, the Popular Science and many others for free. Users can browse magazine
covers and read the original articles or the entire issue of magazines in full
colour through Google Book Search. At the same time, Rupert Murdoch announced
that he was considering blocking Google searches from displaying its news
content. Murdoch said its media groups, the Sun, the Times and
the Wall Street Journal, will block Google entirely once they enacted
plans to charge their content, Guardian reported. Murdoch also
criticised news aggregators and Google as ‘parasites' for stealing away its
news content without paying for it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/09/murdoch-google
http://www.observer.com/2009/media/google-books-whacky-magazine-archives
6 November
UK:First Newspaper owned by its
Employees
The West Highland Free Press,
a left-wing weekly local newspaper in Scotland
becomes the first newspaper in the UK owned by its staff. The ten
staff in the Free Press become shareholders in the trust that now owns the
paper. Despite the economic downturn and the media crisis, its staff show faith
and optimism in the paper by putting their stake in the shares of the
paper.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2009/nov/05/local-newspapers-scotland
Global:
- AP to Revise Fee
Structure as 130 Submitted Cancellation Notices
The news wire agency, Associated
Press (AP), is to revise its fee structure for 2010 to maintain its sales as
many newspapers filed their cancellation notices. Around 130 newspapers
submitted the two-year required notices to the AP that they may not subscribe
to its news wire service as it has become too costly for them. The AP announced
that it will revise its fee and its members will benefit from a savings of $65.
Recently, 50 newspapers just rescinded their cancellation notices. But this
week, the Chicago Tribune and other Tribune Co. newspapers are experimenting
AP-less week without running any news from the AP.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004033067
- Google Pushes
for More Convergence but Remains Unclear about its Role
Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google
believes the future of news will rest on further integration and convergence of
different news media and technology. In an interview with the Nieman Journalism
Lab, a foundation funded by the Harvey University, Schmidt repeated that he
believes ‘new media ' that emerge out of ‘a deep
convergence of text, video and audio' will change journalism fundamentally.
Moreover, the sources of revenue have to be from both advertising and
subscription. However, when he was asked about the responsibility of Google in
the play of the news' future , Schmidt said Google has ‘not yet figured out how
to exercise that responsibility'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2009/nov/05/local-newspapers-scotland
5 November
Europe: Stand Up for Journalism Day, Campaigning for Change in Europe
The
European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its members, unions and
associations of journalists across the region, marked the Stand Up for
Journalism Day, an annual event which takes place on 5 November. The
Stand Up for Journalism campaign was launched in 2007 on issues of
concern to all who value media and democracy - decent jobs and
professional rights for journalists. On this day, journalists across
Europe focus on the challenges they meet in their daily work through
debates, statements, demonstrations or collective actions.
http://europe.ifj.org/en/pages/efj-campaigns-stand-up-for-journalism
Germany: Süddeutsche and B.Z. go for Paid Content
Model
Two German
newspapers Süddeutsche and B.Z. announced plans to adopt the paid content model
in charging for its articles and photographs online. B.Z., the most popular
tabloid in Berlin
plans to charge a one-off fee of just 79 cents for users to have access to all
its content. Mobile phone users can also subscribe to its content. Süddeutsche
will also offer a monthly subscription fee of €1.58 from the middle of November
to online subscribers.
http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2009/11/paid_content_model_prevails_in_germany.php
http://www.turi2.de/2009/10/30/heute2-b-z-sz-setzen-zusatzerloese-aufs-iphone-7275553/
UK
- Investigative Journalists are in Demand
Faced with the
crisis in the media industry, the public needs more investigative journalists
than ever before. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a non-profit
organisation founded by a group of experienced journalists in the UK (including
veterans Phillip Knightley and Nick Davies) to support investigative journalism
announced it is going to recruit up to 20 journalists for its investigative
teams. The Bureau recently received a substantial sum of £2 million from the
David and Elaine Potter Foundation founded by former Sunday Times journalists
Elaine Potter .
http://www.journalism.co.uk/2/articles/536362.php
http://www.investigationsfund.org/
- More Job Cuts, Merseyside
Journalists to Ballot on Industrial Action
The Trinity
Mirror group announced 17 further job cust in the newsrooms. The cuts will
affect seven multi-media journalists' posts, four photographers, the
copy-taking unit and the electronic picture desk. Journalists from Merseyside
start the balloting process for industrial actions since the same Trinity
Mirror already axed around 150 jobs since 2008. The National Union of
Journalists (NUJ) regards the cuts as ‘relentless' and ‘damaging' to the
quality of the papers and websites, and to the
local economy.
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=44563&c=1
NUJ Campaign
Europe:
Stand Up for Journalism Day, Campaigning for Change in Europe
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its
members, unions and associations of journalists across the region, marked the
Stand Up for Journalism Day, an annual event which takes place on
5 November. The Stand Up for Journalism campaign was launched in 2007 on
issues of concern to all who value media and democracy - decent jobs and
professional rights for journalists. On this day, journalists across Europe focus on the challenges they meet in their daily
work through debates, statements, demonstrations or collective actions.
http://europe.ifj.org/en/pages/efj-campaigns-stand-up-for-journalism
3 November
Global: Newspaper Sites Record Sharp Decline of ‘Unique
Visitors'
New statistical analysis from Mediacafe, created by
Jeff Mignon, a product strategist, and Nancy
Wong, a business strategist suggests a sharp decline in ‘unique
visitors' (UV - measuring a unit of traffic to a Website). The findings show
all major US newspapers (including the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times,
Boston Globe, etc) recording a sharp decline of UV since October 2008. Major
news sites for national newspapers in France (i.e. Le Monde, Le Figaro,
Libération , etc), Canada
(i.e. Globe & Mail, La Presse, Toronto Star & National Post) and the UK
(the Guardian, Times Online, the Independent, the Scotsman & the Telegraph)
also experienced a decline of UV. The findings ultimately point to the
saturation of online audience and the high penetration of local news sites in
the competitive online market.
http://mediacafe.blogspot.com/2009/10/unique-audience-for-newspapers-going.html
US:
Freedom To Close Pulitzer-Winning Newspaper
Freedom
communication Inc., the US
publishing group which owns more than 100 daily and weekly newspapers announced
the closure of its Pulitzer-winning newspaper East Valley Tribune.
Earlier this year, the Tribune was awarded the Pulitzer prize for local
reporting despite its ‘limited resources' after Freedom filed for bankruptcy
protection at the end of August after recording $770 million in debt. The
closure of Tribune will affect 140 employees.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004032453