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Pagemasters editorial outsourcing spreads to the US and Canada

August 13th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by in Journalism, Newspapers

Editorial outsourcing firm Pagemasters has announced a partnership with the Canadian Press to provide a range of production services, including design, sub-editing and headline writing, to titles in the US and Canada.

The new division, Pagemasters North America, will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Canadian Press, which already provides pagination services to Canadian daily newspapers including The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star.

The move by Australian Associated Press (AAP), the national news agency of Australia, which owns the editing company, follows a contract with Telegraph Media Group announced in January to provide sub-editing services for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph’s weekend supplements.

In a previous article in The Sunday Morning Herald, Pagemasters managing director Bruce Davidson commented on how useful a time zone difference is for the editing process: “The Telegraph can deliver pages at the end of their day, and when they come in the next morning we have completed the work.”

In today’s release, Davidson said: “The launch of Pagemasters North America is a major development and I believe one which has the potential to lead to significant changes in the editorial production model for US and Canadian newspapers.

“We will be heavily involved with The Canadian Press in setting up editorial production centres in North America, working closely with newspaper publishers as they grapple with the radical changes sweeping the industry.”

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Sports section revamp for Northcliffe – building a sporting community

August 13th, 2009 | 1 Comment | Posted by in Newspapers

NorthScreenshot from SportHull.co.ukcliffe has brought its standalone sport sites in the north east onto the same platform as its newspaper websites for Hull, Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Lincoln – as reported by HoldtheFrontPage – e.g. the sports section on each of the thisis sites for these areas now redirects to SportHull.co.uk, SportGrimsby.co.uk etc.

There’s a big push for interactivity with a Virgin Media video player of sporting highlights alongside in-house videos; CoveritLive blogs for match days and an aggregated feed of local sports news from a range of sources (see left).

Sports coverage is a huge traffic driver to regional newspaper websites and breeds interaction and buzz (one story on the SportHull page posted yesterday morning had already attracted 113 comments at time of writing this post).

The section is more differentiated from the rest of the site now in these four examples, so will it have an impact on traffic to other news areas that may have benefited from the traffic generated by the sports channel. While the sports sections do have a link back to the main website they are more heavily demarcated than previously.

With the new features these pages offer a one-stop shop for local sports fans – I can’t spot a link to a message board or forum on the new sports’ sites however. Other Northcliffe titles still use this format – are the new sites hoping the other interactive features will replace these?

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#bnewstip: Broadcast journalism tips from @newsleader

August 13th, 2009 | 1 Comment | Posted by in Broadcasting, Top tips for journalists

Following on from his tips for entertainment journalism, radio journalism and radio interview tips, Justin Kings a.k.a. @newsleader is posting tips for broadcast journalists today under the hashtag #bnewstip.

You can follow a stream of the tips below or by following him on Twitter:

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Media Release: Hannah Walker joins PCC Editor’s Code committee

August 13th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by in Media releases, Newspapers

Hannah Walker, editor-in-chief of the South London Press, will join the Press Complaints Commission’s (PCC) Editor’s Code committee.

Walker replaces former Scotsman editor Mike Gilson, who has resigned.

Full release at this link…

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City Pages: When a reporter leaves – who owns the Twitter account?

“What happens when a reporter who authors a respected Twitter page moves to the competition? Can she take the identity with her as part of her personal brand? Can the paper assert ownership?” asks Hart Van Denburgh referencing the case of a US reporter for the Pioneer Press, who recently moved to the competition, but left her Twitter account behind.

The Pioneer Press’ own technology correspondent, Julio Ojeda-Zapata, recommends companies issue formal or informal guidelines on using social media and rules on who owns and controls branded accounts.

Full post at this link…

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Online Journalism Blog: Help map local blogs in the UK

A call to action on behalf of the Online Journalism Blog, which with the help of Matt Wardman, is attempting to build a map of locally-focused blogs in the UK.

You can submit the name of any local blogs you know of via an online form.

Matt has some interesting thoughts on the opportunities for local news blogs in this post too.

“I think group blogs with varied teams of contributors may be best placed to provide a decent level of coverage and draw a good readership, while competing effectively with other media outlets. That is a trend we have seen in the political blog niche over several years – the sites which have established themselves and maintain a position as key sites have developed progressively larger teams of editors, and provided a wider range of commentary and services,” he suggests.

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Media Release: Schibsted titles to livestream Norwegian football matches

August 13th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by in Editors' pick, Media releases, Newspapers

Interesting deal between Level 3 Communications and Scandinavian publisher Schibsted, which will bring live streaming of Norwegian Football League games to the group’s newspaper websites.

Users will be able to watch matches on a pay-per-game basis.

“A truly interactive service merging video, text and community functionality,” said Dag Wigum, CIO, at Schibsted ASA, in the release.

Full release at this link…

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paidContent:UK: Getty Images VP on finding business models for cit-j photos

In this interview with Catherine Gluckstein, the VP of Getty Image’s iStock, which the photo agency bought back in 2006, discusses the difficulties of finding a business model for images from citizen journalists.

Getty’s own foray into the cit-j space saw it buy and later shutdown Scoopt.

“[A] lot of people who take the pictures are not necessarily trying to monetise them – it works best when they send them to the news organisations,” explains Gluckstein.

iStock, which is a pro-am microstock play, is finding success with timeless images, she says. Contributors receive up to 40 per cent commission with images sold to users from $0.95 each.

Gluckstein, who is also CFO of Life.com – the resurrected photo magazine, also comments on the role of social media as a significant driver of traffic to the site.

Full interview at this link…

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Cplash: Thank you message from Laura Ling

August 13th, 2009 | 1 Comment | Posted by in Editors' pick, Press freedom and ethics

Citizen journalism website Csplash has reportedly received a message from Laura Ling, the Current TV journalist released from North Korea last week.

“Euna [fellow captive Euna Lee] and I are two of the lucky ones whose story of captivity resulted in a happy ending. But there are so many journalists imprisoned around the world whose fate is still undecided. It is my sincere hope that the energy ignited around bringing us home will be harnessed into raising awareness around these fellow journalists and their struggle for freedom,” writes Ling.

Full message at this link…

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#FollowJourn: @rachcolling/freelancer

August 13th, 2009 | 1 Comment | Posted by in Freelance, Recommended journalists

#FollowJourn: Rach Colling

Who? Freelance journalist.

What? Content editor and writer based in Gateshead.

Where? @rachcolling

Contact? Through her website or blog.

Just as we like to supply you with fresh and innovative tips every day, we’re recommending journalists to follow online too. They might be from any sector of the industry: please send suggestions (you can nominate yourself) to judith or laura at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

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