Fifteen mag publishers unite to offer subscription deals online

Fifteen magazine publishers have created a special online group for print subscriptions to their titles, according to a release from online subscription agency, magazine-group.co.uk.

The Cultural Publications Group (CPG) features: BBC Music magazine, Countryfile, Geographic, Granta, Guardian Weekly, History Today, the London Review of Books, Lonely Planet magazine, New Scientist, The Oldie, the Spectator, the Week, Time and the Times Literary Supplement.

“We all share the belief that good writing can still make a difference, with magazines that inform, enlighten, engage and entertain,” the site states.

“Choose a magazine subscription from a Cultural Publications Group member and you are guaranteed a thoughtful and thought-provoking read.”

According to the site, a 54-issue subscription to Time via the CPG site will cost £24.99, a saving on the recommended retail price of 84 per cent.

The costs of marketing for the venture, which will see 1.3 million leaflets distributed in newspapers and magazines in the coming weeks, will be shared by the publishers involved.

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Eamonn Matthews on the pursuit of truth in journalism and Unreported World

Eamonn Matthews, the critically acclaimed producer and programme maker, spoke of his pursuit for truth in journalism and his own risky investigative style of programme making at an industry event last night.

Following a selection of recent documentary film snippets which covered witch hunts in Papua New Guinea, honour killings in Turkey and the harsh realities of India’s coalmines, Matthews explained how his Channel 4 series Unreported World attempts to uncover the truth of a situation from people who are directly affected by it:

“We are trying to give a voice to the millions who don’t have one (…) We don’t want experts who say this [certain things] about the situation; we’re not interested in politicians’ filtered down view on what’s going on,” he said.

Truth is always the focus, because there is too much opinion in journalism, he added. Although it has its place, opinion doesn’t give a real insight into the situation, he said.

Matthews stressed the simplicity in the production of his programmes: a two-person team and a basic video camera produce the films. It’s this method that creates the style of unreported world: “You’re experiencing what the reporter is experiencing (…) we’re not trying to massage reality.”

Matthews explained how he adopted his style of documentary making, expressing how often the most interesting part of a story can be completely ignored: “The journey can be more revealing than the arrival.”

Journalists such as Charles Wheeler and Jon Snow had inspired him, he said, and his own time at the BBC producing current affairs programmes had also given him experience.

The talk was underlined by the risky nature of the programmes and the dangers that each reporter faces whilst filming.

“The only way to get rid of risk completely is to never leave the office,” he said.

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BBC must return to Reithian values, says Bakewell

The BBC can only be saved by a rediscovery of the values that John Reith placed on public service broadcasting, Dame Joan Bakewell counselled at an event on Wednesday.

Bakewell warned that broadcasters have a responsibility to look back to the ethos of the ‘golden age’ of public service broadcasting of the 1960s in order to deal with the challenges presented by multiplying competition.

“At a time when so many other institutions, financial, parliamentary, are deeply flawed, the battered and tattered ideals of public service broadcasting survive. If a societal consciousness is creeping back into public affairs, then now is the time to celebrate public service broadcasting and see it flourish again,” she said.

Bakewell described Public Service Broadcasting as the ‘lynchpin’ of Britain’s culture and democracy and argued that it must have the courage of its own judgments in order to survive as the ‘bedrock on which the BBC’s worldwide reputation relies’.

Her reflections came in the form of the annual James Cameron Memorial Lecture, which she delivered to an audience made up of journalists and students at City University in London.

Gary Younge, the US-based Guardian reporter and columnist, was presented with the James Cameron Memorial Award for his reporting written with ‘passion and compassion’ in the run up to the election of Barack Obama.

Younge’s nod to Kanye West’s recent faux pas at the MTV Video Music Awards had the room in fits of giggles. “Beyonce was the greatest writer of all time,” he said.

Also posthumously honoured with a special award for those who fight to hold those in power to account was Sri Lankan editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, who was murdered in January. As editor of Sri Lanka’s Sunday Leader he was known as a forceful critic of the challengers to liberal democracy.

Wickrematunge wrote a ‘living obituary’ predicting his own death as a result of his work as a journalist shortly before his murder. Sonali Wickrematunge, Lasantha’s wife, said that the award would serve as ‘a beam of hope for those who continue to risk their life for the truth’.

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Mail Online: Cut in hours for same pay was not all I wished for, says Tom Utley

“By the end of week three, I could bear it no longer.

“Finding myself in the lift with the boss, I told him something I never thought I’d hear myself say: ‘I feel I’m not earning my keep. Could you give me some more work to do, please?’”

Daily Mail columnist Tom Utley’s words to ‘the boss’ (presumably Paul Dacre in this case) after having taken up the offer of working one day a week instead of four for the same money.”But probably best for Utley’s at work relations that he came to this conclusion then:

“Harder still was looking my colleagues in the eye, on the one day a week when I was required to work.

“After all, they were labouring all hours to help pay my wages, while I was getting something for nothing. It just felt wrong.”

Full column at this link…

(Hat tip to Press Gazette’s The Wire)

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Could the Monday MediaGuardian section go online-only?

The Guardian is considering making its Monday media section online-only, according to its sports columnist Martin Kelner, speaking to Phil Williams on Simon Mayo’s BBC Radio 5 Live show on Wednesday.

In a discussion about pay walls and micro-payments, Kelner said that the Guardian is ‘looking at the Media being an online section, as opposed to being with the newspaper’.

The Financial Times’ managing editor, Dan Bogler suggested that while newspapers like the Times or Guardian might not be able to charge for general news, or the front pages, they might be able to charge for niche areas, something he knows they are thinking about.

“The Guardian is big on media, is big on public sector jobs, if they bundled that content both print and online and charged for it,  I bet you they could. They might not be able to charge for everything they have but they could charge for certain parts,” said Bogler.

“Yeah well, definitely, Dan’s right – clearly he’s got the inside track on this,” Kelner said.

“The Guardian is looking at the Media being an online section as opposed to being with the newspaper and certainly that is one of the niches the Guardian could charge for.”

MediaGuardian recently celebrated its 25th birthday in print and is read by 525,000 readers every week, according to its advertising information; online it attracts 950,000+ unique users per month.

paidContent:UK reported in June that the Thursday tech supplement could be merged with the media section, or go online only. At that time, a spokesperson from Guardian News & Media (GNM) said they were considering merging the technology section with Monday’s media section – in print.

Speaking at the World Magazine Congress in May, GMG CEO Carolyn McCall, suggested that Guardian Media might be one of the areas they charge for in the future.

But more recently, as plans for the ‘Guardian Club’ emerged, the paper’s director of digital content, Emily Bell argued that a pay wall was not under consideration. “We are not contemplating a pay wall, nor as far as I’m concerned would we ever,” Bell told Liberal Conspiracy in August.

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n2tlp#-: The full discussion starts around 2.35.

Update:

A Guardian spokesperson has said no such plans are being considered:

“Monday’s Media Guardian is a must read for everyone in the industry. It is highly valued editorially and commercially – we have no plans to transfer it to online only.”

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Jon Slattery: Things you should never say to a sub-editor when on work experience

A brilliant aside from Jon Slattery referring to yesterday’s story about the Guardian printing an apology to its own sub-editors.

The story reminded Slattery of a remark made by someone on work experience on the magazine he used to work for:

“Workie to chief sub: ‘Would you like to be a journalist one day?’”

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Editor&Publisher: Bitcents – the first micropayment system for publishers?

San Francisco and London-based start-up Bitcents launched it micropayment system for news organisations this week – the first fully functional system for publishers, it claims.

The system will enable users to pay for subscriptions to networks of content from bitcents’ partnering news sites.

The company has created the slideshow below explaining the system:

One particular feature of interest: bitcents says publishers’ content will remain discoverable through search engines under the system.

Journalism.co.uk will be following up with the company to find out more.

Full story at this link…

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NMA: Dennis trialling paid-for iPhone app

Another publisher signing up to the to-pay-or-not-to-pay iPhone debate: Dennis Publishing is planning to launch an iPhone app for its e-magazine Monkey.

The app will cost £1.79 and, if successful, could spawn similar applications for Android and Blackberry devices, according to NMA.

Full story at this link…

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#FollowJourn: @bill80/digital editor

#FollowJourn: Bill Adee

Who? Digital editor for the Chicago Tribune.

What? Part of the team behind the title’s recently launched ChicagoNow blog network (@chicagonow).

Where? The Chicago Tribune website and ChicagoNow.

Contact? @bill80.

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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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – blogs for job seekers

Job seekers: If you’ve recently been made redundant and need some blogging succour read our blog series The Jobless Journalist and Trials of a Redundant Journalist. Tipster: Laura Oliver.

To submit a tip to Journalism.co.uk, use this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

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