Mail Online: Johnston Press chief rules out more paywalls

John Fry, head of Johnston Press, has ruled out future paywalls for JP’s newspaper websites, following the unsuccessful trial on selected sites late last year.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Fry says:

While a respectable number of users were prepared to pay, it wasn’t enough to offset the slump in ad revenues.

As Fry says: “With the internet it’s free and has been from the beginning. After 15 years of free it’s hard to change people’s habits.”

Apps and media mergers are more likely to help the regional press, he says.

Full interview on Mail Online at this link…

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The Australian: News Limited to create centralised sub-editing hub for Australian titles

Plans for a new sub-editing hub for News Limited’s titles in Australia, part of News Corporation, have been announced. More than 100 sub-editors and designers will move to the centralised production operation.

Full story on the Australian at this link…

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Headlines and Deadlines: My first death knock

Liverpool Daily Post and Echo digital journalist Alison Gow recalls one of her first “death knocks”:

I saw the boat, and it stopped being a lark. The Double R was a corpse – a beached wreck with her paintwork sandblasted away and holes punched in her keel. She lay, tilted to the side, with the cabin smashed in. That was when I truly understood I was reporting on the aftermath of a tragedy. Someone I vaguely knew had gone out, buttoning his coat against the storm, to secure his boat and means of employment, and he had died an unimaginable death.

Full post on Headlines and Deadlines at this link…

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Boston Globe joins New York Times in paywall plans

Not much of a surprise perhaps – the Boston Globe, also owned by the New York Times company, has announced plans for a new paywalled website in the second half of 2011.

The paid-for site BostonGlobe.com will feature news, features, photojournalism and full stories from the daily and Sunday editions of the paper; the current website Boston.com will remain as part of the subscription and registration model and will focus on sport, local news, arts and culture.

Full story on Media Decoder at this link…

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#followjourn: @annmroz – Ann Mroz/editor

Who? Ann Mroz, editor of weekly magazine supplement Times Higher Education.

Where? timeshighereducation.co.uk

Twitter? @annmroz

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 laura at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

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#jpod: Where does the truth lie in journalism and communications?

What is truth? Tricky as a philosophical question, even more so when discussing truth and objectivity in today’s  media. Speaking at an event organised by Editorial Intelligence, journalists, PR agencies, academics and bloggers discussed how online communications are affecting the idea of truth in the media; and how the speed with which information spreads via the web is challenging accuracy and objectivity amongst news organisations.

Debating the issues were:

• Political bloggers Guido Fawkes and Iain Dale;
• FT journalist Sue Matthias;
• head of journalism at City University London George Brock;
• BBC Panorama journalist John Ware;
• Chief executive of Editorial Intelligence Julia Hobsbawn.

Podcast: Download

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – finding a freelance niche

Freelance: Not just for journalists, but this post from FreelanceSwitch on how to find a niche as a freelancer is highly applicable and full of good advice for those new to freelancing. 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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