paidContent: Northcliffe plans to tap into hyperlocal network for advertising revenue

The Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) says its regional publisher Northcliffe will “tap its LocalPeople hyperlocal network” in an attempt to reach more advertisers online, paidContent reports.

According to the group’s preliminary results published yesterday, Northcliffe recorded several declines in the year ending October 2010, with underlying revenues down £16 million (six per cent), reported revenues have dropped by 8 per cent and advertising revenues were also down by 7 per cent.

Presenting the results yesterday morning, CEO Martin Morgan told investment analysts that the group is “trying to give ourselves a good shot at capturing local information markets”, paidContent reports.

“We’re going to be taking the technology platform we’ve built (for LocalPeople) and merging it with the ThisIs sites,” Morgan told analysts. “So local people can concentrate on finding a garage, finding a plumber in such a way that provides a long tail of local advertisers – people who aren’t advertising in the local press, we think we can get them in.

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#followjourn: @rjamesjones – James Jones/TV journalist

Who? James Jones, TV Journalist. James is directing a Dispatches film which will air on Channel 4 on 8 November, and produced BBC 2 series, ‘Secret Iraq’.

Where? James Jones on LinkedIn

Twitter? @rjamesjones

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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• #FollowJourn: @MSNMoneyJames/editor

#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – getting started with data scraping

Data journalism: How can journalists get started with scraping data from web pages? Dan Nguyen offers a basic introduction for non-programmer journalists in this post. 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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Mail Online helps DMGT to significant increase in digital revenue

Underlying digital revenues from newspaper websites owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) increased by 54 per cent in the year ending October, due to the “growing success of its primary website, Mail Online” according to the group’s preliminary results published today.

According to the published reports, circulation revenues at the group’s Associated Newspapers titles, which includes the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday and Metro, fell by an underlying two per cent while underlying advertising revenues were up seven per cent, said to have been driven by a “strong performance” from Metro.

Both the Daily Mail and Metro recorded their highest ever operating profit, the report adds.

DMGT’s regional arm Northcliffe recorded several declines, with underlying revenues down £16 million (six per cent), reported revenues have dropped by 8 per cent and advertising revenues were also down by 7 per cent.

Northcliffe: facing another tough year; UK advertising revenue in the first seven weeks down 7 per cent on last year, continuing year‐on‐year trend experienced in September (like‐for‐like decline of 8 per cent). Outlook for first quarter not expected to improve on this trend; will also be affected by higher newsprint costs; focus remains on reducing costs and new revenue opportunities.

Note: Underlying revenues are those adjusted for acquisitions and disposals made in the current and prior year.

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That’s the way the cookie crumbles – a lesson in handling the press

I don’t know what’s better in this clip of (now former) chief executive of a Canadian health service Stephen Duckett – the journalists’ perseverance or Dr Duckett’s love of his oat-based biscuit snack.

(via Mumbrella)

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Chandlers thank their local media and explain decision to sell story to nationals

Kent couple Paul and Rachel Chandler, who were released by their Somali pirate kidnappers earlier this month after being held hostage for more than a year, have reportedly written to local papers to explain their decision to sell the story to the national press.

According to a report on Archant KOS Media’s Kent News website they received a letter from the couple saying that they had decided to sign exclusive media deals in order to “repay certain immediate debts resulting from this unfortunate and troubling episode”. It’s understood the deals have been made with one national newspaper and one broadcaster.

In a letter sent to media organisations – including Archant KOS Media, publishers of this website – the couple thank the media for their support and respecting an injunction issued in the summer which prevented speculation on their situation.

But they said: “We are not a large and wealthy corporation and have had to take the decision to go with one broadcaster and one national daily newspaper”.

Earlier this month Journalism.co.uk spoke to Chris Britcher, editor of Archant KOS Media’s the Tunbridge Wells on Saturday and Sunday. At the time he said there was a “ferocious appetite out there” to find out more about the couple’s ordeal, but that the paper would respect their wishes at all times.

They may well decide that, actually, after a flurry of publicity, they just want to return to their lives, out of the glare of publicity. If they do, we will obviously respect that, perhaps only returning to them for significant anniversaries etc.

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Girish Gupta: What happens when you invoice for work experience

Recently the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said it would offer legal assistance to interns wanting to claim back unpaid wages. Well, freelance journalist Girish Gupta decided to take action and invoice the Independent for two week’s unpaid work experience.

Read the results in the blog post at this link…

(HT – FleetStreetBlues)

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Guardian Careers, PR Week and BBC Cojo line up for SAE Institute open day

As part of its open day for the Digital Journalism Diploma this Saturday (27 November), the SAE Institute London is hosting a Q&A panel featuring representatives from the BBC, PR Week and the Guardian to discuss today’s journalism workplace.

Kerry Eustice, journalist and content manager with the Guardian Careers team, Peter Hay, digital editor at PR Week, and David Hayward from the BBC College of Journalism will be there on the day – more details of which are available at this link.

SAE launched the course back in September with the aim off blending skills from its specialist courses in audio and film with a multimedia journalism programme.

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Currybet: What open government data giveth, closed state data taketh away

Government information architect Martin Belam has an interesting post about some of the limitations of the recent government data release, particularly the difficulty of – and cost associated with – cross-referencing the data with Companies House records.

Using the Guardian’s data explorer tool, you can get a comprehensive list of suppliers. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could instantly cross-reference that with the records at Companies House?

I’d love to be able to get an instant snapshot of how many of these companies are large, medium or small enterprises. Over time you could use that to measure whether the intention to open up Government service tendering to wider competition was on track or not.

Full post at this link…

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#followjourn: @marccooper01 – Marc Cooper

Who? Marc Cooper, “Web journo, hyperlocal hound, news consumer, expert coffee drinker”.

Where? Marc blogs at www.marccooper.co.uk

Twitter? @marccooper01

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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• #followjourn: @philipjohn – director of thelichfieldblog.co.uk