Times are changing: an online jobs shuffle at Times Online

So, it’s all change at the Times and Times Online.

Anne Spackman, as reported last week, is now the comment editor of the main paper, after a spell as editor-in-chief at Times Online since 2006.

That role is not being replaced. Instead:

• Tom Whitwell, who is currently communities editor at Times Online, will be assistant editor of Times Online.

• Hector Arthur, who was previously the head of content development for Times Online, is the new head of digital development for the website.

Speaking in a press release, the Times’ editor, James Harding said:  “Anne Spackman has done an extraordinary job at Times Online bringing our journalism to more people than at any time in our history.

“She has expanded the nature of what we do as a news organisation, introducing a 24/7 newsroom, launching The Times Archive and developing our podcasts, video and reader comments online”, he said.

Praising the new online assistant editor, Harding said that Tom Whitwell had “been one of the driving forces behind the phenomenal growth of Times journalism online and our audiences worldwide.”

Similar posts:

• Guardian: Times website seeks Sky News link-up
• Developers get bylines too in the Times
• Times editor James Harding on the Daily Show
• PPA Magazines 2008: TimesOnline could reward commenters
• Times uses interactive poll for front-page splash

Guardian: Times website seeks Sky News link-up

The Times website wants to carry more video content from Sky News.

Times Online editor-in-chief, Anne Spackman, told MediaGuardian.co.uk that negotiations to make this happen were at an early stage on the newspaper website carrying breaking news videos from Sky.

Any deal is likely to improve the online video offering from the Times.

Despite being one of the first national newspapers to adopt a TV service the Times offering has fallen behind other nationals - in terms of quality - and seems to be due an overhaul.

Similar posts:

• New York Times expands video online
• Sky ramps up ads in online video
• Video search engine Blinkx partners Guardian
• Police attitude to the press will improve says Home Office
• New York Times after Reuters business news too?

PPA Magazines 2008: TimesOnline could reward commenters

Ongoing discussions at TimesOnline could see a reward system for regular contributors to the site’s comments.

Anne Spackman, editor-in-chief of the site, said it was early days but a way to reward or highlight regular and valuable commenters on the site was being considered.

Spackman, who was speaking at the PPA’s annual conference for the magazine industry, said the focus of any such system would be on making the reader feel their involvement with the site was worthwhile.

“We are not likely to have users writing the news. I think what we will start to do is to pull in those people who have wider value and are of our better commenters,” she said.

She added that comments left by users were increasingly being fed back into reporting, which in turn generates a reader response creating ‘a vital circle’.

Similar posts:

• PPA Magazines 2008: Timesonline readers ‘obsessed with house prices’
• Comments are gaining celebrity status
• News.com: Citizen news site Helium draws heat from community over planned changes to payment
• JEEcamp: pitch from Kyle McRae, ex-Scoopt
• Times are changing: an online jobs shuffle at Times Online

PPA Magazines 2008: Timesonline readers ‘obsessed with house prices’

Readers of TimesOnline are obsessed with house prices and road tax, according to Anne Spackman, editor-in-chief of the title.

Readers of the site’s business section also go home early on Fridays, Spackman told delegates at the PPA’s annual conference.

The information gleaned from the site’s search queries is vital to understanding Timesonline readers and shaping content on the site, she said.

However, while search data helped journalists to understand ‘the hook that pulls the reader in’, she stressed that just writing to maximise search rankings is not what journalists are for.

Similar posts:

• PPA Magazines 2008: TimesOnline could reward commenters
• Mirror’s video partnership with Roo ‘a bloody mess’ claims former site editor
• EveryBlock teams up with the Chicago Tribune
• Netimperative: Mirror Group selects SEO firm for shopping site
• Times opens up 200-year digital archive

Mirror’s video partnership with Roo ‘a bloody mess’ claims former site editor

UPDATE: take our poll on whether or not video journalism can save the newspaper

The Mirror’s partnership with Roo Media to deliver more video content on its site has been described as ‘a bloody mess’ by former site editor Steve Purcell.

His comments, which form part of Neil Thurman and Ben Lupton’s academic report into multimedia storytelling by British news websites, were made last year - shortly after a video player supported by Roo’s technology was introduced to the site.

“The promises that were made by [our content partner, Roo Media] didn’t materialize…. It was a bloody mess, relying on American led stuff,” Purcell told the report, which questioned leading editors on newsroom convergence, video and audio content, multimedia training and the potential for advertising within digital content.

An additional interview with Anne Spackman, editor of TimesOnline, highlighted similar concerns over the launch of video with Roo on the site.

“We didn’t have a sense of ownership of the player… When those early deals were done nobody knew what people would want to watch on a site like ours…”

Part of the problem, said Spackman, was that providers did not understand what video content would work well alongside a text story on the site.

Similar posts:

• ESPN in video content deal with AOL.com
• New York Times expands video online
• Telegraph.co.uk redesign: engagement above traffic?
• Times are changing: an online jobs shuffle at Times Online
• PPA Magazines 2008: Timesonline readers ‘obsessed with house prices’