Reflecting on last week’s UK Association of Online Publishers (AOP) conference, Peter Kirwan discusses the growing trend away from journalism in business magazine publishing.

Citing examples of United Business Media and Reed Elsevier, Kirwan points out that many trade magazine publishers no longer generate the majority of their revenue from print-based titles. Selling events, online data and other offerings, such as Reed’s ‘workflow solutions’, has taken over.

“Measured against models like these, business journalism starts to resemble a dying craft,” writes Kirwan.

“It’s obvious why. At its most basic, business journalism involves interpreting the dynamics of an industry. Yet if these shifting dynamics can be reduced to data points, and if those data points can be sold in digital format to subscribers, the value of external interpretation – and journalism – inevitably declines.”

Imagining a future without journalists.

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An internal document from Reed Business Information, publisher of Estates Gazette and New Scientist, says the company wants to grow its revenue from online activities by 50 per cent within three years.

Full DutchNews.nl story at this link…

According to a Dow Jones report on the document, the publisher specifically wants to raise the sale of online publications by 50 per cent in three years.

The division also needs additional cost cutting and an end to duplication of costs, chief executive Keith Jones said in the memo to staff.

Earlier this year RBI’s parent company Reed Elsevier announced the sale of several US magazine titles; in April RBI announced plans for 50 redundancies in the UK – you can see a full timeline of recent events at the company at this link.

Similar Posts:

• RBI staff vote against further industrial action
• Dow Jones: RBI buyer to be announced by October, says Reed Elsevier
• MorningStar.com: Readers will pay for online within five years, says Axel Springer exec
• RBI Divestment Watch blog closed?
• Editor and Publisher: WPNI head quits, Post takes greater control over web elements

Journalism.co.uk is trialling a new service via the Editors’ Blog: a daily round-up of all the content published on the Journalism.co.uk site.

We hope you’ll find it useful as a quick digest of what’s gone on during the day (similar to our e-newsletter) and to check that you haven’t missed a posting.

We’ll be testing it out for a couple of weeks, so you can subscribe to the feed for the Journalism Daily here.

Let us know what you think – all feedback much appreciated.

News and features

• Reed Elsevier to sell US magazine titles
• Laura Dixon stands in as temporary editor for Folio

Ed’s picks

• BBC Editors Blog: BBC resumes operations in Zimbabwe (as does CNN)
• PRSourceCode: A&R Edelman rated top tech PR firm by bloggers and journalists
• Telegraph.co.uk: MSN discussing hyperlocal partnerships with local papers
• Spiegel Online: Will media be a hobby rather than job, asks Chris Anderson
• Chris Amico: Lessons in data journalism and ‘frameworks for reporting’
• BBC Radio 4: Why do foreign correspondents capture the imagination?

Tip of the day

• Different voices for your Twitter accounts

#FollowJourn

• @greigcameron/chief reporter

On the Editors’ Blog

• Last chance to enter Red Bull reporting competition
• Malcolm Coles: How US traffic is vital for UK newspaper sites
• Crowdsourcing the perfect press release – an update
• WW1 veterans: Henry Allingham’s funeral draws national media; FHM’s tribute to its agony uncle Harry Patch
• Future: Digital ads going from strength-to-strength

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• #FollowJourn: @greigcameron/chief reporter
• Journalism Daily: Academics boycott Observer, theblogpaper’s launch and AOP conference
• Journalism Daily: FT clippings, sticky news, journalists freed from North Korea
• A guide to newspapers on Twitter
• Journalism Daily: Council newspapers, INMA/OPA event and more editorial outsourcing

National Union of Journalist (NUJ) members at Reed Business Information (RBI) have voted against further industrial action following a strike ballot at the publisher.

In the Wednesday ballot, 111 voted against further action being taken in response to proposed merger of production desks at Flight International, ICIS and Contract Journal and issues of compulsory redundancies.

According to an internal memo seen by Journalism.co.uk, the NUJ chapel will meet with the company again on March 4 to discuss new offers to staff, with separate meetings to be held for members at New Scientist and Estates Gazette.

In the ballot, 64 NUJ members voted in favour of taking industrial action.

Last month the group announced 35 staff redundancies in the UK, citing ‘long-term structural needs’ and the new challenges of the economic downturn.

Parent company Reed Elsevier recently extended loan arrangements for its $2 billion debt.

In December Reed terminated the sale of magazine arm RBI, as a result of ‘the recent deterioration in macro-economic outlook and poor credit market conditions’.

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• Update: ITV staff will not ballot on strike action
• NUJ Release: Ballot for action at Trinity Mirror Newcastle titles
• Le Monde staff to stage second strike
• NUJ Release: Thousands of BBC journalists to strike over compulsory redundancy risk

Reed Elsevier, parent company of Reed Business Information (RBI), is close to completing a deal that would grant a three-year extension of $2 billion of loan debt.

Full story at this link…

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With a little a lot of help from our friends (take a bow Headshift’s Tim Duckett) there’s a new Twitter kid on the block – @jocoukshares.

Following Trinity Mirror and Johnston Press’ exits from the FTSE 250, the aim is to provide almost real-time share price information for the newspaper and magazine publishing groups currently listed on the FTSE.

Below is a key to the company names:

FUTR – Future Publishing

CAU – Centaur

TNI – Trinity Mirror

INM – Independent News & Media

REL – Reed Elsevier

PSON – Pearson

JPR – Johnston Press

DMGT – Daily Mail & General Trust

INF – Informa

NWS – News Corp

Tim’s made stirling progress with setting up feeds of the share prices to Twitter and there’s no reason why this couldn’t be expanded beyond newspapers and mags in the future.

However, suggestions about a ‘front-end’ for the project are welcome. Building a newspaper-share-price-feed-tracking widget will probably be one of my Christmas Eve tasks – any suggestions?

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• Independent: Trinity and Johnston Press to merge?
• paidContent:UK: News Corp forms global editorial hub
• NUJ Release: NUJ condemns more job cuts at Trinity Mirror regionals
• Trinity Mirror update: One weekly could be rescued at TM North West and Wales, while exec share row rumbles on
• #FollowJourn: @davidhiggerson/head of multimedia, Trinity Mirror

Since announcing the ‘divestment’ of magazine publishing arm Reed Business Information (RBI), the sale by parent company Reed Elsevier has been the centre of much speculation.

Below is a timeline (created using Dipity) of the events so far – if there are any missing, let me know:

Similar Posts:

• DutchNews.nl: RBI to grow online income by 50 per cent in three years
• RBI Divestment Watch blog closed?
• FT.com: RBI publisher may extend loan debt
• FT.com: Reed Elsevier sells Nordic division of RBI
• RBI staff vote against further industrial action