Android app update allows users to purchase Kindle newspapers

#Tip: Remember these 4 lessons from ‘the digital edge’

May 16th, 2013 | No Comments | Posted by Alastair Reid in Top tips for journalists

By KamrenB Photography on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Brian Moritz spent ten years as a news reporter before beginning a PhD focussing on the evolution of journalists’ routines at Syracuse University. As this article from the Knight Foundation-affiliated MediaShift Idea Lab explains, he spent the last semester flying drones, building virtual reality environments and using 3D printers.

“The future is here,” he says, and details four key lessons for journalism students to take from living life at the cutting edge of technology.

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

Tags: advice, brian moritz, digital, Journalism, syracuse university, technology, tips

#Podcast: Getting started in data journalism

April 12th, 2013 | No Comments | Posted by Alastair Reid in Data, Podcast

Image by Adikos on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

The ability to analyse and untangle datasets is a vital skill for journalists in the age of endless information, so this week’s podcast focuses on how to get started in data journalism.

Getting started in data journalism and getting further than the basics can seem like a mountain of programming tools and coding languages, but the experts we spoke to describe how to take the first steps.

Paul Bradshaw, online journalist, lecturer and blogger, Help Me Investigate.com
Marianne Bouchart, web producer and data journalism projects co-ordinator, Bloomberg News
Nicola Hughes, data journalist, Dataminer UK, 2011/12 Knight-Mozilla fellow at the Guardian, soon to join The Times

Podcast: Download

You can hear future podcasts by signing up to the Journalism.co.uk iTunes podcast feed.

Tags: careers, data, Data journalism, digital, Journalism, Podcast, tips, Training

#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – digital security advice for reporters

August 28th, 2012 | No Comments | Posted by Rachel McAthy in Top tips for journalists

Image by Adikos on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

On the website for the Knowledge Bridge project, former Guardian and BBC journalist and editor Kevin Anderson outlines several tips for journalists on keeping their digital activities secure, such as on email, social media or browsers.

Anderson joined Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF) earlier this year and works on the Knowledge Bridge project which aims to help news organisations to “make the digital transition”.

His “common sense” tips also include advice on how to keep your mobile phone safe.

See the post here.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

Tags: digital, journalism tips, safety, security

Future PLC ‘considering options’ for US division

September 29th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted by Rachel McAthy in Business, Editors' pick, Magazines

Magazine publisher Future has said it is “considering a wider range of strategic options” for its US division in light of “challenging” conditions for the business.

In pre-close trading update the publisher said its position in the US “is significantly more challenging” than the UK. In July Future announced plans to “accelerate the transition of Future US into a primarily digital business”.

But this week, in a report preceding full-year earnings in November, the group said trading conditions in the US “reflecting ongoing weakness and decreasing visibility at newsstand” means the board is now considering a wider range of strategic options. PaidContent reports that the language used suggests the company “now may look to sell its business there”.

The publisher also confirmed that 10 per cent of its workforce has been cut in the UK and worldwide, which equals around 100 jobs, as part of its restructure to focus on digital and print efficiencies.

The company also claims in the latest report that the trends identified in its Interim Management Statement, published in July, have continued.

Revenues for the twelve months ending 30 September 2011 are expected to be down 6 per cent on last year, in constant currency. The Board remains comfortable with market expectations of results for 2011, subject only to any period-end adjustment required in relation to US newsstand returns, beyond those already announced and incorporated into fourth quarter estimates.

Tags: digital, Future, magazine, publisher, revenue, trading statement, us

Guardian launches Kindle edition and outlines new mobile plans

July 11th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted by Rachel McAthy in Editors' pick, Mobile, Multimedia

The Guardian has launched its Kindle edition of the Guardian and Observer, which is said to carry content from the day’s newspaper and will be available to download seven days a week in the UK, US and more than 100 other countries.

In a post outlining the launch the Guardian says the edition is available to download from Amazon for a 14-day free trial, after which it will be priced at £9.99 a month in the UK, or £0.99 per issue.

The post also outlines two launches on the horizon for iPad and Android.

We’ve been working on iPad over the past few months and we’re currently testing it with some of our readers. Our objective has been to produce the most accessible, elegant interpretation of the Guardian newspaper for iPad and we hope we’re close to achieving that aim.

According to the Guardian, which recently announced a digital-first strategy, the new app will see the newspaper redesigned “exclusively in tablet form”.

The app will deliver a single daily edition of content, specifically curated for iPad. Like Kindle, it will be a subscription product, though we will be releasing it with a free trial period from launch.

The Guardian’s first Android app is due to launch in autumn and a new product for the HP TouchPad called Guardian Zeitgeist is also in the pipeline.

Tags: Android, app, digital, guardian, iPad, Kindle, Mobile, product

Media release: RAJAR introducing new digital technology

June 6th, 2011 | 1 Comment | Posted by Rachel McAthy in Broadcasting, Editors' pick

RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) today announced it is to introduce new digital technology to its audience measurement tools, including a new online radio listening diary and a digital personal interviewing aid.

According to a release this new digital collection of data is to be rolled out from July, “in response to the wider availability and everyday use of online”.

The move will enable RAJAR to offer improved demographic representation, with the complementary benefit of the online diary adding wider appeal to people who may be less responsive to the existing format. It will also enhance the capture of listening data across all platforms be it analogue, internet, DTV or DAB. The online survey will mirror the paper survey in content, allowing all data to be integrated for reporting.

See the full release here.

Tags: digital, listening figures, online radio, radio, RAJAR

Media release: ITN signs new video content deal with Independent

April 8th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted by Rachel McAthy in Broadcasting, Editors' pick, Online Journalism

ITN announced today it has signed a deal with the Independent to provide video content for its website news player.

The deal with the Independent involves the delivery of bespoke content taken daily from across ITN’s UK, world, entertainment, and financial news feeds. In signing up to the service the Independent joins news title stable mates that include the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Daily Express and Daily Star who all receive ITN’s award-winning content.

According to a release from ITN it already supplies content to daily freesheet Metro and several other regional titles from the Illife and MNA publishing groups.

In addition to the deal announced today, ITN Productions has also signed a new multi-year deal with the Daily Telegraph to supply video content for Telegraph.co.uk.

Tags: digital, Independent, ITN, Online Journalism, video content

Reuters: FT resisting Apple’s efforts to channel subs through App Store

April 4th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted by Rachel McAthy in Business, Editors' pick

Reuters reports today that the Financial Times is “resisting Apple’s efforts” to channel subscribers through the App Store.

Last month Apple launched a new subscription service which ruled that publishers will still be allowed to sell app subscriptions through their own websites but will also have to offer subscriptions through Apple from within the app for the same price or less. This will then give Apple an opportunity to take away a 30 per cent cut of the subscription charge.

As part of the new service it is understood that customers purchasing a subscription through the App Store will be given the option of providing the publisher with details such as their name and email address when they subscribe, while publishers can also seek additional information from App Store customers “provided those customers are given a clear choice”, a release said at the time.

But in an interview with Reuters, the FT said it wants to continue to sell subscriptions for its digital news directly, rather than “surrender control of new customers”.

Apple’s hit tablet computer, the iPad, has become a major driver of new subscriptions to FT.com, thanks to its large and crisp display, possibilities for interactive features and affluent customer base.

But the FT values direct relations with its customers which allow it to tailor advertising and products to its audience, and is resisting Apple’s efforts to channel them through the App Store.

News publishers across Europe have raised concerns with the new service, such as the loss of 30 per cent of the subscription revenue, which the International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA) said would mean news publishers will not be able to invest in new technology, products and services.

Tags: app, apple, digital, Financial Times, reuters, subscriptions

The Cutline: Guardian working on ‘significant US expansion’

March 29th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted by Rachel McAthy in Editors' pick, Newspapers, Online Journalism

Yahoo media blog the Cutline reports that the Guardian is busy building a new US digital operation which “will be significantly larger” than the Guardian’s previous work in the US.

Vague details around the plans were revealed in a Cutline interview with Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger.

He said the liberal English broadsheet is building a new US digital operation that will be based in New York rather than Washington, D.C. (The paper’s roughly 10 stateside reporters are currently based in both cities.) Pressed for additional details, Rusbridger demurred, but said the venture “will be significantly larger than anything we’ve done in the states before.” He was presumably referring to the Guardian’s previous attempts to crack the American news market, the most recent being GuardianAmerica.com, which had a short run between 2007 and 2009.

The Guardian began laying the groundwork for this expansion of its American shop last week with the addition of a New York-based chief revenue officer, whose job will be “to plot a fresh course in the US,” according to paidContent’s Robert Andrews.

A spokesperson for the Guardian had no further comment.

Tags: digital, expansion, guardian, The Cutline, us