A debate in Scottish Parliament raised MSPs’ concerns with the manner in which Herald group journalists have been made redundant and forced to reapply for their jobs.

MSP Ted Brocklebank raised some additional concerns: he has asked written questions about the amount that is spent by the Scottish Government on local and national press advertising per annum, and requested similar figures from the councils.

Answers could reveal the threat to newspapers resulting from the rise in government and councils placing advertising online (via Jon Slattery’s blog).

Journalism.co.uk hopes to update on the story next week.

• Scottish newspapers claw back advertising from council jobs site
• AllMediaScotland: MPs release ‘Crisis in the Scottish Press’ report
• Media release: NUJ wants Scottish government inquiry into future of media
• Scotland to consult on defamation of the dead law reform
• LGEO Research: Where do local authorities fit in the hyperlocal media landscape?

The downturn in newspaper advertising is giving consumers a clearer picture of what they are getting in their paper: more wire copy, less quality editorial, argues Robert G. Picard. Full story…

• Christian Science Monitor: ‘Journalists deserve low pay’
• New York Observer: Ruth Reichl on Gourmet’s closure – ‘Our circulation had never been better’
• #JNTM: Professor Robert Picard on why newspapers deserve to die
• The Media Business: ‘Good intentions are not enough for providing news’
• The Media Business: What’s misunderstood in the ‘end of journalism debate’

The global leader for the entertainment and media practice, at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Hong Kong, Marcel Fenez, argued that ‘traditional media isn’t dead’ on the last day of the WAN/World Editors Forum 11th Readership Conference (information courtesy of WAN conference updates).

The latest media and entertainment industry forecast from PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that global newspaper advertising will grow 2.9 per cent to 136.8 billion dollars in 2012, with digital advertising accounting for 43 per cent of the growth.

• Print advertising will grow 1.8 per cent to 123.3 billion dollars worldwide in 2012
• Digital advertising will grow 19.3 per cent to 13.4 billion dollars:
• While the growth rate for digital advertising will continue its impressive rise over the next five years, the total in 2012 will represent only 10 per cent of total print and digital newspaper advertising.

“Some people say that traditional media is dead. Well, it isn’t. For the next five years, it ain’t gonna be,” he said. “The death of traditional media is exaggerated, at least in a 5-year context.”

Fenez said the forecasts, based on consumer and industry sources, does not take into account the recent economic meltdown, which could have a negative impact on the figures.

Fenez reported:

• The generation that comes of age in 2012 will be the first that doesn’t know the pre-internet world. “We hear a lot about user generated content from the ‘net generation’. It’s very, very, very important. But premium content is still really valuable. Even the net generation values premium content. They’re tired of watching videos of a dog running up a tree.”
• Advertisers will take a ‘wait and see’ attitude and be cautious about spending in the first half of 2009. “They won’t do anything until mid-year. If they have the revenue, they’ll release their budgets.”
• Video games advertising is set to grow 17 per cent to 2012, though the revenue is still negligible. Most of the money being spent on game advertising is coming from television.
• “We’re on a journey of transition from traditional to digital: the first to probably go totally digital is the music industry. In 2011, the majority of revenues will be digital.”

• Online advertising spend tops £4bn after 12.8% rise
• UK ad spend dropped 4% in 2008, says AdAssoc
• Online publishers in ‘bullish mood’ despite economic downturn
• Reuters: UK online ads up 21 per cent despite fall in overall ad market
• Reuters: Murdoch’s online operation to miss ambitious targets

Newspaper advertising spend in the Arab region has seen a 33 per cent increase in the first half of 2008 according to the half-annual report issued by Pan Arab Research Center (PARC).

• MediaGuardian: Johnston Press advertising continues to fall
• New figures show ad revenue decline slowing at Johnston Press and Trinity Mirror
• Americans spending more time consuming news, research suggests
• Forbes.com: US advertisers will spend more on digital than print in 2010
• PewResearchCenter: “Many Americans wouldn’t care ‘a lot’ if local papers folded”

• News | Facebook closes app after second privacy violation – NMA
  Facebook has shut down one of the site’s most popular applications after ‘privacy violations’.
  The removal of Social Hi comes just one week after the site’s fourth biggest application Top Friends was pulled after a hacker made users’ private details publ
  (tags: facebook apps)
• Disillusioned Berliner Zeitung staff advertise for new proprietor | Media | guardian.co.uk
  Staff at the Berliner Zeitung newspaper in Germany are so unhappy with their owner, David Montgomery, that they took out an advert in a rival German newspaper advertising for a new proprietor.
  (tags: mecom DavidMontgomery germany newspapers)
• Social media copyright – a tangled web – Press Gazette
  Using material uploaded to the internet by users of social-media websites like YouTube, Facebook or personal blogs without permission is a risky approach for major publishers, barrister Christina Michalos of 5 Raymond Buildings warned the Media Law Confer
  (tags: socialmedia legal)

• New German law may impose fees on aggregated content use
• links for 2008-06-26
• PCC chair addresses issue of privacy in online media
• links for 2008-07-16
• Goodbye Press Gazette: round-up of the links