“Embattled newspaper publisher Independent News & Media (IN&M) this afternoon confirmed that it was close to unveiling a financial rescue that would allow the owner of The Independent to pay off an overdue €200 milion bond,” reports TimesOnline.  Full post at this link…

• Irish Times: Denis O’Brien may be ‘bypassed’ in IN&M bond deal
• FT.com: INM agrees financial restructuring
• Poynter: Nielsen to sell Mediaweek in US; closing Editor&Publisher
• MediaGuardian: Sir Anthony O’Reilly leaves Independent News&Media
• Independent: Reprint of Independent article leads to Indian newspaper editor’s arrest

A couple of things extremely pertinent to the paid content debate in a ‘view from the top’ interview on FT.com.

It’s with Liberty Media chairman, John Malone, described by the FT’s Richard Milne as ‘one of the most powerful figures in the media world’. He controls a ‘sprawling empire of assets’ including  DirecTV, the Discovery Channel, QVC, the Atlanta Braves baseball team and a company focused on Cable TV, Liberty Global.

Two extracts from the interview:

“How bad is the outlook for the media industry right now?”

“The media has lots of different elements in it. Probably at the bottom would be local, because local advertising has been the most adversely affected. Newsprint is probably the most damaged media going forward. Cable television has been OK. It continues to grow, a little slower than we’d like. The broadcast networks are getting beaten up, but not as bad on their national side as on their local side (…)”

and:

“A big debate in media is: can you get consumers to pay for online content?

“There will be a transition to people paying for [the] internet. Unfortunately, a lot of the people promoting the internet have other monetisation theories, such as search, which is ‘free’ to the consumer. Believe me, it’s not free to the retailer. The real question is: can you get people to pay for content on the internet? That will happen over time. If you’re a newspaper publisher and you’re giving information free on the internet and charging a subscription fee [for the paper], I don’t understand the logic.”

Full interview at this link…

And this:

“Long or short? Newspapers? Short James Murdoch? Long Hedge fund regulation? Long Share prices? Neutral The European economy? Short Nicolas Sarkozy? Long Ben Bernanke? Long Barack Obama’s healthcare plan? Disaster – short Twitter? Neutral Barry Diller? Long.”

• Rob Grimshaw on the paywall backlash
• Mashable: Why CNN has acquired iPad magazine Zite
• ‘We don’t see this as a paywall’, says Express and Star
• Salford Star: Council newspaper costing £27,797 a month – what impact on local news?
• Charlie Beckett: Do we have an information overload?

#FollowJourn: Nick Turner

Who? Digital editor for CN Group.

What? Organiser of the Digital Editors Network and overseer of digital developments at regional newspaper publisher.

Where? @nickincumbria

Contact? Nick [dot] Turner [at] Cumbrian-Newspapers [dot] co [dot] uk

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 judith or laura at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

• #FollowJourn: @iainmhepburn/digital editor
• #followjourn: @chriscondron/head of digital strategy
• #followjourn: @lakey/editor-in-chief
• #FollowJourn: @alisongow/executive digital editor
• #FollowJourn: @rebeccats/reporter

Regional newspaper publisher Northcliffe posted an 81 per cent drop in operating profits in the six months up to March 29 2009, according to figures released today.

Operating profits for the group, which publishes the Bristol Evening Post and Hull Daily Mail, fell by £33 million to £3.2 million over the period. Advertising revenues also fell by 31 per cent to £103 million.

The publisher has reduced operating costs, however, by 11 per cent compared to the last period – including a reduction of its headcount by 500.

On the digital front, revenues were reportedly in line with the same period last year. Unique ‘visitors’ to the network of ‘thisis’ sites rose by 42 per cent year-on-year to 4.2 million.

Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT)

According to the figures, DMGT’s revenue fell by 7 per cent year-on-year – from £1,168 million to £1,085 million.

The group’s outlook:

“Within our UK local media operations, revenues continue to be stable which is encouraging, when combined with increasing cost reductions. Within our national consumer media operations, the positive impact will be felt of the cost reductions made to date and of the sale of the Evening Standard at the end of February. As a consequence, DMGT’s operating profits will be weighted more than last year towards the second half of the year.”

• Archant announces 61.1% drop in profits
• DMGT digital revenues boosted by search portals while local media profits fall
• Mail Online helps DMGT to significant increase in digital revenue
• FT.com: Trinity Mirror profits fall by 8 per cent
• Johnston Press’ ad revenues feel effects of recession

More twists and turns in the Independent and Mecom sagas today.

Independent News and Media (at time of writing) has failed to reach an agreement with bondholders – the company was meant to reach a deal on the £179 million bond by May 18, but is now seeking a ‘standstill’ period.

Meanwhile newspaper publisher Mecom has secured yet another convenant extension, raising about £140 million in new equity from shareholders, but also announced 500 job cuts.

The news has triggered a memory for blogger Kristine Lowe of a journalism conference in 1997 2007, where Mecom boss David Montgomery responded to an assertion by the Telegraph that there was no reason for the Independent or Guardian to exist:

“I didn’t say that. The Telegraph did. But in general I think companies should make money. I think it’s demeaning for people to work for companies that don’t,” he told Lowe at the time.

How very apt.

• Kristine Lowe: Time to support David Montgomery?
• MediaGuardian: Montgomery empire has two months to solve financial woes
• Sunday Times: David Montgomery steps down as Mecom executive chairman
• Reuters: Newspaper chief Montgomery “forced out” of publishing group
• Online Journalism Scandinavia: Mecom’s Danish arm may ditch costly CMS for Drupal

US newspaper publisher giant Gannett is to make all non-unionised staff take a one-week unpaid break in the first quarter of this year, in an attempt to minimise redundancies. Full story…

• Newsquest ad revenue drops almost 8% but digital revenue is on the rise
• WSJ.com: Gannett community newspaper employees told to take unpaid week off
• Editor&Publisher: House-swaps for furloughs
• Bloomberg: US publisher Gannett trialing paid-content model
• Huffington Post: Gannett execs net nearly $2 million in bonuses

Creator of fake @dailymail_uk Twitter account has username changed by Twitter following legal pressure from the newspaper publisher.

Full story at this link…

• Jay Weintraub: ‘Flogging’ through fake news sites
• The Media Blog: Mail falls for fake Steve Jobs tweet
• Twitter’s new ‘follow’ button encourages readers to follow reporters
• Brand Republic: Craigslist to censor adult ads
• Nieman Journalism Lab: How a user gave CNN Twitter success

The headline quote comes from a round-up up by Eric Scherer of a meeting involving French newspaper and magazine publishers and Google. The meeting suggests some heavy anti-Google feeling on the publishers’ part.

According to one executive at the event, magazine and newspaper publisher Lagadère is on the brink of reporting Google to the EU Commission for ‘predatory practices’.

Watch the video below (courtesy of Adrian Vanachter Damien Van Achter of Scherer’s tweeted coverage of the meeting and make your own mind up as to which party you agree with.

One quote that grabbed my attention, however, was newspapers reported remark: “You are accepting the end of news as we know it.”

Google, secrecy about its algorithms and dominance of the online ad market aside, is looking forward; newspapers are trying to protect and control what they perceive as news and the news business. The problems they are facing, some related to Google and others not, should show them that this self-interested attitude can’t be maintained and their perception of ‘news as we know it’ is out-dated.

Jeff Jarvis sums this up in a blog post reacting to Scherer’s report:

“This anti-Google attitude comes from an apparent sense of entitlement that we see clearly in France but also elsewhere: Google owes us (…) They – like other publishers and journalists – think a market should be built around what they need and that there is a fair share that belongs to them even though they did not innovate and change so those who did should rescue them. But as Scott Karp has said, no one guarantees them a business model.”

• links for 2008-07-11
• TechCrunch: Google to acquire Yelp – a missed opportunity for local news?
• Google recruits BBC head of development and rights
• paidContent:UK: Italian Competition Authority searches Google’s Milan offices in newspaper dispute
• paidContent.org: Interview with Google News’ Josh Cohen

Two questions being repeatedly raised at today’s Society of Editors (SoE) conference:

• stop talking about the nationals, how can regional media get in on the digital act?
• what to do about the BBC – or the ‘boa constrictor’ as Mail Online’s editorial director Martin Clarke called the corporation.

Guardian Media Group chief executive Carolyn McCall told delegates that there is a model for the local press, focusing on hyperlocal.

“There will be models that emerge: investing in SEO, local press have to do that. There’s an opportunity for local press to go very local and build revenue around this. There are models, but it will have to be off a very different cost base,” said McCall.

She went on to describe Channel M – the television offshoot of the Manchester Evening News – as ‘a good model’ for local media that could be replicated in the future.

The business risks associated with online and sustainable digital business models, she added, need to be shared regionally and locally.

Regional media will have to take ‘a real hit’ on their bottom line when it comes to online to if they are to maintain standards of quality journalism, she added.

Malcolm Pheby, editor of the Nottingham Evening Post, took up the regional press’ baton in explaining how the NEP had successfully integrated its newsroom with staff now trained to treat all news stories as rolling news to be broken on the web.

But the pervading theme of the day has been the opposition from regional newspapers to the BBC’s proposed local video plans.

Pete Clifton, head of multimedia for the Beeb, did his best to defend criticisms of the plans, saying that the proposals are subject to assessments by the BBC Trust and suggesting that the BBC could forge stronger relationships with other news providers.

Still it was comments from McCall and Clarke, whose affiliate Northcliffe added its voice to the debate today, that received impromptu applause.

According to both, the BBC’s plans present unfair competition to the local press

Cue videojournalism evangelist and consultant Michael Rosenblum, who promised to teach the audience how to beat the BBC at its own game. Key to this he said is embracing technology, in particular video, wholeheartedly and not incrementally.

In response to a question from a Rotherham newspaper publisher, which currently has no video on its website, Rosenblum said there was a demand for the content and the potential for partnerships with regional broadcasters like ITV local.

• FT.com: Guardian considered six different pay models
• Michael Rosenblum: ‘Local TV news is already dead’
• Techflash.com: ‘Local media need dual business models, not dueling models’
• BBC could share more technology with S4C/Trinity Mirror in Wales, says Trust chairman
• BBC Trust’s dilemma over local video plans

Berlingske Media, Denmark’s biggest publisher of daily newspapers, is considering making free open source software Drupal its online publishing system of choice.

Former Mirror-boss David Montgomery’s Danish lieutenant, Lisbeth Knudsen, is contemplating the move, which could save a substantial sum of money – but it does not come without risk.

Berlingske Media already runs some of its sites on Drupal – a long-time favourite free content management system (CMS) of web hacker-geeks – but many consider the open source solution more vulnerable to hackers than proprietary systems.

“Our sports portal, launched early in June, is developed in Drupal, and we will use this for more sites. We are in the process of evaluating future online solutions, and will make a decision on this later this year. So far we have chosen Drupal for some of our smaller sites and Saxotech online for the bigger,” Knudsen told me.

But is Drupal up to the task?

The Danish newspaper publisher is in the process of integrating all its titles into ‘verticals’ that deliver copy across platforms and titles, and its sports site carries material from several of Berlingske’s titles.

Henning Sund, head of digital development for newspaper publisher Edda Media, is sceptical about how well Drupal is suited to such large-scale projects.

”I think part of the reason Berlingske Media is considering Drupal is that they are so desperate to get away from Saxotech Online. That is a desire I understand perfectly,” he said, explaining that Edda Media, Mecom’s Norwegian division, is also in the process of replacing Saxotech Online, but Drupal is not a candidate.

”I do not feel the security in Drupal is well-documented enough. We want a provider that can take responsibility for this, something we will not get with Drupal,” said Sund, adding that you also have to spend a lot of money on developing the desired functionality in Drupal, as it is not ‘plug and play’.

Berlingske-owned AOK.dk, a city guide for Copenhagen that runs on Drupal, has used an east European company to develop extra functionality in Drupal – a concept that has been exported to Berlin and Mecom Germany.

However, Sund does not think that Mecom boss Montgomery will impose Drupal as the standard CMS throughout the company should it be a success:

“Montgomery has made it very clear that as long as you reach your budget targets, you can choose the solutions you see fit. However, if you do not reach these targets, you will get Montgomery breathing down your neck, and that is something you would do anything to avoid.”

For more news on newspapers harnessing open source read about The Jewish Chronicle’s launch of a beta site using Drupal.

• Online Journalism Scandinavia: Mecom’s Danish arm will cut costs with open-source CMS
• Reuters: Newspaper chief Montgomery “forced out” of publishing group
• Online Journalism Scandinavia: David Montgomery’s toughest general – Lisbeth Knudsen, editor-in-chief of Berlingske Media
• links for 2008-06-27
• Sunday Times: David Montgomery steps down as Mecom executive chairman

Trinity Mirror shares suffered a record one-day fall yesterday after the newspaper publisher admitted that advertising at the Daily Mirror and its sister titles had collapsed by between 12 per cent and 14 per cent in May and June.

Shares in newspaper group Trinity Mirror plunged 28 per cent yesterday after it said profits would be 10 per cent lower than expected.

• links for 2008-07-01
• MediaGuardian: Trinity Mirror ad revenue falls by a fifth
• Guardian: Trinity Mirror and DMGT mulled merger of regional media
• Archant announces 61.1% drop in profits
• Press Gazette: Trinity Mirror looks to cut £7m after announcing falling profits

• Trinity Mirror shares tumble by 25% after forecasts of low profits | Media | guardian.co.uk
  Trinity Mirror shares today crashed 25% after the group said profits would be 10% lower than expected.
  (tags: trinitymirror financial)
• Haymarket Media Group chairman Heseltine sounds trading warning despite profit rise | Media | guardian.co.uk
  Lord Heseltine, the chairman of Haymarket Media Group, has warned of tightening trading conditions over the next 18 months, as the magazine publisher today announced a 5% increase in pre-tax profits to £31.7m for last year.
  (tags: haymarket magazines financial)
• Condé Nast to launch Wired magazine in the UK | Media | guardian.co.uk
  Condé Nast will launch a UK version of Wired magazine and its accompanying website next year and has hired the Jewish Chronicle’s editor, David Rowan, to edit it.
  (tags: wired condenast)
• Trinity Mirror shares suffer record fall – Times Online
  Trinity Mirror shares suffered a record one-day fall yesterday after the newspaper publisher admitted that advertising at the Daily Mirror and its sister titles had collapsed by between 12 per cent and 14 per cent in May and June.
  (tags: trinitymirror financial)
• Review: Flip Video vs Creative Vado
  “OK – I’m a rubbish reviewer, but here we go.”
  (tags: video)
• Michael Grade attacks referral of BBC/ITV/Channel 4 on-demand service Kangaroo to Competition Commission | Media | guardian.co.uk
  ITV executive chairman Michael Grade has criticised the Office of Fair Trading’s decision to refer proposed video on demand service Kangaroo to the Competition Commission, saying there was a “serious problem” with the regulatory framework.
  (tags: kangaroo michaelgrade bbc itv tv)
• Panorama accused of shoddy treatment of bloggers | PDA: The Digital Content Blog | guardian.co.uk
  “In the sometimes fraught relationship between old and new media, the BBC is the latest organisation to come under the spotlight.”
  (tags: bbc blog shinymedia)

• Times: Trinity Mirror shares suffer record 28 per cent fall
• links for 2008-06-30
• Guardian: Trinity Mirror and DMGT mulled merger of regional media
• PA Group appoints James Murdoch as non-executive director
• links for 2008-06-25

Journalism.co.uk talks to reporters across the globe working at the collision of journalism and social media about how they see it changing their industry. This week, Robert Hardie, from UK regional newspaper publisher Northcliffe Media.

1. Who are you and what do you do?
Robert Hardie, content strategy director for Northcliffe Media.

2. Which web or mobile-based social media tools do you use on a daily basis and why?
All Northcliffe’s 56 This Is websites for obvious reasons, LinkedIn, Facebook (probably weekly) and my Attensa for Outlook RSS reader.

We get 200,000+ interactions across the This Is network, which is an amazing insight into what normal people use UGC and social media for.

LinkedIn to keep aware of who’s doing what that we might benefit from, Facebook to see what it’s doing more than what my friends are doing (I just speak to them), Attensa for Outlook so that all my RSS feeds end up on my Blackberry.

3. Of the thousands of social media tools available, could you single one out as having the most potential for news either as a publishing or a news gathering tool?
Google News, it works for both readers and publishers and indexes better and wider than anyone else.

4. And the most overrated in your opinion?
Del.icio.us. I’ve never met anyone who isn’t a media type who’s ever heard of it, let alone used it.

• Social Media Journalist: ‘social search seems like a solution in search of a problem’ Howard Owens, Gatehouse Media, US
• Social Media Journalist: “Facebook is overrated. The novelty is wearing off and people are getting bored” Matthew Buckland
• #jpod: How journalists are using Google+
• Social Media Journalist: ‘You have to be selective, keeping across all sites dilutes the value of the good ones’ Vicky Taylor, editor BBC Interactivity
• Why news sites should consider adding the LinkedIn share button

Europe’s biggest newspaper publisher Axel Springer has announced plans to expand its internet and foreign prospects to recover from its loss-making move into the German mail-delivery business.

Last year the publisher bought up titles outside of Germany to lessen its dependence on the country’s economy and newspaper industry.

Acquisitions online in 2007 included women’s web portal producer AuFeminin.com SA, financial news site Wallstreet:Online and local news site Hamburg.de.

• Growing effect of online advertising in US, OPA study suggests
• New online launches for niche publishers Made Up Media and Magicalia
• Finance story leads from the banking crisis – some tips for journalists
• Online Journalism Scandinavia: Resolutions for 2009 – Yes, we link
• Fifteen new media, editorial and journalism jobs this week on Journalism.co.uk

Regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press has joined the UK’s Association of Online Publishers as an affiliate member.

“This will give us access to some of the best current thinking and will also enable us to contribute to the debate at a very exciting time for online publishing,” said John Bradshaw, Johnston Press head of digital, told AOP.

“We are looking forward to working with colleagues across the industry to drive innovation to satisfy the ever-changing needs of the communities we serve.”

Johnston Press publishes over 300 news and information websites in the UK.

• Holdthefrontpage: Johnston Press to charge for online regional news
• Online revenues up for Independent and Johnston Press, but print ads fall
• Johnston Press chief: BBC should be limited to three stories per city per day
• InPublishing: New chief executive’s plans for Johnston Press
• Computerworld UK: Johnston Press sales staff get 800 iPads as part of ’24-hour digital’ shift