Editors' Blog | Journalism.co.uk » online readers

FT.com: Threat to democracy by papers’ travails exaggerated

Judith Townend — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:04:59 +0000

In case you missed it, during yesterday’s UK bank holiday, an editorial piece on FT.com made for an interesting read. For example:

“The degree to which the travails of papers are a threat to an informed democracy can be exaggerated, particularly by journalists. The internet has made print less profitable but has also made new forms of information-gathering and commentary possible. Bloggers get a bad press but low-cost publishing helps new sources to emerge.”

(…)

“Nor are all papers equally threatened. Business papers, including the FT, have had more success in charging online readers than general-interest publications. Many publishers regret their rush to give everything away on the web but the over-supply of general news makes it hard to backtrack.”

It concludes: “Perhaps some of the reporting done up to now by for-profit papers will in future be funded by foundations or trusts. But the industry should not lose faith in the free market. When people really want or need something, they will pay for it, one way or another. If today’s publishers cannot convince their readers to do so, they will be overtaken by others that can.”

Full story at this link…Similar Posts:

Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – draw your web readers in quickly in the intro

Laura Oliver — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:52:36 +0000

Writing for the web: Don’t be afraid to ruin your story in the opening par, says Christian Dunn, digital editor of NWN Media, and author of ‘How to: write for the web’. Research shows online readers tend to skim articles, so draw them in quickly. Tipster: Laura Oliver.

To submit a tip to Journalism.co.uk, use this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.Similar Posts:

How did the national newspaper online sites report the August ABCes?

Judith Townend — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:24:08 +0000

This post has backfired a little: the original idea was to look at how the national broadsheets reported the ABCes because it’s always interesting when a publication or website has to report on itself – on its good or bad performance.

Here’s how the Guardian did it today:

That obsession [Team GB] most obviously helped the Guardian, which took advantage of the Beijing effect. That meant that guardian.co.uk remained the UK’s biggest online newspaper for August, attracting 23.11 million global unique users last month, a 46% increase from August 2007 and up 12% on July this year. The Guardian added 2.5 million unique users last month and still has the largest number of UK-based online readers: 8.77 million or 38% of its total audience.

And on the day itself like this.

And Telegraph.co.uk?

It looks like they didn’t.

Times Online?

It appears not.

Independent.co.uk?

Nope.

FT.com

No.

Please correct us if we’re wrong.

Looks like there was only one national newspaper who gave the August stats so much online space. But you could read about the ABCes at Brand Republic, Press Gazette, NMA and here at Journalism.co.uk. Or find the data for yourself here.Similar Posts:

Liverpool Daily Post surveys online readers for GP investigation

Laura Oliver — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:39:08 +0000

The Liverpool Daily Post is using an online survey to quiz readers about their experiences of getting a doctors appointment in the city.

The responses will be used as part of an investigation by the paper into GP services on Merseyside.

The nine-question survey, which has been created using online poll site SurveyMonkey, asks readers to give their location or postcode so information can be compared geographically.

(Thanks to the JP Digital Digest for flagging this up)

The paper has used the survey format to inform regular features in its ‘Make The News’ section and is currently running polls on GSCE and A-Level exams and the local property market.Similar Posts:

Aftonbladet to offer readers social network style profiles

Laura Oliver — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:42:42 +0000

Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet is to launch a ‘Facebook-like’ community for its online readers, the Media Culpa blog reports.

According to the site, readers will be given user profile pages on which they can leave comments about articles – a feature not currently available on the main site

It is hoped that the service, which has been delayed by security issues, will be launched in two months.Similar Posts:

NYT: The Atlantic to drop firewall

Oliver Luft — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 23:58:52 +0000

The venerable end of the magazine market has on-the-whole been pretty slow to adapt to the web – but things are moving now.

According to the NYTimes, online readers will on Tuesday get free and open access to TheAtlantic.com as it abolishes the firewall that gives only subscribers to the printed edition access to it premium articles online.

It will make its archive accessible too.Similar Posts: