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Top five news, features and blog posts on Journalism.co.uk in 2010 (by page views)

John Thompson — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 20:38:23 +0000

OK, we know it’s quality not quantity that counts, but it’s still fascinating (to us at least) to learn which stories have attracted the most traffic over the course of a year.

Unsurprisingly, Wikileaks is prominent as was the televised leaders debate during the general election. And some old faithfuls continue to pull in traffic from jobseekers and ‘wannabe’ freelancers (this year that was probably mostly unemployed journalism graduates and recently ‘redundant’ journalists).

But stories about paywalls failed to even come close…

News:

Features:

Blog posts:

Source: Google Analytics

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Thomson Reuters acquires US banking analytics site Highline Financial

Rachel McAthy — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 11:45:22 +0000

Thomson Reuters announced yesterday that it has acquired Highline Financial, a financial information analytics site which focuses on the US banking industry.

In a press release Reuters said the acquisition “supports Thomson Reuters strategy of providing timely, accurate and high quality information” through the expansions of its offering.

Market dynamics are creating a strong need for deep data and analytics as the financial sector experiences a tremendous level of new regulatory oversight, post crisis performance monitoring, bank closures and overall industry consolidation. The combination of Thomson Reuters and Highline Financial will provide Thomson Reuters clients with access to Highline Financial’s comprehensive public company and regulatory database which comprises 20 years of historical data covering 20,000 financial institutions, with over 24,000 filed and calculated financial data points and ratios maintained in the system on a daily basis. Highline Financial clients will benefit from having access to the depth and breadth of Thomson Reuters global content, support and infrastructure.

The information will be available next year the release adds. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Hatip: paidContentSimilar Posts:

WSJ: Thomson Reuters reports 66 per cent profit increase

Rachel McAthy — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 09:13:41 +0000

The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported that Thomson Reuters had announced a 66 per cent increase in third-quarter profit, rising from $167 million (19 cents per share) in the same period last year to $277 million, or 32 cents a share.

But within the division which includes its news service profit fell 2.7 per cent, the report adds.

Based on the company’s year-to-date performance and improved momentum, Thomson Reuters now sees revenue being “flat to slightly up” this year, rather than “flat to slightly down.”

In the markets division, which includes the Reuters news service and sales-and-trading operations and makes up a majority of the company’s revenue, revenue edged down 0.5 per cent, to $1.85 billion, while profit fell 2.7 per cent. Revenue in the segment increased 1 per cent before the impact of currency translations.

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#WEFHamburg: Danish newspaper showcases the iPad app built on a shoestring budget

Laura Oliver — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 10:01:08 +0000

“Think of a number, quarter it, and you’re still not there.”

This was Annemarie Kirk’s answer when asked what her budget was for developing Danish newspaper Berlingske‘s first iPad app to be launched later this month, which she showcased yesterday at the World Editors Forum in Hamburg.

A shoestring budget and a small team were both necessities in developing the business news app and driving forces behind it. Find talented people in your newsroom, young people who will see things differently and get them to work on it, said Kirk. Don’t overlook existing skills though: much of the design for the new app was done by a newspaper designer from Berlingske’s print edition who had never even worked on design for the website. He was set to work on the iPad app though, alongside an external web designer brought in for the project.

The application, which is awaiting approval by Apple, will combine content from the print and online editions of the business section through a semi-automated process, said Kirk. Concept design and project management were carried out in Denmark and technological development in Kiev, Ukraine following a study into what applications and devices Berlingske should be launching onto, that began back in March.

It’s clear from the development that has taken place this has been a tightly managed project, but Kirk said there has been a real need to get onto the iPad, despite the device not being on sale in Denmark, as traffic stats show a significant growth in the number of users accessing the Berlingske website via an iPad.

Fellow panellist at the WEF event, Alfredo Triviño, who as director of creative projects at News International has overseen many of the publisher’s iPhone and iPad application developments, said the success of building apps for “liquid media” devices relies on understanding the technological boundaries.

“Tablets are not websites, they’re not newspapers, magazines or books. Not all of our content we produce is consumed. (…) probably we need tablet newspapers,” he said.

“Loading time is critical and progressive downloading is a must (…) Success also grows from envisioning what is next.”

When developing apps for tablet devices, news organisations must look out how these apps will scale and be iterated.

Speaking to Journalism.co.uk after the debate, he said news organisations will have to reassess their plans when the next wave of technology comes to tablet devices, including built-in cameras and better integration with social media. Hear more of what he had to say in our WEF podcast at this link.

Speaking more generally, president of media for Thomson Reuters, Chris Ahearn, said that “whether it’s a tablet or a smartphone or a device we haven’t seen yet” news organisations have to embrace change. As an industry they must “lean into the wind together” and, to make these new apps part of a successful business model to support journalism, “collectively rise”.

When designing apps or tablet propositions, news organisations must look at what their readers and consumers want and need, and build a subscriber base, he said.

How can we add unique value to each subscriber? The answer for us is not always more content. It has to include more services. We have to embrace the technological advances to build compelling user experiences. We have to put that content into context and develop a loyal customer base.

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IHT and Reuters partner for Middle East coverage

Rachel McAthy — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 13:39:57 +0000

The International Herald Tribune and Reuters have joined forces to provide an additional weekly section to the newspaper’s Middle East edition.

‘Middle East with Reuters’ will be launched tomorrow and according to a release from Thomson Reuters will feature four pages of “dedicated regional news, business, opinion and culture coverage from IHT, New York Times and Reuters correspondents”.

The additional section will be printed with the IHT in Kuwait City, Doha, Cairo, Dubai and Istanbul, for distribution throughout the Gulf, Egypt and Turkey.Similar Posts:

Global Thinkers: Television is going vertical

Laura Oliver — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:48:32 +0000

Thomson Reuters’ global editor, multimedia, Chris Cramer on the future of broadcasting and why narrow-casting not linear television networks are the way forward:

The days of linear television networks are coming to an end. I think only people with very large amounts of money or people who are stupid will launch linear television networks in the future. People won’t be launching a single channel with programmes that go one after the other, you’re going to launch a vertical channel (…) So people want to play a part in media consumption these days, they don’t want to sit there and just take it. They’re not going to make appointments and sit there with their legs crossed and their faces washed and watch TV anymore. It doesn’t make it depressing, it makes it really exciting.

Full interview on Global Thinkers at this link…Similar Posts:

FT.com: Thomson Reuters’ video product Insider to launch on 11 May

Laura Oliver — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 07:39:14 +0000

Thomson Reuters is planning to launch a series of new web products and overhaul its markets division as part of plans to streamline the company and reach growing audiences of younger, web-savvy readers and smaller business customers.

Among the developments:

An “enterprise platform” offering faster delivery of data to clients and online training and customer service support to smaller customers;
The launch of online video product Insider on May 11, which it has been testing since last year;
A new desktop platform, Eikon, to launch in autumn, offering a wider range of data and personalisation features.

Full story at this link…Similar Posts:

Reuters Handbook of Journalism: Don’t scoop the wire

Judith Townend — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:52:50 +0000

Reuters has published new social media guidelines in its Handbook of Journalism. As well as reminding journalists to keep the personal separate from the professional, it advises:

Can I break news via Twitter?

As with blogging within Reuters News, you should make sure that if you have hard news content that it is broken first via the wire. Don’t scoop the wire. NB this does not apply if you are retweeting; (re-publishing) someone else’s scoop.

Corrections

If a correction is required, a new tweet that begins “CORRECTION:…” should be published.

Full post at this link…Similar Posts:

#IWD: International Women’s Day for journalists

Judith Townend — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:16:47 +0000

Today is International Women’s Day, a global day “celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future,” partnered by Thomson Reuters.

You can follow a Reuters live blog here: http://live.reuters.com/Event/International_Womens_Day_2010_2

On Twitter, the team is @women_on_IWD (with hashtag #IWD)

Lots of publications have related coverage, including the Mirror, with a special supplement out today. Here’s a twitpic from Sarah Brown (@sarahbrown10), who was a guest editor (left).

Journalism.co.uk will be publishing a number of themed articles throughout the day, addressing gender issues in journalism / media. If you’d like us to publish or link to your own piece, please get in touch: judith [at] journalism.co.uk or @jtownend on Twitter.Similar Posts:

Pay cuts and Twitter policy leave Thomson Reuters facing union action in US

Romy van den Broeke — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:22:04 +0000

Thomson Reuters in the US has been referred to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by the Newspaper Guild of New York for planned cutbacks to the pay packages of journalists and other workers that are members of the union.

The reduced payments work out at roughly 10 per cent per worker, says the Guild, which has been in contract negotiations with the agency for more than a year, in a release.

In June 2009, Boston’s Newspaper Guild made a similar charge and challenged a pending 23 per cent pay cut proposed by The New York Times. The two parties reached an agreement in July with the pay cut reduced, but Guild members were left fearful for their jobs after the elimination of lifetime job guarantees for approximately 170 employees was also agreed.

But in this instance Reuters isn’t only facing charges by the Guild over changes to pay: the agency has also been brought to task by the Guild for its social media policy, which bans employees from updating personal Twitter accounts with posts which, in the words of the company, ‘would damage the reputation of Reuters News or Thomas Reuters’.

As the statement from the Guild points out:

A union activist was “reminded” of the policy after responding to a senior manager’s call to “join the (Twitter) conversation on making Reuters the best place to work” with a tweet that said: “One way to make this the best place to work is to deal honestly with Guild members.”

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#ReutersEthics: Trust and Twitter debated at Thomson Reuters

Marion Dakers — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:25:52 +0000

“It’s good for trust in journalism to be low,” the Evening Standard’s executive editor said last night, “and we should feel like our back is against the wall”.

Taking part in the ‘What Price The News?’ debate on the ethics of modern journalism hosted by Thomson Reuters, the Evening Standard’s Anne McElvoy said that while society as a whole is less trusting, ‘it’s right for people to be skeptical’ about where their news is coming from.

Journalism will benefit, she claimed. “We’re not Mother Teresa – we don’t expect to have a high trust rating.”

Twitter ethics

The debate inevitably covered Twitter, and its value as a source of news. “Twitter was not designed to cover the world. It was designed to give a flavour of the conversation at the moment,” said Joe Lelyveld, Pulitzer prize winner and former New York Times journalist.

The panel also saw a use in ‘getting privileged information out there fast’, as with the Guardian-Trafigura case, but were wary of it becoming more than ‘just a tip-off service’ for journalists without subsequent fact checking.

BNP on BBC

While Nick Griffin sat in a BBC studio recording his appearance on the Question Time panel, the panel at Thomson Reuters considered how they would have dealt with the issue.

“It’s the responsibility of journalists in this country to report the hell out of this situation. You need to give your readers and viewers a truthful view of who this character is, and do so clearly, intelligently and aggressively,” said Lelyveld.

Sean Maguire, Reuters political and general news reporter, could see himself ‘making the same decision’ to allow Griffin on the programme. “It’s about time he showed himself up (…) Let’s turn the stone over and see what comes out.”

The situation paralleled the BBC’s contact with the Taliban, added Simon Robinson, European editor of Time magazine. “It was never going to change the outcome, but it is important to know what local people are thinking.”

Meanwhile Ray Snoddy, BBC Newswatch presenter and chair of the panel, wondered whether the BBC had ‘jumped the gun’ by letting Griffin appear before knowing the outcome of the court case concerning BNP membership.

Also on Journalism.co.uk: ‘Former employees raise concerns about Reuters’ speed over accuracy slip-ups’

The Thomson Reuters Foundation has produced an Ethics Handbook, copies of which have also been printed in Arabic and distributed to journalists in the Middle East thanks to a fund left by journalist Mona Megalli. The debate could be followed on Twitter (#ReutersEthics) and Reuters ran a live blog on its site.

Marion Dakers (@mvdakers) is an MA newspaper journalist student at City University.Similar Posts:

Sunday Times: Breakingviews.com in ‘advanced talks’ with Thomson Reuters

Judith Townend — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:51:49 +0000

The Sunday Times reports that Hugo Dixon is in ‘advanced talks’ to sell Breakingviews.com to Thomson Reuters – for a reported £10 million.

Dixon, former Lex editor at the Financial Times, co-founded the online financial analysis site in 1999 and could receive £2.7 million if the deal goes through. The other founder, Jonathan Ford, left in 2007 and has no remaining shares, according to the Sunday Times.

Full story at this link…

(via paidContent:UK)Similar Posts:

‘There is a future for journalism, but it is a very expansive future,’ says conference organiser

Glyn Mottershead — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:16:36 +0000

Glyn Mottershead teaches newspaper journalism at the University of Cardiff. He blogs at http://egrommet.net/ and is @egrommet on Twitter.

Journalism will survive – but there’s no simple solution for how it gets there, or who is going to pay for it. That was the key message that underpinned the Future of Journalism conference at the Cardiff University School of Journalism, Media and Cultural studies last week.

Delegates from 42 countries gathered in the city to hear over 100 papers looking at the industry from a range of aspects:

New media technologies, blogs and UGC;
Sources; Ethics; Regulation; and Journalism practice;
Global journalism;
Education, training and employment of journalists; History
Business; Citizen/activist journalism

James Curran (professor of communications at Goldsmith’s College) and Bettina Peters (director of the Global Forum for Media Development) kicked off proceedings with their plenary address.

Curran’s plenary focused on different views of the future: the survivalists, the new media romantics and those who believe there is a crisis of democracy afoot.

Being passive is not an option for the industry or academics, he argued. It is futile to try and predict the future: the focus should be on moulding and shaping the future where the two can work together to keep journalism alive.

Bettina Peters of the Global Forum for Media Development questioned whether it was appropriate to try and export business models from the developed world to the developing world. She discussed the need for collaboration between the northern and southern hemispheres. Journalism needs to be looking at mixed funding models, she said.

She too was concerned that journalists and educators needed to engage in a global discussion to share ideas and solutions and that the conversations shouldn’t just be about money or tools – two key strands of current industry discussion both on- and off-line.

Jon Bramley from Thomson Reuters, John Horgan the Irish press ombudsman, and Kevin Z. Smith, president of the Society of Professional Journalists, were among the participants presenting papers. A full timetable can be found at this link [PDF].

Conference organiser Professor Bob Franklin, of the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, was keen to stress that this wasn’t an academic talking shop – but a key place where journalists and those studying journalism can get together to share research and ideas from around the globe, something crucial given the massive changes taking place in the industry.

His view was that the conference showed there is no single future for journalism. This was echoed in roundtable talks with journalism educators who were finding it difficult to determine what media organisations need, while journalists in the room stated that the media didn’t know what it wants.

Professor Franklin, like many others at the conference, believes the key to the future of journalism depends on the platform and location: while newspapers are in decline in Europe and America they are thriving in India, and there is a rise in daily tabloids in urban South Africa – with a thriving market in used copies of newspapers.

“The conference was about the future of journalism, and that future looks very different from where you are standing,” said Franklin. “We were talking about possibilities, not about sowing gems of wisdom. There is a future for journalism, but it is a very expansive future.”

Video: Professor Alfred Hermida on the Future of JournalismSimilar Posts:

ReadWriteWeb: CNET signs up for Open Calais

Laura Oliver — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:06:03 +0000

CNET.com will now share data from its technology reviews, news and blog posts on using Thomson Reuters’ Open Calais platform, allowing other publishers to use the information.

According to this report, CNET will publish certain sets of editorial data and some commercial information, for example data on its software download services, using the semantic API.

Signing up to OpenCalais will also enable CNET to generate topic pages.

Full story at this link…Similar Posts:

Press Gazette: ‘Studio in a suitcase’ for Reuters journalists

Laura Oliver — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:48:19 +0000

No longer backpack journalism – introducing, suitcase journalism: journalists at Thomson Reuters are to be kitted out with a lightweight video camera, microphone, lights, tripod and monitor.

The trial of the ‘studio in a suitcase’ will start in around 60 of the agency’s bureaux.

Full story at this link…Similar Posts: