#jpod: How news organisations are using Pinterest

Pinterest has overtaken Twitter as a traffic driver to websites, according to research by Shareaholic, a company that creates content sharing tools for publishers.

This podcast takes a look at how news organisations are using the online pinboard and social network for collating and sharing links.

It hears from Emily Steel, a social media editor at the Wall Street Journal, Carla Buzasi, editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post UK and Janet Aronica, head of marketing for Shareaholic.

Podcast: Download

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

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Beet.tv: Why readers watch video on the NY Times and WSJ

Beet.tv has an interview with Ann Derry, editorial director for video and television for the New York Times and Shawn Bender, editorial director for video for the Wall Street Journal online. They explain “why readers click the play button” to watch videos on the two news sites.

Bender feels readers click play in order to feel a connection.

I think that there is a feeling of excitement about the news that you don’t get in the static environment of print that you can get in video.

Derry says that both news sites have had to educate their readers in order to consume news in video form online.

We’ve had to train our users, both at the Journal and at the Times, that if you click on something you get a good experience.

Bender goes on to say that concise videos where the reader/viewer can learn two or three points are the most successful. Derry adds that news video should offer the reader/viewer a quicker, more “efficient” way of accessing the story than if they had chosen to read it as text.

The Beet.tv video is at this link and below.

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#followjourn @zseward – Zach Seward/social media editor

Who? Zach Seward

Where? Zach is social media editor of the Wall Street Journal

Twitter? @zseward

Just as we like to supply you with fresh and innovative tips, we are recommending journalists to follow online too. Recommended journalists can be from any sector of the industry: please send suggestions (you can nominate yourself) to rachel at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

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• #followjourn – @NateLanxon Nate Lanxon/Editor
• #followjourn – @duncanhooper Duncan Hooper/managing editor
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#jpod: How journalists and publishers can best use Foursquare

The Wall Street Journal is one example of a news organisation which uses the check-in app Foursquare to engage with a mobile and social online community.

Last month the WSJ used the platform to list hurricane evacuation centres in New York.

In this podcast technology correspondent Sarah Marshall speaks to social media editor of the WSJ Zach Seward about the newspaper’s experiments in using Foursquare and to Eric Friedman, director of business development at Foursquare, about how journalists and publishers can best use the platform.

Podcast: Download

Sign up to our iTunes podcast feed for future audio.

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Rumour mill cranks up over upcoming New York Times ‘paywall’

Rumoured details of the yet-to-be-launched New York Times ‘paywall’ are starting to emerge, with the Wall Street Journal reporting today on possible subscription plans, such as $20 a month for a digital bundle package or less than half of that for a web-only deal.

Under the new system, expected to be rolled out next month, the Times will sell an Internet-only subscription for unlimited access to the Times site, as well as a broader digital package that bundles the Times online with its application on the iPad, according to a person familiar with the matter. Subscribers to the print edition of the paper will get full online privileges at no additional cost, Times executives have said.

Speaking at the World Editors Forum last year, New York Times Company president and CEO Janet Robinson said the site will remain part of the “open web ecosystem” and will have millions of users referred to it by third-party sites by employing a “first click free” strategy, where readers can view one page on the site for free before being prompted to register or subscribe.

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AP: New report faults Daniel Pearl murder investigation

The four men imprisoned for the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl were not present at his beheading, according to a new report from the Pearl Project.

The report, the result of an investigation carried out by a team of US journalists and students and spanning more than three years, also accuses Pakistani authorities of knowingly relying on false evidence and ignoring important leads during the prosecution. It claims that US forensic evidence known as “vein-matching” points to al-Qaida commander Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who confessed to having killed Pearl after being arrested in connection with the World Trade Centre attacks.

Pearl was abducted in January 2002 while researching a story on Islamist militancy. In February a video of his execution was delivered to US officials in Pakistan.

Full story on AP at this link.

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Newspaper reporter ranks 188/200 in ‘best and worst jobs’ list

Think being a newspaper reporter is the best job in the world? Statistically it would seem, in the US at least, that is not the case. This annual list by CareerCast rating 200 jobs based on income, working environment, stress, physical demands and job outlook, places the newspaper reporter at 188.

The list, which used data from the Labor Department, US Census and its researchers own knowledge, can also be found on the Wall Street Journal website.

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WSJ.com: Gannett community newspaper employees told to take unpaid week off

The Wall Street Journal reports that Gannett Company has told all its non-union employees within its US community newspaper unit that they will be required to take a week-long furlough in the first quarter “due to continuing revenue declines in that division”.

Gannett executives said the unpaid time off is in response to revenues that remain short of where they were a year ago.

The WSJ.com adds that president of the company’s community publishing Bob Dickey said in a memo that this was “an option I had hoped we could avoid”.

See full report at this link

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WSJ.com: Google plans digital newsstand for Android users

Talks are underway at Google to launch a digital newsstand which will include apps from media companies available on devices running Android software, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

Google hopes to launch it in part to provide a more consistent experience for consumers who want to read periodicals on Android devices, and to help publishers collect payment for their apps, these people say.

Google has been in discussion about the potential venture with publishers including Condé Nast and Hearst Corporation, the report adds.

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WSJ: Thomson Reuters reports 66 per cent profit increase

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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