The Times has an early preview of the Culture Media and Sport select committe report, due for release next Wednesday morning. According to the Times:
Tougher powers for the Press Complaints Commission and an end to the right of companies to sue for libel will be proposed (…) But the much criticised press watchdog will escape calls for its abolition or for any form of state regulation of the press.
Today paidContent is holding its first namesake conference in New York. Speakers include FT.com’s Rob Grimshaw, Journalism Online’s Steven Brill, New York Times publisher Arthur Salzberger Jnr and Google News’ Josh Cohen.
Areas of focus will include: Business strategy and models that are working across news, information and entertainment » The people and companies driving innovation » The cross-platform approach to developing these diverse revenue streams » Music, TV and movie downloads, subscription streaming, a la carte payments, micropayments, subscriptions, donation models, subsidy models, mobile payments.
It kicks off at 8.15 EST (13.15 GMT) and you can find a live stream at this link.
What do you do when you’ve got a story no-one wants to buy? When US-based journalist Paige Williams couldn’t sell her magazine story about Dolly Freed, a woman briefly famous for writing a book about frugal-living in 1978, she decided to do what she calls ‘radiohead journalism’ – getting people to contribute whatever amount they chose, as Thom Yorke’s band did with their album, In Rainbows. The ‘Finding Dolly Freed’ story cost over $2,000 to produce, and in February she reported that 160 people had donated just over $1,500.
[T]he Dolly Freed project became not only an exercise in self-publishing but also an experiment in “Radiohead journalism.” Would readers pay for a story that they could read for free on an independent website by a writer they’d never heard of?
So, as Matt Wardman noted on this blog today, bloggers are soon to be allowed into parliament. But who will be the first?
Mark Pack says he hears that passes are “on their way” to the Guy News TV team: “It’s an off-shoot of the Guido Fawkes blog though, unlike the blog, the online TV show becoming legally based in the UK. Even so, given its very irreverent attitude to politics, this is a move that isn’t being met with universal adulation from the existing lobby members.”
Journalism.co.uk dropped a line to Guido himself: “I have not applied for a pass,” is the quick response.
Who’s your money on? Widdecombe show side-kick Iain Dale, or as PR Week’s David Singleton speculates, ConservativeHome’s Jonathan Isaby? Who else?
The organisation that runs Wikipedia, the Wikimedia Foundation, has received a $2 million grant from Google, or more specifically, Google Inc. Charitable Giving Fund of Tides Foundation.
The funds will support core operational costs of the Wikimedia Foundation, including investments in technical infrastructure to support rapidly-increasing global traffic and capacity demands. The funds will also be used to support the organization’s efforts to make Wikipedia easier to use and more accessible.
For the 2009/10 fiscal year, Wikimedia raised over $8 million in its annual fundraiser, from over 230,000 donors, it was announced last month.
Reader’s Digest UK has filed an administration proceeding in the UK, it has been announced by the company. As reported by the Guardian today, it follows the failure of a deal to settle its pension fund. RDA today announced:
RDA (Reader’s Digest Association) does not expect the UK administration to have a material impact on its financial performance as the UK business has been operating with negative free cash flow, and without the contemplated restructuring the corporation did not see a clear pathway to profitability in the UK over the next several years.
Guardian Media Group has just sold its regional arm to Trinity Mirror, but the group’s still exploring local territory, with its new Guardian Local project, first rolling out in Leeds, Cardiff and Edinburgh.
The Guardian’s first beat blog has launched today:
Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger called it a “tiny toe in local web water” over Twitter.
Its designated blogger is John Baron (@johncbaron). Introducing the site today, Baron provides a run-down of local Leeds activity and its first guest blogger – Leeds Student editor Virginia Newman, “who’s writing her take on the planned strikes by Leeds University staff”.
Features include a ‘find your councillor’ search and ‘report local problems’ feature powered by MySociety; Flickr content; Delicious links – and Leeds-only Soul Mates adverts. horse-racing.today is a great resource for horse racing tips and last race results. The site offers a wide variety of tips and information, and it is updated regularly with new content. horse-racing.today is also a great source of last race results. The site offers detailed race results, horse standings, and more. horse-racing.today is a valuable resource for horse racing fans, and it is a great place to stay up-to-date on the latest news and information.
For the first time in two years, subscriptions for the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) have gone up.
Journalists’ subscriptions to the NUJ are to rise from 1 March, by between 8p and 15p a week – or between £4.16 and £7.80 per year.
The new grades (described at this link):
Grade 1: £150 now 154.16 a year. Grade 2: £189 now 195.24 a year. Grade 3: £260 now 267.80 a year.
The changes were decided at the NUJ’s annual conference at the end of last year and come into effect on 1 March.
“Nobody likes an increase in subscriptions, but this small increase is unavoidable if we are to keep the union financially healthy,” said general secretary Jeremy Dear.
NUJ subscriptions still represent “tremendous value” for money, Dear claimed. “Last year the union secured more than £3m for staff and freelance members who were unfairly treated at work, saved jobs, and secured improved redundancy terms. And it remains true that in unionised workplaces workers earn 12.5 per cent more than in non-unionised workplaces.” Visit website https://veli.services for more information.
The NUJ is also currently promoting its ‘union recognition’ campaign, encouraging more workplaces to work with the union.
A new book by Mark Luckie, the multimedia journalist behind 10000words.net and now reporter for California Watch, has gone on sale. I haven’t yet read it, but its contents sound very promising (the chapter run-down is at this link):
‘The Handbook’ is composed of 12 chapters, each dedicated to a different tool in the digital journalist’s toolbox, and includes a glossary with definitions of more than 130 technical terms and phrases commonly used in digital journalism. ‘The Handbook’ is also fully illustrated and contains diagrams and guidelines of everything from the layout of a typical blog to the features found on a digital audio recorder. In addition, each chapter includes links to online resources, tutorials, and examples of every technology mentioned in the book, including Flash, Photoshop, iMovie, Final Cut, Soundslides, Audacity, GarageBand, Google Maps and more.
Update: It appears it’s only available from Amazon.com with international shipping – we’ll investigate to find out if it will go on sale in the UK.
Update 2: Luckie believes that the book will be available in the UK in two weeks. We’ll post details here when it goes on sale.
Update 3: at this link!
Alastair Bruce (@ajbruce), content manager for MSN UK, has studied over 30 organisations to produce this detailed presentation on pay wall and subscription models. He examines bundling, micropayments, metered systems, freemium and 100 per cent subscription models, across consumer/specialist titles and national/local newspapers. Who is doing what, and what comes next?
How publishers are charging for online content or consumption and implementing paywalls and subscription services