In the wake of news that Fairfax – Australia’s major newspaper owner – has posted a net loss of $380 million for the year to June 30, its managing director has said he he would be ‘happy to talk’ to his rival, Murdoch’s News Corporation, about paid content plans.
Fairfax’s newspapers includeThe Sydney Morning Herald, The Age in Melbourne, and The Australian Financial Review.
“Fairfax Media, Australia’s oldest newspaper company, plunged into a first-half loss on Monday after writing down the value of its mastheads and incurring heavy restructuring charges, underlining the plight facing media companies,” reports the FT.
Well, we could have brought you ‘Flocking Around the Twitmas Tree’, ‘We Three Nings’ or just a straightforward end of the year list (if only to add to our list of lists), but instead we chose this: your sing-along treat to round-up 2008 is the ‘Twelve Days of Online Media Christmas’ (hyperlinked to relevant stories, but bear in mind it’s a selection of picks and not comprehensive…).
On the first day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … An editor in a law court
Colin Myler, News of the World
On the second day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Two arrested hacks
Milton Keynes Citizen’s Sally Murrer / ITV’s John Ray (video below)
… And an editor in a law court.
On the third day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Three web gaffes
Steve Jobs and CNN / United Airlines stock collapse / AFP photo ‘altering’
… Two arrested hacks, And an editor in a law court!
On the fourth day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Four journo forums
Wired Journalists / Journalism Research / Visual Editors / Journalism.co.uk forum
… Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks, And an editor in a law court!
On the fifth day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends
Stephen Fry / Paul Carr / John Cleese / Mark Mayhew (Hurricane Gustav) / the Mad Men
… Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks, And an editor in a law court!
On the sixth day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Six news sites out-linking
WashingtonPost.com, BBC, NYTimes.com, CNN.com, Drudge Report, Not the AP (they didn’t even want to be linked to)
… Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends, Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks, And an editor in a law court!
On the seventh day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Seven feeds a-mashing
Publish2.com, Daylife, Delicious, Digg, Technorati, FriendFeed, Yahoo Pipes
… Six sites out-linking, Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends, Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks, And an editor in a law court!
On the eighth day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Eight maps a’plotting
Hurricane Gustav tracker, BBC Beijing Olympics map, PaperCuts newspaper job losses map, Economist pre-election map, NYTimes.com post-election map, Managingnews.com’s newstracker during Chinese earthquake, Interactive maps of Canadian tornado damage, Journalism.co.uk new timeline-maps.
… Seven pipes a-mashing, Six sites out-linking, Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends, Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks, And an editor in a law court!
On the ninth day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Nine strikers strikin’
Le Monde, Writers’ Guild of America, Australian Fairfax newspapers, Express Newspapers, Sheffield Star.
(or at least thinking about it…) Trinity Mirror Midlands, Telegraph Media Group, ITV regional, BBC Scotland.
… Eight maps a-plotting, Seven pipes a-mashing, Six sites out-linking, Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends, Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks, And an editor in a law court!
On the tenth day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Ten blogs a-blooming
10,000words.net, Adrianmonck.com, Jay Rosen’s PressThink, OnlineJournalismBlog, BBCJournalismLabs, BusinessMediaBlog, RegretTheError.com, Publishing2.com, Spokesman Review’s Daily Briefing, Tomorrow’s News Tomorrow’s Journalists
… Nine strikers strikin’, Eight maps a-plotting, Seven pipes a-mashing, Six sites out-linking, Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends, Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks, And an editor in a law court!
On the eleventh day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Eleven papers packing
(up for new offices) The Guardian, the Birmingham Mail, the Independent.
(away their desks forever) NY Sun, Belfast’s La Nua, Kazakhstan’s Law and Justice, Moscow’s The Exile, US Post newspapers, Trinity Mirror weekly titles, Switzerland’s Mittelland, three editions of Spanish Metro.
… Ten blogs a-blooming, Nine strikers strikin’, Eight maps a-plotting, Seven pipes a-mashing, Six sites out-linking, Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends, Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks, And an editor in a law court!
On the twelfth day of Christmas my feed read’r brought to me … Twelve sites a-starting
Trinity Mirror mobile sites, outside.in UK, Spot.Us, Hubdub.com, Coventry Telegraph, FT’s Alphaville Long Room, Magicalia, DailyPostCymraeg.co.uk, Time Out Kuala Lumpur, the BusinessDesk Northwest, the Daily Beast.
(and re-focusing) CSMonitor.com.
… Eleven papers packing, Ten blogs a-blooming, Nine strikers strikin’, Eight maps a-plotting, Seven pipes a-mashing, Six sites out-linking, Five Tweeeeeetin’ friends, Four journo forums, Three web gaffes, Two arrested hacks and an editor in a law court!
Former Sydney Morning Herald editor Eric Beecher has said the government may be forced to step in to safeguard ‘quality journalism’ in Australia, following last week’s announcement by Fairfax Media of 550 job cuts.
Alternative media outlets, such as websites, will not be sufficient to plug the gap left by traditional outlets unless backing is found, said Beecher.