Tag Archives: media organisations

BBC Trust’s dilemma over local video plans

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Despite rejecting the proposed £68 million investment by the BBC in on-demand local video online because (in part) of the negative impact it would have on local commercial media, the BBC Trust also said the following in its assessment of the plans:

“We also recognise the negative market impact that could result from expansion of BBC online news provision at a local level at a time when commercial providers face structural and cyclical pressures.

“Conversely, that potential strain on local news provision has led in some cases
to a reduction in editorial staff in the local press and commercial radio sector and could be used by some to justify a public intervention in the market.”

And:

“In assessing public value, the PVA also took account of the wider media market and the level and quality of local provision. Regional media markets have different competitive frameworks and characteristics which may well lead to a patchwork in provision and provide some justification for BBC expansion at a local level.

While the Trust said there would be no similar plans for the foreseeable future, this is a call to regional and local media to up their game. This time their market has been protected by Ofcom and the BBC Trust, but if it was to come under threat from independent publishers or other media organisations new to local, would the outcome be the same?

The Trust has urged the BBC to look at its existing services and how it can improve these to reach audience groups and areas it is failing to serve well. Local commercial media must look to do the same it it is to continue to defeat the argument for public intervention in its market.

Q&A: Nir Ofir, founder of iamnews

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Still in the alpha, invite-only stage, website iamnews has plans to become the world’s first open newsroom for media organisations and reporters.

Journalism.co.uk put some quickfire questions to Nir Ofir, founder of the site, which is aiming for ‘networked journalism’ between news providers and journalists and is not just another ‘citizen media news’ start-up.

1) How will iamnews set itself apart from other citizen journalism projects?
iamnews.com is a tool, a collaborative powerful news tool in the hands of publishers and reporters. It is not a news destination site or a citizen media news brand. We are here to create a simple and easy to use tool but not trying to become the editors. We hope to create an alternative to news agencies by syndicating the content in reasonable prices and policies.

2) You mention in your open letter on the site that ‘There is also no current solution for quickly investigating the reliability of this material, or the reputation of its sources’ – how will iamnews address this?
It is a process that will take time. iamnews is an invitation-only service. We are sure that publishers and reporters will invite only people that they trust. We also created a rating and feedback system for publishers and reporters, who will rate each other and give feedback about their work.

3) Similarly, how will the platform make money and what compensation is offered to contributors?
iamnews is hoping to become a news syndication service for the big media organisations. All the content that will be made in iamnews will be available for them to purchase. Revenues will go to the publishers and reporters that participated in the creation of the articles.

4) Are you looking to partner media/news organisations?
Sure! We are now working on an open newsroom solution for news organisations. So they can create their own open newsroom, create news assignments and engage their audience in the creation of news.

5) Are there any citizen journalism/networked journalism projects that your particularly admire? If so, why?
I was watching ohmynews closely and loved the fact that there is a mix of professional and amatuer news making over there.

Advertising: Newspapers sign up with Zillow.com and Politico; UK radio station launches motor ads site

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A series of major advertising deals have been signed this week, starting with the creation of a national online real estate ad network between 282 US newspapers and Zillow.com.

The agreement, Editor&Publisher reports, will see the papers and Zillow sharing each other’s advertising inventories and splitting revenue.

Politico.com has opted for a selective approach in creating an ‘advertising and content distribution network’, says an article in MediaWeek.

US newspapers, including The Philadelphia Inquirer, aggregators, and local TV news websites are among 40 outlets signed up to the network.

Under the partnership the media organisations will carry Politico content on the political sections of their websites and feature ads sold by Politico’s sales division. The outlets can also run their own ads alongside Politico content.

Meanwhile in the UK, Birmingham radio station BRMB has joined up with classified advertising site AdFlyer to create a website for motoring ads targeted at the west Midlands. Users can upload an ad for the first week free of charge, a release from AdFlyer said.

Goodbye with a bang – another football site to go

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Echoing yesterday’s news that Whoateallthepies.tv has struggled to get advertising, founder of outwithabang.com and myfootballwriter.com, Rick Waghorn, reports that they have decided to give up on their Colchester United site.

Waghorn feels that it would be ‘a bit rich’ if he didn’t mention their own ‘death in the family’, given that they have charted the rise and impending falls of many media organisations.

He writes, “[I]t’s not an ex-site. That’s wrong; it’s just having a rest, a breather. But it has closed down. For now…Why? Well, the reasons are many and varied, but mostly financial.”

Waghorn praises his site’s editorial strength but he says that their ‘local advertising network never caught up; never made it that far.’

In March, Journalism.co.uk reported that while Waghorn’s Norwich United site attracted 33,000 unique hits in January 2008 alone, Waghorn emphasised that the important thing was to create a ‘melting pot’ of revenue from Google, local advertisers, subscribers and content syndication.

In January Waghorn told Journalism.co.uk about his hopes for myfootballwriter.com to expand into the US with proposals for sites covering American sports teams.

Journalism.co.uk’s other blogs about Rick Waghorn can be read here.

UK media sign up for new Virgin and Perform video player

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e-Player, a new ‘multi-channel video player delivering sports highlights and video clips’, is to be used by a raft of UK media organisations, Sinead Scanlon writes for Journalism.co.uk.

ITV Sport, Telegraph Media Group, the Daily Mail, News International, Trinity Mirror, Evening Standard, Metro and Bauer are all set to deploy the player, which has been developed by Virgin Media and sports and entertainment company Perform, a press release on the launch said.

The player will be free for the media groups and will provide sports highlights and updates from UK football and European leagues, as well golf, tennis and rugby clips. Advertising revenue will be shared between Virgin and Perform and the media sites, based on the amount of traffic generated to the videos.

“We have secured distribution with many of the highest traffic, most respected online publishers in the UK, making e-Player the most exciting online video advertising proposition in the market,” said Oliver Slipper, joint-CEO of Perform.

Government proposals could cause press to regress, says OhMyNews editor

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Lee Han-ki, editor-in-chief of South Korea’s citizen journalism news organisation Oh My News, has said the proposed legislation to clampdown on online news in the country could stunt the ‘democratic development’ of the Korean press.

In an interview with the Guardian, Han-ki said the proposals are aimed at controlling public opinion of news media and repressing free speech.

Under the legislation proposed by newly-elected government leader Lee Myung-bak:

  • Internet companies would have to make their search algorithms public
  • Internet companies publishing news would be subject to the same regulation as media organisations
  • Forum users would have to register under their real names
  • The government would have the power to suspend publishing of articles found to be ‘fraudulent or slanderous’ for at least 30 days

News prediction game Hubdub launches widgets

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Hubdub – the gaming website where you bet Hubdub dollars on the outcome of news events – has developed two widgets, according to the site’s official blog.

The market widget features a graph, which shows how different outcomes have been backed by users over time and what their changing probability is.

The prediction widget on the other hand lets users record their own predictions – and how much they bet – ‘for posterity’. To get this widget, users will be given a link as they post a question.

Earlier this year Journalism.co.uk interviewed Hubdub founder Nigel Eccles, who spoke of a revenue strategy that will involve partnerships with media organisations and publishers. Offering widgets is a great way to start this sharing of content and – with added trackbacks – of driving traffic back to the Hubdub site.

The European News Interactivity Index

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Nicolas Kayser-Bril, contributor to the Online Journalism Blog and Observatoire des Media, has created an index of the interactive tools used by European news websites.

The index compares and contrasts which media organisations make use of tools such as Twitter, mobile alerts and social networks, as well as noting their policy on user registration for interactive services.

News sites from the UK and France, to Macedonia and Hungary are featured – entries for additional organisations should be submitted to nicolas@observatoiredesmedias.com.

Below is the index’s comparison of interactive features used by Sky’s site vs Guardian.co.uk:

Screenshot of European News Interactivity Index developed by Nicolas Kayser-Bril

The project is an extension of the work by Birmingham Post reporter and blogger Joanna Geary, who looked at the use of interactive tools by business news sites.

Rusbridger attacks Chinese ‘censorship’ as Tibetan riots quelled

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Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger has written to the Chinese ambassador in the UK attacking China’s censoring of foreign news websites – including Guardian.co.uk – in the wake of the Tibetan riots.

Mr Rusbridger asked for the ambassador’s assistance in unblocking his website back online and ensuring that access to it remained free of interference.

“As you will be aware, the blackout has coincided with media coverage of the recent unrest in Tibet, forcing the conclusion that this is an act of deliberate and wholly unacceptable censorship,” wrote Mr Rusbridger.

“We are dismayed that Beijing should curtail international press freedom, particularly in Olympic year.”

The move comes in the wake of a violent crackdown on protests in Tibet by Chinese authorities that have also attempted to block the media from reporting what was going on.

Tibetan exiles say at least 80 protesters died in the clashes as reporters were being forced to leave.

The Foreign Correspondents Club of China reported that as many as two-dozen reporters have been turned away from or forced to leave Tibetan areas and government censorship of the internet and television broadcasts was also hampering journalists’ work.

“Reporting interference is not in the interest of the Chinese government which is trying to show a more open, transparent and accountable image to the world,” said FCCC President Melinda Liu, in a piece carried on the FCCC website.

“Such interference is not in keeping with reporting regulations adopted during the Olympics period – and is especially not in keeping with the international community’s expectations of an Olympic host nation,” added Liu.

Writing for the Telegraph.co.uk Richard Spencer claimed to have been ordered to leave the Tibetan town he was staying in by local police (Spencer also points to some bloggers who are managing to get information onto the net about the crackdown)

The Honk Kong Journalists Association (hat tip Roy Greenslade) is also reporting that journalists from at least six Hong Kong media organisations have been placed under escort and ordered out of Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.

Social Media Journalist: ‘USG is the most overrated social media ‘news’ craze’ Jack Lail, Knoxville News Sentinel

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Journalism.co.uk talks to journalists across the globe about social media and how they see it changing their industry. This week, Jack Lail of Knoxville News Sentinel.

image of Jack Lail

1) Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Jack D. Lail. I’m the managing editor/multimedia for the Knoxville News Sentinel in Knoxville, Tennessee.

I am in charge of the editorial content on our family of websites that include knoxnews.com and govolsxtra.com.

2) Which web or mobile-based social media tools do you use on a daily basis and why?
AIM, Twitter and Facebook mainly. I dabble in lots of others. Email? Is that a social media tool? Live in it. Google Reader? Certainly use it every day.

3) Of the thousands of social media tools available could you single one out as having the most potential for news either as a publishing or newsgathering tool?
I continue to think the unsexy RSS feed has the largest potential and is the most important tool. Twitter and Facebook have potential.

Next is blogging, if you consider that a social media tool. It is critical for mainstream media to adopt and adapt. Because it is a web native publishing platform as well as a social network, it engages and creates community in very effective ways.

Not a software tool, but the iPhone is the biggest game changer in terms of new platform. I’m actually starting to believe the hype about the mobile web.

Users get that product and every other hardware maker is improving their smart phone offerings at a more rapid pace. Did we just go from Gopher to Netscape in the mobile space?

4) And the most overrated in your opinion?
YouTube and Facebook notwithstanding, user-generated content seems to be the most overrated social media ‘news’ craze or the most ineptly executed by traditional media organisations.

I think you’ll see a few sites that thrive at this and nail it and everybody else will suck. There seems to be a difference also in layering in news in social media sites and creating community around news.

Obviously, there are more social media sites being launched than can be supported by audiences or business models. Is it spring and time to prune?