Tag Archives: Newspapers

#wef12: What news outlets can learn from magazines on content presentation

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Bonnier Business Media designer Jacek Utko has previously spoken about the need for news outlets to break the template format online, in the way they can with their print products.

Speaking at the World Editors Forum in Kiev today, Utko helpfully highlighted the ways in which news outlets can show that creativity in the presentation of their newspaper print products. And the place to look for inspiration is in magazines. Put simply, he said, “I don’t look for inspiration in newspapers anymore”.

The key lessons for newsrooms to take from magazine content presentation include finding a balance between long and short pieces, producing simple visuals and offering bite-sized chunks of information, the latter being a news presentation format which also “increases understanding”.

Magazines also demonstrate how to “tell stories almost without words”, he said, and “surprise the readers” with different news design on the front page.

That’s what we do with our newspapers, play the white space…

This then looks “totally different in the kiosk on the shelf than the other newspapers”, he said.

And this design approach need not only be for news outlets with sizeable resources. It is “very cheap” to do, he said, and takes just a few hours a day, and means print products can get a step ahead of digital in terms of design.

Art direction and news presentation is so weak on the web, it’s our strength, it’s our competitive advantage for print.

#wef12: Follow the World Editors Forum in Kiev

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For the next few days I will be in Kiev to report from the World Editors Forum (and possibly also from sessions at the World Newspaper Congress).

Articles and blog posts will be published on Journalism.co.uk, and I will be tweeting from @journalism_live, with headlines also tweeted out on @journalismnews. You can also follow the hashtags #wef12 (forum) and #wnc12 (congress) to see live updates from those at the conferences.

Here is a link to the agenda.

#GEN2012: After free newspapers, Metro International predicts free tablets

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The president of European free newspaper giant Metro International predicts that, within five years, the cost of tablet computers will be so low that publishers will hand them out to readers free of charge.

Per Mikael Jensen told the News World Summit in Paris that he believed basic tablets could eventually be produced for about $1 and used to push out news – not providing full internet access but a locked-down experience. He said:

If I was able to push information to a very low-cost tablet – and hand out a tablet to my readers, that may be an opportunity. I do believe that within five years we will see the cost come down and you can hand out tablets for free.

Jensen also said he believed that paywalls were only suitable for about one per cent of media outlets – possibly five per cent at a push. “The rest of us will have to find other revenue models than paywalls,” he said.

He predicted that online advertising costs would continue to tumble and head towards zero.

It is now cheaper for big brands to advertise than it was 20 years ago and I’m afraid to say that journey will continue. It’s basic capitalism. You have endless amounts of supply and more or less the same demand.

#GEN2012: ‘Exciting time’ as European daily newspaper prepares for launch

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The chief executive of a new daily Europe-wide newspaper due to launch this year says now is a “super exciting time” to set up a publication covering the continent.

The European Daily was born from the belief that European news is still seen “through national lenses” and that this “isolates debate”.

It started as a website featuring mainly aggregated news and is preparing a full-scale launch in print, mobile and online shortly.

Chief executive Johan Malmsten told the News World Summit in Paris: “It’s a project that’s been in the running for five years. As a Swede living in Paris I found there was not a news source that took Europe as the starting point.

This is a super exciting time to be launching a European platform – especially for debate. I think Europe will benefit from a publication which takes Europe as a starting point and explains how events in Greece, for example, have an impact.

In an introductory post on its website, The European Daily says:

“Strangely, daily news is still largely covered from national perspectives. Events, developments and opinions are seen through national lenses and feed into separate narratives.

State borders no longer prevent us from moving around the continent freely, but they still manage to isolate debates and hold back the free flow of ideas and arguments.

Without common points of reference, Europeans talk past each other. Daily news reporting and analysis demands a European perspective.

For us, that means untangling complex issues and bringing them into a wider context to show how they impact on the everyday life of Europeans, whether they live in Lisbon or Helsinki. We believe that this can be provided by a European daily newspaper.

In the end, what is currently missing is intelligent and independent journalism that gives form to Europe by analysing, debating and criticising issues from a European perspective. Providing this will be our mission, our duty and our privilege.

Independent announces a price rise and new journalist appointments

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The Independent announced an increase in the price of its weekday editions to £1.20 today, which editor Chris Blackhurst said was “bringing it into line with other newspapers”.

In a note to readers published online Blackhurst said:

For almost four years, the Independent has not raised its price. During that period, we have faced intense financial pressures. Inflation has been high and the recession severe and prolonged.

Newsprint, transportation and other production costs continue to rise, seemingly inexorably. Despite that, we have held off asking for more from you as long as we can. Alas, we cannot hold out any longer.

The 20p rise comes into place from Monday (23 April). Its Saturday edition will stay at £1.60.

Blackhurst also outlined new supplements and the appointment of new writers to the Independent (including Grace Dent, who joins from the Guardian) in his message to readers:

From Saturday week, we will be offering refreshed supplements and a flagship arts, books, listings and culture magazine: Radar. From its name you can guess that Radar’s aim is to give you advance notice of everything that’s worth knowing in that space.

… The Independent recently added to its award-winning team of writers two of the brightest new, young stars in the journalistic firmament: Owen Jones and Laurie Penny. They are now joined by more talent, wooed from the competition – the brilliant, sassy, funny Grace Dent.

No change to newspapers’ VAT tax break in budget

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Newspapers are to remain zero-rated for value added tax – despite moves by the government in the budget to remove other similar tax breaks.

Chancellor George Osborne told parliament yesterday that a number of loopholes in the way VAT is applied would be closed, but that the government remains committed to a zero per cent rate for the press.

He said in the budget speech: “We’re publishing our plans today to remove loopholes and anomalies, but we keep the broad exemptions on food, children’s clothes, printed books and newspapers.”

The majority of EU countries levy VAT on newspapers. Complications arise in the UK when newspapers sell digital editions (which are charged VAT at 20%) and bundle their print and digital subscriptions together.

Forbes: Gannett to introduce metered access for 80 newspaper websites

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US newspaper publisher Gannett has announced it is planning to switch all of its 80 newspapers, with the exception of USA Today, to a paid-for online model by the end of this year, bringing in an estimated to $100m a year.

According to Forbes, Gannett told investors at an event yesterday that a metered system, similar to that used by the New York Times, would come into force, with a quota of between five and 15 free articles per month.

USA Today is the only title that will not switch. Forbes notes:

USA Today is in the midst of overhauling its website to create a user experience more similar to that of an iPad app.

But any attempt to charge for its articles would likely encounter certain obvious issues. While its main national rivals, the Times and The Wall Street Journal, rely on their depth and quality to persuade readers to pay up, USA Today trades on its ubiquity. More than half of its 1.7 million circulation comes from copies distributed to readers free (or quasi-free) through hotels, airports and other hubs.

#wef11: ‘Newspapers need to work out what makes them unique and invest in it’

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At the World Editors Forum in Vienna today there was a session which asked the question: what content should print newspapers focus on in order to survive and thrive?

Members of the panel shared a number of examples of the content which has worked for them, including special editions, building platforms for discussion and greater use of visualisation to explain complicated images.

But the overriding message was for newspapers to know what makes them unique and invest in this content, as outlined in detail by Han Fook Kwang, editor of the Straits Times in Singapore.

While other news outlets are cutting foreign correspondents, the Straits Times did the opposite.

We decided to invest heavily in our foreign correspondents and our ambition is to be the best English-language newspaper covering Asia. We believe we’re uniquely placed to do that.

You need to be clear about your focus and invest resources in it.

He also reiterated the point that in keeping this focus journalists must also make sure they fulfil their basic duty to make sense of the news.

You need to write stories in way readers understand and how it impacts their lives. We struggle with this every day when we report stories out of Europe.

Some papers do this very well. The Financial Times does a terrific job, not just in reporting but commentating, analysing and explaining to readers the complexity of issues.

There is a great opportunity. The world is a much more complex place. There are many issues that affect readers and newspapers should try to capitalise on it but they have to do it well.

In an age when there is instant communication, when everyone wants to be the first, preferably in 140 characters or less, newspapers also need to go back to core skills, to what they do well.

I don’t think newspapers are best are putting out news the minute it happens but we’re great storytellers and the reason why is because we have the tradition and resources to do this. In summary we should focus on good journalism, that hasn’t changed, but to do this you have to invest in good journalists. This starts from knowing your readers well and knowing what you mean to your users and what you represent to them.

Bloomberg: News Corp’s The Daily averaging 120,000 readers a week

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Bloomberg reported late on Wednesday (28 September) that News Corporation’s iPad-only newspaper the Daily has been averaging around 120,000 readers a week, said to be “less than a quarter of the number the company said it needs to make money”.

The figures came from advertising executive working with the publication.

News Corp., whose Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch personally introduced the publication about eight months ago, may have even fewer paying subscribers since people can read the Daily free for two weeks. The 120,000 figure is for so-called unique weekly visitors, which includes people who pay and those who don’t, said John Nitti, executive vice president of Publicis Groupe SA (PUB)’s media-buying division Zenith Optimedia.

Bloomberg adds that Murdoch had said in February the publication, which was launched in February, would need 500,000 subscribers “to break even”.

Read the Bloomberg report here.

UK national papers offering collective ad package

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Marketing Week reports national newspapers across the UK are to join together to provide brands “with a collective advertising package that will see them sell ads on their own and rivals’ titles for the first time”.

The collaborative package offers brands dedicated space next to Wimbledon editorial in papers which are members of the Newspaper Marketing Agency, including broadsheets such as the Times, Independent and Guardian, as well as tabloids the Sun and Daily Mirror. Outlining the deal on its website the NMA says:

Simply choose a package to suit your target market and budget. In return, during the two week tournament, when all eyes will be on news from SW19, the NMA and the national newspapers that make up the NMA membership will serve you space alongside the cream of tennis journalism; in print or online.