“Journalists at the Financial Times are to hold a day of action next week against proposed compulsory redundancies on the paper,” a release from the National Union of Journalists has announced.
“Management want to axe 20 editorial jobs – but only eleven volunteers have come forward,” the NUJ said.
Tony Benn (NUJ Member of Honour and former Labour cabinet minister) will address a mass meeting in the canteen of the London-based company on January 22. Full release…
(Try saying that headline 10 times fast)
First up, the Financial Times has announced a new RSS service for corporate users – an add-on for those paying subscribers who signed up for the site’s direct licence system introduced in April last year.
The customisable RSS feed will be available to corporate customers, who under the licence arrangement are entitled unlimited access to FT content on FT.com and third-party services, and can be tailored by specific search terms, a press release from the title said.
Not full-fat feeds as yet – users will click through to read articles on the main website.
Elsewhere, technology journalists at the FT’s San Francisco bureau have been experimenting with FriendFeed to create a single source of their links, articles and blog posts (it can also be used for Twitter and Flickr updates):
The Financial Times will (from Tuesday) sport a new homepage design across each of its online editions.
Below is a screengrab of the new look and here’s Journalism.co.uk’s interview with Kate Mackenzie, interactive editor at the FT, on the redesign.
Kate had some views on personalisation of news, in particular how the debate around this issue has changed in the last 10 years:
[audio:http://www.journalism.co.uk/sounds/katemackenzie.mp3]And explained how journalists are encouraged to link out in their work:
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Rounding off last night’s discussion panel hosted by New Media Knowledge on the future of the newspaper industry, panelists were asked what or who they would put their money on for success and survival over the next few years.
Martin Stabe, media blogger, former new media editor of Press Gazette and online editor of Retail Week, plumped for niche and expert content:
“I would bet on anyone who can create unique, high quality content. I’d bet on the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal – those corners of more generalist publications that become more expert,” he said.
Newspapers need to have ‘the ability to compete with all the freely produced expert content that is sometimes better than what is produced by the professionals’, he added.
Neil McIntosh, head of editorial development at Guardian.co.uk, agreed that niche coverage could help newspapers compete with the blogosphere.
“In areas where blogs are working really well, mainstream media has two options: to raise its game and start covering those niches better; or it can get out and as Jeff Jarvis says, ‘do what you do best, and link to the rest’,” said McIntosh
“Those are two areas where mainstream media can move forward but it’s about acknowledging that this world exists.”
Assistant editor at Telegraph Media Group, Justin Williams said trusted brands and content areas such as finance, politics and certain sports are best placed to survive.
“Brands that are trusted and valued no matter how they are produced, those brands will still be here in 10 years time. You’re looking at areas like finance, politics, certain kinds of sport, where we still thrive. During the financial crisis most of us have turned to established news outlets,” said Williams.
“We’re positioned in those markets already, if we can hone in on what’s important to our readers and deliver it in a smart way, then we [newspapers] can be here in 10 years time.”
The Financial Times’ Alphaville blog is hosting a Q&A session on the world’s credit markets through it’s Facebook group.
Tomorrow between 3-4pm BST (10-11am EST and 7-8am PST) journalists Sam Jones and Stacy-Marie Ishmael issue will be answering questions from users live.
Meanwhile headlinemoney.co.uk, a financial news site, is expanding its free services to general news reporters as they are ‘increasingly covering money-related stories’, a press release from the site says.
Journalists can sign up for special guest passes to the site, which offers a case study request facility, a financial release news wire, background information on financial instutions, and a directory of financial journalists for editors looking to make commissions.
The offer is very much a way to meet the demands of the current economic situation, a spokeswoman for the site told us:
“With no obvious end in sight to the global financial crisis, we are happy to extend the offer for at least a month, or until the end of the year, if the demand for our resource remains high amongst non-financial journalists.
“On the duration front, again, it’s a case of regularly monitoring the situation. Once use of the headlinemoney site by a generalist reporter begins to fall away, then we will be inclined to think it’s a case of job done and will probably switch off access privileges. Those with guest passes can always reapply further down the line if the need should arise again.”
Forbes.com/opinions has had a makeover, as of today. Under the control of new opinions channel editor, Tunku Varadarajan, no time has been wasted in having a bit of an autumn clean. Particularly significant is the introduction of an array of high-profile new columnists.
Here’s a run-down of the changes:
Varadarajan was previously contributing editor at the Financial Times, where he wrote opinion pieces, arts and culture essays and book reviews. Before that, he was at the Wall Street Journal for seven years – most recently as Assistant Managing Editor.
He gives fuller run-down of all the changes here.
The Financial Times has overhauled its website FTChinese.com, which was launched in 2005.
FT video channels and content on careers are being added to the site, which will also have improved internal search and navigation, a statement from the publisher said.
Readers can also bookmark content on the site with a new ‘favourites’ tool.
The Financial Times and the Times are now available as e-newspapers on Amazon’s Kindle.
The partnership means electronic and automatically updated editions of the papers will now be accessible via the Kindle.
Editions of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Le Monde and the Irish Times are also available on the device.
Earlier this year the US Tribune Co. launched a magazine specially designed for the e-reader.
A website tracking the frequency with which journalists use certain cliches has been set up with the aim of improving journalism.
Killthecliche.com, which currently tracks five US newspapers and the Financial Times, aims to show ‘how smart data analysis can help us improve media’ – so this is more than a naming and shaming exercise.
The site currently has 167 cliches in its database, which it scours the feeds of the newspapers for.
According to the results, insurgent is the all time top cliche used, while amid tops the polls for today’s and the week’s most overused word.
The journalists behind the cliches are also ranked, as are the papers – the Boston Globe is currently coming out worst.
Please submit your most cliche-ridden sentences below and let’s get this post on the chart!
The Financial Times’ news team was unable to update its website for several hours this morning after thieves stole computer equipment from Cable & Wireless’ data centre at Watford.
The site’s Alphaville blogged ran live updates on the situation and published stories while the main site was out of action.