Stinky Journalism has unraveled a tangled web involving CNN, its parent company Time Warner, an anchor for a rival broadcaster and infomercials run without proper identification, as required by the Federal Trade Commission in the US.
AdweekMedia has published its annual ‘hot list’ for US magazine titles:
“Inclusion in AdweekMedia’s annual ‘Hot List’ is based on several factors, including: ad page and revenue gains; performance within a magazine’s competitive category; circulation gains; interviews with media buyers and consultants, and AdweekMedia’s own editorial judgment,” says a release.
Here’s the top 10 compared by circulation and advertising revenue (in millions of dollars) using Many Eyes’ visualisation tools (click on the images to see more):
Circulation
Advertising revenue
Paper Cuts, which maps US newspaper job losses, has gone past the 6,000 mark for 2009 (via Fading to Black).
Kansas.com, the site of US newspaper The Wichita Eagle, saw its traffic surge last month, making it the 15th most-visited US newspaper site for February, according to Nielsen Online.
The spike was partly a result of a link to one of the Eagle’s stories appearing on the homepage of Yahoo.
Yet despite this influx of visitors the site can’t monetise such peaks, because of the ‘dirt-cheap remnant advertising’ it runs during such surges, as Nieman reports.
From 9.30am (GMT) @journalism_live will be interviewing @RuthBarnett, Twitter correspondent for Sky News, about her new job. Follow the conversation here, and please drop in your own questions with the tag #SkyRB. After 30 minutes answering questions from @journalism_live she will answer the questions from the ‘audience’.
Update: and here’s how it went. The live updated stream has now been replaced by the conversation that took place (slight changes for ease of reading):
journalism_live: @ruthbarnett to be interviewed via Twitter and @journalism_live shortly…
RuthBarnett: #skyRB Hi I’m here and ready to go!
journalism_live: Morning @ruthbarnett! Thanks for finding time in your Twitter day. Followers – please tag yr Qs #SkyRB and she’ll take them after 30 mins
journalism_live: @ruthbarnett Firstly: You’re ‘really’ a Twitter correspondent for Sky News: is that the actual job title on the business card?
RuthBarnett: @journalism_live I still have my old business cards which say multimedia producer! But it would be cool to get Twitter ones.
journalism_live: @RuthBarnett so what does yr day involve? You must do other stuff, as well as scan Twitter all day?
RuthBarnett: @journalism_live Yup I look for stories, write things up for skynews.com, live tweet from events eg Google launch, do some TV
journalism_live: @RuthBarnett How did it get suggested? Was it your idea?
RuthBarnett: @journalism_live Its really the brainchild of news ed @jongrip but it followed conversations we’d had about Twitter, new media etc
journalism_live: @RuthBarnett There’s been a lot of online attention about yr appt: do people ‘get’ what you’re doing?
RuthBarnett: @journalism_live I think most people do. Its about being part of the conversation – listening and responding. Coverage was a shock!
journalism_live: @RuthBarnett yes, you’re enjoying Twitter fame! so, how’s the first week gone: what have you done?
RuthBarnett: @journalism_live I’ve made my first two TV appearances, written stories for online, let followers give their views on stories + more
journalism_live: @RuthBarnett not bad! any really good scoops sourced via Twitter yet?
RuthBarnett: @journalism_live We were v quick off the mark on the London fire and pix. Also people have been in touch about their real lives
journalism_live: @RuthBarnett Interesting – how does it shift dynamics of your relationship with users and viewers?
RuthBarnett: @journalism_live eg this story today www.tinyurl.com/tillygeorge came from a tweet.
RuthBarnett: @journalism_live I hope it makes us easier to approach, you can give feedback to us v quickly, its a genuine interaction.
journalism_live: @RuthBarnett There’s so much noise on Twitter – are you able to filter out the bad stuff and find the gems?
RuthBarnett: @journalism_live Yeah I hope so. And people are quick to let me know if they think I’ve missed something which is useful!
journalism_live: @RuthBarnett well we cd go on but we’ll open to the floor…. Any questions for the professional Twitterer?
journalism_live: @ruthbarnett maybe start with a Q from @1DimensionalMan: What do you think of the idea of a premium version of Twitter? Its impact?
RuthBarnett: @journalism_live I thought that had been outed as a hoax this week? I may be wrong. I’m not sure it would work to be honest
RuthBarnett: @journalism_live It would change the way the community worked and perhaps people would move to another service? What do you think?
journalismnews: @ruthbarnett is now taking questions from the Twitter masses: what do you want to ask about Sky News use of Twitter?
RuthBarnett: @journalism_live @PoppyVix asked if I also look for stories as well as tweet. Yes – from breaking news to interesting quirky stories
hfitz: @journalism_live What do you think of PR people using Twitter? Is it intrusive or do you encourage it?
RuthBarnett: @hfitz If they do it in an open way it can be useful. But people will unfollow if they just push their product, no?
NewspaperWorld: @ruthbarnett has there been an increase in readers accessing sky news since twitter?
RuthBarnett: @NewspaperWorld Too early for me to comment on that but I believe we are reaching out to new readers which is great.
Partois: @ruthbarnett Twitter still appears to be a North American fad. Can it really take off in Europe?
RuthBarnett: @Partois Its true many users seem to be from the US but anecdotally I think its really growing in the UK
makemusicnotwar: @ruthbarnett Some say you dnt need a “twitter correspondent”. Shouldn’t all skynews journos just use twitter to hunt for stories etc?
RuthBarnett: @makemusicnotwar Colleagues do! But useful to have one point of contact & give that person time to invest in it
RuthBarnett: Any more questions you’d like to ask? Thanks for all sent so far, interesting to hear what you’re curious about #skyRB
GoooRooo: @ruthbarnett if I @ you can you sort out my rubbish Sky customer service?
RuthBarnett: @GoooRooo Don’t think so I’m afraid. Surprised to hear that as I’ve always had a good experience and fast response
NewspaperWorld: @ruthbarnett could you further explain the benefits of having one twitter correspondent instead of many journalists on twit?
RuthBarnett: @NewspaperWorld Sure. Helps you know who to contact. Means we one person delve deeper, devote more time, + interact
NewspaperWorld: @ruthbarnett Thanks. What do you think of interviews on twitter? effective?
RuthBarnett: @NewspaperWorld Yes because its quick and simple and reaches more people. It’s been an interesting experience.
makemusicnotwar: @RuthBarnett Has having a journo devoted to twitter paid off? Hav u found stories, involved users & done things your colleagues cudnt?
RuthBarnett: @makemusicnotwar Yes I hope so. But I’m only five days in! Will always listen to how I can do better.
makemusicnotwar: @RuthBarnett Thanks. It’s been very interesting to hear from you. I will be following your progress with great interest.
RuthBarnett: @journalism_live Thanks Jude at Journalism.co.uk for hosting today.
journalism_live: @RuthBarnett our pleasure! Thanks for your time. Happy Tweeting and speak again soon…
As Gannett’s US and UK staff at Newsquest prepare to take a week’s unpaid leave, executives at the parent company have been asked to justify bonuses of nearly $2 million in a statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to the HuffPo report, CEO Craig Dubow will receive $875,000, while four other executives will pocket $300,000, $270,000, $245,000, and $260,000.
Samantha Rose Hunt offers a thoughtful analysis of US broadcaster ABC’s attempt to interview Senator John McCain using Twitter.
“Interviews are conducted so that individuals can learn and understand situations, products or an individual better. Understanding someone within the confines of 140 characters has now been shown to be nearly impossible,” writes Hunt.
Perhaps Twitter wasn’t the right tool for the subject matter of this interview – but can it work for more appropriate content?
We’ve been experimenting with conducting interviews on Twitter at Journalism.co.uk. There are still some bugs to be worked out, but the social element of the interview that you get by opening it up to Twitter is encouraging. All thoughts for improvement greatly appreciated.
The latest is from MediaGuardian: ‘Google to host ads from European agencies (March 17)’: “Google is ramping up its efforts to make money from its controversial Google News service by striking deals with eight European news agencies, and launching a contextual ad service to display adverts around their stories.”
Here’s a round-up of the recent coverage of advertising on Google News and other parts of Google, and its impact for journalism. Please do add any good links you’ve spotted in the comments below, or Tweet us via @journalismnews and we’ll include them in the list.
- Official Google Blog: ‘Ads in Google News searches’ (February 25): “Last November, we announced plans to begin experimenting with ads on a number of Google properties, including news query refinements within Google search. Today, we’re continuing a similar experience for users by introducing ads on Google News search-results pages in the US.”
- Journalism.co.uk: ‘Copiepresse would sue again if Google introduced advertising to Belgian news channel’ (March 4): “The secretary-general of Belgian newspaper copyright group, Copiepresse, said that if advertising on Google News was introduced in Belgium, as is happening in the US, the group would fight another case.”
- Official Google Blog: ‘Making ads more interesting’ (March 11): “We think we can make online advertising even more relevant and useful by using additional information about the websites people visit. Today we are launching ‘interest-based’ advertising as a beta test on our partner sites and on YouTube.”
- EditorsWeblog: Google News and newspaper publishers: enemies or allies? (March 11): “The internet has changed the way that people read newspapers in many ways: not least because news aggregators such as Google News have helped to bring readers away from the habit of focussing their news reading on just one paper’s website.”
- WashingtonPost: ‘Google to deliver more interesting ads’: (March 16): The piece asks: “So you tell me: How obnoxious would an ad have to be for you to stop visiting the site hosting it? What if it was a site that you wanted to see stay in business?”
- The Register: ‘Google clones search ad machine on photo sharer’ (March 16): “Google is now showing text ads when users search for public pics on its Picasa photo-sharing site.”
- EditorsWeblog: ‘Google News to host more news agency content with ads alongside’ (March 17) “Google News announced that it has struck a deal with eight European news agencies to host their content and to display advertisements around their stories.”
“In a slumping economy, U.S network news programs are expanding their gaze beyond Wall Street and Washington to mainstream America, heralding projects that give voice to everyday people and their financial woes,” reports Reuters.
Find an injection of cynicism over at Doug Fisher’s blog, at this link.
Pew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism has released its State of the Media report and – unsurprisingly – the annual evaluation of the US media scene makes for particularly depressing reading this time around.
As the report points out, the problems created by growing online audiences for legacy news organisations have been excerbated by a simultaneous economic collapse.
“Journalism, deluded by its profitability and fearful of technology, let others outside the industry steal chance after chance online. By 2008, the industry had finally begun to get serious. Now the global recession has made that harder,” reads the report.
The report in full, including individual sections on magazines, newspapers, online, local TV and network TV, can be read at this link, but below are some key findings:
Newspapers
In numbers:
On survival:
“Papers still make roughly 90% of their revenue from print and, although the numbers vary by paper, the cost of printing and delivering the printed newspaper averages 40% of costs. For now, it doesn’t add up to sacrifice potentially 90% of revenues to save 40% of costs.”
Hope for the future?
Online
Special analysis of citizen media and new journalism ventures is also offered in the report. Contributor to the newspaper section of the report, Danna L. Walker, blogs here; while the Columbia Journalism Review has created a ‘guess the year of the report’ quiz game.