February 27, 2008
OPU: The Catch-Up from the Marketing Conference Edition
Yes, I finally went through my stuffed e-mail inbox and Bloglines account, and it turns out the digital media and newspaper worlds don’t stop for NAA conferences! Here’s what I dug up from this week:
 Complete Marketing Conference Coverage!NAA’s 2008 Marketing Conference wrapped up Wednesday morning with great advertiser roundtables, ideas sessions and more. NAA has full coverage of this week’s events, including:
NAA Releases Online Community Cookbook: Recipes for Building Audience Interaction on Newspaper Web Sites
The Online Community Cookbook ties together developments in social networking, blogging, photo sharing and more and details how newspaper Web sites can benefit with audience growth and revenue. The Cookbook provides a structured approach for newspaper companies to understand online communities and a step-by-step guide to building and sustaining them successfully in local markets. The author is Rich Gordon of the Medill School, Northwestern University and of the Media Management Center. Go to www.naa.org/digitaledge/cookbook for more information and to download the first part of the report.
People on the Move: Dickey to Fill Clark-Johnson’s Role at Gannett
Robert J. Dickey has been named head of Gannett’s newspaper division. Current division head Sue Clark-Johnson, who is also chair of the Newspaper Association of America’s board of directors, will retire this spring. Gannett also announced today that the newspaper division is being renamed U.S. Community Publishing. Dickey was a senior group president of Gannett's Pacific Group and chairman of Phoenix Newspapers.
Source: Gannett (press release)
 Quote: Poynter’s Edmonds API’s Latest ‘Newspapers Next’“Newspaper Next is worth the considerable money the industry has spent on the study and the attention it has received. I'm not sure that it comes close to offering the answer -- the equivalent of a miracle cure for what ails newspapers. But it asks the right questions, provides new business models and goads urgent action -- all good things.”
-- Poynter Institute Media Business Analyst Rick Edmonds on the American Press Institute’s latest iteration of Newspapers Next.
Zell to Treat Smaller Market Tribune Co. Newspapers as Innovation Incubators
Tribune Co.’s Sam Zell said he plans to use the newspaper company’s smaller-market papers as testing grounds for new products and development, The Daily Press of Newport News, Va. reported. In a meeting with Daily Press employees, Zell said, “I believe that newspapers, in fact, have a great future, and 25 or 30 years from now, the newspapers that adapt and take a position that create a future for them will survive, and those that keep operating under the old thesis that 'Well, this is the way we always did it' aren't going to survive."
Source: The (Newport News, Va.) Daily Press
 Yahoo Launches Buzz
Yahoo has launched a combination social booking site and news aggregator called Buzz. Like Digg, Buzz will rank articles by how users vote on them. However, search terms will also push content higher on Buzz, and editors will ultimately choose what appears in the Buzz section of the Yahoo homepage, The New York Times reported.
Sources: The New York Times, MediaPost
comScore Says Google Paid Ad Click-Throughs Decrease; Hitwise Disagrees
Even Google is showing some soft spots, economically speaking. comScore data showed a 7 percent drop in the total number of times people clicked on search results ads on Google, PC World reported.
The news sent Google share prices down to an 11-month low. “The sell-off represents a sobering shift in Wall Street's sentiment toward Google, whose dominance of the lucrative Internet-search market had convinced many investors that the company would thrive even in a recession,” according to The Associated Press. “Other analysts, though, say they believe Google will deliver stellar earnings and revenue growth this year. They attribute the recent slowdown in Google's growth to deliberate changes that were made to weed out advertising links that don't conform with the company's policies or don't appeal to consumers.”
As of late Wednesday, however, analysts from Hitwise, a competing Web metrics firm, said the comScore numbers were not right. “If economic troubles in the U.S. are really affecting Internet search, then the amount of traffic going from Google to retail sites should show a decline, he said. Instead, Hitwise data shows a 13.3 percent rise over the past three years, and a steady increase in January over the same time last year,” PCWorld reported.
Source: The Associated Press, PC World
Quote: Comcast’s Cohen on Network ‘Management’
"There's nothing wrong with network management. Every broadband network is managed, and every network must be managed or no network would function."
-- Comcast Executive VP David Cohen on Comcast’s reasons for managing traffic from BitTorrent. Cohen spoke at a packed Federal Communications Commission meeting Monday, after which FCC Chairman Kevin Martin “that he is considering taking strong action against Comcast,” The New York Times reported.
Dallas Newspaper Sites Opens Crowd-Sourcing Project on JFK Assassination Documents
The Dallas Morning News has asked the public to help it sift through documents found in a Dallas County vault. Henry Wade, Dallas County D.A. at the time of the assassination of Pres. John F. Kennedy, compiled the documents but never released them.
The Dallas Morning News posted a letter to readers on its Web site. The following is an excerpt:
“The contents include transcripts, personal and official letters, newspaper clippings, lists of jurors, police reports, rap sheets, autopsy reports, trial notes, police notebooks, photographs and much more.
“The documents appear here exactly as they were received by The News. They are neither cataloged nor indexed, and they are in no apparent order.
“Given the volume, we haven't been able to review most of the files. That's why were calling on you. Here's your chance to review never-seen-before materials related to the JFK assassination.”
Sources: The Dallas Morning News, NewAssignment.net
 The Editors Weblog Launches Future of Newspapers Series with BradyThe Editors Weblog has started an interview series York Times, Financial Times, The Guardian and many other newspaper companies. on the future of the newspaper industry, opening with Jim Brady of washingtonpost.com. The blog has also requested participation from The New
Responding to the question, ‘In journalism’s multi-centennial history, do you view the emergence of digital journalism as part of the continuity, or as a complete breakaway with previous forms of journalism?” Brady said:
“I think it’s part of the continuity. New forms of delivery come up and previously existing forms need to adapt to these changes. There are now new forms of journalism and storytelling through video, picture galleries, databases and more. It’s just a different way to deliver information. But in the past print, TV and radio have all figured out how to adapt and reposition themselves when new channels have emerged. Digital neither compromises nor changes the standards for journalism.”
Source: The Editors Weblog
Lessig Decides Against Run for Congress
Lawrence Lessig announced he will not run for office in the U.S. House of Representatives, CNet’s News.com reported. Lessig, who founded Creative Commons and is a law professor at Stanford University, based his decision on polls indicating he would probably not win against former California Sen. Jackie Speier.
Source: News.com
Media General to Acquire DealTaker.com
Media General announced it will acquire social shopping site DealTaker.com. DealTaker.com already has more than 100,000 registered users and has relationships with more than 1,500 retailers, Digital Media Wire reported. The site’s features include coupons and forums for product reviews and shopping tips.
In a statement, Kirk Read, president of Media General’s interactive division said,
"It will add a platform for community-based commerce to our local sites and will provide non-traditional online revenue.”
Source: Digital Media Wire
February 25, 2008
Taylor Interviews Shorter, Other Award Winners
Marketing Conference continues in Orlando
 Mel Taylor of BlogTalkRadio is in the Newspaper Association of America press room at the 2008 Marketing Conference in Orlando interviewing a number of Digital Edge award winners and other digital media gurus! Ernesto Burden of The Telegraph in Nashua, N.H. participated this morning.
(Photo: Ernesto Burden, right, and Mel Taylor).
In addition to Ernesto, Mel spoke with Online Innovator Award winner Dan Shorter, formerly of PalmBeachPost.com and now of the Star Tribune, and Ellen Avignone of the Keene (N.H.) Sentinel.
Interviews coming up include Howard Owens (GateHouse Media and a journalism blogger), Bob Benz (Maroon Ventures), Eric Grilly (Philly.com) and many others.
You can listen live or download previous interviews at www.blogtalkradio.com/naa or just click on the button below.
NAA Announces Digital Edge Award Winners
The Newspaper Association of America congratulates the 26 winners of the 2008 Digital Edge Awards!
The awards ceremony took place Feb. 25, 2008 at the NAA Marketing Conference in Orlando, Fla.
The Digital Edge Awards categories, part of the Media Innovation Awards, drew more than 200 entries from U.S. newspapers of all sizes. The volunteer team of judges, who are all experts in the newspaper digital media industry, named finalists from 40 newspapers.
February 23, 2008
The Online Community Cookbook: Discussion
The Newspaper Association of America’s “Online Community Cookbook” ties together developments in social media, online community building, online discussions and more as they relate specifically to newspaepr Web sites.
The Cookbook, by Rich Gordon of the Medill School, Northwestern University and of the Media Management Center, will provide a structured approach to understanding online communities and a step-by-step guide to building and sustaining them successfully in local markets.
We offer this space for comments and discussion about the Cookbook.
Some newspaper executives interviewed for the cookbook think community engagement and journalism can complement each other. Do you agree? What are the challenges to making the two areas work together?
How do you moderate your online discussions? Do you think reporters should be directly involved in online discussions with readers?
More generally, what do you think about the Cookbook?
Cookin' Up Some Online Community
Newspaper Web sites find audience interaction pays off
Looking for a recipe for success?
We have just what you’re looking for: a cookbook.
The Online Community Cookbook, to be more specific. The Newspaper Association of America’s Digital Edge has just released the first of three parts of The Online Community Cookbook, by Rich Gordon of Northwestern University’s Medill School and the Media Management Center.
The Online Community Cookbook ties together developments in online communities, newspaper-based blogs, social networks and niche sites; it also provides a step-by-step guide to building and sustaining online communities in your local market while expanding the newspaper brand.
The first part of the Cookbook, as well as the preface and conclusion, are already available at www.naa.org/digitaledge/cookbook.
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Part I focuses on how and why newspaper Web sites can grow from audience interaction. It gives details and lessons-learned from forward-thinking online editors and newspaper publishers who have already discovered the myriad benefits of online community.
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Part II, coming March 3, includes a step-by-step guide to building and sustaining a healthy online community through your newspaper’s Web site, from choosing the right technology to community management tips and motivating participation.
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Part III, coming March 10, details how newspapers can help advertisers overcome their nervousness about buying ads near user-generated content.
An excerpt from the preface:
Social network sites may be important for newspapers as well, but they are not the only approach available – and the research for this report suggests they probably are not the best approach to building community in most newspaper markets. That’s because there is little evidence to date that the traffic generated by MySpace and Facebook – largely fueled by usage by young people – can be replicated on sites reaching a broader demographic profile.
It does appear, however, that certain features of social network sites – especially the idea of profiles and “friends” lists – can be effective in building usage as well as in reducing the need to moderate and police online discussions. For newspapers that have enabled article comments but struggled to keep the quality of conversation high, these social network features may be valuable additions.
It’s also clear that older forms of community – such as blogs and discussion forums – also have important roles to play.
The content of this report is drawn from interviews with more than a dozen newspaper leaders experienced with online community initiatives. The report also benefits from the experience and research of Northwestern University’s Media Management Center
Go to www.naa.org/digitaledge/cookbook for more.
February 22, 2008
Online Community Cookbook and Other Announcements...
Go Behind the Winning Entries
You asked, we delivered. We’ve brought back the report that goes behind the Digital Edge Awards and includes the original winning entries from the 2008 Digital Edge Awards.
The report, “Behind the Winning Entries: Media Innovation Awards-Digital Edge Categories,” will be available at www.naa.org/digitaledge on Monday, Feb. 25, the day NAA’s Digital Media Federation announces the “Edgie” Award winners.
The Online Community Cookbook
Also on Monday, we’ll release the first section of our Online Community Cookbook. The Online Community Cookbook, by Rich Gordon of the Medill School, Northwestern University and of the Media Management Center, ties together developments in social networking, online communities and newspaper Web sites. The Cookbook provides a structured approach to understanding online communities and a step-by-step guide to building and sustaining them successfully in local markets. The Cookbook will be available at www.naa.org/digitaledge/cookbook. Section 2 is coming March 3, and section 3 will be available March 10.
BlogTalkRadio at NAA’s Marketing Conference
Mel Taylor of BlogTalkRadio will be giving live reports and interviews from the NAA Marketing Conference on Monday and Tuesday. If you click on the BlogTalkRadio logo (right), you’ll go to NAA’s page at BTR where you can hear the interviews live Monday and Tuesday.
The interviews are also interactive — by calling (347) 326-9497 during any of the interviews listed below you’ll be able to chat live with Mel and his interviewees. Interviewees include the following and more:
Bob Benz; Maroon Ventures
Dan Shorter; President, Minneapolis Star Tribune's digital media.
Ernesto Burden; VP Digital Media for the Nashua (NH) Telegraph
Ellen Avignone; New Media Director, The Keene (NH) Sentinel
Howard Owens; Director/Digital Publishing, GateHouse Media
Chris Tolles; CEO of Topix.com
Bob Kellagher; COO of Calkins Interactive, Phillyburbs.com
Eric Grilly; President of Philly.com
Aimee Eckley; Adv. Sales/New Media Specialist, The Republican & Herald
Walker Fenton; NewsGator, General Manager of Syndication Services
Dan Wheeler; Roanoke Time Director of Digital Media
Jay Small; General Manager, Scripps Newspapers Interactive Group
Shannon Dunnigan, Director of Online Revenue, GateHouse Media
Go to www.blogtalkradio.com/NAA for more information and to listen live or to download the interviews Monday and Tuesday!
NYTimes to Host Q&A with Editors on Controversial Story
In the comments on an elections-related story on NYTimes.com last week, someone wrote that character is not so much in the decisions a person makes as it is in how they deal with the aftermath of that decision.
If we accept that idea, we have to give some respect to The New York Times for hosting an online Q&A today with the editors and reporters involved in the controversial story about Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) relationship with a lobbyist. The story ran earlier this week.
The New York Times reported they have received more than 2,000 comments on the original story, “many of them many of them criticizing the handling of the article.” Now we’ll have to see which questions the editors choose to answer. If the reporters and editors choose to answer some real hardball question, that’s a really great use of the online medium to connect (and answer to) the community.
The discussion will be posted here later today.
February 19, 2008
Headlines: Magazine Sites Grow, Online Reviews Gain Importance
Most Online Shoppers Read Four or More Reviews Before Purchasing
Online shoppers who spend more than $500 per year take reviews seriously, PowerReviews and the e-tailing group discovered. Based on a survey of 1,200 consumers who shop online at least four times each year and spend $500 per year online, the research companies found 68 percent of those surveyed read at least four reviews before making a purchase, MediaPost reported. Almost one-quarter of those surveyed read eight reviews or more. Only 2 percent of those surveyed said they “never” read reviews in advance of a purchase.
Sources: MediaPost, the e-tailing group, PowerReviews
Women Prefer TV Shows, Men Prefer UGC in Online Video
Women ages 18 – 34 are twice as likely as men to watch streaming video on television Web sites, but men are more than twice as likely to watch video from user-generated content sites such as YouTube, MySpace and more. This is according to Nielsen Online’s VideoCensus service, CNet’s News.com reported. Also, much of network television online viewing is done between noon and 2 p.m. (lunchtime), but most viral video viewing happens overnight, especially on the weekends.
Source: CNet
Media Jobs in Decline: One in Six Gone Since 2000, More in Newspapers
Media jobs fell to a 15-year low in December, “slammed by the slumping newspaper industry,” AdAge reported. Increases in advertising and marketing jobs in the past few years have not been enough to offset job cuts in other areas of media. “It's a different picture in media. Since media employment peaked in dot-com-infused 2000, media companies have eliminated one in six jobs (167,600). Newspapers, TV and radio all cut staffing last year. The only media sectors to add jobs: magazines (up a meager 400 jobs) and internet media companies (up 9,200),” according to AdAge.
Source: AdAge
Magazine Web Sites Grow in Unique Audience, Time Spent
2007 was a good year for magazine-based Web sites, the Magazine Publishers Association reported. In the fourth quarter of 2007, magazine Web sites “averaged 67.5 million unique monthly visitors,” according to the association. “That marks an 8.1% increase over the same period in 2006, when 62.5 million unique visitors logged onto magazine websites. The increase is more than three times the rate of growth for the overall U.S. Internet audience, which rose 2.4% in the fourth quarter. The information, compiled for the first time, is based on a MPA analysis of Nielsen Online-supplied data from 320 consumer magazine brands online.”
Source: Magazine Publishers Association
Survey Says: Financial Tables, Sports Top List of Cut-able Items
Financial tables and sports should be on the chopping block, according to 425 respondents to an unscientific survey on the blog BuzzMachine. More than 43 percent of respondents said the financial tables should be cut in newsrooms that need to make tough budget choices; 21.65 percent said the sports section should be cut, and 8 percent said sports columnists should be cut. Each respondent was able to choose multiple items from the extensive list. Some critics of the survey noted many people purchase a newspaper for the sports section, something BuzzMachine blogger Jeff Jarvis noted in his comments.
“Financial tables are obvious (which is why it’s all the more appalling that all papers haven’t killed them). What fascinates me most is the large number who want to kill sports. I’m one of those who doesn’t read the sports section (you always knew I was neither a real man nor a real American). So I just throw it in the back seat. But sports sections are also expensive to produce — lots of staff — and bring in few endemic advertisers. Granted, some people buy the paper to get the sports section alone,” Jarvis wrote.
Source: BuzzMachine
February 14, 2008
Digital Edge Awards: Behind the Winning Entries
Just 11 days left until we unveil the winners of the Media Innovation/Digital Edge Awards. (See the list of finalists here.)
The awards breakfast is at our Marketing Conference in Orlando Feb. 25, and the presentation is hosted by the NAA Digital Media Federation.
In addition to posting the list of winners here on the blog, we'll be releasing a report called "Behind the Winning Entries." The report includes the original entries to the awards as written by the entrants themselves. You'll get to read about everything from motivation to execution for the 26 Digital Edge Award-winning projects.
As a preview, here's the introduction to "Behind the Winning Entries." (For the full report, head to www.naa.org/digitaledge on Feb. 25.)
Part of the Newspaper Association of America’s mission is to share the newspaper story with everyone: the employees of our member newspapers, industry analysts, local and national advertisers, and the valuable consumers who support our industry by reading the newspaper or visiting newspaper Web sites.
Our awards programs, which showcase the best of the best in our industry, is one way of sharing that story.
There’s little doubt the newspaper digital media story has changed dramatically since the first Digital Edge Awards in 1996. That year, there were less than 100 entries to “the Edgies” from forward-thinking newspapers that embraced a promising new medium with open arms. At the time, most newspaper Web sites were little more than the print newspaper contents, posted online with a few links.
Several times since then, the New Media Federation (now the Digital Media Federation, as the medium isn’t so “new” anymore) increased the number of categories to reflect major changes in newspaper digital media. One of those newer categories, for example, is “Most Innovative Visitor Participation.” We expect the categories will continue to change as newspaper digital media becomes even more creative and diverse.
This year’s major change was that the Newspaper Association of America created an overarching awards program, encompassing the Digital Edge Awards and the (former) ACME Awards. This new program is called the Media Innovation Awards (MedIAs), and the Digital Edge Awards are now a category within the MedIAs. New, non-Digital Edge categories within the MedIAs reflect the increase in cross-platform advertising by our member newspapers. The nine Digital Edge categories drew 203 entries in total, and the awards judges named finalists from 40 newspapers.
Another change this year was decision to weigh the number of finalists in each Digital Edge category based on the number of entrants. For example, we increased the number of finalists for Most Innovative Multimedia Storytelling, which received 43 entries. Along a similar vein, we decreased the number of finalists in categories that received fewer entries.
At least four judges looked at every submitted entry, giving each a 1 through 5 rating on strategy, creativity, impact in the local market and adaptability to other markets. More than two dozen newspaper digital media professionals volunteered their time and expertise in late 2007 to judge this competition. This is a peer award, and we thank those who stepped forward to review the entries. If you are interested in judging future awards competitions, please e-mail me at beth.lawton@naa.org.
A few notes on this report:
Though the winning entries are included in this report, we encourage you to visit the Online Ideas Gallery, accessible through www.naa.org. All the Digital Edge winners and finalists from 2004 through this year are in the Online Ideas Gallery. In addition, this searchable database features dozens of best practices reports and case studies from newspapers across the world. The Online Ideas Gallery launched in early 2007.
The winning entries that follow are those the entrants themselves submitted in late 2007. We have lightly edited the entries and images for readability and layout purposes. In addition, we have included contact information for each winning entrant so you can easily follow up with your peers in the industry.
We hope these 2008 winning entries and the finalists included in the Online Ideas Gallery are inspirational. Thanks to all those who entered for sharing their stories.
February 13, 2008
Hiring For It
E-Media Tidbits (along with Romenesko and and most Centerpieces on Poynter’s site) should be on a required list of reading for online managers.
Amy Gahran pointed out in a recent E-media Tidbits column a two-part series by Robert Patterson on how KPBS covered the fires in Southern California last fall. The second part, which focused on organizational culture, was especially interesting.
In it, the station’s Associate General Manager Deanna MacKey said this:
"We did not have Twitter or Google Maps in our inventory, but the team had been playing with these tools on their own time. They all had their own blogs. Twitter had been discussed and in the week of the fire, we had planned a brown bag lunch to talk about Twitter. Our manager had played a lot with Google Maps and had been fascinated by their power. You can't train for this -- you have to hire for it.”
I absolutely second that. One of the best moves a newsroom can make it to hire people who aren’t just good reporters or good editors, but who are also genuinely interested in “playing” with technology and journalism after they clock out for the day.
I’m glad MacKey understands that (too bad she’s working for a non-newspaper outlet), because there are a lot of recruiters at newspapers who don’t get it.
Related reading: Adopting a Multimedia Mindset (Horizon Watching Initiative, NAA)
I’m wondering if it would be interesting to look at the job ads on the Newspaper Career Bank and other journalism jobs Web sites and do some statistical analysis on what editors are looking for. (Kind of like The New York Times does online with its debate transcripts.)
What do you think?
February 11, 2008
Innovation on the Fly in Knoxville
In a blog post last week, I noted the Election News Network from Publish2. ENN teamed up with Knoxnews.com and The New England News Forum bring top headlines from those regions (from bloggers, other news sources, the newspaper, etc.) to the newspaper Web site.
What I didn't know at the time was that Scott Karp (of the Publishing 2.0 blog and Publish2) and Jack Lail of Knoxnews.com threw this together in about 48 hours.
Seriously. Forty. Eight. Hours.
If I had an "Innovation on the Fly" award, they would get it. If you didn't read about the Election News Network, see it in action on Knoxnews.com or read Jack Lail's memo about it, you should really do that. You should also check out Scott Karp's account of those two days. (If they can put this up in 48 hours while staying on top of their busy day jobs, you can take 5 minutes to get inspired.)
February 05, 2008
Super Coverage from Newspaper Web Sites
Wednesday morning update: Here are a few more items to check out, including some from television Web sites.
Also, our compliments (and thoughts!) go to Knoxnews.com, CommercialAppeal.com and other newspapers in the South, who had to cover unexpected tornadoes on top of Super Tuesday last night.
NYTimes.com Polling Place Photo Project (NYTimes.com)
Keeping Tabs on Super Tuesday (ReadWriteWeb)
Live Blogging Super Tuesday (MediaShift)
MSNBC.com's Dashboard (LostRemote)
Super (Duper!) Tuesday is finally upon us. Well, almost half of us, anyway.
Regardless, it’s pretty easy to see that newspaper Web sites have come a long way since 2004 and even further since 2000 in terms of covering presidential elections. Here’s a sampling of what’s out there now.
Feel free to add to this list in the comments below!!
WashingtonPost.com to Host 6 Hours of Online Video Primary Coverage
Washingtonpost.com and Newsweek magazine, both owned by Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, will jointly produce six hours of live online video coverage of Super-Duper Tuesday’s election results. The video will be online between 6 p.m. and midnight Tuesday at www.washingtonpost.com/postpoliticstv.
Source: washingtonpost.com
Tribune Pubs Team Up for Online Election Coverage, Q&As
The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Newsday are teaming up on election coverage Tuesday evening. Chicago site visitors can submit questions at chicagotribune.com/electionnightlive and reporters and analysts from the newspapers will answer the questions in a live Webcast.
Source: Chicago Tribune
Newspapers Link up with Publish2 Election News Network
Knoxnews.com and the New England News Forum have both hooked up with Publishing2’s Election News Network, which launches today. According to Publishing2, the results at Knoxnews.com are “an innovative collaboration between journalists and citizen journalists to bring voters a wider view of election news.” (See it here and read Jack Lail’s notes on it here.)
Bill Densmore of the New England News Forum wrote, “The New England News Forum is co-ordinating a network of serious news folks — MSM and online/blog/independent — to use Publish2’s online bookmarking tool to submit links to important news and posts leading up to and including Massachusetts and Connecticut “Super Tuesday” primaries. Publish2 will aggregate these links and create RSS feeds that you can then put on your site. Instant aggregation, without the fuss.” (See it here.)
For more information on the network, head to blog.publish2.com/election-news-network.
Sources: Publishing2, HowardOwens.com, Knoxnews.com, New England News Forum
Other links of interest:
Just for Fun!
February 04, 2008
J-School Meets B-School at ASU
Steve Yelvington of Morris Communications posted a well thought-out follow-up to Mark Glaser's MediaShift post (summary here) on journalism schools teaching business.
In his blog entry, Yelvington wrote, "... we should recognize our weaknesses and I think this business thing is one of them. I wonder if the 'separation of church and state' that's part of the standard J-school indoctrination inadvertently contributes to it. After all, the opposite of sacred is profane."
Yelvington goes on to applaud Arizona State University for making the Business and Future of Journalism a required course for journalism students. You can read more about the class here.
I'm definitely joining Yelvington and everyone else who is applauding all journalism schools that are building business into the journalism curriculum. What would be even better is if someday the course goes online so all journalists can take it! (However, you should feel free to read the books the course instructors recommend.)
For additional reading, be sure to check out our Imagining the Future of Newspapers blog from NAA -- we published more than 20 essays from digital media leaders and thinkers on the future of the industry. In addition, NAA is working on a project giving data and projections on the future economic models in the newspaper industry -- look for that later this spring.
February 01, 2008
This Month in PRESSTIME
NAA’s PRESSTIME magazine this month has a ton of great Web features. Topics include the ever-changing business model for newspapers, open-source software and search. Here’s some of what’s inside....
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