The Obama administration has shown what is possible when a government becomes a media entity in its own right. But is that good or bad for a free press and for society in general? Read more »
The head of the research lab at the New York Times says the newspaper has launched an advertising product called Sparking Stories that allows advertisers to insert ads into specific content that is trending on Twitter. Read more »
One thing that Tesla’s’ battle with the New York Times has reinforced is how the balance of power has shifted in media now that everyone — companies included — has the ability to publish their side of a story. Read more »
The New York Times has finally closed a popular loophole that let readers circumvent its paywall by chopping off the end of a story’s website address. Read more »
The New York Times posted new earnings numbers this morning and they present a familiar, discouraging story of the Grey Lady’s inability to grow its digital business fast enough to offset other revenue declines. Read more »
Jeff Atwood, co-founder of Stack Overflow, has launched a new platform that he hopes will improve the nature of online comments by adding trust metrics — but there are no shortcuts to healthy online communtiies. Read more »
The Gray Lady said Chinese hackers broke into its systems repeatedly over the last 4 months as the company published an expose on Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. Read more at GigaOM »
Do you have new ideas about advertising, social media or publishing that you’d like to try out at the New York Times? Now’s your chance. The company will take in three to five companies for a 4-month, in-house partnership. Read more »
Andrew Sullivan’s breakaway from traditional media to run his own standalone blog — for which he has raised almost $500,000 before it even launches — is a sign of that the balance of power in media is still shifting. Read more »
The New York Times is cutting 30 staff — some of them with deep backgrounds in social media. This means the paper could lose a number of its Twitter readers. It also shows how media outlets and journalists need to work out Twitter issues by contract. Read more »
According to the Columbia Journalism Review, the past decade has seen a dramatic decline in longer stories at some of the industry’s leading newspapers. But does that mean longform journalism is dying, or just evolving? Read more »
Journalism professor C.W. Anderson argues in a new book about the decline of traditional media outlets in Philadelphia that one of the main stumbling blocks in adapting to a digital future has been traditional journalistic culture. Read more »
Paywalls are being erected at hundreds of newspapers around the world, but Guardian Media CEO Andrew Miller says his newspaper is still opposed to a subscription wall because it wants to expand its readership as much as possible. Read more »
The debate over whether WikiLeaks should be seen as a media entity like the New York Times took on a new urgency this week after the military prosecutor in whistleblower Bradley Manning’s trial said he sees no difference between the two. Read more »
New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan says in some cases transparency by journalists can trump the principle of objectivity, although she still argues that reporters should refrain from expressing opinions. Unfortunately for the Times, that horse has already left the barn. Read more »
Blogging superstar Andrew Sullivan dropped a bombshell on Wednesday by saying he is leaving The Daily Beast and setting up his own subscription-based website. Can he become the first prominent success story in what some have called the move towards “post-industrial” journalism? Read more at GigaOM »
A piece in the New York Times says ebook prices aren’t falling rapidly because the growth rate of ebooks isn’t as rapid as it once was and e-readers are falling in price. But that explanation doesn’t tell the whole story. Read more »
A news report gave the New York Times some powerful validation for its online paywall model. But a closer look at the numbers show that digital subscriber dollars can only be one part of the Times’ future. Read more »
Printed newspapers may be fading as a business because of the shift to digital media, but two incidents this week show that they still have power because of the shared experience they involve. What happens when that is replaced by thousands of online sources? Read more at GigaOM »
In a recent “Ask Me Anything” interview with Reddit users, the Washington bureau chief for the New York Times had some refreshingly reasonable things to say about how the web has helped improve journalism, and how the practice of journalism will survive even if newspapers don’t. Read more at GigaOM »
A mysterious shell company is suing the New York Times and other major media outlets for patent infringement because they offer mobile apps and a website. The companies now face the unpleasant choice between paying the firm to go away or saddling up for a multi-million dollar legal fight. Read more »
After critics accused its new Jerusalem bureau chief of making inappropriate comments about the Middle East on Twitter and Facebook, the New York Times has appointed a senior editor review her posts — but this robs social media of the power it has when used for journalism. Read more at GigaOM »
A manifesto on the future of news published by Columbia University’s center for digital journalism argues that the news industry as we know it no longer exists, and existing players need to figure out how to adapt to the new realities of news, and quickly. Read more at GigaOM »
Jill Abramson, executive editor of the New York Times, gave a frank overview of the evolving role of the newsroom as she described how the Times’ is blending traditional separations between print and web operations. Read more »
Critics of the Washington Post say that the only approach that will solve the newspaper’s financial problems is to put up a paywall around their content like everyone else — but while that might buy time, it’s not a long-term strategy for new-media success. Read more at GigaOM »
The Washington Post’s new editor, former Boston Globe editor Marty Baron, faces a mountain of problems at the newspaper, which has seen circulation and revenues fall dramatically. Here are some areas he needs to focus on in order to turn the sinking ship around. Read more at GigaOM »
How does it change the way we perceive a war when the armies involved become media entities — publishing their own live news reports, uploading photos and videos and even live-tweeting their attacks as they happen? The Israeli army has started doing just that. Read more at GigaOM »
There have been calls for a restructuring of the British public broadcaster in the wake of scandals involving sexual-abuse charges against prominent British citizens. But does the BBC just need to be shaken up, or does its entire mandate for public journalism need to be reviewed? Read more at GigaOM »
This weekly feature (back after a brief hiatus) looks at the books that are selling better in digital format than in print. This week’s picks: Two books from self-published author Michelle Leighton, who’s just signed a deal with traditional publisher Penguin. Read more »
Like the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland, the New York Times is having to run faster and faster to try to fill the gap left by declining advertising revenue, but even a rapidly growing subscription base doesn’t seem to be accomplishing that. Read more at GigaOM »
The New York Times posted a familiar earnings tale of rapidly declining advertising and steady gains in digital subscriptions. The good news is that those subscription increases came even after the paper tightened its paywall. Read more »
The public editor for the New York Times has provided some fairly dramatic evidence of her independence by questioning whether the newspaper should still be naming former BBC director general Mark Thompson as its new CEO, given his involvement in a scandal at the broadcaster. Read more at GigaOM »
In the past, the truth about a social or political event was whatever the newspaper or the TV news said it was. But now that anyone can publish their views, the process of arriving at the truth is a lot more complicated — and even more important. Read more at GigaOM »
A new app called Circa, from Cheezburger Network CEO Ben Huh, wants to make reading news on mobile devices easier by breaking down the traditional story format into its component parts. Co-founder Matt Galligan says the company is trying to rethink how we consume news. Read more at GigaOM »
A Columbia Journalism Review columnist argues that a free or advertising-supported news model inevitably leads to lower-quality journalism. But there is no reason why ads can’t co-exist with high-quality reporting just as easily as they can subsidize pageview-driven clickbait, despite the CJR’s claims to the contrary. Read more at GigaOM »
As the traditional media industry continues to struggle with the disruption caused by the web, some sceptics argue that a “digital first” approach isn’t the answer — but the reality is that focusing on digital is the only hope the industry has. Read more at GigaOM »
Many newspapers and media outlets are implementing paywalls in a desperate attempt to generate revenue, but some players — including the political blog network Talking Points Memo — are offering their readers a membership-with-benefits experience instead. It’s an approach that more media players should probably consider. Read more at GigaOM »
The New York Times is introducing an HTML5 web app for the iPad that will offer digital subscribers another way to access content outside the Times’ website and native apps. The Times said the app is experimental and part of its larger NYT Everywhere strategy. Read more »
Smartphones and tablets are now everywhere, leading readers to consume more news, not less. The increase appears to be a good sign but for the fact that few people are paying for news on mobile. Read more »
While it has gotten attention recently for the launch of its new online business offering, Atlantic Media has been making a lot of innovative and interesting moves in transforming its business from print to digital — moves that other media companies would do well to emulate. Read more at GigaOM »
