A single chart from a presentation by internet analyst Mary Meeker illustrates why the decision to move away from print is such a difficult one for traditional media companies to make — and also why it so important that they do so. Read more at GigaOM »
Nearly 30 years ago, Gannett revolutionized newspapers with colorful, breezy USA Today. Now it’s up to new publisher Larry Kramer to forge a digital strategy while revitalizing a dated print edition that still has the largest U.S. print circ. The digital vet talks to paidContent about his plans. Read more »
Just days after U.S.-based media chain Advance Publications announced printing cutbacks and layoffs at its New Orleans and Alabama papers, a national newspaper chain in Canada said it is cutting back, laying off more staff and looking to erect paywalls at several of its papers. Read more at GigaOM »
As painful as the decision to stop printing daily may be for the New Orleans Times-Picayune and its staff, it grappling with a reality that almost every newspaper will have to face sooner or later, whether they want to or not. Read more at GigaOM »
FT.com Managing Director Rob Grimshaw made no secret of his distaste for Apple’s in-app subscription terms at padContent 2012. iOS apps don’t work for publishers, he told the audience, and the Financial Times’ decision to leave the iTunes store was a success. Read more »
The news that Canada’s largest newspaper is launching a paywall brings back memories of an earlier paywall attempt, and how that led one GigaOM writer to the discovery of blogging — and three reasons why paywalls are not the solution to the newspaper industry’s problems. Read more at GigaOM »
Nearly four years after the process began, the New York Times Co. finally has sold its remaining shares in the Green Monster, the New England Sports Network and other sports assets. Initial investment: $75 million. Final haul: $225 million. Read more »
Just as the New York Times can decide “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” search engines have a free speech right to choose who or what to put in their search rankings. Read more »
Paywall solutions are having a bad month. Google shuttered One Pass at the end of April. Now paywall and news aggregation site Ongo, which launched in January 2011 with $12 million in funding from the New York Times, Washington Post and Gannett, is closing. Read more »
When they think about competition, many traditional outlets still seem to look mostly at media players such as the Huffington Post or Buzzfeed. But the reality is that much of what is competing with journalism in the digital world are things we barely recognize as journalism. Read more at GigaOM »
Another day, another exploited intern. This time, it’s the New York Times raising awareness about the legions of unpaid young people who work their hearts out in media or fashion and get shafted in return. Read more »
Online research database ProQuest’s usual customers are libraries and other large institutions that can afford to pay a lot for access. ProQuest’s new cloud-based tool, Udini, aims to make Internet research easy and affordable for everyday people — and builds in some Evernote and Instapaper-inspired features. Read more »
The changes Twitter just announced it is making to its “Discover” tab are designed to make recommended links and topics more personalized, and therefore more accurate — which is a good thing, because that is the single biggest business challenge the company faces right now. Read more at GigaOM »
Some of the media industry’s leading “data journalists” have published a crowdsourced handbook for the practice of data-oriented journalism, including examples of some of the best projects, tips on how to hire hacker-journalists — and an argument for why data journalism could help save the media. Read more at GigaOM »
Newspapers find themselves at a crossroads: they need to generate more revenue in order to stay in business, but some of the ways they could do that might conflict with the public-interest aspect of journalism. How do they find a middle road — or can they? Read more at GigaOM »
At a time when everyone is talking about how important it is for commenters to use real names, Gawker is going in the exact opposite direction. And while that may benefit Nick Denton for all kinds of selfish reasons, it’s still an experiment worth watching. Read more at GigaOM »
The Chicago Tribune has laid off most of its hyper-local unit and hired what some describe as a “content farm,” while other outlets are using content that is generated by algorithms. Is this the future of news, and if so should we be happy about it? Read more at GigaOM »
Should the New York Times charge hedge funds or large financial institutions more for early access to market-moving stories like its Walmart exposé? Reuters blogger Felix Salmon says yes, but doing this would fundamentally change what the New York Times and its journalism are all about. Read more at GigaOM »
Gawker Media founder Nick Denton says that he wants to fix the way that online comments work, but in order to do that he is having to reinvent Gawker itself — by trying to flip on its head the way that online content works. Read more at GigaOM »
Here are some of the stories people are talking about this morning: paidContent 2012 adds Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne (paidContent) …
All Eyes Turn to Windows 8 (Wall Street Journal) Read more »
The Pulitzer Prize win by the Huffington Post has been hailed by some as the first win by a “blog,” but the reality is such terms have become increasingly meaningless. All we have now is media, some of which is journalism and some of which isn’t. Read more at GigaOM »
Some traditional media entities seem to be hoping for a single magic bullet that will cure their revenue problems, but it is more likely success will come from making a number of smaller bets. Unfortunately, large media players don’t tend to be good at that. Read more at GigaOM »
Newspapers everywhere are tinkering with “metered paywalls” in the hopes of hitting up the right mix of exclusion and access. The Los Angeles Times became the latest such paywall player last month, limiting readers to 15 stories a month unless they pay for a digital subscription. Read more »
– Hearst Newspapers: Lincoln Millstein has been promoted to EVP and deputy group head of Hearst Newspapers, from SVP of digital media. His… Read more »
As newspapers lock content behind paywalls, marketers are opening that same content right back up again through campaigns that provide reade… Read more »
If only more readers were this dedicated to print newspapers. Early Saturday morning, authorities pulled down a man who was scaling the New… Read more »
– CNBC: Kevin Krim is CNBC’s new digital general manager, reporting to Mark Hoffman, president of CNBC (NSDQ: CMCSA). Krim comes from Bloom… Read more »
Earlier this week, the Project on Excellence in Journalism issued a detailed digital revenue study that left out even the most basic details… Read more »
It’s always tough to come up with a unique name for your offspring, but a little lawsuit sure can get the creative juices flowing. And so st… Read more »
Mail Online may have overtaken The New York Times’ website for global audience, according to comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) – but, in reality, the tw… Read more »
About.com is in free fall. The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) revealed yesterday that its network of information sites suffered a 67% drop in pr… Read more »
Late last year, the New York Times (NYSE: NYT) relaunched its tech blog to add more reporters and more video — in hopes of pulling in more… Read more »
Higher online circulation was a small bright spot in an otherwise gloomy earnings report for the New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), which i… Read more »
The championship of the online newspaper world changed hands the other day.
The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) (as measured by comScore (NSDQ:… Read more »
For many news sites, Facebook has become one of the biggest sources of referral traffic to its stories, and today the social network reveale… Read more »
Huffington Post today took one more step in its ongoing march for a wider international reach: it has now officially opened Le Huffington Po… Read more »
The furor over controversial anti-piracy legislation reached a climax on Wednesday as Republican lawmakers began disavowing the Stop Online… Read more »
In Barnes & Noble’s largest Nook promotion yet, the bookstore chain is offering discounted or free Nooks to those who purchase one-year subs… Read more »
(This version corrects an error in the percentage for the price increase of the FT)
Every newspaper, magazine or website is working on a pa… Read more »
The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) increased the price of its weekday print edition by $0.50 this week, and home delivery subscribers will pay a… Read more »
