Managing the Crisis (Crises!)

"Reflections of a Newsosaur: The daunting reality facing newspapers"

2009-12-09T22:29:00.000-05:00

"Advertising - Some Recovery in Ad Spending Forecast for 2010" - NYTimes.com

2009-12-08T16:36:00.000-05:00

On The Media: Transcript of "Talk is Cheap" (December 4, 2009)

2009-12-05T11:37:00.000-05:00

"For Search, Murdoch Looks to a Deal With Microsoft" - Media Decoder Blog - NYTimes.com

2009-11-23T14:14:00.000-05:00

"Advertising - Online Ads Are Booming, if They’re Attached to a Video" - NYTimes.com

2009-11-11T01:35:00.000-05:00

"Sober Mood at New York Post as Circulation Spirals Lower" - NYTimes.com

2009-11-09T03:16:00.000-05:00

"The Media Equation - Nonprofit Site, Texas Tribune, Begins as Big News Hits State" - NYTimes.com

2009-11-09T03:12:00.000-05:00

"Newspaper Hopes Could Be Old News" - WSJ.com

2009-11-04T11:40:00.000-05:00

"National Post of Canada May Close on Friday" - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com

2009-10-29T16:00:00.000-04:00

I think we are going to look back 5 years from now and ask ourselves why we did not realize that the newspaper business is falling apart all around us and respond with the emergency creativity that the crises demand.

"Local News Web Site in Washington Will Start with 50 Journalists" - Media Decoder Blog - NYTimes.com

2009-10-28T15:41:00.000-04:00

"Reflections of a Newsosaur: Newspapers, the mass-less mass medium"

2009-10-27T16:36:00.000-04:00

"This Dying Medium Has Plenty of Life" - Barrons.com

2009-10-26T12:50:00.000-04:00

"Newspaper circulation falling fast, down 10.6 pct " - AP

2009-10-26T12:47:00.000-04:00

Numbers don't get much worse than this.

"Advertising - Newspapers May Face Ad Difficulties on Web Sites, Too" - NYTimes.com

2009-10-26T02:44:00.000-04:00

"Real-time, Relevant Ads Matched With Real-time News? What a Concept!"

2009-10-23T15:29:00.000-04:00

I think there is much to be said for this idea.

"Newsday Plans to Charge for Online News" - NYTimes.com

2009-10-22T14:58:00.000-04:00

By doing this, we'll all get a chance to see what happens!

"Times Says It Will Cut 100 Newsroom Jobs" - Media Decoder Blog - NYTimes.com

2009-10-19T15:21:00.000-04:00

The seriousness of this moment in the history of US newspapers cannot be overstated, and this action by The New York Times is a vivid reflection of so many newspaper crises.

"The Media Equation: How To Pay For News When Nobody Wants To Pay For News" - Media Decoder Blog - NYTimes.com

2009-10-19T02:36:00.003-04:00

This is a very good summary of where things stand, and I worry that too many newspapers still believe that we are just working our way through tough times and tomorrow will be like yesterday. Add this to the mix as well http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/business/media/19carr.html?ref=media

"Newspaper Trade Fair closes on successful note, despite economy" - Media Update

2009-10-15T08:37:00.000-04:00

Still, that looks to be down from 8,800 last year.

"Le Quotidien du foot dans les kiosques mardi" - Le Figaro

2009-10-15T03:26:00.000-04:00

It is encouraging to see any new newspaper initiatives during these crises. In France, Tuesday saw the launch of something we've never seen in the US - a daily newspaper devoted entirely to soccer! It costs about 1.50 USD per copy, is 24 pages and hopes for a circulation of 50-80,000 copies. It was first promised in Jan 2009.

"Once Again, Some Newspapers To Get Thinner, Literally" - Media Decoder Blog - NYTimes.com

2009-10-14T11:53:00.000-04:00

One of the problems that printed newspapers face around the world is that almost no consideration is gvien to how a consuming customer now uses the paper beyond reading it, or what might be offered that would increase the ways - beyond reading that the newspaper might get used.

I am not speaking of bird cage lining or fish scaling.

What I mean is that a huge amount of effort goes into preparing the pages of any printed newspaper. When a person looks at the front page, and then turns to other pages, she or he winds up being drawn to things of interest, whether it is editorial content, advertising or anything else. Once attracted, the customer decides if it is worth consuming beyond a cursory glance.

Here is where it gets important and is overlooked.

How does the person who invests his or her time in going beyond that cursory glance then make use the actual newspaper space occupied by whatever prompted the closer look? Or is the medium just the repository for the ink and message and nothing more?

I think it can be much more and during these crises, it is a time to rethink that list of what all it could be. Is it easy to clip a story and share with a family member? Is it easy to use the printed ad to pursue a newspaper provided option online connected to the ad? Is it easy to clip a coupon valuable at a store? Can something in the newspaper be scanned and used to earn a discout somewhere? Does the printed content lead the customer to more newspaper-provided content?

The list is long and the attention it is getting is virtually non-existent. That's a shame.

"Newspapers won't be abandoned, but they need to change" - Editors Weblog

2009-10-14T02:56:00.002-04:00

I think I would have written a more alarmist headline.... something like:
"Newspapers fail to transfer brand from paper to digital, and they are losing the survival battle"

"Guardian looks to bloggers to fill local news gap" - Editors Weblog

2009-10-13T02:31:00.000-04:00

I think this approach has tremenedous potential; the issue will be management of the content. It will go out with the Guardian's brand and the Guardian needs to gear up, as they may be doing, to be able to make sure what is offered is consistent with that brand. If they do, this could be a real winner....provided they make the right judgments (what people want and need in their daily lives) about what to cover. If they get that wrong, this will fail miserably, and if anyone should get it right, on the other hand, it is they!

"WAN - World Newspaper Publishing Expo Opens on Optimistic Note"

2009-10-12T06:38:00.000-04:00

"Reporter Resurrects Career - Buys His Own Paper" - NYTimes.com

2009-10-12T02:55:00.000-04:00

The future of newspapers?

"Conde Nast Focus on Magazines Ended Up Costing Gourmet" - MediaWorks

2009-10-12T01:48:00.000-04:00

"USA Today Likely to Fall To No. 2 in Circulation" - WSJ.com

2009-10-10T03:31:00.000-04:00

"AP, News Corp bosses say pay up" - AP

2009-10-09T03:24:00.000-04:00

"Replace editor-in-chiefs with 'content directors', says Mecom CEO" - Journalism.co.uk

2009-10-08T12:06:00.000-04:00

"What The Rise Of Demand-Side Ad Networks Means For Publishers" - paidContent

2009-10-08T05:16:00.000-04:00

"Google’s Schmidt Says The Economy Is Bouncing Back In The U.S.—And In Europe" - paidContent

2009-10-08T05:14:00.000-04:00

"My changing media habits (or: there is no crisis!)" - The Hannibal Blog

2009-10-07T08:41:00.000-04:00

"MaCartePresse" lancé à Marseille pour acheter les journaux moins cher - Actualités Medias sur Voila Actu

2009-10-07T08:26:00.000-04:00

This strikes me as an overly complex solution to the wrong problem.

"Canada's largest media company seeks bankruptcy protection" - Journalism in the Americas

2009-10-07T03:54:00.000-04:00

Customers - Health is pretty essential, no? - "A New Web Tool to Take Control of Your Health" - NYTimes.com

2009-10-06T02:48:00.000-04:00

Which newspaper anywhere in the world is meeting the health needs of its consuming customers?

Customers - Meeting essential information needs - "Pew Research Center Study:Bulk Of Reporting Covered Wall Street And Government, Not Regular People"

2009-10-06T02:43:00.000-04:00

This goes to a key point I have tried to make in recent months. Newspapers need to refocus much of their energy - I would say the majority - on serving the "essential" needs of their consuming customers. If newspapers do not do that, they are destined to become even more marginal, more elitist, and less successful.

Technology - I'll have a tablet with my coffee, please - "The Quest Continues for a Tablet PC" - NYTimes.com

2009-10-05T03:33:00.000-04:00

This article raises the most important question - how will tablets fit into the lives of consuming customers? How will they actually use them?

Confidence - How do newspapers earn it in goods and services? - "On the Internet, Everyone's a Critic But They're Not Very Critical" - WSJ.com

2009-10-05T03:14:00.000-04:00

For the crisis of "confidence" I would suggest that newspapers need to work harder to define why it is that consuming customers ought to be able to trust what a newspaper provides over what comes from the who-knows-who in the internet. This article talks about how the current free-for-all system is resulting in misleading high ratings for too many.

Compensation - How much is right? - "The Media Equation - With Tribune in Bankruptcy, a Tone-Deaf Request for Bonuses" - NYTimes.com

2009-10-05T02:49:00.000-04:00

In recent days, there have been several stories about compensation to people working in the news and newspaper business. The other principal one has been ProPublica, the non-profit supported primarily by the gift of one man, where they claim to be paying salaries commensurate witht he private sector....although seemingly too high. In all of these cases, there is a need for a "reality check", a sober reflection on whether the business of news can support such high pay anymore. If we are looking for a way to have a sustainable newspaper business, I doubt almost completely that we will find that plan amidst salaries for editors and reporters well over 300,000 USD.

Competition - How will Chinese media development impact newspapers in other countries? - "China Hopes to Create Its Own Media Empires" - NYTimes.com

2009-10-05T02:20:00.000-04:00

There is always China to worry about as well!

Customers - What exactly do newspapers think that customers expect to get out of their newspapers? - www.figaromedias.fr

2009-10-04T17:12:00.000-04:00

This is a refreshing line from Le Figaro in France. On TV and here in the website, it says to the marketplace "s'informer pour decider" or inform yourself in order to decide, or learn in order to decide. That's a nice strategic description of what a newspaper ought to help its customers do.

"Giraffe Forum » Surviving information-seeking sickness"

2009-10-04T14:17:00.000-04:00

My Irish friend, Gerry McGOVERN, manages to hit this giraffe right on the head. He would have been a great addition to our London program and I commend him to anyone reading this.....

"With information galore, we need news judgment" - latimes.com

2009-10-04T07:56:00.000-04:00

Competition - There sure is a lot of it.... - "Grands sites mondiaux méconnus" - Journal du Net

2009-10-04T04:10:00.000-04:00

While this is in French, it is easy to follow - showing the top 50 sites in the world in terms of traffic. Without quibbling over the exact numbers, take a look at all of them. This report suggests that we probably have never heard of 12 out of this group. I think they are right!

"Gary Hamel: What Really Kills Great Companies: Inertia" - Gary Hamel’s Management 2.0 - WSJ

2009-10-04T04:01:00.000-04:00

I don't know if you can access this piece without a WSJ subscription but it echoes very succinctly so much of the good advice shared at the London conference. If you want access to it, I may be able to e-mail you a link that will work without a subscription. Otherwise, you will have to subscribe? How awful would that be?

"Google CEO Eric Schmidt On Newspapers & Journalism"

2009-10-03T11:08:00.000-04:00

"Huffington Post proves newspapers aren’t dead, yet"

2009-10-02T04:10:00.000-04:00

"Best Buy Plans a Very Twittery Christmas" - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

2009-10-01T10:07:00.000-04:00

Perhaps few newspapers will be following in Best Buy's Christmas footsteps.

"Hybrid Books From Publishers Like Simon and Schuster Add Video and Web Features to Reading" - NYTimes.com

2009-10-01T08:29:00.000-04:00

"BlackBerry or iPhone: Which is Better for Journalists? - Poynter Online

2009-10-01T08:25:00.000-04:00

"Think Different"

2009-10-01T03:17:00.000-04:00

Here is the Think Different video we saw at the Apple offices....

"Summit takes hard look at future of journalism"

2009-10-01T00:44:00.000-04:00

"Reflections of a Newsosaur: Berkeley Media Tech Summit goes live"

2009-09-30T16:18:00.000-04:00

Might be worth watching....

Technologies - Pumping up print - "The Daily Beast Seeks to Speed Up the Publishing Process for Books" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-29T01:52:00.000-04:00

Another fusion of print and electronic offerings.....

Alliances - Have newspapers explored all of the possibilities? - "Partnership for CBS News and GlobalPost on Foreign Reports" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-28T06:23:00.000-04:00

Newspapers can learn from this experience, for better or worse.

Revenue - Is asking "will they pay?" the right question? - "Only 5% in UK would pay for web news" - Reflections of a Newsosaur

2009-09-27T09:55:00.000-04:00

These are pretty discouraging figures, but context is everything, not to mention the importance of how questions like this are posed. Of special importance are the various ways in which charges can be assessed less directly, of course, and, as in the traditional newspaper model, born by others.

Technology - Twittering up - "An Infusion of Another $100 Million Is Seen for Twitter" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-26T05:56:00.000-04:00

Newspapers might want to consider reflecting on Twitter in different ways. What is it that newspapers can learn from the significant number of people who have taken to the idea of these short messages? Surely that has an impact on how newspapers serve existing and future audiences, no? What is that impact?

Financing - Can newspapers tap "non-profit" model/interest? - "A Nonprofit Local News Site for San Francisco Is Being Created" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-26T05:53:00.000-04:00

How does a newspaper manager tap this interest and willingness to provide financial support for much of what newspapers historically have done?

Technology - How can newspapers profit from wikiwoes? - "Wikipedia: A 'Victim Of Its Own Success?'" NPR

2009-09-23T22:03:00.000-04:00

How can newspapers refill the void?

Competition - Delivery people can deliver a lot of advertising - "Advertising - U.P.S. to Begin Testing Direct Marketing Service" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-23T21:25:00.000-04:00

There is lots of innovation out there among companies that did not seem to be newspaper competitors. Now they are.

Technology - Newspapers seem to have stopped innovating a while ago in this area, no? - "Google Unveils Tool to Annotate Web Sites" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-23T11:19:00.000-04:00

What was the last really creative offering from a newspaper that allowed for the posting of comments on individual stories? I get the feeling that it is like so many things, once there is a comment capability on the newspaper's website, that job-to-do can be checked as completed....when it really ought to just be the beginning?

Innovation - Prime the newspaper pump with a contest? - "Netflix Awards $1 Million Prize and Starts a New Contest" - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

2009-09-22T11:42:00.000-04:00

Is this a model for the newspaper business in seeking innovative solutions to today's crises?

Technology - A newspaper coming to your TV? - "Hybrid Internet-TV Makes Progress in Europe" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-21T11:40:00.000-04:00

Surely worth discussing in London?

Diversificaiton - Debates organized by newspapers? - "Good Riddance to Mainstream Media" - Intelligence Squared US

2009-09-21T11:35:00.002-04:00

There was a story about this effort in the NYT today. Why aren't newspapers offering these kinds of debates?

Revenues - The belt gets tighter - "Newspapers Have Not Hit Bottom, Analysts Say" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-20T22:07:00.000-04:00

Well, I suppose it could be worse.

News - Understanding how it works - "Link by Link - The Amish Paper The Budget Explores a Move Online" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-20T22:06:00.000-04:00

There are so many places and experiences from which newspapers can learn so much.

Marketing - Why restrict it to the marketing department? - "Atlantic Blogger Andrew Sullivan Makes Pitch for Supporting Print" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-20T21:17:00.000-04:00

I think this is a much bigger story than this brief item suggests. Why? Because if a newspaper is going to succeed today amidst all of these crises, it is going to have work unbelievably hard and creatively to interest customers and surpass competitors. If there is not a team commitment to success, the efforts will not be successful.

What should a good newspaper manager do today to unleash the marketing power of his team? What's the best effort undertaken so far by a newspaper to increase revenue using the entire staff as a marketing team? I think there is a way to do without compromising editorial integrity. If a newspaper employee does not use the newspaper for which he or she works, they ought not be working there. If they do, why not ask them to talk about why they do?

Customers - Newspapers as teachers - "Newspaper offers journalism classes" - SouthCoastToday.com

2009-09-20T05:06:00.000-04:00

This is "small potatoes" by many measures, yet an interesting notion of one area in which newspapers might choose to move?

Diversification - Time to think about new ways to serve local advertisers and others? - "Will Amazon Become the Wal-Mart of the Web?" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-19T20:22:00.000-04:00

Think about how Amazon began and where it seems to be going. Then thinking about newspapers and the local markets that most serve. A company begins selling books; another begins selling newspapers. One moves in one direction; the other?

Technology - Are landlines the phone company's printing Presses? - "Verizon Boss Hangs Up on Landline Phone Business" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-18T11:27:00.000-04:00

Newspapers have more to learn from all this than may be obvious on the surface. There was a time when the phone company was seen as the biggest potential competitor for newspapers on the horizon. How each has evolved since is worthy of considerable study and reflection.

Customers - Understand me and my computer, understand me - "Taming the Digital Distractions That Make Your PC a Time Waster" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-16T21:36:00.000-04:00

This may not be a newspaper crisis, but it surely is a personal consumer crisis. If newspaper managers don't try to understand what's happening here, I don't see how they can make sound decisions about the future strategies and business development for their newspapers.

Update on the conference......from WAN-IFRA

2009-09-16T16:09:00.001-04:00

"Only few places left!Jacques Rosselin, the French publisher whose "Vendredi" turns web content into print revenue, has joined the programme of the Managing the CrisisConference to be held at the Frontline Club in London on 28 and 29 September.

The conference, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and NewsPublishers (WAN-IFRA), is designed to provide information and ideas to helppublishers emerge stronger from the recession. Mr Rosselin's presentationwill focus on exploiting new technologies and new media, something "Vendredi" does in a non-traditional way.Mr Rosselin's weekly publication is a "best of the web" on paper. Although the information comes from the Internet, "paper provides a unique readerexperience", he has said. "When you search on the net, you can get lost andwaste too much time searching for pertinent information. And people don't necessarily have three hours a day for that. When we read a newspaper, we nolonger have everything, but we opt for a selection of organised information". Mr Rosselin is also the founder of Courrier International, the French weeklythat publishes a selection of stories that have appeared in the foreign press. Vendredi is based on the same concept for blogs and other web material; is put together by journalists who select and edit what is often non-journalistic content.

The conference has already attracted publishers, CEOs, editors-in-chief andother senior newspaper executives from 17 countries in Europe, North Americaand the Middle East. There is still time to register: full conferencedetails can be found at http://www.ifra.com/managingthecrisis.

A "Managing the Crisis" blog can be found at http://managingthecrisis.blogspot.com

Because all publishers have been affected by the recession, the conferencewill encourage exchanges between the speakers and participants, not only inround-table discussions but also during the presentations.

Presentations include:- "Capitalising on new audiences", by Maeve Donovan, Managing Director of The Irish Times;- "How to profit from the crisis", by Reiner Esser, Managing Director of Die Zeit in Germany;- "Boosting ad sales in a slowdown", by Theo Blanco, Senior Sales and Marketing Director at Upsala Nya Tidning in Sweden;- "Emerging stronger from the recession", by Reiner Mittelbach, Joint CEO of WAN-IFRA;- "Alternatives to Google", by Moritz Wuttke, Founder of New Media Initiatives, based in China and Switzerland;- "Leading in crisis - Getting the upper hand in a down economy", by Richard Wellins, Senior Vice President for Global Marketing and Business Development at US-based Development Dimensions International;- "Innovation success in the age of turbulence", by Anna Kirah, a Design Anthropologist with Denmark-based CPH Design;- "Defining the crises (as if one were not enough)", by Terry Maguire,Principal at US-based International Media Development & Counsel;- and "Cost savings or how to manage an earthquake: Lessons from the Russian media", by Vasily Gatov, Strategy Director at Media3 in Russia.The conference will also include panel and round table discussions on four main topics: people, money, customers and technology.

For the evolving conference programme, please go to: http://www.ifra.com/managingthecrisis"

"Cracking the Spine of Libel" - Olivia Judson Blog - NYTimes.com

2009-09-16T14:23:00.000-04:00

As a media lawyer by profession and background, I have not wanted to focus too much here on legal issues. Since Managing the Crisis will be in London, however, I think this is one of the exceptions to my rule. In an era when so much in the electronic media world is perceived to be free, and so many views are being expressed, it is easy to conclude that laws restricting what can be said, or, most often, punishing what was said, are not relevant. This is a good discussion of why that is not the case. Any good newspaper manager has to remember that the newspaper usually bears utlimate responsibility for what it publishes in any medium, and the higher the profile of the newspaper, and the more determined the complainers, the more likely it is that litigation will happen. It may not be a crisis, but that's only because there have been enough people opposing the worst of it to keep it under control. If there are fewer media enterprises able to object, for various reasons, mostly economic, that may not continue to be the case.

Alliances - The Google partnership idea, once again - "Google Fast Flip"

2009-09-16T06:01:00.004-04:00

I guess this is part of the answer about whether Google can help newspapers. See The New York Times story yesterday profiling this new offering, in which the Times is participating. Is this a good thing and will it stick?

When I searched on "newspapers", here is some of what came up:

Customers - How creatively can a newspaper link its customers and Facebook's? - "Facebook Says Its Finances Are Looking Up" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-16T05:02:00.001-04:00

What is the most creative link with Facebook that a newspaper anywhere has developed, and has the newspaper managed to make it profitable?

For example, here's a Linked in connection for The New York Times:

Is there a Facebook version of this?

Customers - Queueing up for newspapers? - "MediaPost Publications Upswing: Newspapers' Online Traffic Doubles 2004-2009"

2009-09-15T22:01:00.000-04:00

This is impressive but how did we get here from there? In other words, what explains this increase? What are all the underlying data?

Are the crises getting worse?

2009-09-14T08:50:00.003-04:00

Here are three items in today's New York Times that I think are worth reading together.

The first is not a newspaper story, but it tells a publishing story that should concern any newspaper manager.

The second is a newspaper story, and like the first, we'll know more tomorrow, it appears.

Finally, one of the sources of these crises.......

Revenue - Connecting new media dots to earn more money - "An Advertising Shift Helps Blogs Survive as Businesses" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-14T05:40:00.001-04:00

Part of the crises picture for newspaper is the challenge of understanding how some of the established principles of newspaper advertising networks have morphed into revenue for new technology competitors without newspapers playing much, if any, of a role.

Technology - What can newspapers learn from government and the people they share as customers? "‘Athens’ on the Net" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-13T15:07:00.001-04:00

In many ways, newspapers are in the same situation as are governments - long-time venerable institutions facing rapid changes in their constituencies brought about largely by technological innovation. As such, I'd argue, they have lots more to learn from one another than they so far realize.

Customers - Do newspapers make good teachers? - "At Your Fingers, an Oxford Don" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-13T14:54:00.001-04:00

I, for one, see huge opportunities for newspapers in the world of learning. Newspapers teach us about our communities and our world everyday, and why shouldn't they play an even more active role in the educational process. The Washington Post Co., exceptionally, would surely agree, although you would not know it from their newspaper or newspaper website.

Target Stores, newspapers and customers

2009-09-13T14:30:00.004-04:00

Today in The New York Times (print edition), there are two full pages of paid advertising from Target Stores, one of the largest US retailers and a substantial newspaper advertiser across the country. The text begins "On May 31st, we published an invitation in this newspaper: "Tell us what more we can do for you."" It continues, "627 of you e-mailed and we responded to each of you with a personal reply."

That got my attention.

The ad text then goes on to talk about some of the 627 suggestions and what Target is doing in response.

But what I kept thinking about was this -- a full page (I believe) ad, prepared by a professional advertising agenc, appears in one of the largest and most respected US newspaper. The response is only 627 people?

What's wrong with this number, perhaps this medium, and what can the current crises provide us in terms of an opportunity to fix some of the problem?

Human resources - Hire the free? - "You Be the Reporter, Photographer, and Videographer" - Share with Us at MyNC.com

2009-09-13T14:09:00.001-04:00

The price is cheap. Is it worth it?

Competitors - How to compete with more popular Tweeters? - "Who has the most Followers on Twitter? (Top 100)" - Twitterholic.com

2009-09-12T13:48:00.002-04:00

What is especially interesting about this list is that I see only two newspaper listings in the top 100. One is for the NYTimes at an impressive # 19 spot and another, a blog on the NYTimes website, at # 67. Is this wrong, right, or irrelevant to the crises newspapers face today?

Customers - Choosing on whom you rely - "Social Media's Growing Influence" - NPR

2009-09-12T13:42:00.001-04:00

Surely there are more creative ways for newspapers to insert themselves into this evolution as the trusted voice and source amidst so much that is so questionable.

Revenue - Has the process started to find a solution? - "Ideas for Online Media Pay Wall Create Buzz" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-11T10:54:00.003-04:00

While these initiatives are well worth following, and are important, this New York Times story sprinkles just the right amount of salt on them. There is a lot of bragging competition underway among some of the players, and newspaper managers have to discount all of that if they can.

Technology - Is there still a chance that Google could help newspapes" - "Google Plans Tools to Help News Media Charge for Content" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-09T22:13:00.001-04:00

A creative response to Google may be in the best interests of newspapers, no?

Crises - Some are bigger than others? - "Turkish Media Group Critical of Government Is Fined $2.5 Billion" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-09T22:08:00.002-04:00

Can you imagine the crisis management needed in the face of this?

Content - How to make even more of it? - "'Spinning the Times' - 1st Irish Festival Offers Plays Inspired by Media Reports" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-08T10:00:00.001-04:00

What's so interesting about this story is the suggestion that there are so many other actions and activities that flow from an item in a newspaper than just reading it. Is this not a time - amidst so many crises - when newspapers should focus on that laundry list of possibilities and help advance them in positive directions more creatively? It might be to encourage dramatic works to be created, or it might be to sell groceries, or it might be to affect public policy, etc.

Commissioned investigations?

2009-09-08T09:49:00.003-04:00

Today I heard a report ont he BBC about a study "commissioned" by the BBC on immigration trends. The subject was not as important to me as was the process. I thought about the few times that I hear those words - commissioned study - used to describe something that a newspaper has professionally undertaken to do. Why is that? Sure, there is expense to do massive studies, but there is little expense in doing small studies very well. It is, it seems to me, something that could distinguish a newspaper better from the pajama-clad blogger than is now the case, no?

Customers - Shouting is more fun than thinking - "The Media Equation - Obama’s Challenges Reaching a Public Ready to Pounce" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-07T13:17:00.001-04:00

Put the specifics of the very US-focused debate aside for a moment. What's at issue here is the communication of information that triggers a response among a significant number of people. How does this apparent fact affect, or how should it affect, the way newspapers conduct their business? Newspapers have both a role that they believe they should play generally and yet an unavoidable need to understand how people are reacting to what news and information they receive. If newspapers want to come out these crises successfully, they are going to have to mount an effort that takes this sort of like-it-or-not reality into account, no?

Customer input - Couldn't newspapers organize this really well for stories? - "A Book That Lets Readers Handle the Footnotes" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-06T20:52:00.002-04:00

We are still at the experimental stage on all of this, aren't we? Imagine this in the context of a newspaper. The challenge is to collect all of the good stuff from readers that a newspaper can, incoporate the best and most useful and be sure to share it again with everyone. Imagine, for a moment, a process whereby newspapers publish stories seeking comment, via footnotes or otherwise, take all of that into account offline and product a final version of the story. Those who offer comments would get a first look at the finished product which might be preceded by a little discussion of the comments received and what was done with them. There is ample precedent in how to do this in the procedures used for more than 50 years in the US when federal goverment agencies publish proposed rules and actions, seek public comment, note the comments and discuss them, followed by publication of a final action. Why isn't that something newspapers might try?

Customers - How best to use the women's entrance? - "Yet Another Facelift for iVillage, NBC’s Site for Women" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-06T20:41:00.000-04:00

Arguably half of any newspaper's market is made up of women. In some cases, it is more than that and in other cases, less. What makes this story about iVillage valuable is that here is a media company - NBC - trying to reach as many people as it can, and using as part of its offering a site focused on women. Not many newspapers seeking to reach the broadest audience do this; in fact, I don't know of any that do. Some have women's sections or others with a special appeal to women, but none have their own women sites. So, learning from what NBC has done and is doing can help with the management of, as I suggest, possibly one half of a newspapers' customers, no?

Evolution - Are there newspaper building blocks here? - "Turning to Hollywood Tie-Ins, Lego Thinks Beyond the Brick" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-06T11:04:00.001-04:00

Newspapers and Legos are both pretty well established ideas in the minds of most people. If you think about how Legos have evolved in recent years, chart that, and put newspaper evolution alongside it, what would the similarities and differences be?

Public policy - Is there something to be said to ending endless anonymity? - "China Web Sites Seeking Users’ Names" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-05T20:11:00.001-04:00

In a global marketplace, these sorts of government actions can never really be taken in isolation.

Advertising - Editing the ads? - "Magazines Run Ads, but Now They Create Them Too" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-04T09:19:00.000-04:00

Has the time arrived for newspapers to become significantly more involved in the creation of the advertising they carry in print and online? Who would benefit? Start with advertising and reader customers.

Technology - Putting the internet to work for customers - "Google Advertising & Marketing Index" - Google Finance

2009-09-04T09:16:00.000-04:00

This is an interesting set of charts from Google which may or may not mean anything in the end. What Google has done, however, is to make them easily accessible and comparable with major indices. And it had done so for a broad cross-section of the consumer economy. What's a good example of something of equal value to a newspaper market that has been launched by a newspaper?

News - Who is the better news organizer - a newspaper or Google? - "Google Shines a Deeper Spotlight on News" - Media Decoder Blog - NYTimes.com

2009-09-04T09:10:00.000-04:00

How good a job are newspapers doing today - generally - in providing their customers with the same kind of added-value content?

Customers - Reading by a strap - "The Joy of Reading in the Subways of New York" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-04T09:07:00.000-04:00

And where are the newspapers?

Books - What, exactly, are the differences between books and newspapers? - "Abroad - Beleaguered Bookseller Knows Whom to Blame - Oxfam" - NYTimes.com

2009-09-03T12:08:00.000-04:00

The demise of bookstores is a sad development for anyone who values words. What can newspapers learn from what has happened to so many? How can those failures be turned into newspaper succeses? What I mean is that these are businesses whose offerings, almost exclusively, are words and pictures, printed on paper, and so have been newspapers; where book purchasers and readers go is much more complicated than a new electronic reader or website, and so, too, for newspapers. In the same edition of The New York Times comes this news of another bookstore failing in New York City, albeit a store speciailizing in French and other non-English language publications.

Customers - Who is offering the best outlet for self-expression? - "BBC World Service - Documentaries - Citizen journalism - democracy or chaos?"

2009-09-03T09:43:00.000-04:00

To a large extent, most newspapers are simply letting this battle play out. One could hardly accuse many newspapers of trying to manage the evolution, even in a minor way, to make its outcome a better one. Many of the entities that create opportunities for non-journalists to share their writings claim to have high-minded ideals and seek to make the world a better place. Even if one accepts that, don't newspapers have a lot more to offer than they are now doing? Couldn't good newspaper managers develop a means by which the opportunities for people to express themselves increase more quickly than in the rest of the marketplace? Is it impossible to think that newspapers could take the lead on some of this to help move it in a direction where core values and the apparent desire to express oneself can both be better served?