The latest issue of Editor & Publisher has a special report To Charge, or Not to Charge? by associate editor Jennifer Saba looking at the issue of whether or not newspapers should charge for content online.
Here are some quotes from the report which are for and against:
Walter Hussman Jr., publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which has introduced a pay wall: "My phone has been ringing off the wall. It's almost like the conventional wisdom is shifting. A lot of people are interested in looking at it. The point is, if they can't get the news for free, they are going to get it from a newspaper. That is the purpose for charging for content, not to get some heap of money. The purpose is to maintain the print edition."
"My sense is there are a lot of newspaper people who feel sorry for themselves," says Sydney Finkelstein, a professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. "That is not the way the world of business works." On charging for content he added: "It has to be best in class ... and something they cannot get for free elsewhere."
"I think it's the consequences of the times," says pundit Ken Doctor. "People are acting out of frustration given the straits the industry is in. There is this romantic notion that 'gosh darn it, those readers should just pay.'
Howard Owens, former director of digital publishing at GateHouse Media: "At this point, I would totally oppose it. I think it's going to open you up to failure and greatly expose your newspaper to competition. It's easy for one laid-off reporter — and there are many of them out there — to go and start his own Web site and be totally disruptive."
Matt Lindsay, an economist with Mather Economics in Atlanta: "I think there are a lot of people willing to pay. They just need a vehicle for doing it."
Saba also quotes media consultant Clay Shirky from his blog Shirky.com: "Round and round this goes, with the people committed to saving newspapers demanding to know 'If the old model is broken, what will work in its place?' To which the answer is: Nothing. Nothing will work. There is no general model for newspapers to replace the one the Internet just broke."
Thursday, April 16, 2009
NUJ to axe four posts as membership falls
The NUJ is to cut four posts as part of a bid to save £500,000 a year, with broadcasting organiser Paul McLaughlin taking voluntary redundancy, MediaGuardian reports today.
McLaughlin will be replaced in the broadcasting position by Sue Harris, the magazines, books and public relations organiser. The NUJ's research and information organiser position is to be axed. Two administration jobs will also be cut, while one other post due to fall vacant will not be filled. One administrator in Ireland has already also opted for voluntary redundancy.
Background to the cuts is a fall in membership as a result of journalists being made redundant across the media. More than 900 jobs have been lost in the regional press alone. NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear is quoted on MediaGuardian as saying: "We are not immune to what is happening in the industry."
Dear revealed on his blog in January: "Even with just a 2% year on year membership fall for the next three years the union would have a shortfall of £500,000 per annum by 2012. It means the NEC is having to look hard at how we can save money."
The crash in property prices stopped plans by the the NUJ to sell its London HQ and move in with broadcasting union BECTU.
McLaughlin will be replaced in the broadcasting position by Sue Harris, the magazines, books and public relations organiser. The NUJ's research and information organiser position is to be axed. Two administration jobs will also be cut, while one other post due to fall vacant will not be filled. One administrator in Ireland has already also opted for voluntary redundancy.
Background to the cuts is a fall in membership as a result of journalists being made redundant across the media. More than 900 jobs have been lost in the regional press alone. NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear is quoted on MediaGuardian as saying: "We are not immune to what is happening in the industry."
Dear revealed on his blog in January: "Even with just a 2% year on year membership fall for the next three years the union would have a shortfall of £500,000 per annum by 2012. It means the NEC is having to look hard at how we can save money."
The crash in property prices stopped plans by the the NUJ to sell its London HQ and move in with broadcasting union BECTU.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
NUJ view of deal with MEN Media
This is the NUJ's take on the agreement announced yesterday over MEN Media's restructure which involves 70 editorial redundancies and the closure of weekly newspaper offices throughout Greater Manchester.
The NUJ said on its website: "A deal over redundancies at Guardian Media in Manchester will mean pay rises for weekly-paper journalists moving into the group’s city centre office. Eight jobs previously earmarked for the chop have also been saved.
"Management still want to make 11 journalists on the Manchester Evening News compulsorily redundant. However they have agreed to extend the period for volunteers to come forward until the autumn."
It quotes Bethan Dorsett, Mother of the Greater Manchester Weekly Newspapers South NUJ chapel, saying: “Our members have fought long and hard against the sweeping cuts proposed by MEN Media Ltd. While we deplore any job losses particularly as a result of compulsory redundancy, we are pleased that management have finally listened to our concerns.
“By making a stand, we have been able to save eight jobs and have made a significant step towards obtaining equal pay for staff working for weekly titles. The onus is now on our managers to enter into meaningful talks with the NUJ over the new house agreement.”
A new pay band in the agreement will mean rises of up to £2,000 for some weekly journalists, the NUJ said.
Manchester NUJ branch has pledged to continue with its campaign to support local journalism in towns where Guardian Media has closed offices.
The NUJ said on its website: "A deal over redundancies at Guardian Media in Manchester will mean pay rises for weekly-paper journalists moving into the group’s city centre office. Eight jobs previously earmarked for the chop have also been saved.
"Management still want to make 11 journalists on the Manchester Evening News compulsorily redundant. However they have agreed to extend the period for volunteers to come forward until the autumn."
It quotes Bethan Dorsett, Mother of the Greater Manchester Weekly Newspapers South NUJ chapel, saying: “Our members have fought long and hard against the sweeping cuts proposed by MEN Media Ltd. While we deplore any job losses particularly as a result of compulsory redundancy, we are pleased that management have finally listened to our concerns.
“By making a stand, we have been able to save eight jobs and have made a significant step towards obtaining equal pay for staff working for weekly titles. The onus is now on our managers to enter into meaningful talks with the NUJ over the new house agreement.”
A new pay band in the agreement will mean rises of up to £2,000 for some weekly journalists, the NUJ said.
Manchester NUJ branch has pledged to continue with its campaign to support local journalism in towns where Guardian Media has closed offices.
Kent Police apology for press photographer
Kent Police have apologised to a press photographer who was stopped and searched four times while covering last year’s climate camp in the county, the NUJ said today.
An assistant chief constable has written to NUJ member Jess Hurd acknowledging that police failed to recognise her press card as they should have done.
The photographer had complained to the police with the support of the NUJ and Bindmans solicitors. She said in a statement that she had been searched once on 5 August 2008 and three times on 8 August and on 9 August a policeman took her press card because it didn’t “look authentic”.
Now, in a letter Allyn Thomas, Assistant Chief Constable of Kent Police, has said to Jess Hurd: “It is clear that officers on the ground did not understand the accreditation arrangements for journalists and indeed did not generally recognise the press card that you (and others) presented.
"The failing appears to lie with the planning and management of the operation. This is my responsibility for which I am sorry.”
Thomas added: “This issue of more effective liaison with journalists has been clearly identified through the de-briefing process as an area for development.”
Jess was one of six journalists filmed as they filed their work by a police surveillance team looking through the window of a McDonalds restaurant several miles from the climate camp. The police video was obtained by The Guardian.
Jeremy Dear, NUJ general secretary, said: “The police and the home office have made repeated promises that officers will be properly trained to deal with photographers at demonstrations but the problems keep on happening.
“Let’s hope this welcome apology marks the start of more equitable treatment of journalists by police at protests and demonstrations.”
An assistant chief constable has written to NUJ member Jess Hurd acknowledging that police failed to recognise her press card as they should have done.
The photographer had complained to the police with the support of the NUJ and Bindmans solicitors. She said in a statement that she had been searched once on 5 August 2008 and three times on 8 August and on 9 August a policeman took her press card because it didn’t “look authentic”.
Now, in a letter Allyn Thomas, Assistant Chief Constable of Kent Police, has said to Jess Hurd: “It is clear that officers on the ground did not understand the accreditation arrangements for journalists and indeed did not generally recognise the press card that you (and others) presented.
"The failing appears to lie with the planning and management of the operation. This is my responsibility for which I am sorry.”
Thomas added: “This issue of more effective liaison with journalists has been clearly identified through the de-briefing process as an area for development.”
Jess was one of six journalists filmed as they filed their work by a police surveillance team looking through the window of a McDonalds restaurant several miles from the climate camp. The police video was obtained by The Guardian.
Jeremy Dear, NUJ general secretary, said: “The police and the home office have made repeated promises that officers will be properly trained to deal with photographers at demonstrations but the problems keep on happening.
“Let’s hope this welcome apology marks the start of more equitable treatment of journalists by police at protests and demonstrations.”
MEN Media and NUJ agree on restructure
A joint statement from MEN Media, publisher of the Manchester Evening News and weekly newspapers in the North West, and the NUJ says they have reached an agreement over the restructure of the group.
The agreement will see the number of compulsory redundancies at the MEN cut from 16 to 11 and means the NUJ has agreed to make its ballot on industrial action against job cuts null and void.
The statement says: “MEN Media Limited and the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) have reached agreement on the re-structure of MEN Media’s newspapers in the North West. The Company has agreed to the introduction of a new pay grade for journalists previously working solely on weekly titles. This new grade will take effect in 2010.
"The NUJ has declared its recent ballots for industrial action to be null and void. Unfortunately, 11 journalists from the MEN will be made redundant by compulsory means. This is a reduction of five from earlier proposals.
"The total number of editorial redundancies across MEN Media is 70. These redundancies will take place later this year. Talks will start immediately on a new house agreement to encompass all three NUJ chapels.
"The agreement means that all MEN Media journalists will be based in Scott Place, Manchester by early October 2009. Both MEN Media and the NUJ record their intention to work together to ensure the editorial re-structure is successful and that this agreement,reached after a great deal of negotiation, should become a landmark in their future relationship.
"They also record their commitment to the newspapers they produce and the communities, readers and advertisers they serve.”
MEN NUJ MoC Judy Gordon told journalism.co.uk “Our chapel is pleased to have saved five jobs under threat at the MEN, but bitterly disappointed that 11 of our journalists will still be made compulsorily redundant, along with 18 volunteers, five other editorial compulsories and 35 colleagues from the weeklies who have opted to go.
"It’s going to be hard to pick up the pieces of these massive changes, but we are determined to do the best we can for those who are leaving, those who remain and those weekly staff who will be joining us at Deansgate in the future. We have great faith in our journalism and believe the Greater Manchester public does too.”
The agreement will see the number of compulsory redundancies at the MEN cut from 16 to 11 and means the NUJ has agreed to make its ballot on industrial action against job cuts null and void.
The statement says: “MEN Media Limited and the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) have reached agreement on the re-structure of MEN Media’s newspapers in the North West. The Company has agreed to the introduction of a new pay grade for journalists previously working solely on weekly titles. This new grade will take effect in 2010.
"The NUJ has declared its recent ballots for industrial action to be null and void. Unfortunately, 11 journalists from the MEN will be made redundant by compulsory means. This is a reduction of five from earlier proposals.
"The total number of editorial redundancies across MEN Media is 70. These redundancies will take place later this year. Talks will start immediately on a new house agreement to encompass all three NUJ chapels.
"The agreement means that all MEN Media journalists will be based in Scott Place, Manchester by early October 2009. Both MEN Media and the NUJ record their intention to work together to ensure the editorial re-structure is successful and that this agreement,reached after a great deal of negotiation, should become a landmark in their future relationship.
"They also record their commitment to the newspapers they produce and the communities, readers and advertisers they serve.”
MEN NUJ MoC Judy Gordon told journalism.co.uk “Our chapel is pleased to have saved five jobs under threat at the MEN, but bitterly disappointed that 11 of our journalists will still be made compulsorily redundant, along with 18 volunteers, five other editorial compulsories and 35 colleagues from the weeklies who have opted to go.
"It’s going to be hard to pick up the pieces of these massive changes, but we are determined to do the best we can for those who are leaving, those who remain and those weekly staff who will be joining us at Deansgate in the future. We have great faith in our journalism and believe the Greater Manchester public does too.”
Chris Bullivant buys Observer Standard Newspapers group from administrators
The Observer Standard Newspapers group, founded by free newspaper entrepreneur Chris Bullivant, has been bought out of administration, HoldtheFrontPage reports today.
It has been sold for an undisclosed sum to Bullivant Media Limited, a company associated with Bullivant, previously chairman of Observer Standard Newspapers.
Bullivant told me: "I'm delighted that we will be able to look after our people. It has been horrible for them worrying about the next pay day." He said he will have to look at some rationalisation across the new company.
Observer Standard Newspapers was founded by Bullivant in 1989 and publishes weeklies, magazines and websites. It was put into administration last month. It is understood that a major regional publisher also put in a bid to the administrators.
Bullivant last month broke ranks with the big regional newspaper companies by putting in a submission to the Office of Fair Trading arguing against a relaxation of the media merger rules as applied to the local press. He claimed such a move would lead to the regional press being dominated by two giant groups.
It has been sold for an undisclosed sum to Bullivant Media Limited, a company associated with Bullivant, previously chairman of Observer Standard Newspapers.
Bullivant told me: "I'm delighted that we will be able to look after our people. It has been horrible for them worrying about the next pay day." He said he will have to look at some rationalisation across the new company.
Observer Standard Newspapers was founded by Bullivant in 1989 and publishes weeklies, magazines and websites. It was put into administration last month. It is understood that a major regional publisher also put in a bid to the administrators.
Bullivant last month broke ranks with the big regional newspaper companies by putting in a submission to the Office of Fair Trading arguing against a relaxation of the media merger rules as applied to the local press. He claimed such a move would lead to the regional press being dominated by two giant groups.
Guido Fawkes blasts Lobby journalists
Blogger Guido Fawkes (aka Paul Staines) is riding high following his Downing Street "smear emails" scoop which led to the resignation of Damian McBride and today rounds on Lobby journalists.
He says: "Cowardice and cronyism runs right through the Lobby. Fear of being taken off the teat of pre-packaged stories served to them. That is not journalism, that is copy-taking. The many stories filed this week which reveal just how horrible Brown’s cabal have been are of mere historical interest. They would have been brave if they had been written before McPoison was toppled."
Guido does praise three political journalists - Peter Oborne, Fraser Nelson and Martin Bright - for their independence and standing up to Downing Street.
He says: "Cowardice and cronyism runs right through the Lobby. Fear of being taken off the teat of pre-packaged stories served to them. That is not journalism, that is copy-taking. The many stories filed this week which reveal just how horrible Brown’s cabal have been are of mere historical interest. They would have been brave if they had been written before McPoison was toppled."
Guido does praise three political journalists - Peter Oborne, Fraser Nelson and Martin Bright - for their independence and standing up to Downing Street.
New company aims to show news media how to make quality journalism pay online
PaidContent has a story about a new company which aims to develop ways that the news media can charge for content online.
It reports that entrepreneur Steve Brill, former Wall Street Journal publisher Gordon Crovitz and ex cable tv executive Leo Hindery have founded Journalism Online to provide news publishers with content-based e-commerce and other revenue-generating solutions.
“We have formed Journalism Online because we think this is a special moment in time when there is an urgent need for a business model that allows quality journalism to be the beneficiary of the Internet’s efficient delivery mechanism rather than its victim,” Brill says in a press release. “We believe we have developed a strategy and a set of services that will establish that model by restoring a stream of circulation revenue to supplement advertising revenue, while taking advantage of the savings to be gained from producing and delivering content electronically.”
Editor & Publisher is carrying an Associated Press story which reports:"Journalism Online's business model will share some elements with the cable and satellite TV packages that have become staples in millions of households. The company plans to offer an "all-you-can-read" option that would give customers access to the content of all the participating publishers for a monthly fee, expected to range from $15 to $20. The publishers will divvy up the revenue, based on which articles draw the most readership each month. Readers also will able to buy a pass for one-day access to the content kept behind the so-called pay wall."
Journalism Online aims to offer products to publishers as well as work with them on strategy and hopes to work with newspapers, magazine and online only publishers—anyone looking for a way to make money from news online. Journalism Online has posted a press release.
Some bloggers are already giving Journalism Online a kicking. Mark Potts on his Recovering Journalist blog writes: "the dinosaur's dream: a mechanism that will allow newspaper sites to hide their online content behind paid subscription walls. . . . I think the whole online subscription idea is harebrained and doomed to failure. . . Getting newspapers to agree to work together on anything is well-nigh impossible."
Story via journalism.co.uk
It reports that entrepreneur Steve Brill, former Wall Street Journal publisher Gordon Crovitz and ex cable tv executive Leo Hindery have founded Journalism Online to provide news publishers with content-based e-commerce and other revenue-generating solutions.
“We have formed Journalism Online because we think this is a special moment in time when there is an urgent need for a business model that allows quality journalism to be the beneficiary of the Internet’s efficient delivery mechanism rather than its victim,” Brill says in a press release. “We believe we have developed a strategy and a set of services that will establish that model by restoring a stream of circulation revenue to supplement advertising revenue, while taking advantage of the savings to be gained from producing and delivering content electronically.”
Editor & Publisher is carrying an Associated Press story which reports:"Journalism Online's business model will share some elements with the cable and satellite TV packages that have become staples in millions of households. The company plans to offer an "all-you-can-read" option that would give customers access to the content of all the participating publishers for a monthly fee, expected to range from $15 to $20. The publishers will divvy up the revenue, based on which articles draw the most readership each month. Readers also will able to buy a pass for one-day access to the content kept behind the so-called pay wall."
Journalism Online aims to offer products to publishers as well as work with them on strategy and hopes to work with newspapers, magazine and online only publishers—anyone looking for a way to make money from news online. Journalism Online has posted a press release.
Some bloggers are already giving Journalism Online a kicking. Mark Potts on his Recovering Journalist blog writes: "the dinosaur's dream: a mechanism that will allow newspaper sites to hide their online content behind paid subscription walls. . . . I think the whole online subscription idea is harebrained and doomed to failure. . . Getting newspapers to agree to work together on anything is well-nigh impossible."
Story via journalism.co.uk
What newspapers do that the internet can't
Professor of Journalism & Communication at the University of Strathclyde Brian McNair has posted a piece on allmediascotland claiming the internet can't replicate many of the basic features of a newspaper.
For example: "turning the page, then turning it back again in an instant, just to check something that might have been tucked away in a corner column; tearing out a travel piece or a review and leaving it on the kitchen table over breakfast as a reminder; tucking your paper into your bag or pocket without adding a kilo in weight to your baggage.
"The beauty of these superficially banal features is what gives the newspaper use value. We will continue to buy newspapers because we WANT to, not because we have to, or feel that we ought to."
Professor McNair admits, however, "With print advertising in decline, and unlikely to recover to anything like pre-credit crunch levels, the newspaper business model is indeed bust. Where will the revenue to support good journalism come from? On that point, I’m afraid there are as yet no clear answers."
He concludes: "If we want 400 years of British press history not to end prematurely with the double whammy of technological shift and economic recession perhaps we are all going to have to put a little more of our money where our ink-stained paws are."
For example: "turning the page, then turning it back again in an instant, just to check something that might have been tucked away in a corner column; tearing out a travel piece or a review and leaving it on the kitchen table over breakfast as a reminder; tucking your paper into your bag or pocket without adding a kilo in weight to your baggage.
"The beauty of these superficially banal features is what gives the newspaper use value. We will continue to buy newspapers because we WANT to, not because we have to, or feel that we ought to."
Professor McNair admits, however, "With print advertising in decline, and unlikely to recover to anything like pre-credit crunch levels, the newspaper business model is indeed bust. Where will the revenue to support good journalism come from? On that point, I’m afraid there are as yet no clear answers."
He concludes: "If we want 400 years of British press history not to end prematurely with the double whammy of technological shift and economic recession perhaps we are all going to have to put a little more of our money where our ink-stained paws are."
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Stand Up for Journalism benefit tonight
A ‘Stand Up for Journalism’ comedy benefit for striking journalists is being held by the NUJ Left in London tonight (Wednesday 15 April).
The line-up includes Attila the Stockbroker, David Mulholland, Andrew O'Neil, feminist, journalist and comedian Kate Smurthwaite and NUJ member Julia Brosnan, a former journalist turned comedian.
The benefit will be at Bar B Lo, 76 Marchmont Street, corner of Tavistock Place, London. Doors open 7.30pm. Nearest tube Russell Square. Tickets £5 waged/£3 unwaged. There will also be NUJ speakers and DJ Miles 'Ahead' Barter playing ska, new wave and punk beats.
The line-up includes Attila the Stockbroker, David Mulholland, Andrew O'Neil, feminist, journalist and comedian Kate Smurthwaite and NUJ member Julia Brosnan, a former journalist turned comedian.
The benefit will be at Bar B Lo, 76 Marchmont Street, corner of Tavistock Place, London. Doors open 7.30pm. Nearest tube Russell Square. Tickets £5 waged/£3 unwaged. There will also be NUJ speakers and DJ Miles 'Ahead' Barter playing ska, new wave and punk beats.
NUJ predicts 'escalation' of Record dispute
Journalists at the Glasgow-based Daily Record and Sunday Mail are preparing for a substantial escalation in industrial action, following last week’s second 24 hour stoppage in the campaign against compulsory redundancies, the NUJ said today.
Hundreds of workers from both papers, part of Trinity Mirror, were joined by three Glasgow Members of the Scottish Parliament for a rally outside the papers’ headquarters last Friday. They included former Daily Record industrial correspondent David Whitton.
He told chapel members and other supporters: “Even Robert Maxwell didn’t try to make reporters at the Daily Record compulsorily redundant."
More strike days are now scheduled for 17 and 18 April.
Hundreds of workers from both papers, part of Trinity Mirror, were joined by three Glasgow Members of the Scottish Parliament for a rally outside the papers’ headquarters last Friday. They included former Daily Record industrial correspondent David Whitton.
He told chapel members and other supporters: “Even Robert Maxwell didn’t try to make reporters at the Daily Record compulsorily redundant."
More strike days are now scheduled for 17 and 18 April.
Press watchdog drawn into 'smear emails' affair
Here's a difficult one for the Press Complaints Commission's new chair, Baroness Buscombe. The PCC is about to get embroilled in the Downing Street 'smear emails' affair.
The Daily Telegraph reported this morning that Frances Osborne, the wife of the shadow chancellor, has complained to the Press Complaints Commission under the accuracy code after the emails, which included a fabricated story about her, were repeated in The Sunday Times and the News of the World.
The Telegraph says Mrs Osborne is "baffled" and "hurt" to have been dragged into the controversy. The paper says she wrote in her letter to the PCC: "Although acknowledged as untrue, these false and damaging allegations were nonetheless gratuitously repeated and insufficient care was taken to make clear that they were unfounded."
Blogger Guido Fawkes who broke the smear emails story, prompting the resignation of Damian McBride, has never published the contents of the emails on his blog.
The newspapers are likely to argue that the contents of the emails went to the heart of the story and publishing them was in the public interest.
Guido (aka Paul Staines) says on his blog today: "Guido did not take a penny from either the Sunday Times or the News of the World for their front page stories."
The Daily Telegraph reported this morning that Frances Osborne, the wife of the shadow chancellor, has complained to the Press Complaints Commission under the accuracy code after the emails, which included a fabricated story about her, were repeated in The Sunday Times and the News of the World.
The Telegraph says Mrs Osborne is "baffled" and "hurt" to have been dragged into the controversy. The paper says she wrote in her letter to the PCC: "Although acknowledged as untrue, these false and damaging allegations were nonetheless gratuitously repeated and insufficient care was taken to make clear that they were unfounded."
Blogger Guido Fawkes who broke the smear emails story, prompting the resignation of Damian McBride, has never published the contents of the emails on his blog.
The newspapers are likely to argue that the contents of the emails went to the heart of the story and publishing them was in the public interest.
Guido (aka Paul Staines) says on his blog today: "Guido did not take a penny from either the Sunday Times or the News of the World for their front page stories."
Journalist accused of spying on trial in Iran
An Iranian-American journalist accused of spying in Iran has gone on trial this week, the BBC reports.
Roxana Saberi, 31, is being held in Evin prison near Tehran. She worked briefly for the BBC in 2006 and also worked for the American public radio network NPR and the TV network Fox News.
The Justice Ministry said Saberi is being tried in a closed hearing of Iran's revolutionary court, which handles national security cases. A verdict is expected soon. She has been in custody in Tehran since late January.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has demanded her release.
Roxana Saberi, 31, is being held in Evin prison near Tehran. She worked briefly for the BBC in 2006 and also worked for the American public radio network NPR and the TV network Fox News.
The Justice Ministry said Saberi is being tried in a closed hearing of Iran's revolutionary court, which handles national security cases. A verdict is expected soon. She has been in custody in Tehran since late January.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has demanded her release.
LA Daily News: 'Reports of the newspaper industry's death are exaggerated'
Mariel Garza, editorial page editor of the Los Angeles Daily News, has written an opinion piece 'Newspapers Will Still Survive' trying to puncture the pessimism surrounding the future of the newspaper industry.
She writes: "Yes, the nation's newspapers are feeling the economic downturn, just like the auto, retail, travel and any other industry that relies on people spending money. But while American newspapers might be losing money, they aren't losing readers. In fact, most online news sites are seeing record traffic, the L.A. Daily News included.
"Americans still want us, just not in the right way. The paid, subscription kind of way. All of you who are reading this online (you know who you are) for free, are the reason that newspapers are struggling. I'm not blaming you, though. It's not your fault. It's ours."
Garza adds: "When the online revolution happened in the 1990s, newspapers, of course, got into the action and started publishing their content on their Web sites for free. The idea was that someday they would just shift the subscription-ad formula of making money from a paper product to online.
"To make a long story short, thanks to the proliferation of technological devices that have replaced paper, millions of people prefer to get their news on Web sites, in e-mails, on their BlackBerrys while they are sitting in the dog park, rather than in the bulky format that just piles up in the pantry. And in the process, they've been trained to expect news is free. It surely isn't.
This brings us to winter 2008-09 when things went bust for the economy. Newspapers were hurt too, and those that were already in precarious financial situations found themselves in dire straits."
She concludes: "In the end, I think this turmoil is going to be a good thing for the news industry, forcing newspapers to take innovative steps to provide information that readers want and need and keeping us printing and newsgathering well into the 21st century. I don't know how, I'm just one of the ink-stained wretches. But it will happen because where there's a demand and there will be a supply. . .
"Sure, there's always going to be people who stop reading a newspaper because they don't agree with the editorial position, but they're a small percentage of readership.
"In any case, to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the newspaper industry's death are exaggerated. We might be changing, but we are not going away."
She writes: "Yes, the nation's newspapers are feeling the economic downturn, just like the auto, retail, travel and any other industry that relies on people spending money. But while American newspapers might be losing money, they aren't losing readers. In fact, most online news sites are seeing record traffic, the L.A. Daily News included.
"Americans still want us, just not in the right way. The paid, subscription kind of way. All of you who are reading this online (you know who you are) for free, are the reason that newspapers are struggling. I'm not blaming you, though. It's not your fault. It's ours."
Garza adds: "When the online revolution happened in the 1990s, newspapers, of course, got into the action and started publishing their content on their Web sites for free. The idea was that someday they would just shift the subscription-ad formula of making money from a paper product to online.
"To make a long story short, thanks to the proliferation of technological devices that have replaced paper, millions of people prefer to get their news on Web sites, in e-mails, on their BlackBerrys while they are sitting in the dog park, rather than in the bulky format that just piles up in the pantry. And in the process, they've been trained to expect news is free. It surely isn't.
This brings us to winter 2008-09 when things went bust for the economy. Newspapers were hurt too, and those that were already in precarious financial situations found themselves in dire straits."
She concludes: "In the end, I think this turmoil is going to be a good thing for the news industry, forcing newspapers to take innovative steps to provide information that readers want and need and keeping us printing and newsgathering well into the 21st century. I don't know how, I'm just one of the ink-stained wretches. But it will happen because where there's a demand and there will be a supply. . .
"Sure, there's always going to be people who stop reading a newspaper because they don't agree with the editorial position, but they're a small percentage of readership.
"In any case, to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the newspaper industry's death are exaggerated. We might be changing, but we are not going away."
The pen no match for a Kalashnikov as foreign correspondents become kidnap targets
Sunday Telegraph chief foreign correspondent Colin Freeman who was kidnapped in Somalia told Radio 4's On the Ropes programme today about a change in attitude to those reporting from the world's trouble spots.
Interviewed by John Humphrys, he said there was a time when foreign correspondents were treated as neutrals like priests and aid workers and could "slip between both sides". But, now they were more likely to be seen as spies and targets for kidnap.
Freeman has written a piece here for the BBC website in which he says he has witnessed "the death of the Queensberry Rules" of foreign reporting.
Freeman says: "When I first pitched up in Baghdad, there was something still in my favour - namely that journalists in war zones had a status similar to Red Cross workers or vicars.
Being unarmed and neutral allowed you to pass unhindered, the nobility of your professional calling - yes, even for grubby British newspaper hacks - affording you respect in even the most dangerous places.
That was the theory, anyway.
Instead, I was to witness what appears to have been the death of the Queensberry Rules of foreign correspondence.
Firstly, groups like al-Qaeda turned out to have few qualms about killing non-combatants, be they foreign reporters, Red Cross workers or Iraqi civilians.
Second, thanks to the internet and the ever-expanding array of Arab satellite TV channels, Iraq's insurgent groups were no longer dependent on us for getting their message out. They could do it themselves, be it via interviews on the likes of al-Jazeera or by posting their own home videos on websites.
That has robbed Western reporters to some extent of their use as witnesses, which once provided a get-out-of-trouble free card for press crews as they wandered the world's danger zones."
He says the first time he experienced the "new reality" was while covering a demonstration by the Shia Mehdi Army in Basra, when one of their fighters got it into his head that he was an undercover British military spy. "He fired a bullet into the ground right behind me, which then ricocheted into my backside."
Freeman says of his kidnap in Somalia. "Once again, we tried the old tack that, as journalists, we were there to write about their country's problems, and that they should not have kidnapped us. And once again, they did not buy it. The pen, it seems, is no longer mightier than the sword, and it is certainly no match for a Kalashnikov."
Interviewed by John Humphrys, he said there was a time when foreign correspondents were treated as neutrals like priests and aid workers and could "slip between both sides". But, now they were more likely to be seen as spies and targets for kidnap.
Freeman has written a piece here for the BBC website in which he says he has witnessed "the death of the Queensberry Rules" of foreign reporting.
Freeman says: "When I first pitched up in Baghdad, there was something still in my favour - namely that journalists in war zones had a status similar to Red Cross workers or vicars.
Being unarmed and neutral allowed you to pass unhindered, the nobility of your professional calling - yes, even for grubby British newspaper hacks - affording you respect in even the most dangerous places.
That was the theory, anyway.
Instead, I was to witness what appears to have been the death of the Queensberry Rules of foreign correspondence.
Firstly, groups like al-Qaeda turned out to have few qualms about killing non-combatants, be they foreign reporters, Red Cross workers or Iraqi civilians.
Second, thanks to the internet and the ever-expanding array of Arab satellite TV channels, Iraq's insurgent groups were no longer dependent on us for getting their message out. They could do it themselves, be it via interviews on the likes of al-Jazeera or by posting their own home videos on websites.
That has robbed Western reporters to some extent of their use as witnesses, which once provided a get-out-of-trouble free card for press crews as they wandered the world's danger zones."
He says the first time he experienced the "new reality" was while covering a demonstration by the Shia Mehdi Army in Basra, when one of their fighters got it into his head that he was an undercover British military spy. "He fired a bullet into the ground right behind me, which then ricocheted into my backside."
Freeman says of his kidnap in Somalia. "Once again, we tried the old tack that, as journalists, we were there to write about their country's problems, and that they should not have kidnapped us. And once again, they did not buy it. The pen, it seems, is no longer mightier than the sword, and it is certainly no match for a Kalashnikov."
Monday, April 13, 2009
Newsquest parent company results this week
Newsquest parent company Gannett Co., the largest U.S. newspaper publisher by circulation, reports earnings on Thursday, kicking off what is expected to be the ugliest quarter in recent memory for the newspaper industry, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The WSJ says: "Though there is little uncertainty about the short-term outlook, analysts and industry executives will be watching for any signs of a recovery in advertising.
"Declines in print ad revenue acceleratedthrough the end of last year, and if early returns this year offer no clearer view of a bottom, publishers could start taking more aggressive action, including closing papers or shifting operations online.
" 'We're expecting particularly dismal results from newspapers,' said Mike Simonton, an analyst with Fitch Ratings, adding that until classified ads disappear completely, there is 'no bottom in sight' for the current revenue trends."
WSJ reports: "Gannett, publisher of more than 80 U.S. dailies including USA Today, faces many of the same pressures as its competitors. Though most of its papers are profitable, profits are shrinking. The company's entire debt structure is due to mature by 2012. To alleviate pressure, Gannett last week announced a bond exchange to push out some of its maturities.
"Gannett has made some drastic cost-cutting moves at its newspapers to keep costs in line with dwindling revenue, including multiple rounds of job cuts and two furlough programs forcing employees to take unpaid leave. More changes could be in store, particularly as the outlook worsens for its flagship paper."
Story via Tom McGowran
The WSJ says: "Though there is little uncertainty about the short-term outlook, analysts and industry executives will be watching for any signs of a recovery in advertising.
"Declines in print ad revenue acceleratedthrough the end of last year, and if early returns this year offer no clearer view of a bottom, publishers could start taking more aggressive action, including closing papers or shifting operations online.
" 'We're expecting particularly dismal results from newspapers,' said Mike Simonton, an analyst with Fitch Ratings, adding that until classified ads disappear completely, there is 'no bottom in sight' for the current revenue trends."
WSJ reports: "Gannett, publisher of more than 80 U.S. dailies including USA Today, faces many of the same pressures as its competitors. Though most of its papers are profitable, profits are shrinking. The company's entire debt structure is due to mature by 2012. To alleviate pressure, Gannett last week announced a bond exchange to push out some of its maturities.
"Gannett has made some drastic cost-cutting moves at its newspapers to keep costs in line with dwindling revenue, including multiple rounds of job cuts and two furlough programs forcing employees to take unpaid leave. More changes could be in store, particularly as the outlook worsens for its flagship paper."
Story via Tom McGowran
'Closure of Press Gazette matters because of the stories that will no longer get told': Ponsford
Press Gazette editor Dominic Ponsford writes about the demise of the magazine in MediaGuardian today.
Dominic puts it in the context of closures elsewhere in the media: "The end of Press Gazette after 43 years is another chapter in an unfolding national tragedy, as long-established news organisations go to the wall. It matters, just as the closures and mass lay-offs at dozens of regional newspapers matter, because of the stories that will no longer get told."
As an example he tells how journalist Sally Murrer contacted the magazine "in a state of near hysterical despair. She claimed she had been bugged by police, trailed, held in a cell for 27 hours, threatened with life in prison and strip-searched - and she didn't know why.
"The story sounded fantastical - to be frank she sounded as if she might well be just another of the "nutters" which all news journalists deal with on a daily basis. But over an afternoon in the kitchen of her Bedfordshire home she convinced me that every word of the story of her extraordinary ordeal at the hands of Thames Valley Police was true. She had been the victim of a dogged and at times vicious mole-hunt for doing what all good crime reporters do - having off-the-record conversations with a police contact.
"After persuading Press Gazette's lawyers that Murrer was bona fide, we ran the story on the front page. Finally - in November - all the charges against her were thrown out. Murrer would later say that Press Gazette believing in her and telling the story helped her turn the corner of her ordeal."
He asks: "With Press Gazette gone, who will be left to write these stories? The remaining journalism news websites aren't generally in the business of covering this sort of slow-burn news story. Web-only reporters often need to write five or six news stories a day. Spending a day out of the office chasing a story which might well be a dead-end could mean falling hopelessly behind competitors who have been glued to their computer screens watching the wires and RSS feeds."
Dominic puts it in the context of closures elsewhere in the media: "The end of Press Gazette after 43 years is another chapter in an unfolding national tragedy, as long-established news organisations go to the wall. It matters, just as the closures and mass lay-offs at dozens of regional newspapers matter, because of the stories that will no longer get told."
As an example he tells how journalist Sally Murrer contacted the magazine "in a state of near hysterical despair. She claimed she had been bugged by police, trailed, held in a cell for 27 hours, threatened with life in prison and strip-searched - and she didn't know why.
"The story sounded fantastical - to be frank she sounded as if she might well be just another of the "nutters" which all news journalists deal with on a daily basis. But over an afternoon in the kitchen of her Bedfordshire home she convinced me that every word of the story of her extraordinary ordeal at the hands of Thames Valley Police was true. She had been the victim of a dogged and at times vicious mole-hunt for doing what all good crime reporters do - having off-the-record conversations with a police contact.
"After persuading Press Gazette's lawyers that Murrer was bona fide, we ran the story on the front page. Finally - in November - all the charges against her were thrown out. Murrer would later say that Press Gazette believing in her and telling the story helped her turn the corner of her ordeal."
He asks: "With Press Gazette gone, who will be left to write these stories? The remaining journalism news websites aren't generally in the business of covering this sort of slow-burn news story. Web-only reporters often need to write five or six news stories a day. Spending a day out of the office chasing a story which might well be a dead-end could mean falling hopelessly behind competitors who have been glued to their computer screens watching the wires and RSS feeds."
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Paddy Ashdown: 'Sun editor said Tory cabinet minister tried to smear opposition MPs'
Political smears against the Tories are the story of the weekend, so it was interesting to read this extract in The Sunday Times today from former Liberal leader Paddy Ashdown's forthcoming autobiography.
Ashdown says that after he admitted having an affair with his secretary: "Jane (Ashdown's wife) received a string of most unpleasant letters and phone calls while, in my constituency, anonymous flyers were circulated purporting to be a message from an entirely mythical “love child”, saying I had abandoned her.
"All this made life for my family even more difficult and seriously undermined my self-confidence, too. That, it appears, was precisely what was supposed to happen – as we discovered after the election, when we learnt that some Tories had imported a group of US activists called “the Nerds”, whose job was to spread malign rumours and make unfounded personal accusations against senior opposition MPs.
"Perhaps this was done without official sanction from the top of the Conservative party. But after the election Kelvin MacKenzie, then editor of The Sun, revealed that at least one cabinet-level Tory minister had approached him seeking to retail scurrilous and untrue allegations against a number of senior opposition MPs. "
Ashdown says that after he admitted having an affair with his secretary: "Jane (Ashdown's wife) received a string of most unpleasant letters and phone calls while, in my constituency, anonymous flyers were circulated purporting to be a message from an entirely mythical “love child”, saying I had abandoned her.
"All this made life for my family even more difficult and seriously undermined my self-confidence, too. That, it appears, was precisely what was supposed to happen – as we discovered after the election, when we learnt that some Tories had imported a group of US activists called “the Nerds”, whose job was to spread malign rumours and make unfounded personal accusations against senior opposition MPs.
"Perhaps this was done without official sanction from the top of the Conservative party. But after the election Kelvin MacKenzie, then editor of The Sun, revealed that at least one cabinet-level Tory minister had approached him seeking to retail scurrilous and untrue allegations against a number of senior opposition MPs. "
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Watch Guido go
Blogger Guido Fawkes (aka Paul Staines) is setting the political agenda this weekend with his story of Damian McBride and the 10 Downing Street 'smear' emails. It seems they have found their way to a Sunday newspaper, although Guido today denies having sold them.
He says: "Downing Street under Gordon Brown has been particularly vicious in smearing opponents. . . Guido has hard evidence that Tory MPs have been smeared, and that a particularly vicious concerted smear operation was mounted against George Osborne. . .Some well known lobby journalists have knowingly gone along with it."
Then in a mention of his rivalry with Derek Draper, Guido adds: "This is a lot bigger than some minor bloggers spat."
This story could dominate the weekend and the Sunday papers.
Update 6pm: McBride's gone
Guido's comment: "maybe he can start a blog"
Update 11.55pm: News of the World says it will publish emails.
Sunday Times reveals contents of emails
He says: "Downing Street under Gordon Brown has been particularly vicious in smearing opponents. . . Guido has hard evidence that Tory MPs have been smeared, and that a particularly vicious concerted smear operation was mounted against George Osborne. . .Some well known lobby journalists have knowingly gone along with it."
Then in a mention of his rivalry with Derek Draper, Guido adds: "This is a lot bigger than some minor bloggers spat."
This story could dominate the weekend and the Sunday papers.
Update 6pm: McBride's gone
Guido's comment: "maybe he can start a blog"
Update 11.55pm: News of the World says it will publish emails.
Sunday Times reveals contents of emails
Friday, April 10, 2009
Internet hurting journalism says US news elite or are they just being old-media farts?
Two-thirds of "prominent members of the national news media" believe the internet is hurting journalism more than it is helping, according to a poll conducted by The Atlantic and National Journal in the US, which surveyed 43 media insiders, Editor & Publisher reports.
The survey asked whether, "on balance, journalism has been helped more or hurt more by the rise of news consumption online." Sixty-five per cent said journalism has been hurt more, while 34% said it has been helped more.
"Those who say that news consumption on the internet is, on balance, hurting journalism note the way the online experience is changing reader habits," the poll stated. "The 'hurt more' group also says that while the internet offers benefits, the cost to traditional media and news-gathering is too high."
The report is available here.
Jeff Jarvis attacks the poll here describing the 43 polled as "an infinitesimal sample of mostly old-media farts".
The survey asked whether, "on balance, journalism has been helped more or hurt more by the rise of news consumption online." Sixty-five per cent said journalism has been hurt more, while 34% said it has been helped more.
"Those who say that news consumption on the internet is, on balance, hurting journalism note the way the online experience is changing reader habits," the poll stated. "The 'hurt more' group also says that while the internet offers benefits, the cost to traditional media and news-gathering is too high."
The report is available here.
Jeff Jarvis attacks the poll here describing the 43 polled as "an infinitesimal sample of mostly old-media farts".
Family courts not open to bloggers
The Times has reported that accredited media will be able to attend all levels of family courts from April 27, but says the scheme is not open to bloggers, those who write occasional news-letters or to foreign media.
Legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg raised some very interesting points in the Daily Telegrapgh last December about the privileged access journalists would be given under plans to open up the family courts to "accredited" media.
He wrote: "It is fundamental to the Government’s proposals that the media should be given privileged access to the courts. As a journalist, I naturally welcome this. And it must be right to draw a distinction between the press and the public at large. Opening the family courts to everyone would put children and families at risk of being identified and stigmatised. It would not be possible to stop identifying information from being made public.
"But Mr Straw does not seem to have given enough thought to what constitutes the modern media. If I decide to write about legal affairs on my own website, am I a freelance journalist who should be allowed access to the courts or a blogger who should not? And who is to decide?"
Story tip via Adrian Monck's blog
Legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg raised some very interesting points in the Daily Telegrapgh last December about the privileged access journalists would be given under plans to open up the family courts to "accredited" media.
He wrote: "It is fundamental to the Government’s proposals that the media should be given privileged access to the courts. As a journalist, I naturally welcome this. And it must be right to draw a distinction between the press and the public at large. Opening the family courts to everyone would put children and families at risk of being identified and stigmatised. It would not be possible to stop identifying information from being made public.
"But Mr Straw does not seem to have given enough thought to what constitutes the modern media. If I decide to write about legal affairs on my own website, am I a freelance journalist who should be allowed access to the courts or a blogger who should not? And who is to decide?"
Story tip via Adrian Monck's blog
PA cancels multimedia training scheme
The Press Association has cancelled its multimedia graduate training scheme for this year blaming "current pressures" on the media industry, reports journalism.co.uk.
The three-year scheme, took nine graduates last year, and involves training across PA's regional bureaux.
A PA spokeswoman told journalism.co.uk:"In light of the current pressures being felt by the media industry, the Press Association has taken the decision not to recruit any new entrants to its in-house multimedia journalist training scheme for summer 2009.
"We remain committed to the scheme which has trained 143 journalists over the past 15 years and there are still currently 16 trainees at various stages of the three year programme."
The three-year scheme, took nine graduates last year, and involves training across PA's regional bureaux.
A PA spokeswoman told journalism.co.uk:"In light of the current pressures being felt by the media industry, the Press Association has taken the decision not to recruit any new entrants to its in-house multimedia journalist training scheme for summer 2009.
"We remain committed to the scheme which has trained 143 journalists over the past 15 years and there are still currently 16 trainees at various stages of the three year programme."
Councillor says council paper is 'threat' to press
Interesting post on Local Government Association website from a local councillor commenting on the LGA's submission to the OFT which claims council publications are "not a threat" to local press.
Coun. Barbara Matthews posted: "Certainly our publication in Havering (called 'Living') has proved a great threat to our local newspaper (The Romford Recorder). It is produced fortnightly and now includes public notices rather than paying to have them printed in the local paper. As a local councillor, there have been a more than a few times when I have been at odds with our local paper's headlines, but it is the only borough-wide independent scrutineer and it is sad that our council prefers to go into competition with it rather than work with it. "
Council publications no rival to local press.
Coun. Barbara Matthews posted: "Certainly our publication in Havering (called 'Living') has proved a great threat to our local newspaper (The Romford Recorder). It is produced fortnightly and now includes public notices rather than paying to have them printed in the local paper. As a local councillor, there have been a more than a few times when I have been at odds with our local paper's headlines, but it is the only borough-wide independent scrutineer and it is sad that our council prefers to go into competition with it rather than work with it. "
Council publications no rival to local press.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Quotes of the Week
Wilmington statement on closure of Press Gazette: "Unfortunately Press Gazette, along with much of the profession, has suffered from a declining market during these years and its losses have increased. We have therefore been forced to conclude that the market required to sustain a commercially viable Press Gazette magazine no longer exists."
Neil Thackray, former publisher of Press Gazette: "There is not enough independent comment on the media. I told Dominic Ponsford, the last editor of PG, that his job was one of the toughest in media. He made a great fist of producing a readable magazine about journalism on very limited resources. His boss, Les Kelly, whom I also know well, is nothing if not a realist. We probably shouldn’t be sentimental about PG and Les is paid a salary not to be. But even when this is the right commercial judgement for Wilmington, my own view is that the fourth estate is the worse for the passing of the title."
Michael Kinsey of the Washington Post on newspaper managers: "The typical newspaper executive is a bear of little brain. Until recently, little brain was needed. Even now, to say the newspaper industry has no problems that a busload of geniuses couldn't solve is essentially saying that the industry's problems are insoluable. Or at least insoluable without help."
Rod Liddle dosen't spare David Hepworth and Mark Ellen in a letter to their magazine, The Word: "(Re Rod Liddle's inclusion in a A Long Way On A Little, Word 74) Made much out of nothing have I? Better than having made NOTHING out of nothing, you bunch of middle-class public school cunts. Still wish you were in a rock band, do you? Wish it was Steely Fucking Dan? So not a rock band, then; an anti-rock band. Grow up, Hepworth and Ellen. Write something interesting about anything. Just once."
Neil Thackray, former publisher of Press Gazette: "There is not enough independent comment on the media. I told Dominic Ponsford, the last editor of PG, that his job was one of the toughest in media. He made a great fist of producing a readable magazine about journalism on very limited resources. His boss, Les Kelly, whom I also know well, is nothing if not a realist. We probably shouldn’t be sentimental about PG and Les is paid a salary not to be. But even when this is the right commercial judgement for Wilmington, my own view is that the fourth estate is the worse for the passing of the title."
Michael Kinsey of the Washington Post on newspaper managers: "The typical newspaper executive is a bear of little brain. Until recently, little brain was needed. Even now, to say the newspaper industry has no problems that a busload of geniuses couldn't solve is essentially saying that the industry's problems are insoluable. Or at least insoluable without help."
Rod Liddle dosen't spare David Hepworth and Mark Ellen in a letter to their magazine, The Word: "(Re Rod Liddle's inclusion in a A Long Way On A Little, Word 74) Made much out of nothing have I? Better than having made NOTHING out of nothing, you bunch of middle-class public school cunts. Still wish you were in a rock band, do you? Wish it was Steely Fucking Dan? So not a rock band, then; an anti-rock band. Grow up, Hepworth and Ellen. Write something interesting about anything. Just once."
Trinity faces more strikes in Glasgow
NUJ members at the Daily Record and Sunday Mail in Scotland are to follow up tomorrow’s one-day strike over job cuts with a 48-hour stoppage next Friday and Saturday.
They are also calling for a mass picket outside their Glasgow headquarters tomorrow at 1pm.
Over 200 union members have passed a motion of no confidence in Trinity Mirror’s Scottish management.
According to the NUJ, a mass meeting in Glasgow expressed disgust about the way individuals were told they were compulsorily redundant. Union members called for the reinstatement of the 20 odd journalists selected and demanded the union pursue every way at their disposal to challenge the dismissals.
Paul Holleran, NUJ Scottish organiser, said: "We will step up industrial action, taking more strike action next week as well as pursuing all legal action possible, both collectively and on behalf of individuals."
The union has attacked the way journalists were selected for redundancy. Holleran said: "One member was told he was bottom of the list, marked on technical ability, absenteeism and discipline. He was somewhat surprised as he has just been nominated for two awards, he has only been off a handful of times in all his years at the company and had no disciplinary record."
The union will be seeking what’s called a protective award against the company as part of the legal action over the redundancies starting this week.
They are also calling for a mass picket outside their Glasgow headquarters tomorrow at 1pm.
Over 200 union members have passed a motion of no confidence in Trinity Mirror’s Scottish management.
According to the NUJ, a mass meeting in Glasgow expressed disgust about the way individuals were told they were compulsorily redundant. Union members called for the reinstatement of the 20 odd journalists selected and demanded the union pursue every way at their disposal to challenge the dismissals.
Paul Holleran, NUJ Scottish organiser, said: "We will step up industrial action, taking more strike action next week as well as pursuing all legal action possible, both collectively and on behalf of individuals."
The union has attacked the way journalists were selected for redundancy. Holleran said: "One member was told he was bottom of the list, marked on technical ability, absenteeism and discipline. He was somewhat surprised as he has just been nominated for two awards, he has only been off a handful of times in all his years at the company and had no disciplinary record."
The union will be seeking what’s called a protective award against the company as part of the legal action over the redundancies starting this week.
Save Press Gazette archive from the skip
Publishing company Wilmington who this week announced the closure of Press Gazette wants rid of the magazine's archive of bound volumes which offer a unique history of British journalism going back 43 years.
It is understood that Wilmington has been trying to offload the archive, which consists of around 100 bound volumes and dates back to the first issue of UK Press Gazette when it was launched by Fleet Street editor Colin Valdar, for several months.
Most of the archive is not on the internet and will be lost if it cannot be found a home. It would be ideal for a university, especially a journalism department, or library.
If anyone is interested in saving this unique archive email me at jonslat@blueyonder.co.uk and I will pass it on to Wilmington.
It is understood that Wilmington has been trying to offload the archive, which consists of around 100 bound volumes and dates back to the first issue of UK Press Gazette when it was launched by Fleet Street editor Colin Valdar, for several months.
Most of the archive is not on the internet and will be lost if it cannot be found a home. It would be ideal for a university, especially a journalism department, or library.
If anyone is interested in saving this unique archive email me at jonslat@blueyonder.co.uk and I will pass it on to Wilmington.
Death by a thousand cuts: NUJ asks Johnston Press chief 'Where's your plan?'
The NUJ wants an urgent meeting with Johnston Press chief John Fry after more journalists within the group - this time in Halifax - joined their Johnston colleagues in Leeds and East Lancashire by balloting for industrial action over job cuts.
The Halifax journalists, who work on the Halifax Courier, Brighouse Echo, Hebden Bridge Times and Todmorden News agreed to a ballot after management refused to rule out compulsory redundancies and the imposition of reduced redundancy terms.
Chris Morley, NUJ northern organiser, said: “Journalists are telling the company that their policy of death by a thousand cuts is not acceptable at these newspapers and websites which have a historical role at the heart of their communities."
Jeremy Dear, NUJ general secretary, said: “In Derry and East Lancashire Johnston Press journalists voted 100 percent in favour of industrial action of some sort. In Leeds they voted 97 per cent in favour of strike action.
“It is clear that the company policy of slash and burn with no apparent plan for the future has been rejected wholesale by their employees across Britain and Ireland.
“We demand – on behalf of Johnston Press journalists - an urgent meeting with chief executive John Fry to hear the company’s ideas for the future. If they won't give guarantees about quality journalism they should get out of the industry and sell their much-loved titles to someone who will.”
The Halifax journalists, who work on the Halifax Courier, Brighouse Echo, Hebden Bridge Times and Todmorden News agreed to a ballot after management refused to rule out compulsory redundancies and the imposition of reduced redundancy terms.
Chris Morley, NUJ northern organiser, said: “Journalists are telling the company that their policy of death by a thousand cuts is not acceptable at these newspapers and websites which have a historical role at the heart of their communities."
Jeremy Dear, NUJ general secretary, said: “In Derry and East Lancashire Johnston Press journalists voted 100 percent in favour of industrial action of some sort. In Leeds they voted 97 per cent in favour of strike action.
“It is clear that the company policy of slash and burn with no apparent plan for the future has been rejected wholesale by their employees across Britain and Ireland.
“We demand – on behalf of Johnston Press journalists - an urgent meeting with chief executive John Fry to hear the company’s ideas for the future. If they won't give guarantees about quality journalism they should get out of the industry and sell their much-loved titles to someone who will.”
'Council publications no rival to local press'
Local councils under fire from publishers for launching newspaper-style publications have hit back in a submission by the Local Government Association to the Office of Fair Trading.In the submission, the LGA says it "supports local press which it believes plays a vital role in local democracy by scrutinising the work of councils."
But it claims "local authorities’ own publications have an important function that newspapers do not have – telling residents about the 800 services councils offer."
The LGA says it has has encouraged councils to set up their own publications as part of its "Reputation" campaign, launched in 2005 after research found that two thirds of residents know almost nothing about local government.
Cllr Margaret Eaton, chairman of the LGA, said: “Put simply, effective communications – including council magazines – lead to higher levels of satisfaction with local authorities and help people access local services.
“A typical council publication is distributed four or six times a year, and does not operate as a rival. The growth of the internet has had a far bigger impact than council newspapers.
“With the best will in the world, the local media cannot provide the same amount of information about how to access services as a dedicated council publication can.”
Newspaper publishers, however, argue that there is a growing trend for councils to increase the frequency of their publications in order to carry more advertisng.
The News, a free fortnightly with a 90,00o distribution, being launched in May by the London Borough of Barking & Dagengham is the kind of newspaper-style council paper that is causing serious concern among newspaper publishers.
The council has said it will withdraw all but statutory advertising from the local press and will compete for commercial business. When I did a story about it for Press Gazette, Chris Carter, the editor of the Barking and Dagenham Recorder, described The News as a “stab in the back” to the local press.
LGA submission to OFT local media review (PDF, 3 pages, 71KB)
I wrote an article for The Journalist on Town Halls and the Local Press which touches on this topic.
Traditional media internet ads 'most trusted'
The Newspaper Society is highlighting new research which shows consumers trust advertising on traditional media owners’ websites more than ads on sites owned by internet “pure-plays”.
The research is published by the British Market Research Bureau and TGI Net.
The NS is also highlighting quotes from BMRB director Trevor Vagg who says: “Traditional media owners still have an advantage over pure-plays because brand trust is already well established among the audience.
“While today's audience may have more control over what they watch, read or listen, old habits are not easy to break and we get comfort from brands we know and trust.
“People are more likely to trust advertising within media they trust to provide reliable information.
“The values of the media brand rub off on the advertisers, so strong media brands with engaged audiences make the best advertising environment."
The Newspaper Society says the findings echo research from the NS the wanted ads III, which showed that ads on local media websites are more trusted than ads on other websites.
The research is published by the British Market Research Bureau and TGI Net.
The NS is also highlighting quotes from BMRB director Trevor Vagg who says: “Traditional media owners still have an advantage over pure-plays because brand trust is already well established among the audience.
“While today's audience may have more control over what they watch, read or listen, old habits are not easy to break and we get comfort from brands we know and trust.
“People are more likely to trust advertising within media they trust to provide reliable information.
“The values of the media brand rub off on the advertisers, so strong media brands with engaged audiences make the best advertising environment."
The Newspaper Society says the findings echo research from the NS the wanted ads III, which showed that ads on local media websites are more trusted than ads on other websites.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Trinity Mirror makes 24 redundant in Glasgow
Trinity Mirror has told 24 journalists at the Daily Record and Sunday Mail in Glasgow that they have been chosen for redundancy.
NUJ members on the newspapers have already given notice of a strike on Friday over Trinity Mirror’s proposal to shed 70 jobs and merge production of the two titles. A 24-hour strike was held last Saturday.
James Doherty, NUJ president who works in Glasgow, said: "It's a sorry day for Scottish journalism - and our role in a healthy democracy - when our members are being escorted from the building with boxes and bags of their personal belongings."
The company announced proposals in February to cut 70 out of 276 editorial staff. According to the NUJ, that number has since been reduced to 57.
NUJ members on the newspapers have already given notice of a strike on Friday over Trinity Mirror’s proposal to shed 70 jobs and merge production of the two titles. A 24-hour strike was held last Saturday.
James Doherty, NUJ president who works in Glasgow, said: "It's a sorry day for Scottish journalism - and our role in a healthy democracy - when our members are being escorted from the building with boxes and bags of their personal belongings."
The company announced proposals in February to cut 70 out of 276 editorial staff. According to the NUJ, that number has since been reduced to 57.
East Lancs dispute resolved
Johnston Press in East Lancashire and the NUJ have resolved their dispute after the company agreed not to press on with compulsory redundancies, the union said today.
The new plan will see two editorial managers leave voluntarily. Their responsibilities will be taken on by weekly paper editors and there will be some extra days of reporting.
The NUJ says union members at the Burnley Express, Clitheroe Advertiser and Nelson Leader have agreed to accept the porposals. Yesterday the union reported that NUJ members on the papers had voted in favour of industrial action over job cuts.
The new plan will see two editorial managers leave voluntarily. Their responsibilities will be taken on by weekly paper editors and there will be some extra days of reporting.
The NUJ says union members at the Burnley Express, Clitheroe Advertiser and Nelson Leader have agreed to accept the porposals. Yesterday the union reported that NUJ members on the papers had voted in favour of industrial action over job cuts.
NUJ tells Newsquest furloughs won't work in UK because journalists are too poorly paid
The NUJ has told Newsquest that the proposal to follow the lead of US parent company Gannett and get staff to take furloughs, unpaid leave, won't work in the UK because it is "unaffordable" for low paid journalists.
NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear says on his blog today: "It's clear the major publishers simply have no answer but to make journalists pay for the crisis they have created through their greed and failure.
"Gannett, parent company of Newsquest, whilst dishing out $2m in bonuses to executives asked staff in the US to work unpaid for a week last month as a one-off. Now they have come back demanding the same this month, next month and the month after.
"Here Newsquest have asked staff to follow suit. We've written to them saying we believe such a solution is unaffordable for low paid journalists - but have offered a dialogue about ways we can work with the company to tackle its debt and financial problems. The response. Nothing. Same is true of Trinity Mirror. Only a foolish government would hand money to these modern-day robber barons."
Newsquest furloughs in footseps of US parent
NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear says on his blog today: "It's clear the major publishers simply have no answer but to make journalists pay for the crisis they have created through their greed and failure.
"Gannett, parent company of Newsquest, whilst dishing out $2m in bonuses to executives asked staff in the US to work unpaid for a week last month as a one-off. Now they have come back demanding the same this month, next month and the month after.
"Here Newsquest have asked staff to follow suit. We've written to them saying we believe such a solution is unaffordable for low paid journalists - but have offered a dialogue about ways we can work with the company to tackle its debt and financial problems. The response. Nothing. Same is true of Trinity Mirror. Only a foolish government would hand money to these modern-day robber barons."
Newsquest furloughs in footseps of US parent
Neil Fowler awarded Guardian Research Fellowship to study regional press at Oxford
Neil Fowler, the former editor of Which? and four regional daily newspapers, has been awarded the Guardian Research Fellowship and will spend 18 months at Nuffield College, Oxford University, studying the regional press.
Neil left the editorship of Which? after nearly three years in the chair last year. He joined the magazine, which champions consumer rights, in February 2006 and oversaw a major revamp of the title.
He was made editor of Northcliffe's Lincolnshire Echo in 1985 after working on the Leicester Mercury and the Derby Evening Telegraph. He went on to edit the Derby paper, then The Journal, Newcastle, and the Welsh national morning title, the Western Mail. He was CEO and publisher of the Toronto Sun in Canada before joining Which?
Neil said today: "I will be looking at how regional newspapers have changed since the Second World War. I'll be looking at whether there really was a 'golden age' for the regional press, the impact of new technology and how communities have changed."
He will look at the role played by the City as well, the success of the kind of small newspapers championed by Sir Ray Tindle and hopes to use some of the reserch techniques used by Which?
Neil's research will form the basis for a public lecture and may be published in a book. He takes up the Fellowship in October 2010.
Neil left the editorship of Which? after nearly three years in the chair last year. He joined the magazine, which champions consumer rights, in February 2006 and oversaw a major revamp of the title.
He was made editor of Northcliffe's Lincolnshire Echo in 1985 after working on the Leicester Mercury and the Derby Evening Telegraph. He went on to edit the Derby paper, then The Journal, Newcastle, and the Welsh national morning title, the Western Mail. He was CEO and publisher of the Toronto Sun in Canada before joining Which?
Neil said today: "I will be looking at how regional newspapers have changed since the Second World War. I'll be looking at whether there really was a 'golden age' for the regional press, the impact of new technology and how communities have changed."
He will look at the role played by the City as well, the success of the kind of small newspapers championed by Sir Ray Tindle and hopes to use some of the reserch techniques used by Which?
Neil's research will form the basis for a public lecture and may be published in a book. He takes up the Fellowship in October 2010.
Why Grey Cardigan should not die
Glad to see that the great Grey Cardigan, Press Gazette's columnist who views the world of journalism through the eyes of a curmudgeonly down table sub, is to set up a blog when he is made homeless by Wilmington's decision to close the monthly PG magazine and its website in its current form.
Grey Cardigan works for both. We need him at this time of turmoil in the newspaper industry. He often gets to the heart of the matter. For example, take this from Cardigan's latest column which shows what redundancy really means.
A FRIEND and former colleague of mine has just lost his job as an editor so, as you do, you keep in touch asking how the poor chap is doing – poor being the operative word since the big pay-offs went out of the window.
It turns out that he’d been down to his local JobCentre, suited and booted and carrying a briefcase, only to be confronted with the spectacle of two tramps in the queue fighting over a can of Special Brew. He tells me he stood there, just six weeks after being a man of some substance in society, and wondered where it had all gone wrong. We both agreed that it was all Johnston ‘35 per cent’ Press’s fault.
It got worse. “I’ll take anything,” he told the glassy-eyed woman behind the security screen, who was clearly already on the pop at 10.30am. “Even a driving job”.
The woman burped and laughed. “A driving job? You? You must be joking.”
“No,” he insisted. “I’ll do anything to tide me over.”
“Listen,” she said. “The last driving job we had in here was five months ago and we had over 100 applications for it. You’d have stood no chance.”
Much chastened, my man retreated to the nearest hostelry and joined the two tramps, now amicably sinking cheap cider. He’s 50 years old and has been in the trade since he left school. What on earth have we come to?
Grey Cardigan works for both. We need him at this time of turmoil in the newspaper industry. He often gets to the heart of the matter. For example, take this from Cardigan's latest column which shows what redundancy really means.
A FRIEND and former colleague of mine has just lost his job as an editor so, as you do, you keep in touch asking how the poor chap is doing – poor being the operative word since the big pay-offs went out of the window.
It turns out that he’d been down to his local JobCentre, suited and booted and carrying a briefcase, only to be confronted with the spectacle of two tramps in the queue fighting over a can of Special Brew. He tells me he stood there, just six weeks after being a man of some substance in society, and wondered where it had all gone wrong. We both agreed that it was all Johnston ‘35 per cent’ Press’s fault.
It got worse. “I’ll take anything,” he told the glassy-eyed woman behind the security screen, who was clearly already on the pop at 10.30am. “Even a driving job”.
The woman burped and laughed. “A driving job? You? You must be joking.”
“No,” he insisted. “I’ll do anything to tide me over.”
“Listen,” she said. “The last driving job we had in here was five months ago and we had over 100 applications for it. You’d have stood no chance.”
Much chastened, my man retreated to the nearest hostelry and joined the two tramps, now amicably sinking cheap cider. He’s 50 years old and has been in the trade since he left school. What on earth have we come to?
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Why Press Gazette should not die
I went to the wake for Press Gazette last night in Fleet Street. It was a good evening meeting old friends and colleagues but I was left thinking why does the title have to die?
I understand that a weekly print magazine is no longer viable because the job ads have gone to MediaGuardian and HoldtheFrontPage but what's to stop it existing on the web?
Journalists of all people can keep a lively, independent website called Press Gazette going. UK Press Gazette started as an independent title launched by ex-Fleet Street editor Colin Valdar and survived for more than 40 years through various owners with an ethos that journalism was a good thing and needed to be defended against its many enemies.
We can't let some small time publisher like Wilmington kill it off.
We are in a different era from print magazines. All we need is access to the web, to tap into the independent spirit of Press Gazette and connect with journalists across the country.
We won't make any money but we won't lose a lot either. What we will have is an independent voice. That's priceless in a way a magazine company and its bean counters will never understand.
I understand that a weekly print magazine is no longer viable because the job ads have gone to MediaGuardian and HoldtheFrontPage but what's to stop it existing on the web?
Journalists of all people can keep a lively, independent website called Press Gazette going. UK Press Gazette started as an independent title launched by ex-Fleet Street editor Colin Valdar and survived for more than 40 years through various owners with an ethos that journalism was a good thing and needed to be defended against its many enemies.
We can't let some small time publisher like Wilmington kill it off.
We are in a different era from print magazines. All we need is access to the web, to tap into the independent spirit of Press Gazette and connect with journalists across the country.
We won't make any money but we won't lose a lot either. What we will have is an independent voice. That's priceless in a way a magazine company and its bean counters will never understand.
East Lancs Johnston journalists in strike vote
NUJ members employed by Johnston Press in East Lancashire have voted in favour of industrial action to fight job cuts and a reorganisation, the union reports today .
It says that in a secret ballot journalists on the Burnley Express, Clitheroe Advertiser and Nelson Leader voted 90 percent for strike action – and 100 percent for action short of a strike.
According to the NUJ, Johnston management wants to restructure the way it manages all of its papers and websites across the north west of England.
Chris Morley, NUJ northern organiser, said: “This is a very solid result. The chapel will not accept anything less than a proper negotiated agreement on the future of their titles and no compulsory redundancies.”
It says that in a secret ballot journalists on the Burnley Express, Clitheroe Advertiser and Nelson Leader voted 90 percent for strike action – and 100 percent for action short of a strike.
According to the NUJ, Johnston management wants to restructure the way it manages all of its papers and websites across the north west of England.
Chris Morley, NUJ northern organiser, said: “This is a very solid result. The chapel will not accept anything less than a proper negotiated agreement on the future of their titles and no compulsory redundancies.”
Press Gazette RIP: A publisher's view
Neil Thackray, a former publisher of Press Gazette, gives his view of its demise here.
I particular liked his take on the British Press Awards: "The press awards were a cauldron of ego, hatred, boorishness, controversy, boycotts, politics and occasionally a celebration of the best in journalism."
I particular liked his take on the British Press Awards: "The press awards were a cauldron of ego, hatred, boorishness, controversy, boycotts, politics and occasionally a celebration of the best in journalism."
What went wrong at Press Gazette
In the past I've written two obits on the death of Press Gazette for The Journalist, one when it went into administration under Piers Morgan and Matthew Freud and the other when it went monthly under Wilmington.
But for an insider's view for what wrong this time and why Wilmington has pulled the plug on the monthly magazine and news website, I recommend former Press Gazette reporter Patrick Smith's article on paidContent:UK. Patrick worked for PG while it was owned by Wilmington.
But for an insider's view for what wrong this time and why Wilmington has pulled the plug on the monthly magazine and news website, I recommend former Press Gazette reporter Patrick Smith's article on paidContent:UK. Patrick worked for PG while it was owned by Wilmington.
Typical newspaper executive 'a bear of little brain' says Washington Post columnist
Washington Post columnist Michael Kinsley claims: "It is tempting, but too easy, to say the problems of newspapers are their own fault."
He writes: " True enough, the industry missed a whole armada of boats. If newspapers had been smarter, or moved faster, they might have kept the classified ads. They might have invented social networking. But that's all hindsight. I didn't think of these things, nor did you.
"Judging from Tribune Co., for which I once worked, the typical newspaper executive is a bear of little brain. Until recently, little brain was needed. Even now, to say the newspaper industry has no problems that a busload of geniuses couldn't solve is essentially saying that the industry's problems are insoluable. Or at least insoluable without help."
Kinsley notes:"Suggestions are pouring in that newspapers should become nonprofit foundations, or that foundations should supply investigative teams and foreign bureaus and other expensive accessories. Or that limits should be placed on the nefarious practice of "aggregation" -- Web sites lifting the news, via links, from other sites. Or that customers should be forced, somehow, to pay."
But, adds what would happen if nothing happens. "You may love the morning ritual of the paper and coffee, as I do, but do you seriously think that this deserves a subsidy? Sorry, but people who have grown up around computers find reading the news on paper just as annoying as you find reading it on a screen.
"If your concern is grander -- that if we don't save traditional newspapers we will lose information vital to democracy -- you are saying that people should get this information whether or not they want it. That's an unattractive argument: shoving information down people's throats in the name of democracy.
"But this really isn't a problem. As many have pointed out, more people are spending more time reading news and analysis than ever before. They're just doing it online. "
Kinsley asks of the future: "Will there be a Baghdad bureau? Will there be resources to expose a future Watergate? Will you be able to get your news straight and not in an ideological fog of blogs? Yes, why not -- if there are customers for these things. There used to be enough customers in each of half a dozen American cities to support networks of bureaus around the world. Now the customers can come from around the world as well.
"If General Motors goes under, there will still be cars. And if the New York Times disappears, there will still be news."
Story via journalism.co.uk
He writes: " True enough, the industry missed a whole armada of boats. If newspapers had been smarter, or moved faster, they might have kept the classified ads. They might have invented social networking. But that's all hindsight. I didn't think of these things, nor did you.
"Judging from Tribune Co., for which I once worked, the typical newspaper executive is a bear of little brain. Until recently, little brain was needed. Even now, to say the newspaper industry has no problems that a busload of geniuses couldn't solve is essentially saying that the industry's problems are insoluable. Or at least insoluable without help."
Kinsley notes:"Suggestions are pouring in that newspapers should become nonprofit foundations, or that foundations should supply investigative teams and foreign bureaus and other expensive accessories. Or that limits should be placed on the nefarious practice of "aggregation" -- Web sites lifting the news, via links, from other sites. Or that customers should be forced, somehow, to pay."
But, adds what would happen if nothing happens. "You may love the morning ritual of the paper and coffee, as I do, but do you seriously think that this deserves a subsidy? Sorry, but people who have grown up around computers find reading the news on paper just as annoying as you find reading it on a screen.
"If your concern is grander -- that if we don't save traditional newspapers we will lose information vital to democracy -- you are saying that people should get this information whether or not they want it. That's an unattractive argument: shoving information down people's throats in the name of democracy.
"But this really isn't a problem. As many have pointed out, more people are spending more time reading news and analysis than ever before. They're just doing it online. "
Kinsley asks of the future: "Will there be a Baghdad bureau? Will there be resources to expose a future Watergate? Will you be able to get your news straight and not in an ideological fog of blogs? Yes, why not -- if there are customers for these things. There used to be enough customers in each of half a dozen American cities to support networks of bureaus around the world. Now the customers can come from around the world as well.
"If General Motors goes under, there will still be cars. And if the New York Times disappears, there will still be news."
Story via journalism.co.uk
Monday, April 6, 2009
Old Bell tolls for Press Gazette
Tonight it's goodbye (again) to Press Gazette, following yesterday's announcement from Wilmington, with a drink-up at the Old Bell in Fleet Street. I'll be drinking to the current staff Dom, Paul and Owen who've done a great job in very difficult circumstances.I was working there a few weeks ago while Dom was on paternity leave (nice timing Wilmington!) and can vouch for the commitment the staff showed to the title. Owen broke the story that Newsquest was about to ask its staff to take a week off without pay despite the company refusing to comment.
Dom and his team deserved an award for the successful PG campaign to stop the Freedom of Information Act being watered down and enormous credit for championing the case of Sally Murrer, the Milton Keynes Citizen journalist prosecuted over police leaks.
I'll miss the PG blogs of Peter Kirwan on Media Money and the great Grey Cardigan.
As for Wilmington, its decision looks cynical coming just a week after it raked in the cash from the British Press Awards. I don't think the company stands a prayer of keeping the awards without producing a Press Gazette magazine or news website.
After all the BPAs don't belong to Press Gazette. The magazine stepped in at the last minute to help when the Mirror Group decided it didn't want to run them anymore. They pre-dated the involvement of Press Gazette and look like out living the magazine.
Exclusive: NUJ ideas for future of local media to 'fill the news gap' left by cuts and closures
Here are some of the ideas and proposals discussed by the NUJ Local Media Commission which met last week to discuss the future and new business models at a time of job cuts and closures across the regional media.
They are not recommendations but ideas put forward by a panel, which included journalists with national and regional newspaper experience. Further meetings are planned
Summary
Most of the discussion was about bringing together a coalition of interested parties – including government – to fund and run community-based local media.
There was also talk about conditions that should be placed on the Big Five regional publishers(Guardian Media, Johnston, Newsquest, Northcliffe, Trinity Mirror) in return for any state bail out.
There were discussions about ways of raising revenue to pay for content.
It was understood that union would continue to fight for existing jobs while also exploring new models for regional journalism.
New Community Media
News gaps were identified – primarily in areas where existing media companies had closed their offices. "Filling the News Gap" – was taken up as a slogan.
The current campaign for local television run by Community Media was suggested as a possible model.
New community media should be not-for-profit or accept a small profit.
Setting up a Micawber Trust would make the point.
There could be a cap on profits.
A community-based professional alternative to the Big Five.
Public money could be justified to Fill the News Gap – and it would be best to start the programme in places where the Big Five have pulled out to avoid accusations of unfair competition.
The Welsh Assembly has assigned money to expand Welsh language journalism.
English regions could ask for the same.
If cross-media regulation relaxed could help community media to do papers, radio, internet, TV, as part of an integrated venture.
Local Media Trusts could be set up
Or Media Enterprise Board – an old-Labour style funding body to distribute public money to new ventures.
Could be seed funding or matched funding.
New community media companies would be required to find their own funding from councils, trusts, rich benefactors, family businesses, universities etc to match/enhance government funds.
New community media could take on some council funds and do the stories about council services that now appear in council publications, as wells as scrutinising.
Like Kent TV – funded but county council but run by commercial company with news supplied by local papers.
New companies would need to sign-up to old ITV-style contracts guaranteeing local content, news, and public service journalism.
Local people could be trained by professionals to help.
Volunteers could do jobs like sports league tables, which don’t need a journalist.
Media Enterprise Board – or whatever it’s called – could also fund specialist news services – like defence, health, education etc.
The new media would do day-to-day monitoring of authorities and investigations.
There could be an ombudsman to monitor quality, take on role of PCC, and distribute best practice.
Perhaps all media should be regulated by Ofcom as it is all digital now – not popular around the table.
In Scotland the NUJ has been campaigning for an Independent Media Commission.
New community media may have to get used to thinking like the voluntary sector not the private sector. More regulation.
Community radio is a possible model. There are 200 stations. Some have been going for nearly 20 years.
All have different funding models but have to raise money before applying for licences. By law can only get fifty percent of income from advertising or on air sponsorship.
Also get grants from Europe, councils, regional development agencies. Collect donations.
Bradford has successful community station – employs five people.
Some run entirely by volunteers.
The NUJ could facilitate a pilot project with redundant members.
Barrow has four monthly community papers run by local people with a journalist from the local paper (not a Big Five company). This gives them access to expertise and the printing press.
Oxford NUJ branch has for some time been working with a collection of local stakeholders – people who run campaigns etc. Maybe they could form the basis of new community media partnerships.
If not who will take the initiative to start these companies?
Should we be waiting for new legislation/framework – or should we be trying to encourage start-ups now?
Conditions on Big Five
They have already enjoyed taxbreaks, the VAT exemption, grants to build in enterprise zones etc – so they should not pretend to be squeamish about state aid.
We need to remind people of the purpose of the monopolies rules – to ensure fairness. The monopolies have already destroyed regional newspapers and ITV.
We should lobby for more regulation to ensure a fit-and-proper test and accountability to the community during sales and transfers.
Stop de-skilling journalism.
Pay staff a decent wage.
Pay for training
Employ diverse workforce
Consult more with workers
Make them protect archives and digitalise them – this shows the historical value of local papers.
Stop them from competing aggressively and unfairly against new (possibly state-supported) community start-ups.
Give community papers access to their presses.
Conditions must be enforceable.
Sources of Revenue
Old fashioned advertising and sales.
Geo-targeting of ads on web is a helpful new development.
Make Google and other news aggregators pay for content.
Google could pay for each click through to a news story – in the way that advertisers pay them for clicks.
The Huffington Post website has launched a trust for investigative journalism.
Trusts and foundations are new ways of funding journalism in the USA.
Fund through subsidiary businesses – like the Guardian does.
The subsidiary businesses wouldn’t have to be media – like the old Reed International – a paint to papers conglomerate.
Public money. State commission like in Holland.
NGOs
Local rich people who want the status – like football club chairmen.
Tax breaks for buying media as in USA and France.
Tax breaks as offered by Harriet Harman to media companies.
New Deal of the Mind – expanded to include journalism.
Council grants – like Kent TV with news and arms length control.
University media departments could be involved providing equipment and labour.
Regional prizes for innovative media from government or councils.
Lottery funding.
Levies on ISPs or phone companies who distribute news as part of their packages without paying for it.
Levy to go to community media funding body.
Make ISPs and phone companies provide free access to community news site as part of their packages.
Joseph Rowntree Trust – funding for research.
Regional development agencies.
European Union has a community media fund.
Government loans at preferential rates for start-ups.
Work to do
Quantify the value of local media to a community – possibly to put in to Digital Britain as a submission - in terms of direct value to the local economy.
Value to advertisers.
American research suggests that places with a vibrant and campaigning local media receive more government cash.
Also quantify the social value of local media.
Company financial reports to be analysed in detail so everyone can instantly rebut the Big Five claims of poverty.
Prepare paper on subsidies and regulations operated around the world particularly Europe. For example subsidised newsprint in Scandinavia, fixed prices in Italy, guaranteed distribution in France.
Prepare paper on state aid already available to new business start-ups. Regional grants etc.
Start pulling together local stakeholder groups.
They are not recommendations but ideas put forward by a panel, which included journalists with national and regional newspaper experience. Further meetings are planned
Summary
Most of the discussion was about bringing together a coalition of interested parties – including government – to fund and run community-based local media.
There was also talk about conditions that should be placed on the Big Five regional publishers(Guardian Media, Johnston, Newsquest, Northcliffe, Trinity Mirror) in return for any state bail out.
There were discussions about ways of raising revenue to pay for content.
It was understood that union would continue to fight for existing jobs while also exploring new models for regional journalism.
New Community Media
News gaps were identified – primarily in areas where existing media companies had closed their offices. "Filling the News Gap" – was taken up as a slogan.
The current campaign for local television run by Community Media was suggested as a possible model.
New community media should be not-for-profit or accept a small profit.
Setting up a Micawber Trust would make the point.
There could be a cap on profits.
A community-based professional alternative to the Big Five.
Public money could be justified to Fill the News Gap – and it would be best to start the programme in places where the Big Five have pulled out to avoid accusations of unfair competition.
The Welsh Assembly has assigned money to expand Welsh language journalism.
English regions could ask for the same.
If cross-media regulation relaxed could help community media to do papers, radio, internet, TV, as part of an integrated venture.
Local Media Trusts could be set up
Or Media Enterprise Board – an old-Labour style funding body to distribute public money to new ventures.
Could be seed funding or matched funding.
New community media companies would be required to find their own funding from councils, trusts, rich benefactors, family businesses, universities etc to match/enhance government funds.
New community media could take on some council funds and do the stories about council services that now appear in council publications, as wells as scrutinising.
Like Kent TV – funded but county council but run by commercial company with news supplied by local papers.
New companies would need to sign-up to old ITV-style contracts guaranteeing local content, news, and public service journalism.
Local people could be trained by professionals to help.
Volunteers could do jobs like sports league tables, which don’t need a journalist.
Media Enterprise Board – or whatever it’s called – could also fund specialist news services – like defence, health, education etc.
The new media would do day-to-day monitoring of authorities and investigations.
There could be an ombudsman to monitor quality, take on role of PCC, and distribute best practice.
Perhaps all media should be regulated by Ofcom as it is all digital now – not popular around the table.
In Scotland the NUJ has been campaigning for an Independent Media Commission.
New community media may have to get used to thinking like the voluntary sector not the private sector. More regulation.
Community radio is a possible model. There are 200 stations. Some have been going for nearly 20 years.
All have different funding models but have to raise money before applying for licences. By law can only get fifty percent of income from advertising or on air sponsorship.
Also get grants from Europe, councils, regional development agencies. Collect donations.
Bradford has successful community station – employs five people.
Some run entirely by volunteers.
The NUJ could facilitate a pilot project with redundant members.
Barrow has four monthly community papers run by local people with a journalist from the local paper (not a Big Five company). This gives them access to expertise and the printing press.
Oxford NUJ branch has for some time been working with a collection of local stakeholders – people who run campaigns etc. Maybe they could form the basis of new community media partnerships.
If not who will take the initiative to start these companies?
Should we be waiting for new legislation/framework – or should we be trying to encourage start-ups now?
Conditions on Big Five
They have already enjoyed taxbreaks, the VAT exemption, grants to build in enterprise zones etc – so they should not pretend to be squeamish about state aid.
We need to remind people of the purpose of the monopolies rules – to ensure fairness. The monopolies have already destroyed regional newspapers and ITV.
We should lobby for more regulation to ensure a fit-and-proper test and accountability to the community during sales and transfers.
Stop de-skilling journalism.
Pay staff a decent wage.
Pay for training
Employ diverse workforce
Consult more with workers
Make them protect archives and digitalise them – this shows the historical value of local papers.
Stop them from competing aggressively and unfairly against new (possibly state-supported) community start-ups.
Give community papers access to their presses.
Conditions must be enforceable.
Sources of Revenue
Old fashioned advertising and sales.
Geo-targeting of ads on web is a helpful new development.
Make Google and other news aggregators pay for content.
Google could pay for each click through to a news story – in the way that advertisers pay them for clicks.
The Huffington Post website has launched a trust for investigative journalism.
Trusts and foundations are new ways of funding journalism in the USA.
Fund through subsidiary businesses – like the Guardian does.
The subsidiary businesses wouldn’t have to be media – like the old Reed International – a paint to papers conglomerate.
Public money. State commission like in Holland.
NGOs
Local rich people who want the status – like football club chairmen.
Tax breaks for buying media as in USA and France.
Tax breaks as offered by Harriet Harman to media companies.
New Deal of the Mind – expanded to include journalism.
Council grants – like Kent TV with news and arms length control.
University media departments could be involved providing equipment and labour.
Regional prizes for innovative media from government or councils.
Lottery funding.
Levies on ISPs or phone companies who distribute news as part of their packages without paying for it.
Levy to go to community media funding body.
Make ISPs and phone companies provide free access to community news site as part of their packages.
Joseph Rowntree Trust – funding for research.
Regional development agencies.
European Union has a community media fund.
Government loans at preferential rates for start-ups.
Work to do
Quantify the value of local media to a community – possibly to put in to Digital Britain as a submission - in terms of direct value to the local economy.
Value to advertisers.
American research suggests that places with a vibrant and campaigning local media receive more government cash.
Also quantify the social value of local media.
Company financial reports to be analysed in detail so everyone can instantly rebut the Big Five claims of poverty.
Prepare paper on subsidies and regulations operated around the world particularly Europe. For example subsidised newsprint in Scandinavia, fixed prices in Italy, guaranteed distribution in France.
Prepare paper on state aid already available to new business start-ups. Regional grants etc.
Start pulling together local stakeholder groups.
Wilmington: 'Press Gazette magazine to close'
Press Gazette publisher Wilmington announced today that the magazine is to close and it is understood its online service will not be running news after Easter, leaving a question mark over the future of the title's current editorial staff of three full-time journalists.
Wilmington will hope to hang onto the lucrative British Press Awards but it is not clear how the industry will react if there is no Press Gazette magazine or online news service. The May issue of the magazine, published later this month, will be the last.
Wilmington said in a statement: "We are sorry to announce the closure of Press Gazette magazine.
"For 43 years Press Gazette has been the leading magazine for the UK journalism profession. Wilmington Group plc bought Press Gazette out of administration in 2006, since when we have invested significant sums each year to try to develop the magazine and to bring it to profitability. "Unfortunately Press Gazette, along with much of the profession, has suffered from a declining market during these years and its losses have increased. We have therefore been forced to conclude that the market required to sustain a commercially viable Press Gazette magazine no longer exists. The last hard copy edition of Press Gazette will therefore be the May edition which will be published in April.
"During Wilmington’s stewardship there have been several positive developments. One has been the rapidly increasing traffic to the online edition of Press Gazette. Whilst we will no longer be able to offer the magazine’s content online, we aim to develop this site as a resource for the UK journalism community, and we plan to roll out additional functionality in the coming months.
"Another success has been the British Press Awards which have gone from strength to strength over the last three years. We remain fully committed to running the British Press Awards and similar events, through which the whole industry can continue to celebrate the quality of UK journalism. "
Press Gazette's deputy editor Julie Tomlin has just left to run events for the Frontline club.
Wilmington will hope to hang onto the lucrative British Press Awards but it is not clear how the industry will react if there is no Press Gazette magazine or online news service. The May issue of the magazine, published later this month, will be the last.
Wilmington said in a statement: "We are sorry to announce the closure of Press Gazette magazine.
"For 43 years Press Gazette has been the leading magazine for the UK journalism profession. Wilmington Group plc bought Press Gazette out of administration in 2006, since when we have invested significant sums each year to try to develop the magazine and to bring it to profitability. "Unfortunately Press Gazette, along with much of the profession, has suffered from a declining market during these years and its losses have increased. We have therefore been forced to conclude that the market required to sustain a commercially viable Press Gazette magazine no longer exists. The last hard copy edition of Press Gazette will therefore be the May edition which will be published in April.
"During Wilmington’s stewardship there have been several positive developments. One has been the rapidly increasing traffic to the online edition of Press Gazette. Whilst we will no longer be able to offer the magazine’s content online, we aim to develop this site as a resource for the UK journalism community, and we plan to roll out additional functionality in the coming months.
"Another success has been the British Press Awards which have gone from strength to strength over the last three years. We remain fully committed to running the British Press Awards and similar events, through which the whole industry can continue to celebrate the quality of UK journalism. "
Press Gazette's deputy editor Julie Tomlin has just left to run events for the Frontline club.
Moscow Times makes fool of Guardian
The Guardian is famous for its April Fools from its special report on the island of San Serriffe to its spoof last Wednesday claiming that The Guardian was the first newspaper to move to Twitter.
But it seems the biter has been bitten.
Readers' editor Siobhain Butterworth notes today: "A correction also needs to be published to an item headed "Wheels of Power" (4 April), which said that, according to reports in Russia, the ZiL limousine President Dmitry Medvedev was bringing to London is so tough it can survive a small nuclear attack "if the wind is blowing in a certain direction". The original story, in the Moscow Times, also said: "Officials at the factory where Medvedev's limousine was assembled were so confident in the level of safety provided by the vehicle that they placed the designers inside the car while soldiers shot rocket-propelled grenades at it - a tradition that dates back to the Stalin era." The Guardian journalist who wrote the story had failed to notice that the report in the Moscow Times was published on 1 April."
But it seems the biter has been bitten.
Readers' editor Siobhain Butterworth notes today: "A correction also needs to be published to an item headed "Wheels of Power" (4 April), which said that, according to reports in Russia, the ZiL limousine President Dmitry Medvedev was bringing to London is so tough it can survive a small nuclear attack "if the wind is blowing in a certain direction". The original story, in the Moscow Times, also said: "Officials at the factory where Medvedev's limousine was assembled were so confident in the level of safety provided by the vehicle that they placed the designers inside the car while soldiers shot rocket-propelled grenades at it - a tradition that dates back to the Stalin era." The Guardian journalist who wrote the story had failed to notice that the report in the Moscow Times was published on 1 April."
US lifts picture ban on war coffins
A new policy allowing press photographers to cover the ceremonial return of U.S. military personnel killed in action comes into effect today, Editor & Publisher reports.
The policy change was announced in February by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Under the previous policy, press were not allowed to cover the returns of fallen soldiers and Marines at Dover Air Force Base’s Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs.
The Dover, Delaware, base houses the military's only such facility in North America. Since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, only a few photos have surfaced of the flag-draped coffins of U.S. service members.
The new policy requires family consent. It also specifies that photographers must use only ambient light.
The policy change was announced in February by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Under the previous policy, press were not allowed to cover the returns of fallen soldiers and Marines at Dover Air Force Base’s Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs.
The Dover, Delaware, base houses the military's only such facility in North America. Since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, only a few photos have surfaced of the flag-draped coffins of U.S. service members.
The new policy requires family consent. It also specifies that photographers must use only ambient light.
Glover plays peacemaker after Orwell prize row
The Independent's media columnist Stephen Glover attempts to play peacemaker today after Nick Cohen's attack on Peter Oborne and Peter Hitchens at the Orwell prize debate.
Cohen's performance at the debate, in which he accused Gordon Brown of being behind the removal of Martin Bright as political editor of the New Statesman, can be seen here on You Tube.
Glover believes it was partly provoked by a letter to The Observer, signed by Oborne among others, taking issue with Cohen's claim that the liberal-left has failed to challenge Islamist extremism.
He writes: "My suggestion is that Nick Cohen should take Peter Oborne and Peter Hitchens out for a drink, and apologise for maligning them; that journalists should not sign letters to newspapers which might possibly be construed as an attempt to have another journalist sacked, and that, whether we agree with him or not, we should all defend Mr Cohen's right to continue to have his say."
Cohen's performance at the debate, in which he accused Gordon Brown of being behind the removal of Martin Bright as political editor of the New Statesman, can be seen here on You Tube.
Glover believes it was partly provoked by a letter to The Observer, signed by Oborne among others, taking issue with Cohen's claim that the liberal-left has failed to challenge Islamist extremism.
He writes: "My suggestion is that Nick Cohen should take Peter Oborne and Peter Hitchens out for a drink, and apologise for maligning them; that journalists should not sign letters to newspapers which might possibly be construed as an attempt to have another journalist sacked, and that, whether we agree with him or not, we should all defend Mr Cohen's right to continue to have his say."
Sunday, April 5, 2009
State of Play: The new All the President's Men?
There is a real buzz building about the film version of the BBC's State of Play, one of those rare dramas like All the President's Men that shows journalists in a good light.
Both The Observer and Sunday Times have big features on the film, starring Russell Crowe, which comes out on April 24.
Bryan Appleyard, who wrote the Sunday Times feature, says of it: "brilliant, see it the minute it comes out" and admits he "teared up" at the closing credits which shows the pressroom of a paper.
He quotes State of Play director Kevin Macdonald saying: “It’s an interesting time. Newspapers are dying throughout the world, and what it will be like when there are no more reporters running around is interesting to contemplate. Originally, I was nervous about making an adaptation of something that was so good, you were only going to be compared negatively. Then I started developing the script and I saw I could do something with it.”
Sounds like the film could be a requiem for the press.
The Observer article gives British Press Awards Critic of the Year Philip French the chance to chose his top five journalism movies. They are The Front Page, Citizen Kane, Front Page Story, All the President's Men and The Paper.
The question is will he be adding State of Play to that list?
You can see a trailer here.
Both The Observer and Sunday Times have big features on the film, starring Russell Crowe, which comes out on April 24.
Bryan Appleyard, who wrote the Sunday Times feature, says of it: "brilliant, see it the minute it comes out" and admits he "teared up" at the closing credits which shows the pressroom of a paper.
He quotes State of Play director Kevin Macdonald saying: “It’s an interesting time. Newspapers are dying throughout the world, and what it will be like when there are no more reporters running around is interesting to contemplate. Originally, I was nervous about making an adaptation of something that was so good, you were only going to be compared negatively. Then I started developing the script and I saw I could do something with it.”
Sounds like the film could be a requiem for the press.
The Observer article gives British Press Awards Critic of the Year Philip French the chance to chose his top five journalism movies. They are The Front Page, Citizen Kane, Front Page Story, All the President's Men and The Paper.
The question is will he be adding State of Play to that list?
You can see a trailer here.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Scottish TUC calls for Sunday Mail boycott
The Scottish TUC has called for a boycott of tomorrow's Sunday Mail as NUJ journalists along with their colleagues on the Daily Record strike this weekend against compulsory redundancies at the Trinity Mirror titles, Shaun Milne's milne media blog reports today
In a statement, Stephen Boyd, assistant secretary of the Scottish TUC said: "The edition of the Sunday Mail which appears on Sunday 5 April will be produced by non-union labour using copy from agencies. It would be of tremendous benefit to the NUJ and striking workers if the sales collapsed as a result.
"Therefore, the STUC is calling on all its affiliated organisations and their members to boycott the Sunday Mail this weekend."
In a letter to Record and Sunday Mail staff yesterday, the papers' managing director Mark Hollinshead said: "At a time of economic crisis and cataclysmic change in the newspaper industry this action can only have one effect. It will most certainly harm our business and the newspapers we are all proud to work for. This will undoubtedly create the requirement for further change if we are to get through the recession in one piece."
Milne says on his blog: "The names of those management want out were finalised during the week. The expectation being they will be told on Monday or Tuesday. If so the strike will most likely be escalated."
Story via journalism.co.uk
In a statement, Stephen Boyd, assistant secretary of the Scottish TUC said: "The edition of the Sunday Mail which appears on Sunday 5 April will be produced by non-union labour using copy from agencies. It would be of tremendous benefit to the NUJ and striking workers if the sales collapsed as a result.
"Therefore, the STUC is calling on all its affiliated organisations and their members to boycott the Sunday Mail this weekend."
In a letter to Record and Sunday Mail staff yesterday, the papers' managing director Mark Hollinshead said: "At a time of economic crisis and cataclysmic change in the newspaper industry this action can only have one effect. It will most certainly harm our business and the newspapers we are all proud to work for. This will undoubtedly create the requirement for further change if we are to get through the recession in one piece."
Milne says on his blog: "The names of those management want out were finalised during the week. The expectation being they will be told on Monday or Tuesday. If so the strike will most likely be escalated."
Story via journalism.co.uk
Friday, April 3, 2009
'Disillusioned' spells out the subs' dilemma
'Disillusioned' in a posting on HoldtheFrontPage has outlined the dilemma facing subs as regional groups bring in centralised subbing.
Their comments follow the news that Northcliffe is advertising for subs after not being able to find enough of its own staff willing to move to a new centralised subbing hub in Hull.
They posted today:"Nationally it looks like this wonderful centralised subbing idea has been a failure. You only have to look at HTFP jobs to see that Hull is not the only place short of people to staff these new structures.
"Certainly at Northcliffe where the aim has been to retain their best staff for the 'centres of excellence' the reverse is what has actually happened with some of the papers' most able subs being the ones to opt for voluntary redundancy. And who can blame them.If they have anything about them, they must know they have good skills to take to another job maybe outside journalism and where they could well end up being paid better than if they had stayed and faced an effective pay cut due to the extra commuting costs plus the joy of working in what will probably turn out to be nothing more than a 'churnalism sweatshop' rather than the euphemistically termed 'centre of excellence'.
"What the management of papers seem to fail to understand is that sub-editors tend to be older journalists with families and children settled in schools. They have husbands and wives who have jobs themselves to share a mortgage.
"If one relocates they other one has to also. The fact is people simply don't want to relocate and in regional journalism it is not as if the money is so good that that alone will tempt them to follow their job. Plus many subs can see where this is all leading anyway - and the future is not bright for newspaper production staff. So they take the money and look new brighter horizons which could see them out until retirement.
"The result for the newspaper industry is that it ends up losing an awful lot of writing talent and experience - maybe newspapers should start looking at how best they can use the talent that exists on their payroll rather pushing its staff around and demoralising them to such an extent that many just want to jump the sinking ship and go somewhere else where their talents may end up being recognised, appreciated and properly rewarded."
Their comments follow the news that Northcliffe is advertising for subs after not being able to find enough of its own staff willing to move to a new centralised subbing hub in Hull.
They posted today:"Nationally it looks like this wonderful centralised subbing idea has been a failure. You only have to look at HTFP jobs to see that Hull is not the only place short of people to staff these new structures.
"Certainly at Northcliffe where the aim has been to retain their best staff for the 'centres of excellence' the reverse is what has actually happened with some of the papers' most able subs being the ones to opt for voluntary redundancy. And who can blame them.If they have anything about them, they must know they have good skills to take to another job maybe outside journalism and where they could well end up being paid better than if they had stayed and faced an effective pay cut due to the extra commuting costs plus the joy of working in what will probably turn out to be nothing more than a 'churnalism sweatshop' rather than the euphemistically termed 'centre of excellence'.
"What the management of papers seem to fail to understand is that sub-editors tend to be older journalists with families and children settled in schools. They have husbands and wives who have jobs themselves to share a mortgage.
"If one relocates they other one has to also. The fact is people simply don't want to relocate and in regional journalism it is not as if the money is so good that that alone will tempt them to follow their job. Plus many subs can see where this is all leading anyway - and the future is not bright for newspaper production staff. So they take the money and look new brighter horizons which could see them out until retirement.
"The result for the newspaper industry is that it ends up losing an awful lot of writing talent and experience - maybe newspapers should start looking at how best they can use the talent that exists on their payroll rather pushing its staff around and demoralising them to such an extent that many just want to jump the sinking ship and go somewhere else where their talents may end up being recognised, appreciated and properly rewarded."
What papers must do to have a digital future
Nik Hewitt, who worked for Northcliffe Media and Associated Northcliffe Digital as new media specialist for over six years, has written a frank posting on journalism.co.uk about how regional newspapers must embrace the digital future before it is too late.
Here are some extracts: "Offering partial content and driving users to our print product is just alienating them. The online audience is a sceptical one, and who is going to rush out and buy today's paper when they are already sat at home surfing the net or reading this on the bus on their mobile? Digital is where we should be driving traffic, where we can provide the excellent journalistic content we have in abundance to a targeted online audience?
"Engaging them in debate. Allowing free commentary and inviting opinion. Giving the visitor a sense of ownership in our established and trusted local brands. Giving them resources and information they need to take their community forward.
"Redundancy overshadows everything these days. I appreciate cuts have to be made and the business has to be streamlined for the future for us to survive, but, let's make sure those cuts are happening in the right places.
"Much of our industry, print journalism, is lacking perspective in this new arena. Many in print media have such a fondness for their medium and its tradition they're loathed to look beyond it. Many simply don't understand the urgency or the medium. We can't all stay up-to-date on what's happening out there in the digital soup and see what new avenues are open to us. Trust me, unless it's a full time job, it's almost impossible.
"We're dipping our toes in, sure, but we need to commit. We need to dedicate resources to staying informed and to moving forward. It's important that we have digital teams with the resources they need to respond, fast, to changes and advances in digital media. These are not the people you want to be making redundant right now.
"Invest: we have to give them good, industry-savvy, leadership. We need to grant these people the ability to control our digital brands directly, to say, 'we are going to make video for the website', and give them the power and resources to make that happen. Don't leave it too late. "Editors have to embrace digital wholeheartedly and journalists have to 'write for digital'. Look to those in your paper who write for digital already and strengthen what they have by giving them the ability to try out new ideas.
"We need to engage our communities in new ways, and to make ourselves THE place people come for everything local. We also need to present in a clear, concise, and user-friendly way. The search engines will bring us the traffic if we do it right, and right now that's one of the only online sales metrics easily available to us.
"Our large organisations move slowly and, at the moment, simply can't react quickly enough. This has to stop, even if (I hate to say) it means taking away the autonomy of local editors to affect what we do with mobile, online, and with our digital information. This is the future of the business we're talking about here after all, and our business is journalism and selling advertising.
"We have the best content and well-respected brands. Get your digital team in sync and make sure the people leading them are tech-savvy early adopters who know the industry. Give them the power to react, and the funds to do so. We can still do this, and we know we have to. Let's keep our minds, and resources, open to a digital future."
Hewitt now runs his own web and social media consultancy in The Midlands. He was interviewed by journalism.co.uk in March
Here are some extracts: "Offering partial content and driving users to our print product is just alienating them. The online audience is a sceptical one, and who is going to rush out and buy today's paper when they are already sat at home surfing the net or reading this on the bus on their mobile? Digital is where we should be driving traffic, where we can provide the excellent journalistic content we have in abundance to a targeted online audience?
"Engaging them in debate. Allowing free commentary and inviting opinion. Giving the visitor a sense of ownership in our established and trusted local brands. Giving them resources and information they need to take their community forward.
"Redundancy overshadows everything these days. I appreciate cuts have to be made and the business has to be streamlined for the future for us to survive, but, let's make sure those cuts are happening in the right places.
"Much of our industry, print journalism, is lacking perspective in this new arena. Many in print media have such a fondness for their medium and its tradition they're loathed to look beyond it. Many simply don't understand the urgency or the medium. We can't all stay up-to-date on what's happening out there in the digital soup and see what new avenues are open to us. Trust me, unless it's a full time job, it's almost impossible.
"We're dipping our toes in, sure, but we need to commit. We need to dedicate resources to staying informed and to moving forward. It's important that we have digital teams with the resources they need to respond, fast, to changes and advances in digital media. These are not the people you want to be making redundant right now.
"Invest: we have to give them good, industry-savvy, leadership. We need to grant these people the ability to control our digital brands directly, to say, 'we are going to make video for the website', and give them the power and resources to make that happen. Don't leave it too late. "Editors have to embrace digital wholeheartedly and journalists have to 'write for digital'. Look to those in your paper who write for digital already and strengthen what they have by giving them the ability to try out new ideas.
"We need to engage our communities in new ways, and to make ourselves THE place people come for everything local. We also need to present in a clear, concise, and user-friendly way. The search engines will bring us the traffic if we do it right, and right now that's one of the only online sales metrics easily available to us.
"Our large organisations move slowly and, at the moment, simply can't react quickly enough. This has to stop, even if (I hate to say) it means taking away the autonomy of local editors to affect what we do with mobile, online, and with our digital information. This is the future of the business we're talking about here after all, and our business is journalism and selling advertising.
"We have the best content and well-respected brands. Get your digital team in sync and make sure the people leading them are tech-savvy early adopters who know the industry. Give them the power to react, and the funds to do so. We can still do this, and we know we have to. Let's keep our minds, and resources, open to a digital future."
Hewitt now runs his own web and social media consultancy in The Midlands. He was interviewed by journalism.co.uk in March
Lindsay Anderson film puts spotlight on fight to save Wakefield Express office
A 1952 documentary about the Wakefield Express, shot by the acclaimed film director Lindsay Anderson, will feature in a campaign to stop the paper's 150-year-old home being flogged off by Johnston Press.
According to the NUJ, managers are understood to be close to signing a deal to sell Express House, on Southgate, Wakefield and are seeking cheaper premises, posssibly at an out-of-town location.
Journalists have launched a campaign called 'Keep the Express in Wakefield' and organised a public meeting at Wakefield Labour Club on April 23 at 7.30pm where there will be a special showing of Lndsay Anderson's documentary, made to celebrate the centenary of the Wakefield Express.
According to the NUJ, managers are understood to be close to signing a deal to sell Express House, on Southgate, Wakefield and are seeking cheaper premises, posssibly at an out-of-town location.
Journalists have launched a campaign called 'Keep the Express in Wakefield' and organised a public meeting at Wakefield Labour Club on April 23 at 7.30pm where there will be a special showing of Lndsay Anderson's documentary, made to celebrate the centenary of the Wakefield Express.
Reporter: "I've the skills but have I a future?"
Stephen Moss takes an in depth look at the local press in the lead feature in G2 of The Guardian today.
He quotes a new reporter who works for Trinity in Birmingham called Paul Bradley on the future:"I suppose you see the brave new world, but brave new world that's going where exactly? I can do all the skills, I can do the videoing, I can take the not-very-good photos, I can file for three different papers. But are those papers going to be around in five years' time for me to continue working for them, or am I going to have to look for a job abroad because they can't work out how to get the advertising?
"You've just got to have some kind of faith that someone, somewhere knows what's going on and has some kind of plan. There's still a thirst for news; there's still a demand for good journalism."
Moss also quotes Barry Fitzpatrick, head of publishing at the NUJ, on the present state of the industry: "At the moment, regional managing directors are like corks bobbing around in a stormy sea. They're not actually steering anything; they have no business plan other than cuts, and inevitably if that's the only strategy you have, quality suffers. They try to make out there's been no damage done, or it's a better product, but we all know it's a lot worse."
He quotes a new reporter who works for Trinity in Birmingham called Paul Bradley on the future:"I suppose you see the brave new world, but brave new world that's going where exactly? I can do all the skills, I can do the videoing, I can take the not-very-good photos, I can file for three different papers. But are those papers going to be around in five years' time for me to continue working for them, or am I going to have to look for a job abroad because they can't work out how to get the advertising?
"You've just got to have some kind of faith that someone, somewhere knows what's going on and has some kind of plan. There's still a thirst for news; there's still a demand for good journalism."
Moss also quotes Barry Fitzpatrick, head of publishing at the NUJ, on the present state of the industry: "At the moment, regional managing directors are like corks bobbing around in a stormy sea. They're not actually steering anything; they have no business plan other than cuts, and inevitably if that's the only strategy you have, quality suffers. They try to make out there's been no damage done, or it's a better product, but we all know it's a lot worse."
Northcliffe's Lincs subs snub move to Hull
HoldtheFrontPage reports today that Northcliffe Media is advertising for new production staff for its proposed subbing and design hub in Hull because too few of its existing staff opted to make the move.
Plans for two central subbing sites in Hull and Nottingham were announced by Northcliffe in February. But HTFP says most of the subs based at the Lincolnshire titles - the Grimsby Telegraph, Scunthorpe Telegraph and Lincolnshre Echo have decided not to apply for new roles at the Hull centre.
For Lincolnshire Echo subs the move would mean a 90-mile round-trip.
In a memo to staff this week, North-East regional editorial director John Meehan said that of the 51 staff in the region affected by the proposals, at least 28 would be employed in the new Hull operation.
He said the company anticipated that there would be "not more than 20" redundancies.
The memo states: "The majority of those who will leave are in the Lincolnshire centres and will do so because they have opted not to be considered for any of the proposed new roles.
"The company understands that these people faced a very difficult choice to relocate, travel significantly further to work or leave the business. We respect their decisions."
Plans for two central subbing sites in Hull and Nottingham were announced by Northcliffe in February. But HTFP says most of the subs based at the Lincolnshire titles - the Grimsby Telegraph, Scunthorpe Telegraph and Lincolnshre Echo have decided not to apply for new roles at the Hull centre.
For Lincolnshire Echo subs the move would mean a 90-mile round-trip.
In a memo to staff this week, North-East regional editorial director John Meehan said that of the 51 staff in the region affected by the proposals, at least 28 would be employed in the new Hull operation.
He said the company anticipated that there would be "not more than 20" redundancies.
The memo states: "The majority of those who will leave are in the Lincolnshire centres and will do so because they have opted not to be considered for any of the proposed new roles.
"The company understands that these people faced a very difficult choice to relocate, travel significantly further to work or leave the business. We respect their decisions."
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Quotes of the Week
NUJ submission to OFT: "Intense profiteering by the four main groups – Trinity Mirror, Newsquest, Johnston Press and Northcliffe Newspapers -- and their lack of investment in journalism and new media, means they cannot continue to control the local press."
Local Media Aliance chairman Roger Parry on why the OFT should back relaxation of the merger rules: “This consolidation will support local efficiency and effectiveness to the benefit not only of the larger publishing organisations but also smaller publishers who will be able to grow their businesses through title acquisition or exchange that has previously been prevented.”
Free newspaper entrepreneur ChrisBullivant tells the OFT: "I believe the large publishers are advocating an exchange of assets between them to create greater local newspaper monopolies...Their zeal for mergers is no secret - indeed it has largely prompted this review and discussion document. But they have hidden their true motives behind a spurious argument that the current rules negates their ability to turn the threat of digital media to their print businesses into an opportunity."
Whitstable Times editor John Nurden defends his 'Whitstable Woman in Custard Shortage' page lead against critics claims that it was too trivial a tale to make a news story: "If it was our splash I would agree but I think it made a nice page four funny - and has attracted more comments than any other on our web site proving that custard shortages should be top of everyone's news menu."
US vice-president Joe Biden on why newspapers remain useful: "These are dark days for the newspaper business, but I hate it when people say that newspapers are obsolete. That's totally untrue, as I know from first-hand experience. I recently got a puppy, and you can't housebreak a puppy on the internet".
Nick Cohen gives the BBC a bashing in The Observer: "The BBC is so uninterested in content that it is sacking its content providers or journalists as we used to call them. The paradox of the BBC's strategy is that the more it spends on expanding into cyberspace the less it has to say."
Local Media Aliance chairman Roger Parry on why the OFT should back relaxation of the merger rules: “This consolidation will support local efficiency and effectiveness to the benefit not only of the larger publishing organisations but also smaller publishers who will be able to grow their businesses through title acquisition or exchange that has previously been prevented.”
Free newspaper entrepreneur ChrisBullivant tells the OFT: "I believe the large publishers are advocating an exchange of assets between them to create greater local newspaper monopolies...Their zeal for mergers is no secret - indeed it has largely prompted this review and discussion document. But they have hidden their true motives behind a spurious argument that the current rules negates their ability to turn the threat of digital media to their print businesses into an opportunity."
Whitstable Times editor John Nurden defends his 'Whitstable Woman in Custard Shortage' page lead against critics claims that it was too trivial a tale to make a news story: "If it was our splash I would agree but I think it made a nice page four funny - and has attracted more comments than any other on our web site proving that custard shortages should be top of everyone's news menu."
US vice-president Joe Biden on why newspapers remain useful: "These are dark days for the newspaper business, but I hate it when people say that newspapers are obsolete. That's totally untrue, as I know from first-hand experience. I recently got a puppy, and you can't housebreak a puppy on the internet".
Nick Cohen gives the BBC a bashing in The Observer: "The BBC is so uninterested in content that it is sacking its content providers or journalists as we used to call them. The paradox of the BBC's strategy is that the more it spends on expanding into cyberspace the less it has to say."
Snap! Mail and Guardian same splash headline
This doesn't happen often. Daily Mail and The Guardian have same front page headline.
Saturday strike set for Scottish papers
Journalists on Scotland’s Daily Record and Sunday Mail are to strike on Saturday over job cuts. NUJ members say they are opposing management forcing through around 20 compulsory redundancies.
In January parent company Trinity Mirror announced plans for seventy job cuts and the merger of the Glasgow-based titles under one editor-in-chief.
More than 40 volunteers put themselves forward for redundancy, but the NUJ claims the company wants more cuts.
In a postal ballot for industrial action, NUJ members voted 85 percent for strike action and 90 percent for action short of a strike. The chapel has given notice of a one-day strike beginning at midnight on Friday/Saturday, followed by a work-to-rule and another 24 hour strike on Friday April 10.
In January parent company Trinity Mirror announced plans for seventy job cuts and the merger of the Glasgow-based titles under one editor-in-chief.
More than 40 volunteers put themselves forward for redundancy, but the NUJ claims the company wants more cuts.
In a postal ballot for industrial action, NUJ members voted 85 percent for strike action and 90 percent for action short of a strike. The chapel has given notice of a one-day strike beginning at midnight on Friday/Saturday, followed by a work-to-rule and another 24 hour strike on Friday April 10.
Big Four 'profiteering' publishers can't be trusted with future of local press, NUJ tells OFT
The NUJ in a submission to the Office of Fair Trading has claimed it would be "a disaster" for the local press if the current rules surrounding local newspaper mergers and acquistions are relaxed. It is a move that pits the union against the views of the chief executives of the seven major regional publishers.
The union has told the OFT that the "intense profiteering by the four main groups – Trinity Mirror, Newsquest, Johnston Press and Northcliffe Newspapers -- and their lack of investment in journalism and new media, means they cannot continue to control the local press.
“The inevitable fact is there is no longer the prospect of sufficient returns from local newspapers (and their websites) to sustain a model of ownership that requires a quarter or more of their revenues to be siphoned off to holding companies and their shareholders.
“If they were now to be permitted to consolidate their control of substantial areas of the country there would simply be a continued contraction of the industry – more than 50 papers were closed in the second half of last year – with fewer titles, even fewer journalists and a rapid fall in the amount and quality of news. It would be to accelerate a spiral of decline."
The NUJ document informs the OFT that there is “anger among journalists about the way the businesses have been run, very similar to that of the population at large about the banks.”
What the industry needs, the union says, is “new capital and new managers."
The NUJ claims that new companies would enhance competition in the sector, both through new launches and by taking over existing publications, buying individual titles or series on favourable terms from the present publishers. The latter course should be encouraged by such regulatory means as can be found.”
The union wants all takeovers sanctioned by the OFT and Competition Commission to carry enforceable conditions. These could include “commitments to invest in newsgathering, with a specified proportion of profits going into editorial resources and requirements over staffing ratios.
“There should be undertakings to retain titles in circulation, with locally and originally produced content. Companies could be required to make a convincing economic case when looking to cut jobs."
The NUJ's submission
The union has told the OFT that the "intense profiteering by the four main groups – Trinity Mirror, Newsquest, Johnston Press and Northcliffe Newspapers -- and their lack of investment in journalism and new media, means they cannot continue to control the local press.
“The inevitable fact is there is no longer the prospect of sufficient returns from local newspapers (and their websites) to sustain a model of ownership that requires a quarter or more of their revenues to be siphoned off to holding companies and their shareholders.
“If they were now to be permitted to consolidate their control of substantial areas of the country there would simply be a continued contraction of the industry – more than 50 papers were closed in the second half of last year – with fewer titles, even fewer journalists and a rapid fall in the amount and quality of news. It would be to accelerate a spiral of decline."
The NUJ document informs the OFT that there is “anger among journalists about the way the businesses have been run, very similar to that of the population at large about the banks.”
What the industry needs, the union says, is “new capital and new managers."
The NUJ claims that new companies would enhance competition in the sector, both through new launches and by taking over existing publications, buying individual titles or series on favourable terms from the present publishers. The latter course should be encouraged by such regulatory means as can be found.”
The union wants all takeovers sanctioned by the OFT and Competition Commission to carry enforceable conditions. These could include “commitments to invest in newsgathering, with a specified proportion of profits going into editorial resources and requirements over staffing ratios.
“There should be undertakings to retain titles in circulation, with locally and originally produced content. Companies could be required to make a convincing economic case when looking to cut jobs."
The NUJ's submission
Getting the hump over expenses
Kelvin MacKenzie in The Sun today notes that "There is much hand-wringing among journalists over the shocking story of MPs' expenses. Of course journalists themselves are not above using their creative art in the execs area."
He then goes on to repeat one of the legendary Fleet Street expenses stories, invoving a Daily Express foreign correspondent who claimed £300 for buying a camel. When management told him he must subtract the price for selling the camel, he submitted a new claim: "To bury camel..£130."
He then goes on to repeat one of the legendary Fleet Street expenses stories, invoving a Daily Express foreign correspondent who claimed £300 for buying a camel. When management told him he must subtract the price for selling the camel, he submitted a new claim: "To bury camel..£130."
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
EDM on local media wins backing of 100 MPs
More than 100 MPs have now signed an Early Day Motion which calls on the Government to "support local journalism" but not prop up "companies that have already extracted millions of pounds from their businesses whilst cutting investment in editorial".
The motion states: "That this House regrets the trend of cutbacks and lack of investment in local journalism by the owners of local news providers; notes that since the summer of 2008 over 1,000 editorial posts in local news have been cut or left unfilled and that dozens of local newspaper offices have closed despite local newspapers remaining viable and profitable businesses from which huge sums having been returned to shareholders over a number of years and where the pay of directors has rocketed; further notes that local journalists are over-worked, often being forced to cover wider areas owing to staffing cutbacks; further notes that coverage of court trials, council meetings and local elections is in massive decline; re-affirms a commitment to high quality local journalism as an integral part of engaging people in their community, strengthening local identities and democracy; believes that Government action in this area must focus on supporting local journalism not simply propping up companies that have already extracted millions of pounds from their businesses whilst cutting investment in editorial resources; and therefore calls on the Government to explore innovative solutions to preserve local journalism and to ensure that state support, either in the form of deregulatory measures or financial help, is given only where firm guarantees on investment in local journalism are secured."
The motion states: "That this House regrets the trend of cutbacks and lack of investment in local journalism by the owners of local news providers; notes that since the summer of 2008 over 1,000 editorial posts in local news have been cut or left unfilled and that dozens of local newspaper offices have closed despite local newspapers remaining viable and profitable businesses from which huge sums having been returned to shareholders over a number of years and where the pay of directors has rocketed; further notes that local journalists are over-worked, often being forced to cover wider areas owing to staffing cutbacks; further notes that coverage of court trials, council meetings and local elections is in massive decline; re-affirms a commitment to high quality local journalism as an integral part of engaging people in their community, strengthening local identities and democracy; believes that Government action in this area must focus on supporting local journalism not simply propping up companies that have already extracted millions of pounds from their businesses whilst cutting investment in editorial resources; and therefore calls on the Government to explore innovative solutions to preserve local journalism and to ensure that state support, either in the form of deregulatory measures or financial help, is given only where firm guarantees on investment in local journalism are secured."
LMA submission to OFT: 'Why regional press merger regime must be modernised'
The merger regime must be modernised to reflect the realities of local media markets and safeguard the future of regional newspapers as multimedia businesses, the contry's biggest publishers have told the Office of Fair Trading.
In a 108-page report submitted yesterday for the OFT’s review of the Local Media Merger Regime, the Local Media Alliance, representing seven of the largest local media publishers alongside the Newspaper Society, stressed what they claim is the importance of allowing greater flexibility over newspaper mergers and acquisitions to enable the industry "to continue its transition into a successful multimedia sector delivering local news and information across print, online and broadcast platforms."
LMA chairman Roger Parry said:“This consolidation will support local efficiency and effectiveness to the benefit not only of the larger publishing organisations but also smaller publishers who will be able to grow their businesses through title acquisition or exchange that has previously been prevented” in his introduction to the submission, entitled The Case for Modernising the Approach to Local Media Mergers.
Despite the challenges currently facing local media businesses “a profitable longterm future for the industry is achievable,” he said. “It is the firm belief of the LMA members that print publications will continue to play a pivotal role in the local multimedia business of the future.”
The report argues that further consolidation would enable publishers to make necessary investments in media services and content, product quality, digital platforms and training, allowing them to capture economies of scale in relation to management, distribution networks, printing and more efficient sales structures while repositioning their businesses for growth.
The report outlines three arguments to support the industry’s view that changes to the merger regime are urgently needed:
• The highly competitive local advertising market enables local advertisers to exercise significant choice when allocating their media spend, and this choice has not been, and will not be, damaged by local newspaper mergers.
• Local audiences consume news and information content from a wide range of media, but local newspapers offer the only source of local investigative journalism. There has not been, and will not be, any damage either to audience choice or the local press proposition as a result of newspaper merger.
• The creation of publishing organisations with a clear focus on local media and with greater local scale (‘clusters’) are the most effective way to protect the viability of local titles and maintain plurality of editorial voice.
In a 108-page report submitted yesterday for the OFT’s review of the Local Media Merger Regime, the Local Media Alliance, representing seven of the largest local media publishers alongside the Newspaper Society, stressed what they claim is the importance of allowing greater flexibility over newspaper mergers and acquisitions to enable the industry "to continue its transition into a successful multimedia sector delivering local news and information across print, online and broadcast platforms."
LMA chairman Roger Parry said:“This consolidation will support local efficiency and effectiveness to the benefit not only of the larger publishing organisations but also smaller publishers who will be able to grow their businesses through title acquisition or exchange that has previously been prevented” in his introduction to the submission, entitled The Case for Modernising the Approach to Local Media Mergers.
Despite the challenges currently facing local media businesses “a profitable longterm future for the industry is achievable,” he said. “It is the firm belief of the LMA members that print publications will continue to play a pivotal role in the local multimedia business of the future.”
The report argues that further consolidation would enable publishers to make necessary investments in media services and content, product quality, digital platforms and training, allowing them to capture economies of scale in relation to management, distribution networks, printing and more efficient sales structures while repositioning their businesses for growth.
The report outlines three arguments to support the industry’s view that changes to the merger regime are urgently needed:
• The highly competitive local advertising market enables local advertisers to exercise significant choice when allocating their media spend, and this choice has not been, and will not be, damaged by local newspaper mergers.
• Local audiences consume news and information content from a wide range of media, but local newspapers offer the only source of local investigative journalism. There has not been, and will not be, any damage either to audience choice or the local press proposition as a result of newspaper merger.
• The creation of publishing organisations with a clear focus on local media and with greater local scale (‘clusters’) are the most effective way to protect the viability of local titles and maintain plurality of editorial voice.
Roy Greenslade: 'More consolidation will not solve regional press crisis'
Roy Greenslade in his Evening Standard column today argues that more consolidation in the regional newspaper industry will not solve its problems.
But he thinks the lobbying by the big regional publishers for merger and acquisition rules to be relaxed will pay off.
He says: "It would not surprise me in the least if Culture Secretary Andy Burnham and the Government bend to the publishers' will, largely because newspaper owners have been careful to couch their argument in terms of the threat to local democracy should papers fold. They seek to portray themselves as selfless champions of the public interest rather than profiteers."
Another voice against further consolidation is Midlands free newspaper entrepreneur Chris Bullivant who has claimed in a submission to the OFT that if the Government gives in to the big publishers the regional press could end up being dominated by two giant groups.
But he thinks the lobbying by the big regional publishers for merger and acquisition rules to be relaxed will pay off.
He says: "It would not surprise me in the least if Culture Secretary Andy Burnham and the Government bend to the publishers' will, largely because newspaper owners have been careful to couch their argument in terms of the threat to local democracy should papers fold. They seek to portray themselves as selfless champions of the public interest rather than profiteers."
Another voice against further consolidation is Midlands free newspaper entrepreneur Chris Bullivant who has claimed in a submission to the OFT that if the Government gives in to the big publishers the regional press could end up being dominated by two giant groups.
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