Victory for local press as council-funded Kent TV shuts down

Posted by Patrick Smith on 11 February 2010 at 11:37
Tags: Newspapers, Regional Newspapers

It’s the day local media in Kent have waited three years for: the council-funded online news and information portal Kent TV is be scrapped, as the Newspaper Society enthusiastically reports.

The station - run by multimedia production company Ten Alps - was set up in 2007 with an initial investment of £1.4m of council funds. In the face of strong criticism from the Kent Messenger Group and the Newspaper Society, council chiefs had argued the site would be self-funding.

But now Kent County Council leader Paul Carter says “difficult economic times” mean spending has to be prioritised and online TV operations are not top of the list. The station will shut when its two-year pilot scheme ends in March.

Geraldine Allinson, KM Group chairman, was understandably pleased…

“We welcome the decision KCC has made to stop KentTV… There is a vibrant independent media in Kent and we hope that going forward KCC recognises the strengths and benefits independent local media can bring to help deliver cost effective and innovative communication.

An FOI request from Kent Messenger Group political editor Paul Francis in 2008 found that the KTV project couuld cost up to £695,000 a year - more than £200,000 over its bugedted costs.

Trinity Mirror regionals join forces for market crash liveblog

Posted by Patrick Smith on 7 October 2008 at 13:09
Tags: Media Business, Regional Newspapers

It affects all of their readers, so why not work together? Today Trinity Mirror titles The Journal, Newcastle, the Birmingham Post and the Liverpool Daily Post joined forces to write a liveblog covering the drastic falls in the FTSE 100 share index.

Readers of all three papers were told the project was an attempt to provide “breaking news surrounding the banking crisis, as well informed opinion” from the papers’ experts around the country.

The journalists are using coveritlive, which the LDP and Liverpool Echo have used extensively to cover big events in the city and the Birmingham Post used to cover the recent Conservative Party conference.

One of the benefits of using liveblogs is the ability to post different thing such as pictures, audio or link to things like this handy timeline of the crisis, made using Dipity.

The project has echos of FT.com’s Markets Live, part of the Alphaville bog, which is quietly building a cult following among business-minded folk.

Newcastle United manager in 52-swear word tirade at Daily Mirror reporter

Posted by Patrick Smith on 3 October 2008 at 08:57
Tags: Journalism

Newcastle United caretaker manager Joe Kinnear is not a fan of the press at the moment. Nor is he shy of saying what he thinks.

The result? A five minute torrent of abuse hurled at the assembled pack at a press conference yesterday, mainly directed at Daily Mirror reporter Simon Bird.

During an astonishing rant containing 52 swear words - which, thanks to the Mirror, you can listen to and read the full transcript of - he called reporters “fucking so slimy”, threatened (unspecified) court action and promised to never speak to the press again.

(more…)

Scientists work on next generation of e-paper

Posted by Patrick Smith on 3 October 2008 at 08:22
Tags: National Newspapers, New Media

It has dismissed as a pipe dream by traditionalists, but it seems that newspapers and magazines printed on e-paper is a few steps closer after scientists at Cambridge kicked of a three-year, £12m scheme to develop it. (Read the press release)

As The Guardian reports, Liquavista, which formed out of work at the Phillips Research Labs, is working on using it’s display technology to create electronic newspapers - making them full-colour, interactive and closer in appearance to an A4 piece of paper than the “e-book” readers such as Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s e-reader.

(more…)

Is David Cameron getting an easy ride from the media?

Posted by Patrick Smith on 2 October 2008 at 15:17
Tags: National Newspapers

Is David Cameron getting an easy ride from the press? Alice Miles of The Times thinks so. She says that if former Labour leader Neil Kinnock had offered up as little policy detail as the would-be Conservative Prime Minister has, he would have been met with “howls of derision”

But this goes further than just journalists getting bored of “bottler” Brown - it’s about class. She says:

Instead of derision, the Tories have enjoyed deference. In place of scrutiny, eulogy. No ridicule, just respect. Yes, this is about class: a cowering media is doffing its collective cap to David Cameron and George Osborne.

There certainly has been positive coverage of the conference - even from chief Cameron critic Simon Heffer - with some qualified praise from traditionally left-leaning papers.

But is it really “like watching the Proletariat bowing before the lords of the manor”? It will be interesting to see which way Rupert Murdoch’s papers go in the next election, just as it is equally unsure which way papers like the Daily Mail. The Guardian and Times will go. At the moment they seem to be hedging their bets.

Clay Shirky tells AOP conference: ‘don’t believe in the myth of quality’

Posted by Patrick Smith on 2 October 2008 at 08:31
Tags: New Media, Newspapers, Online

Online publishers mistakenly believe their users will only engage in high quality content and are misjudging their young audiences, according to academic and writer Clay Shirky.

Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody, was the closing speaker at yesterday’s Association of Online Publishers’ Digital Publishing Summit and told the assembled executives and online experts that they were underestimating the power and creativity of their audience. (more…)

Alex Ferguson’s relationship with the media sinks to a new low

Posted by Patrick Smith on 30 September 2008 at 11:46
Tags: National Newspapers

He is perhaps not every journalist’s favourite Premier League manager, but Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has now promised to help football writers and broadcasters even less in future.

Ahead of his team’s Champions’ League clash against Danish side Aalborg tonight, he told reporters “you will never get any help out of me again”, report the Mail and Guardian,

Fergie is angry about an interview giving during United’s pre-season tour of South Africa in which he says he was misquoted. He commented on the number of players in rival Chelsea’s squad aged 30 or over - comments interpreted as him writing off the Londoners as “too old”.

“I gave you access in South Africa and I shouldn’t have given you access,” he said. “It won’t happen again. From now on, no matter how many miles you travel to get an interview, you won’t get one.”

Ferguson was speaking at a mandatory press conference, at the behest of European football governing body UEFA - not turning up gets you a fine - so reporters will at least be able to some quotes from him.

The Football Association has similar rules about managers giving post-match interviews, but after it made a documentary about Ferguson’s son in 2004, he refuses to give interviews to the BBC at all, sending out his assistant manager.

Journalism students taught to write press releases

Posted by Patrick Smith on 30 September 2008 at 09:30
Tags: Journalism, National Newspapers, Student Journalism

Journalism students at the NCTJ-accredited course at Highbury College in Portsmouth are to be taught the basics of writing press releases. Holdthefrontpage tells us that the would-be reporters are taking part in a scheme with the college’s marketing department to write press releases on its behalf and see what stories they can get into print. Some will see the scheme as a sensible idea - many journalists end up moving over to PR, lured by the shorter hours and better pay and it could benefit journalists to understand how communications staff work. Though no doubt some traditionalists would argue that the two disciplines should be kept as far apart as possible, especially during training.

Richard Desmond praised for his ‘ruthless devotion to profit’

Posted by Patrick Smith on 30 September 2008 at 09:21
Tags: Media Business, National Newspapers

It’s not something you read everyday: a media trade magazine praising the business tactics of Express Newspapers owner Richard Desmond, publisher of the Express and Star titles and OK!.

But that’s exactly what Media Week editor Steve Barrett has done this week by giving the controversial Desmond a rare positive appraisal in an editorial.

The Express was pleased enough to merit the article itself worthy of a news story.

Desmond has been described as “the worst newspaper publisher in 60 years” and is an arch-enemy of the National Union of Journalists for his staff-cutting, the latest installment of which involves axing 86 production staff on the Express titles.

But, as Barrett says:

“There are others who, on the quiet, profess grudging admiration for the way Desmond and his long-standing associate Stan Myerson make solid pre-tax profits out of print in these challenging times - £52m in 2007.

“Desmond and Northern and Shell will never be eveyone’s cup of tea. but the ruthless devotion to profit and scaling a business up or down according to circumstances is hard to argue with.”

And Desmond isn’t afraid to invest in new ventures. He spent $100m on OK! in US, and Barrett points out that despite scepticism over the move the magazine is set to start recouping that investment.

But one aspect of Barrett’s analysis will prove interesting reading to Trinity Mirror investors and employees: “Desmond has always had a liking for the Mirror and some think he may one day mount a bid for the struggling paper. The regulators would have something to say about it, but that would really put the cat among the pigeons - and who’s to say that Desmond and crew wouldn’t confound the critics and pull it off once again.”

Online newspapers: the figures just don’t add up

Posted by Patrick Smith on 30 September 2008 at 08:48
Tags: Media Business, Media Metrics, National Newspapers, New Media, Newspapers, Online

Newspapers making the shift from once-a-day print publisher to 24-hour digital hub should take note: according to one editor, online operations are underestimating the costs and overestimating the revenues of the move to online.

(more…)

Business as usual for Archant under new chief executive Adrian Jeakings

Posted by Patrick Smith on 29 September 2008 at 09:24
Tags: Media Business, Regional Newspapers

The incoming Archant chief executive Adrian Jeakings has promised there won’t be any major diversion in the company’s strategy following John Fry’s departure to replace longstanding Johnston Press chief executive Tim Bowdler.

In an interview with the Eastern Daily Press - a flagship Archant title - Jeakings, formerly Archant’s group finance director, is confident that he inherits a business capable of getting through the lean months ahead, He says:

John leaves behind a very strong management team, a business that is in the process of bringing its growing digital activities into its mainstream, a magazine division that is unique in the industry and that huge potential.

Privately-owned Archant is performing “slightly better, and in some areas much better” than its regional rivals, he says, and has lower debt. So to “suddenly change things around would be illogical”.

So no wholesale changes just yet. But Archant is, like Johnston, Trinity Mirror, Northcliffe Media and Newsquest, heavily exposed to the classified print display advertising market, which is suffering a severe downturn. Northcliffe owner DMGT said last week that its revenue from property ads in July and August were 45 per cent down on the same period last year.

Archant’s own profits for the first half of this year dipped to £13.1.m - down from £14.5m in 2007 - and Jeakings sees no immediate signs of this improving, predicting that the company’s fortunes would not see “material improvement this side of the end of 2009″.

A day at the FT: blogging, business models and journalism

Posted by Patrick Smith on 26 September 2008 at 08:46
Tags: Journalism

The Financial Times today invited a group of bloggers, journalists and blogging journalists into its gleaming Central London offices to talk about the newspaper’s online strategy, blogging policy and how it interacts with its audience.

(more…)

TheBusinessDesk.com poaches Manchester Evening News business editor to continue north west expansion

Posted by Patrick Smith on 25 September 2008 at 13:04
Tags: Media Business, Regional Newspapers

Regional financial news site TheBusinessDesk.com continues its rise and rise with the appointment of Manchester Evening News business editor Chris Barry.

It’s quite a coup for the site, started by former Yorkshire Post business editor David Parkin in November 2007, after spending seven years in the YP’s cavernous Leeds newsroom. 

Although it started as a Yorkshire-only site, Parkin is now setting his sights across the Pennines with a north west edition, which launched earlier this month and is produced from the site’s new Manchester office. Parkin tells How Do:

“I said when we launched that this region [north west] deserves quality journalism and real investment, and I think this shows that we’re prepared to follow through on our promises.”

Competition for business news in Manchester is now pretty stiff. Not only are the MEN, agencies, the FT and now TheBusinessDesk clamouring for details on the next big deal, but so is Crain’s Manchester Business, launched by US publisher Crain early this year.

Teesside Gazette to increase citizen journalist team to 1,000

Posted by Patrick Smith on 25 September 2008 at 08:45
Tags: New Media, Online, Regional Newspapers

The Teesside Gazette is to increase its roster of ultra-local contributors to 1,000 in the next year, building on the 400 it already has across 22 postcode-related sites.

Journalism.co.uk reports that the site gets around 150,000 unique monthly users from its hyper-local site alone and is seeking to make more money from it through advertising soon.

Gazette editor Darren Thwaites said there was a direct link between the quality of the printed newspaper and the quality of the local online operation.

Guardian continues foreign commercial expansion in Singapore, Australia and Ireland

Posted by Patrick Smith on 25 September 2008 at 08:21
Tags: Advertising, National Newspapers

It already has an exclusive deal to sell online advertising to its growing army of US readers and now Guardian News and Media has signed a deal to do the same in Singapore, Australia and Ireland, as NMA reports.

GMN has employed ad agency Ad2One to try to make money from the segment of its 20.6m unique monthly users in those countries 

In Februrary GNM signed up with Reuters Affliate Network in the States to capitalise on its US readers, about 6.5m according to ABCe and the paper itself. I understand that more deals can be expected along these lines soon, particularly in Europe and Asia.

There’s much more on UK papers selling online advertising abroad in the October issue of Press Gazette.

Local newspapers and online ad revenue: is Yahoo Apt the solution?

Posted by Patrick Smith on 25 September 2008 at 08:06
Tags: Advertising, Journalism, Regional Newspapers

Could a new “revolutionary” online advertising scheme from Yahoo be the monetary solution local newspapers are looking for?

Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang yesterday unveiled Apt in the US which, as the FT and paidContent report, is a “one-step” service for planning and buying online ads. Yahoo plans to tap into the $8.5m local ad market and help newspapers sell inventory from online sites, including Yahoo, in a revenue-sharing agreement.

Here’s the official press release.

One of the first groups to benefit, the Media News Group, owner of the San Jose Mercury News, was impressed. Chief executive Harry Schneider said “you wouldn’t be hearing people talk about the woes of the newspaper industry”, if Apt had been around earlier.

He said the reason newspapers don’t make any many from online ads is “we’re selling cheaper remnant ad space” in comparison to print display ads. Within five years, Schneider said he expected his group’s profits from online to growm from 22 per cent to 50 per cent.

Non-American publishers can expect to take part some time next year when Apt is expanded beyond the US.

Red Ken’s biggest mistake? Not closing the Evening Standard

Posted by Patrick Smith on 22 September 2008 at 12:28
Tags: National Newspapers

Ken Livingstone’s epic battle with the Evening Standard and specifically its reporter Andrew Gilligan continues to simmer, despite the four and half months that have elapsed since he lost the London Mayoralty to Boris Johnson.

In a You Ask the Questions interview with The Independent, reader Mary Jankovic from W6 asks what the former mayor’s biggest mistake was. His answer?

“All the big decisions we got right. Sadly I didn’t have the power to close the Evening Standard”.

ITV could announce massive regional cuts this week

Posted by Patrick Smith on 22 September 2008 at 12:02
Tags: Journalism

Broadcaster ITV is set to announce wide-ranging cuts to its local news services that could see up to 200 staff made redundant, The Times reports.

Ofcom publishes the second stage of its public service broadcasting review which may give the green light to the cuts.

ITV has been in talks with Ofcom to make the cuts, which naturally will be met with strong opposition from unions. Broadcasting union general secretary Gerry Morrissey told The Times: “This is about ITV abandoning the last of its public service responsibilities.”

Regional output will drop significantly under the plan. According to The Times:

• ITV will abandon its separate 30min West Country and Border bulletins in favour of 15 minute programmes
• “Sub-regional” services will be introduced, which will run at around 6.05pm
• A new North of England/South of Scotland  region will be created, a merger of Tyne-Tees in Gateshead and Border, based in Carlisle

13:34 Update

A spokesman for ITV has been in touch to say that the cuts are part of its Turnaround strategy, that aims to save £40m from regional news. “We want to do this in a carefully managed and structured way to minimise the impact on viewers,” he said.

Online advertising suffers credit crunch effect

Posted by Patrick Smith on 22 September 2008 at 10:54
Tags: Media Business, National Newspapers, Regional Newspapers

Digital advertising revenues are taking a hit amid the current market turmoil, ending five years of non-stop growth.

As the FT reports, media analyst group Enders has cut back the forecast for the UK online ad market from a 28 per cent increase on 2007 to 18.5 per cent.

Hardly a year-end report or trading update from news media companies goes by without boasting impressive increases in digital advertising revenue.

For example Johnston Press’s profits were down 15.9 per cent year on year to £81.6m in August’s year-end results - but digital revenues were up 52 per cent.

How long will the growth continue for newspaper websites?

Warwickshire MP: Trinity cuts are serious attacks on journalism

Posted by Patrick Smith on 22 September 2008 at 08:19
Tags: Regional Newspapers

It’s not just the National Union of Journalists that opposes Trinity Mirror’s proposed 65 redundancies at its Coventry and Birmingham newsrooms - North Warwickshire and Bedworth MP Mike O’Brien has called the cuts “serious attacks on news, journalists and journalism”. In a letter to Trinity Mirror regional director Steve Brown, Labour MP O’Brien says the cuts would “undermine the ability of my constituents to get the news”.

Holdthefrontpage reports that Brown has agreed to meet with Coventry South MP Jim Cunningham to talk over the plans.

The letter was leaked to the Spaghetti Gazette blog, which accompanies the Midlands series of arts and cultures magazines of the same name. In it, O’Brien says:

Some of your titles have been run down over the years by Trinity Mirror. For example the Bedworth Echo has no office in the town. Some fine journalists try to keep in touch from a distance. The [Coventry] Telegraph used top dominate news in North Warwickshire but cutbacks meant other newspapers have grown while as the Telegraph circulation has fallen again…

I ask for an explanation for these cuts and I ask you to reconsider them.

NUJ chapels across the titles have voted to strike on 7 and 8 October - if - the company cannot find enough volunteers to fill the 65 or so proposed redundancies. Brown is ”confident” of finding enough volunteers and the union will make a final decision on whether to walk out will be made on 6 October.