SFN5 4EditorialConcepts

Shaping the Future of the Newspaper
5. 4
STRATEGY
ANALYSING STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PRESS INDUSTRY REPORT
Volume 5 N°4 JUNE 2006 © WAN
New Success in editorial
Editorial
operations in the 21 st Century
depends on reaching the news
audience anytime and any
Concepts
place, with relevant,
compelling content. Media
companies worldwide are
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and parlaying that
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exciting genres of content
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VOLUME 5 REPORT N° 4 NEW EDITORIAL
CONCEPTS
CONTENTS
Executive 5
Summary
Introduction 9
1 Managing audience 13
2 focus
Leveraging breaking news and optimising 21
3 workflows
Exploring new 25
4 channels
Experimenting with new storytelling 29
5 approaches
Publishing consumer-generated news and 37
information
Conclusion and 43
Recommendations
Appendix 45
3
JUNE 2006 SHAPING THE FUTURE OF THE NEWSPAPER
4
CONCEPTS
Executive Summary
Newspapers are not just about For example, a newspaper in a part of

journalism
printed with ink on paper the
Southwestern United States where
anymore.
Newspapers are expanding their reliable the
population is 53 percent Hispanic, found
and
sought-after branded content to a variety that 3 percent of its photos were of
only
of
media, including Web, mobile, Hispanic
people, and the same percentage applied
WebTV,
Interactive TV, video online, to
the quotes in its
podcasting,
vodcasting, radio, magazines, stories.
In another study, conducted by
citizen
journalism and more in an effort to meet
Scripps
Newspapers for 14 of its U.S.
the
needs of the audience and to not just newspapers,
several papers found that readers
sustainincrease market
but
wanted detailed health and local
more
share.
schools
information than the papers were
Newspaper companies are expanding
providing.
Depending on region, readers also
their
content delivery by first researching wanted and spiritual information, or
religion
their
audiences, then using the findings
personal and development information,
growth
to
reposition themselves more effectively in which
newspapers were simply not
the
new media landscape. Around the
publishing.
globe,
media companies are discovering Newspaper companies began rethinking
significant
shifts in the way audiences spend time what knew about their audiences after
they
with
various media, in media multitasking, seeing
the initial results of far-reaching
in
attitudes about traditional media, and in audience
research conducted by the
the
desire to publish themselves, with or Readershipwww.readership.org, launched
Institute,
without
the cooperation of traditional media. in
1999. The Insitute is a joint project of
One
staggering finding: newspapers are so out the
American Society for Newspaper Editors,
of
touch with their readers that they’ve the
Newspaper Association of America
missed audience segments and
entire and
Northwestern University’s
their
newscoverage Media
Management Institute. The
desires. Readership
5
Institute has produced several massive spent 9 months developing the

studies
on newspaper readership in the United research
questionnaire (see Appendix for a portion
States, sample sizes in the tens of
with of questionnaire), and about 12
the
thousands. months
executing the study. Now that the results
Among the studies, the 2003
have tallied, each Scripps newspaper
been
Experience
study, which identified feelings, emotions
is
formulating plans to use this new-
and
reactions that make people read
found
audience knowledge to develop
their
newspaper more, or read it less; and the
editorial
products.
2004
New Readers study, which looked at how the
younger audience in particular engages In one Scripps market, readers were
(or
ignores) asked content they cared about, and
about
newspapers. how
likely they were to recommend the
Since the studies, individual newspaper
as a source for that desired information.
newspaper
companies have been conducting their
The left-hand quandrant is the area
upper
own
research about the news consumers in most
important to readers, but the
their markets, and how media companies
own
newspaper
doesn’t cover health; friends and family;
have
missed whole categories of information and
schools and education. The upper right-
about
what the readers
hand
quadrant shows content areas of
want.
“There is a historical tradition in importance
that the newspaper does cover
newspapers
that they understand what readers well.
want “The big “aha” moment is when they tell
intuitively, or, they simply don’t care
us
about the things they care about that we
about readers want,” said Linda
what
never on or talk about much in
touch
Sease,
marketing director of Scripps Newspapers
our
newspapers,” she said. Readers said they
in
Denver. “When I joined Scripps three
were
particularly interested in health and
years
ago, I was amazed how little we knew
deep
school district content, and they
aboutcustomers. Now we can measure
our
weren’t that kind of coverage from the
getting
true
advertising and customer
paper.various Scripps newspapers are
The
satisfaction.”
Scripps, a large American now
working on individual plans to roll
multimedia launched a study in 2004 in
company, out
editorial content to meet the needs of
which
it asked almost 9,000 people in 14 the
readers hungry for health and
newspaper
markets about their readership satisfaction. schools
information, and
It more.
6
CONCEPTS
This is an example of how

newspaper
companies are trying to innovate –
by
studying their audience members’
media
consumption patterns and crafting
editorial
strategies to better reach the news
and
information consumer in the 21st
Century.
The innovators are also studying
the
consumer’s preferences for certain types
of
content and during certain times per
day.
The research is making a huge impact
on
future editorial product development at
many
media companies
worldwide.
Part of the strategy invariably
includes
expanding the media channels from just
print
to video, audio, Web and mobile – and
leaving
the door open for any other channels that
come
along. The innovators also are looking at
their
own internal processes, and determining
ways
to optimise workflows to
accommodate
publishing on the new
channels.
As the number of channels on which
to
publish expand, so does the need for
an
integrated, or converged,
newsroom.
Hundreds of media companies worldwide
are
developing and implementing
convergence
strategies so they can publish across
channels
efficiently and with relevancy to the
news
consumer.
Breaking news has taken centre stage,
since
the new channels have a powerful ability
to
deliver news as it unfolds. The consumer
is
responding enthusiastically by flocking
to
websites, registering for breaking news
alerts
sent to their mobiles, and listening
and
watching breaking news
broadcasts.
Perhaps the hottest and most debated area
of
innovation is the area of citizen-
contributed
journalism. Media companies around
the
globe are seeing their media’s
consumption
numbers skyrocket when they add
the
component of community-
generated
journalism to their array of publishing
tools.
Some of the most popular areas of
citizen
journalism are blogs, breaking
news
contributions, and
photographs.
As the media landscape changes, the
most
innovative companies are changing
along
with it. This report will examine the
emerging
patterns of news consumption and
reader
participation, and provide a strategic
toolbox
that publishers can use to exploit
these
changes in media interaction, to build
loyalty,
interest and service
delivery.
7
8
CONCEPTS
Introduction
The winds of change for the news industry same news consumers are becoming
are
blowing like a hurricane. For decades, publishers
themselves, with blogging, social
media were few, and audience members
sources networking,
photo contribution and website
were
dependent upon traditional media to get creation.
Torry Pedersen, editor in chief of
their
news and information. The vast expansion VG
Multimedia in Oslo, calls this brash new
of
digitalisation and proliferation of
groupmedia consumers the “digital
of
media in the past 15 to 20 years means
channels natives.”
the
traditional media no longer is in control of “To this new generation, the virtual world is
the
audience. as
real as the real world. To this group, it is
as
natural to produce as it is to consume. To
Since the arrival of digitalisation, the
this egocasting is a habitat as familiar
breed,
media
landscape has become heavily populated
as
broadcasting. This group wants their
with
non-traditional media like online “pure-
media
edited as much by themselves as by
plays”, telecoms, search engines,
mobile
the
medium,” Pedersen said. “Are these
bloggers,journalists, Internet TV, Web
citizen
digital our future customers? Only if
natives
TV,
satellite radio, podcasters, vodcasters and
we
interact with a profound understanding of
a
whole host of other emerging media that
their
values.” (See article written by Petersen,
read a Who’s Who list for the cool and
like
Page
41)
hip.
There’s a new type of news consumer
Traditional media have become one of
who
does not care about the newspaper’s
the
many providers of news, information
tradition
and brand. Instead, the spotlight for and
entertainment. Trying to keep up
these
younger news consumers is on their
with
competitors is beyond a full-time
society,
their community, and their job.
workplace,
according to Takashi Ishioka, director The plethora of media choices has shifted
of
electronic media for Asahi the
media consumption dynamic from a
Shimbun’s division in Tokyo. Meanwhile,
electronic media- media landscape to an audience-
driven
the driven
9
media landscape. Each media The scientific documentation for

consumer’s
media habits are as individual as the
audience’s shifts in behaviour are
their
fingerprints extensive.Suhler Stevenson, a New York-
Veronis
. based
media investment firm, has tracked
A number of trends have been spawned
the
American media consumer’s usage
from audience-driven
the news and
behaviour
for decades. While media
information
marketplace
consumption
patterns shows steady declines for
.
1. The explosion of participative journalism, newspapers,
VSS has for years said that
or
community-generated media
consumption has actually increased.
content For
example, VSS research estimates the
2. The rise of audience research by
number
of hours spent with media per year was
media
companies desperate to learn new patterns
3,280
in 1999, was 3,483 in 2005 and is projected
of
media
to 3,555 in 2009.
be
usage
3. The proliferation of personalised
One of the driving forces for the increase
news
delivered online and on mobile in
the number of hours consuming media is
phones
4. The reorganization of newsrooms the that media consumers, pressed by
fact
optimised
for audience their
frantically busy lives, are multitasking
focus with
media at an increasing rate. Every year,
5. The development of new forms the
percentage of those who multitask regularly
of
storytelling geared towards new audiences
or
occasionally, goes up. In fact, a 2006
and channels
new Forrester
Research report said that more than 80
6. A shift from traditional news judgment percent
of North Americans online listen to the
to
audience-focused news judgment radio,
use the Internet or read the paper or
and
multimedia news a
magazine while watching
judgment TV.
Hours using Consumer Media – Hours per person per year, United States
TV B ro ad cast New s- Re cor d ed Co nsume r C onsu mer Con sumer V ide o H ome Box I nt er a ct ive Tot al
& S at el lli tepa per s mu sic In t er net Mag az ines Boo ks ga mes V id eo Of f ice TV
R adi o
19 99 1, 42 7 9 39 20 5 2 81 65 1 34 117 58 41 13 – 3, 280
20 05 1, 54 8 9 78 18 3 1 79 183 1 24 106 78 76 12 15 3, 483
20 09* 1, 56 2 9 84 16 5 1 65 203 1 21 106 96 99 12 42 3, 555
* p ro je cte d
Source: Veronis Suhler Stevenson, 2005
Media use has been growing, particularly and Video Games. VSS projects
in
the entertainment and “infotainment” significant
growth in these media for years to
sectors,
such as Internet, Home Video, Interactive come.
TV
Growth of hours using Consumer Media – % of time spent per person per year, United States
Co m po un d ed TV B ro ad cast New s- Re cor d ed Co nsume r C onsu mer Con sumer V ide o H ome Box I nt er a ct ive Tot al
An nu al & S at el lli tepa per s mu sic In t er net Mag az ines Boo ks ga mes V id eo Of f ice TV
G row th R adi o
19 99- 20 04 1. 6 1 .0 -1 .7 - 8. 0 21. 9 - 1. 6 -1. 6 5. 9 1 0. 5 -0 .6 – 1. 2
20 04- 20 09 0. 2 0 .0 -2 .6 - 2. 3 2. 9 - 0. 4 -0. 3 4. 4 8 .0 -0 .6 3 1. 3 0. 4
Source: Veronis Suhler Stevenson, 2005
10
CONCEPTS
Shares of Consumers Who Media Multitask The foundation of every content plan
should
be the audience-focus strategy.
By Medium, United States, 2005
Media
companies need to conduct regular
Medium Percent who multitask
regularly or occasionally
content to show how demographics and
analyses
Print 48.5% the
expressed needs of the audience. The
Magazines 53.9
content
analysis should be just one arrow in the
Books 47.4
quiver
of the content development process. Of
course,
old-fashioned news judgment continues to
Newspapers 44.4
45.3
be important element of day-to-day
an
Music
content
gate-
CDs 45.0
keeping.
Mp3 31.1 Scripps uses a 30-day readership
Radio 21.7 content
analysis to should shows how
Internet 43.5 demographics
like youth and ethnicity are being
Web surfing 43.8 represented
by the newspaper, and how stories are
E-mail 38.1 being
published in the areas of interest expressed
Video 9.2 by
the readers, Sease said. The 30-day
Videogames 26.0 readership
content analysis is an opportunity for
Television 20.4 all
newspapers and news websites to see
VHS 11.4 if
content is indeed reaching their
DVD 5.7 intended
audiences. The analysis uses questionnaires
Total, including 18.1 to determine what the audience wants
first
mobile phone with
content, and then to find out whether or not
and postage mail use
the
newspaper or news website is delivering
Source: Veronis Suhler Stevenson, 2005 the
desired
content.
The following five strategies are reflective
In order to compete for attention in
of seismic changes happening in the
the
this
overcrowded marketplace, evolved
news
industry, and underscore that these
media
companies are hanging out the welcome
concepts
have become part of everyday
sign,
inviting the audience to publish on
reality.
their
newspaper pages and websites. 1. Managing audience
Media
companies are soliciting blogs, photos, focus
eye- 2. Leveraging breaking news and
witness accounts of news events,
optimising
workflows
mobile and videos, and guest editorials
photos
from
readers, viewers and users. Some 3. Exploring new channels
media
companies are offering personal website
spacethe media company’s servers for 4. Experimenting with new
on
storytelling
approaches
audience to express themselves. New
members
models
for information access are sprouting up, 5. Publishing consumer-generated news
such
as OhMyNews.com in Korea, About.com in and
informatio
New York and Topix.net in San Jose, Calif. n
In many cases, the strategy is paying

off.
These hyperlocal or ultrapersonal
accounts
often amount to some of the highest-
traffic
content categories on websites and
in
newspapers.
The new focus on audience has driven
many
media companies to research their
audience
demographics, behaviours and
media
consumption patterns to better serve and
retain
the audiences. The research strategies
are
starting to have an impact on readership
and
the bottom line, said Linda Sease at
Scripps.
More media companies are planning
audience
research for
2006.
11
12
CONCEPTS
1. Managing audience focus
Changing a newspaper company from company now must narrow down the group
atraditional mindset to an audience- of
15- to 25-year olds. Perhaps the focus
focus
mindset starts with understanding the would
be youth with mobile phones, iPods,
audience
in the individual newspaper Internet
connections and disposable
marketplace
across departments, including the income.
3. Audience Researchers in
editorial
department profiling:
phase this
aim to better understand the
.
The process of the audience-focus target
groups’ demographics,
transitionmuch like a classic
starts psychographics,
lifestyles, media behaviours, device
marketing
segmentation campaign: Media ownership,
and media usership timeframes. This stage
companies’
marketing departments research the can the form of research about the target
take
desired and determine how best to reach
audience group
and exploring the unique behaviour
that
audience with their editorial that
motivate this group to consume media
“products”. on
specific channels at specific
The five steps to audience segmentations
are: times.
1. Audience 4. Audience touchpoint This phase
identification Audience
2. analysis:
aims to develop a comprehensive approach
prioritizationAudience
3. to
the customers’ experience with
profiling
4. Audience touchpoint the
newspaper’s brand. In this phase, the
analysis
5. Resource company
must research and develop new products,
allocation such
as podcasts, mobile content and
1. Audience Suppose
identification:
Newspaper Company A wants to reach a Internet
multimedia content for the youth audience.
younger audience. The company would In
addition to product development,
first
identify the specific audience it wants to researcherstechnical support, customer care,
consider
reach,
perhaps 15- to 25-year user
experience and media
olds. habits.
2. Audience Knowing the 5. Resource After deciding
prioritization:
newspaper can’t be all things to all youth, allocation:to provide theonaudience target,
products
the media
13
companies must allocate time, money million in the afternoon. Almost 12

and
people to create the million
unique visitors come to the
products. www.asahi.com
site each month, in addition to mobile
For journalists, thinking like a marketer is
phone and
text video
a
foreign concept, and perhaps even a hostile
usage.
one.
But a simple exercise can change the The company’s Electronic Media
way
journalists think about their audience’s and
Broadcasting division.has 100
needs,
and begin to undermine the fortress of fear employees, 20 working on Internet and
including
many
journalists have hunkered down in. mobile
content.
Participants
in this exercise need a good understanding
In its research, it identified three key areas
of
their company’s market of
audience behaviour that have affected both
research.
Audience Focus / Product the
editorial and business strategies for
Development Exercise the
company.
Audience Focus/Product Development 1. Audience time connected to

Exercise media
2. Audience place where they are connected
1. Build a team of 12, 16 or 20, with to
media
equal
numbers of editors, journalists, marketers 3. Audience money expended on
and
product managers, depending on how media
consumption
many
market segments are being devices
considered Takashi Ishioka, director of
2. Identify market segment or segments electronic at the Asahi Shimbun, said
publishing
as
targets, such as sports enthusiasts, the
research found that less time was being
working
mothers, spent
on the newspaper, especially by those under
pensioners 30
years old. Instead, those under 30 spent
3. Gather photographs of people who
represent time mobile phones and Internet. The
on
each market
segment research
results led to a campaign to target those
4. Break the large group into teams, one under
30 by delivering news content to
team
for each market mobile
phones. Today, Asahi Shimbun’s
target mobile
content channel is the market leader,
5. Each team will develop its product in
three with
more than 1 million users. Asahi
steps:
Shimbun’s
mobile content includes breaking sports
a. MEDIA TIME USAGE: Using the news, schedules and player profiles,
sports
picture of the person to symbolize music, headlines, streaming video, and a
news
the
target, team members will describe photo
contest collaboration among print, Web
the
media habits of the target audience and
mobile
from time target wakes up in the
the departments.
morning In addition, a mobile video
until they go to sleep, hour by
subscription
service has 4,000 subscribers. The price of
hour
b. DEVICES/CHANNELS: The team will
the
service is kept low – about $1 per month
discuss the types of media this segment
for and $3 for video mobile services
text
uses
c. PRODUCTS: The team will tailor
–because Asahi Shimbun uses it to
products to the target, based on their
promote sales. So far, tens of thousands
newspaper
time
and channel
of
subscriptions have been sold via mobile
preferences
After the exercise, decide which products since
1999.
to to market. Deputise the team to
take
Reseachers also found that consumers
develop
the products further for the targeted
don’t
use the morning or afternoon paper in
audiences.
the
middle of their day – the Web covered
work
hours. But a gap existed in commute
Newspapers company’s audience
research time, people were going to and from
when
work.
That presented opportunities to fill in the
Media companies in different parts of the gaps mobile content and promotions to
with
world launched audience-related research
have the
paper. The mobile channel is now dubbed
to
determine editorial content the
“gap”
strategy. medium.
Tokyo’s Asahi Shimbun is the second- The research did show that different
largest
newspaper in the world, with more than age
groups preferred a certain medium.
8million circulation in the morning paper and The
newspaper is favoured by those over 45,
4 the
14
CONCEPTS
Internet is the balliwick mostly of those 30 company’s strategic research and

to and the mobile phone is a cornerstone
45, development.
http://www.asahi.com/english
of
the under-30 set. This knowledge helped
/
Asahi
Shimbun crystallise its content strategy What emerged out of Asahi Shimbun’s
for media.
each focusits audience is a convergence
on
strategy.
Convergence is the internal media
Asahi Shimbun now distributes news
company
process by which stories are integrated
content
via different media, according to the
and
multiple media workflow occurs. The
age
demographic it wants to reach. “I think that
outcome
is that audience members get the content
we reached a time to differentiate by
have
they
want, on the channels they want,
taking
advantage of the strengths of the channels
whenever
they want it.
for
information,” says Ishioka. “In the
future,
I think that it is an important point “Convergence is about peoples’ time. We
that
newspapers shift the focus onto the must
come to them at their choice of time and in
channels
and not solely the product.” The mobile the
form they want. Convergence is also
phone patterns continue to be a part of
usage about
peoples’ heart: They want to stick to those
the they
15
trust. In return, we must pass our stories audience.

to
people when and how they want them,”
Editor in Chief Flemming Hvidfeldt
said Dyrnes Svendsen,Web Editor of
Rolf
is
embarking on research that will help
the
Adresseavisen, in Trondheim, them
understand the media usage across
Norway.
Adresseavisen is Norway’s oldest newspaper –
platforms.
The newspaper, located in Denmark’s
it
started publishing in 1767. It’s now a Jutlands
region, has 25 journalists and
converged employing 150 people
operation,
photographers,
and the radio station Guld FM has
across
newspaper, website, radio and TV 30
journalists. Most of the journalists are
station.
Adressavisen isn’t the only cross-
trained for print and radio, and all
Scandinavian
media organization using an audience deliver to the Internet. The cross-training
stories
focus
strategy. In fact, Ringkøbing Amts Daglad and
convergence workflow has been developed
in
Denmark integrates an 11,000- to
reach news consumers on their terms,
circulation a radio station with a
newspaper, agnostic
of media channel. “You have to know a
listenership
of only 8,000 and a website of a mere lot
about your audience members before you
2,000 page views. But this tiny
daily start
converging,” Hvidfeldt
company
including 55, cross-trained journalists, said.
has
some really big ideas about how to reach
its Göteborgs-Posten
Adressa.no’s Web reporter Anniken
Göteborg, Sweden
More than ten years of audience research
has
allowed the Göteborgs-Posten in
Göteborg,
Sweden, to “know everything about
their
audience except their shoe number,”
says
Development Director Per Andersson-
Ek
and to develop editorial products targeted
to
audience groups previously not served by
the
newspaper. The strategy has allowed
the
paper to maintain and grow its estimated
66
percent market share, and expand its
overall
presence into more than 90 percent of
the
households in Goteborg, which has a
half-
million inhabitants, according to
Hjertholm edits audio to one of her Internet Andersson-
Ek.
articles, based on original material from a
newspaper journalist in the Adresseavisen “The problem with Göteborgs Posten is not
to
increase readership or subscriptions.
newsroom.
This
strategy is more to maintain the
household
coverage,” Andersson-Ek said. “I would say
if
we hadn’t done these things, we would
have
seen a drop off.”
Its most recent research, conducted in
late
2005 and early 2006, studied the youth
market,
and in particular, its consumption of
media
across print, Web, mobile and iPods. The
focus
group and accompanying research
determined
that youth are interested in print and
mobile,
but can’t afford to buy subscriptions to
either.
The research was the foundation for their
new
youth newspaper editorial strategy,
which
solicits and publishes content from three
Multimedia editors at Adresseavisen in youth
categories. Each day, content is published
Norway work along the news assemblyline. in
the newspaper and on the website
A short distance between media channel sections for the three youth
made
players assures convergence on a daily segments:
• Graffiti, for 12 to 16 year
basis with print, Web, TV, radio and mobile.
olds
16
CONCEPTS
• Attitude, for 17 to 20 year groups, and we are trying new

olds
• The Avenue, for 20 to 24 year olds things.”
“The people who work with these sections

are NYTimes.com
young people who are recruited on an
annual
basis,” said Andersson- The NYTimes.com redesign, features a
Ek. wider
page with more news on the home page.
The papers are also distributed for free
to Its
design framework targets six “personas”
students, in order to compete with Metro,
that
read the New York Times
a
favourite among youth in
Göteborg. online.
NYTimes.com spent a year between
Studying people who do not the read the
April
2005 and April 2006 developing its
paper be even more enlightening than
can
studying new
website content and design. It started
those who do.
by
conducting ethnographic research on
“All Swedish newspapers have a problem its
website’s users, going into homes, offices
withaging audience, and to be frank, an
an and
social environs in order to observe their
aging
staff. I think the problem is to reach media
behaviour over extended periods of
younger
readers, and readers in low status time.
areas. The research was conducted with
Goteborg is a very segregated town
three
constituencies in mind: journalists,
with
immigrants in some suburbs. We have
advertisers
and readers, according to redesign
been
doing a project on how to reach
product
manager Rob Larson. He said the
immigrants,” said.
Andersson-Ek
design
accommodates new advertising positions
In its research, it discovered large for advertiser community, including
the
populations
of immigrants who were not being served more
inventory for display and video ads, and
by
the newspaper. In response, the also
allows editorial to be more creative with
newspaper
opened news bureaus in the suburbs where photo and content variety on the home
sizes
the
immigrants lived to get in touch with page. readers, the redesign offered many
For
the
events and issues that are important to content aimed at the six personas the
choices
them.
Without these bureaus, the paper’s Times
identified as comprising its audience.
journalists
would have never known about such issues “We
wanted readers to enjoy reading New
and
events, he York content on the site,” Larson
Times
said. said.
“If you want to stay on top of the market, The six personas defined by the Times
you look into every group and see how
must are:
• Online news maven: a news aficionado
to
develop there. Pensioners are not the same who
reads a story on the section front or from an
as
one year ago, youngsters are not the same
e-
mail
as
10 years ago,” he newsletter
said. • Researcher: a task-driven visitor who
“We didn’t used to cover Chinese New uses
search or section navigation to find
Year
and Ramadan, but now we do. We cover local specific in the topics section or in the
content
issues,” he said. “We try to focus on archives
different • Planner: This person either wants to find
an
activity, like going to a movie, or to engage
in
a transaction, like buying a car. They are on
amission for information when they go to the
site
• Newspaper-style reader: This reader
likes
how the newspaper is organized, and wants
to
read the website in the same
layout
• Latest thing: This person is interested
in
buzz, or the latest bit of info, like a news
alert
or a list of the most popular stories. They
are
strong candidates for a personalized page
with
trend information and RSS feeds of info
they
are interested
in
• Break in the Day: This reader comes in for
afew stories at a time, and comes
back
17
“Readers are very vocal about the redesign,

for
a number of reasons,” said Chase.
“Some
people are saying it doesn’t look like the
New
York Times anymore. Some people like
it
because the new (wider) width has more
news.
Some people like it because we
use
photography in more creative
sizes.”
While it is too soon to call the redesign a
hit,
Chase said “we do get a much higher ratio
of
positive to negative. With
multimedia
packages, we get a disproportionate amount
of
positive to
negative.”
The redesign is just the tip of the iceberg
frequently throughout the day. This of
audience-focus initiatives and
person
represents a fairly significant amount of convergence
practises at the New York Times. Next
the spent on the
time year,
the interactive operation will move to
site an
The website provides content for each integrated print and Web
persona.
For those who come to the site to plan newsroom. from print and Web will work
Journalists
their
weekend, the “Showtimes and Tickets” even
more closely together. Also, the number
search was created. For the researcher,
window of
multimedia producers will expand, in order
the
archives and search functionality was built. to stories with audio, video, text
tell
For
the news maven, the website remains and
graphics. The multimedia presentation
newsy
and full of links to breaking news items. has
become popular among online users,
For “latest thing” persona, there’s a link to
the with multimedia packages getting more
many
the
most popular stories, searches and than
one million unique
blogs. visitors.
Many of the new features of the site
are
designed to capture attention of the RBS Group and Zero
audiences
from different entry points: through newspaper
Hora
“layering”
a variety of content approaches. Among Porto Allegre, Brazil
them:
• The “most popular” section, featuring RBS Group is a multimedia company
Most
Searched, Most Blogged, Most covering
the South of Brazil. It has 21 TV
Read stations,
several newspapers, including the 2-
• Stories with audio, video and
million
circulation Zero Hora in Porto Allegre, 25
text
• A newsy presentation on a wider page AM FM radio stations, Internet
and
formatcapture
to more portal
ClicRBS, and a transactional
content portal
Hagah.com.br.
• MyTimes personalised
pages The multimedia group every two
“We will definitely see more innovations in
the years
conducts audience research with a
future. Everyone is trying to grow our
online research
firm that regularly does consumer research
businesses,” Larson said. ”We are trying
to the best platform for our journalists for
companies like Unilever and
find
and Pepsi.
engaging our “What we do is to focus on consumer
readers.” behavior
regarding our papers against competition
As with any major change or compelling
piece and
against other media. We also try to
of journalism on the site, many New
define
lifestyles to ease some conclusions. It
York readers voice their opinion about
Times
the is
basically qualitative research but it has
redesign. One reader responded to
shown clues to enhance our editorial
great
amultimedia slide show about the
Chernobyl products
and also great feedback for
disaster by saying it was the single-
advertising
projects,” said Flávio Steiner,
best
summary of the disaster, and added, “What
awonderful story….what an obnoxious commercialfor the RBS
director
Group.
design!”
Most readers have been positive, or The research, for example, showed
offered
constructive criticism, said the
company that readers wanted
Nytimes.com
Deputy Editor Neil Chase. more
information on science, technology
and
18
CONCEPTS
innovation. So the company launched ways. For example, sports scores delivered
asupplement named Eureka, later as
mobile phone alerts, or game post-mortems
named
GlobalTech, featuring these themes. via
podcasts.
The
venture has been very profitable.
For new websites, every day presents a
In
conjunction with the GlobalTech section,
virtual
focus group. User weblogs allow
the
company launched a GlobalTech Internet
publishers to see who accesses
exposition,
which drew 74,000 visitors and
what
information on the site, the path they
generated
about $1 million in revenue, Steiner take
through the site, the duration of their
said.
The research also found that vast numbers visit,
where they came from and where they go
of
readers lived a more traditional after visit. The use of cookies
their
Brazillian grounded in cultural history.
lifestyle, allows
publishers to virtually travel through sites
“We
created a page to attend to this with
the visitors, and learn from their
demand,”
Steiner said. “The numbers of readers journeys.
is Some papers are using Web data to drive
amazing.” RBS also launched 6 books
print
content. The Wisconsin State Journal in
focused
on regional traditions and recipes, DVDs
the
USAallows readers to pick their
and
an occasional special newspaper
favorite
stories online, and the results of the poll
supplement local
on
are
published on the front page of the next
traditions.
The research also showed that readers day’s with the “Reader’s Choice”
paper,
didn’t
want fewer pages, but they wanted to read label.
Las Ultimas Noticias, Chile’s most-read
the
paper
goes even further. Since 2003, LUN has
decided which stories to put in the paper
based
on how much traffic the stories get online.
The
paper thus applies more of a TV rating
system
to its decision-making, using popularity
–mass judgment -- rather than old-
fashioned
“news judgment.”
Some technology has advanced the concept
of
simple user logs, which chronicle the tens
of
thousands, hundreds of thousands or
even
millions of visits to the site, and then
show
trends in usage on various stories, sections
and
timings on
websites.
Some media companies are using
web
analytics software called Web Side Story
paper faster. “We introduced pages that
or
Omniture to determine which stories are
inspire
three new speeds of readership so you can being
accessed right now, simply by viewing
read
the whole paper in 15 minutes or in three
a
website administration page that replicates
Implicit vs. Explicit Audience Data
hours.”
the news web pages. Among those
live
and the Impact on News Judgment
companies the
using software are
News companies have used implicit NYTimes.com,
Boston.com, ElTiempo.com.co,
user
information to make educated decisions CanWest and Morris Digital. Web
Interactive
about content strategies for as long as they
their Side clients include Fox News, Fox
Story
have
existed. For example, it’s a safe bet that Sports,
Viacom, ESPN and Knight Ridder
sports
content is popular among a large segment Digital.
Some editors use the traffic statistics
of
newspaper readers worldwide, particularly
from tools to move stories up or down on
these
men.
Now, more scientific data exists about the
home page, or even off the home
users,
readers and viewers to help media page.
But the web analytics software also is useful
companies
make informed decisions about producing
in
strategic
and
delivering information to the news ways .
customer. “Omniture helps the product team in
For instance, the data does show that
many
ways. We can look at keywords the people
manywant sports news. But it also shows
men
are
searching for within specific products to
that want that news delivered in
they
better
understand areas or interest. We can get
different
reports
19
on the most popular paths people take on

the
site and see how that correlates with our
user
cases. The pathing reports can either
confirm
them or suggest new use cases that we
should
design for. Omniture also allows us to
set
alerts on traffic levels to know
when
something is under-performing or
over-
achieving,” said Rob Larson, product
manager
for NYTimes.com, and one of the
architects
for the NYTimes.com
redesign.
Many journalists believe that tracking
software
should not influence good, old-fashioned
news
judgment. They reason that news judgment
is
what differentiates journalists from all of
the
news and information providers on the
Web.
“We want to reflect the news judgment of
the
paper. People don’t come to NYTimes.com
for
sex and pop stars. People are looking at
our
site for a brilliant mixture of interesting
and
compelling news,” said NYTimes.com
deputy
editor Neil Chase. “If the reader wants
popular
content, we have a new section on our
home
page for most popular blogs, searches
and
emailed
articles.”
Similarly, El Tiempo.com.co in Bogota
uses
the software to track usage, particularly
in
breaking news situations. The software
has
validated how popular breaking news is to
the
overall traffic of the
website.”
“When breaking news happens, like a
plane
crash, we immediately see a spike in
traffic.
We have educated and convinced our
audience
that we have that kind of news,” said an
editor
at the website. “But we can’t guide our
news
judgment by
Omniture.”
20
CONCEPTS
2. Leveraging breaking news

and optimising workflows
News and information any time, any several media companies have
place.
This has become the mantra for many created
breaking news desks or “Continuous
media
companies worldwide. Logistically News
Desks.”
and
strategically speaking, publishing news
any
time and any place is a challenge. Breaking news desks /
Breaking
news alone requires a strategy unto Continuous News
itself.
Imagine, then, having to break news on
Desks
any
publishing channel at any hour of the Newspaper journalists and editors have a
day.
This one-
deadline mindset. When the demands of
requires: a
multimedia news operation change,
• A 24/7 staffed news
the
organizational structure and news
operation
• Journalists cross-trained in telling stories workflow
must change to focus on the delivery
via
audio, video and text for online, of
breaking news.
for
podcasting, vodcasting, video, mobile
Since the launch of news websites,
and
emerging traditional
one-deadline mindsets have clashed with
media
• A new workflow optimised for the
ongoing deadline needs of online news.
breaking
news publishing Most news operations found it impossible
online
to
ask newspaper reporters to update stories
Most news websites name breaking news for
the Web as breaking news happened.
as
their most-accessed category of
In
response to the impasse, the breaking
content. breaking news can be a commodity
Because newswas born.
desk
in marketplace, being recognised as
the
the
fastest and most accurate breaking- In 2002, the New York Times and the
news
operation should be a strategic objective. Washington Post each built print-
That
requires a workflow optimised for speed, web
newsflow desks for the express purpose
but
also accuracy. To create this kind of of
breaking the one-deadline mindset in
flow, their
21
respective newspaper companies, Instead of maintaining the media silos

and
producing breaking news on the Internet in of
newspaper, radio, television, Internet
a
consistent, accurate and timely and
mobile, NordJyske and Lawrence
manner. Journal-
World have organized their
In each case, the desks reside in the
multimedia by sports, business,
newsrooms
print
newsroom. News reporters file multiple
news,
entertainment, etc. Each content group is
stories
per day for the web. The final story filed is
made
up of journalists who are cross-trained
for newspaper.
the
in
multiple media. They thus are able to
Since the development of the tell
stories across media, using the tools of
Continuous
News Desk, several news operations each
individual
have
added their own breaking news media.
“The biggest change now is we concentrate
operations, the Fort Lauderdale (Florida)
including on
content rather than filling space, we
Sun-
Sentinel, Los Angeles Times, Knight
are
thinking about customers instead of filling
Ridder
Digital, and most recently, the our
product. We have gone from a very
Chicago Each involve only print
Tribune.
static
company to a more dynamic company
content
for delivery ….we
are more flexible. We can move stories
online.
At NordJyske Medier in Aalborg, around. and reporters are working
Editors
Denmark, the
however, breaking news together than seeing each other as
rather
operation
encompasses print, Web, mobile, TV opponents.,”
said Ulrik Haagerup, Editor in Chief of
and
radio. The entire operation is focused the
NordJyske.
on
breaking news across the space of a day,
and developing a newspaper for the Several media companies are in the process
then
of
replicating this model of newsroom
next
morning full of analysis and deeper
organization
by content, including El Tiempo in
reporting
on the breaking news from the day
Bogota,
adresseavisen.no (www.adressa.no) in
before.
Norway,
and Ringkøbing Amts Daglad in
Denmark.
Organising around content creates a number
of
advantages in a converged
operation:
1. News becomes the priority, not the
medium
on which news is
published
2. Cultural barriers are diminished
when
multiskilled journalists focus their
energies
on the stories, not the
medium
3. The reader, viewer and user receive
fast,
accurate breaking news across
platforms
NordJyske newsroom, with key editors
making news decisions across all media: TV,
radio, online, print and mobile.
NordJyske Medier reasons that its

audience
already knows the breaking news, so
the
newspaper should reflect a deeper and
more
analytical picture of the news. NordJyske
is
not the only news operation with this
approach
to newsflow and organization. The
Lawrence
Journal-World in Lawrence, Kansas, USA,
has
adopted a similar approach. It may come as
no
surprise that both are considered among
the
most converged news operations in the The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel has made
world.
Both have optimised their multiple a commitment to breaking news,
media
operations for breaking news, and and considers it one of their edges over
both
structure operations by subject matter, the competition of the Miami Herald
not
media and the Palm Beach Post.
channel.
22
CONCEPTS
NewsHacker and News News Ticker gets 12,000 unique visitors

from
TickerDe Volkskrant per
day, who use News Ticker at least twice
per
day, according to Rob deHeer,
In order to take advantage of the interest general
manager of
in
breaking news, de Volkskrant in deVolkskrant.nl.
Amsterdam two news products to
developed Mobile phone is another hot platform
encourage readers online to access
younger for
breaking news publishing, with
breaking
news. NewsHacker is an instant- millions
worldwide subscribing to news
messenger
based interface, while News Ticker is an and
information alerts. Some of the most
RSS-
powered personalised news gatherer. RSS popular
news alerts are local breaking news,
is
Real Simple Syndication, a final
sports scores and points scored
technological
process that fetches content from around immediately
after they happen, and stock prices after
the
Web based on the users’ the
close of world stock
requests. markets.
NewsHacker (www.nieuwskraker.nl) is
for
MSN subscribers, and allows users to
search
the de Volkskrant website and the rest of Multimedia news judgment
the
Web for news, using their MSN
If news judgment is considered a
Instant
Message interface. Since its January
linear
process of Planning, Producing and
2006
launch, MSN subscribers name Parsing on a single medium, like
news
the
Netherlands as one of the most
newspapers,
then multimedia news judgment is a
concentratedcountries, with more than
subscriber multi-
faceted process of Planning, Producing
90
percent reach in the Netherlands.
and
Parsing news based on Audience
The
NewsHacker site has more than 14,000 demands,
usage patterns and timing. The
active with about 5,500 IM search
users,
multiple
dimensions of a variety of media, timing
messages
per day. News seekers simply instant and
values for each media, coupled with that
message
NewsHacker to find the latest news nearly
of
perceived audience relevance, is a
any
subject, and get results back through the complicated
spaghetti bowl of decision-making in a
IM
message window.
24- news cycle.
hour
Nieuws Ticker (www.nieuwsklikker.nl)
The multimedia process dovetails with
draws
from more than 50 news sources, the
audience-focus strategy. A variety of studies
including
text, photos, videos and teletext. When the in
the past years have underscored that
user
requests information, the RSS-powered people
use many types of media each day. The
engine
fetches the content and delivers it to the new
news judgment takes the audience
user. News Ticker demystifies the RSS
The members’
hunger for breaking news centre stage, on
process.
Most users on the Web do not understand avariety of breaking news platforms like
RSS,
according to the Pew Internet poll in online, and mobile, as well as TV and
email
2006.
radio.
The multimedia editor will ultimately
decide
how each story will be played, where it will
be
played, and what form the story will take
for
each media.
Multimedia news gurus at the
celebrated
converged news operation Tampa
Tribune,
TBO.com and Channel 8, liken
multimedia
news judgment to “three-dimensional
chess.”
That is, they must decide when, where and
in
which medium the company will publish
its
stories
.
Ultimately, multimedia news judgment
is
the centrepiece of a new
multimedia
workflow that will require new
newsroom
roles, as well as the integration
of
journalists and media processes in
News Ticker, part of de Volkskrant.nl one
combined
newsroom.
23
Source: SFN research
24
CONCEPTS
3. Exploring new channels
A media consumer’s personal Podcasting / vodcasting

media
consumption patterns are as unique as
the
individual. Ask 100 people to make a diary The rapid spread of mp3 players like the
of
their daily consumption patterns, and no iPod
continues unabated, and listeners
two
diaries will be alike. That is because are
downloading more than just music. The No.
new
media are emerging all the time. For 1most downloaded podcast from itunes.com
example,
before 2005, the word “podcasting” was is Ricky Gervais Show
The
not of the media vernacular. The word
part (www.rickygervais.com), which has
was
invented by “podfather” Adam Curry, a 2surpassed
million downloads. Gervais was hosted
formerVJ, and now owner of the PodShow and
MTV by
Guardian.co.uk for several months
podcasting radio host on Sirius Satellite before accepted a lucrative deal
Gervais
Radio. from
Audible.com for a share of the
In just over a year since podcasting subscription
revenues, according to reports. In
was
coined, it’s estimated that more than April,
Gervais launched a vodcast, to
50,000 exist, more than the number of
podcasts incorporateinto
video his
radio
stations worldwide. The rate of downloads podcast.
is
accelerating at about 20 percent per Meanwhile, Swedish tabloid
year,
according to FeedBurner, a Expressen four local daily vodcasts for
launched
podcasting
aggregator. various of Sweden. Vodcasts are video
parts
published
on iPods or
So newspaper companies need to invest
computers.
and
engage in new channels because the Stockholm
audience
is using new channels. Milllions of :http://extra.expressen.se/podcast/stockholm.
media
consumers worldwide are spending x
ml
time
listening to podcasts, watching vodcasts
and online, engaging with interactive TV
video Göteborg:
and
immersive graphics, and so http://extra.expressen.se/podcast/goteborg.x
on. ml
25
New Media Channel Glossary

• Podcast: An audio news or entertainment show that can be listened
to on a computer, or can be downloaded onto an mp3 player, including Apple
iPods.
• Vodcast: A video news or entertainment programme that can be viewed on
mp3 players equipped with video capabilities, particularly the video iPod.
• RSS: Short for “Really Simple Syndication,” RSS is a Web content feed
technology that allows Web publishers to deliver their Web pages and podcast content to users
automatically at the users’ request, rather than them having to search for it. Readers simply sign up
for RSS via RSS-feed sites available on news websites or portals like Yahoo! or Feedster. The free
subscription service fetches the requested page for the subscriber every time the page updates.
Many new sites report RSS feeds account for 10 to 25 percent of their traffic.
• News aggregator: Software that offers an aggregated view of content across genres, allowing
news consumers to find specific content and have it delivered to them through a feed window.
A feed window is a simple piece of free software that can allow users to compile a personalised
array of feeds, automatically delivered to the window every time the feed URL is updated.
• Social networking: Sites like MySpace and Blogger are a network of personal websites linked
to other personal networks of the website owner’s choice. The sites frequently attract the under-30
crowd, with the purpose of self-expression. The sites can contain the person’s entertainment
preferences, opinions about sundry topics, and video, photos and audio of themselves or a host
of favourite musicians or social topics. Interactivity among networkers takes place via email, instant
messaging and chat rooms..
Skåne: NYTimes.com in the United States,

http://extra.expressen.se/podcast/skane.x plus
Stern.de (in Germany), ABC.net.au
ml (in
Austria), and BNN.nl (in the
Östergötland
Netherlands).
:http://extra.expressen.se/podcast/ostergotland.x Social networking also is a hot area for
ml news
publishers. Last year, Rupert Murdoch
Charlene Li, analyst for new media at
bought
the most popular social networking
Forrester
Research’s California outpost, site,
MySpace.com, targeted at youth between
predicts
podcasting’s audience will grow from
the of 12 and 25, for about $580 million
ages
700,000
households in the U. S. in 2006 to 12.3 USD.
million
households in the U. S. by 2010. “We should be using a lot more audio
and
video techniques,” said
Several media operations are building telegraph.co.uk’s
Richard Burton. “If it’s web-based, then
podcast
operations, including Telegraph, BBC
it’s
something we have to
and
Guardian in the UK, and embrace.”
Phillyfeed
(Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) Daily The thinking at the Telegraph is that
News),
Lawrence.com (Lawrence (Kansas) readers
will want to have their news, wherever
Journal-
World), NaplesNews.com (Naples they If that means listening to it on the
are.
(Florida)
Daily News, National Public Radio train,
“it’s a natural extension (of the paper),”
and Burton
says.. “If you’re truly a multimedia brand,
then
you can’t not do
it.”
In early April, the Guardian
Unlimited
launched five podcasts following about
six
months of training and experimentation.
The
podcasts are Newsdesk, Science
Weekly,
Prime Minister’s Questions, Media Talk
and
Westminster Weekly and a daily news
show
Each Guardian podcast has a different
format.
The Media Talk podcast, for example,
includes
four in-house media experts who
discuss
issues in a roundtable style, and lasts for
20
minutes
.
26
CONCEPTS
The key to a good podcast, according to networking strategies. Steve

Emily
Bell, Editor-in-Chief of Guardian Unlimited, Yelvignton,
editorial director for Morris Digtal Works
is make it compelling and interesting. The
to in
Augusta, Georgia, points to Www.Savannah
GU experiment with visuals such
will Now.com as an example of a news site
as
soundtracks and photos as they continue that cloned MySpace functionality.
has
their
journey of developing Another
example is Baktopia, the consumer-
podcasting.. produced
content website of the
Social networking Bakersfield
Californian, which has also
replicated
MySpace content and interactivity for
Social networking sites are its
local
growing
exponentially, but few local news sites users.
have to match the functions of Some of the social networking
tried
features
includes content sharing, photo
Myspace.com
and its college-age twin,
galleries, interest-networked profiles,
blogging,
Facebook.com.
Some regional media companies in and
formal/informal group
the
United States are developing their own memberships,
Yelvington
social said.
Mobile phone
content
The Text Messaging Revolution tone from me, I know three things; what you
By Mark Challinor like, what you are prepared to pay for it and
particularly, what time of the day you like to
Mobile phone usage is growing exponentially do business with me.
around the world, as more content services • Revenue. Often, media companies want to
and functions become available. The first- start with revenues. But in order to be
ever short message service (sms) was sent in successful, the mobile strategy must be
1995. In 2005, 400 billion sms messages carefully planned to understand the mobile
were sent worldwide. customer and what he wants. If the mobile
Faced with the need to attract the younger strategy is seen as valuable, then people will
demographic, newspapers globally are now pay for it.
using sms as a means to engage their
• Content. Newspapers must provide the
readers. There is a huge potential for sms to
right content for the audience that they are
create interaction between the reader and
trying to reach. It must be relevant, well
the newspaper. Given the all-pervasive
targeted and appropriate.
presence of the mobile handset in our lives,
sms can ensure that the reader is tuned into Some examples:
the paper even when he is not reading it. The Evening Standard in London was one of
Newspapers that want to leverage the power the early adopters of sms, creating a “win a
of SMS need to execute a four-stage Smart Car by 9pm” contest to stimulate the
strategy: Interaction, Database, Revenue and “instant win” part of the reader’s psyche.
Content. Entry was by mobile or email only: Most
entered by sms. The Evening Standard told
• Interaction. There is so much talk about readers that they would be entered into a
young people not reading newspapers text game promotion the following week by
nowadays. Young people do read when it is using their mobile phone number. That
presented in the right manner. Look what created a potential data privacy issue, so the
happens each time a Harry Potter book Standard told them to include the word “no”
comes out…youngsters can’t get enough of in their entry to win a car if they didn't want
it! They need to be engaged on their own to play next week’s game. Very few opted
terms – not just force fed what the out, so the paper ended up with a sizable
newspaper wants them to have. database. It’s been able to add to the
• Database. Using mobile marketing, you database, which is still used today, four
can create a database of readers, which years since the original game. The 'Win the
newspapers can then leverage in many Smart Car everyday' promotion was a red
ways. For example, if a customer buys a ring herring to what the Standard wanted to do,
27
which was to create a database. It did that HOW TO GET STARTED…

successfully, and has since been able to FIVE STEPS
generate a quarter of the circulation of the TO A SUCCESSFUL
newspaper on the database, purely from MOBILE STRATEGY
that one-off promotion.
Meanwhile, a number of football clubs now
1. Define your market.
use sms news alerts. Users of the service
pay to receive a text message every time Identify whom you are going
there is any major team news during the to sell to and how you will
week. When there is a match day, the user reach them. Certain mobile
gets an sms every time a goal is scored. services are more successful
Clubs find that a fan who signs up in the than others if they are
beginning of the football season is likely to marketed at the right time
subscribe for the rest of the season. and place.
“The Mail on Sunday” newspaper in the 2. Play by the rules!

UK, recently ran a promotion where it Understand all the regulations and legal
offered a free goal alert for its readers – it situations in your country as best you can.
would send them an alert when their team
scored a goal. After a month, readers 3. Have a viable Business and Revenue
received a message asking “Would you like model.
to continue at 25 pence per message for • Short Term: Low pricing may attract more
the rest of the season? Send yes back to customers, though early adopters of new
the number now.” Over the season, the technology will sometimes pay inflated
strategy has significant revenue prices.
implications and it provides an excellent
• Long Term: Research to determine right
mobile database.
price point and select a billing system that
A trend that holds promise for the future is works for you and your customers.
mobile phone bar codes. The ability to
4. Choose the right mobile
display bar codes on screen has been
consultancy / agency
around for a year or so but they haven't
really taken off yet because displays on It’s important to have connections and
some older handsets are not good enough revenue sharing agreements with mobile
to register the point of sale. In January consultants, who understand your business
2006, a UK supermarket chain had run the and can advise on best technological
first-ever TV campaign asking viewers to partners.
text in to receive a mobile coupon to 5.Offer the best content
redeem at their local supermarket. and applications.
Newspapers could easily do something Choosing the right content is key.
similar. Customers can be attracted to branded
The Austrian newspaper “Kleine Zeitung”, content from a recognisable source. If you
secured 10,000 tickets for a Robbie have agreements with content providers,
Williams concert being held in Vienna. make sure they understand and manage
These tickets, available for purchase only digital and copyright issues.
through the newspaper, let bearers bypass
the queue at the concert and enter a
special VIP section. Readers who bought a
ticket, received an sms with a bar code. At
the concert, the message was scanned
and the reader entered the VIP area, a
promotion that helped Kleine Zeitung
readers feel special and gave the paper
great interaction, a usable database, good
revenue and relevant content (the concert
was a sell-out!).
28
CONCEPTS
4. Experimenting with new

storytelling approaches
Market forces and technology adoption have • Broadband penetration: According to the
ahuge impact on the consumption of new OECD’s 2005 annual global broadband
formsjournalistic
of storytelling. As the penetration study, Iceland has the highest
consumption
of media on different devices grows – per
capita broadband subscription rate,
from
news to information to entertainment – so followed
by Korea, the Netherlands, Denmark
do different forms of storytelling.
the and
Switzerland.
Consider:
The United States has the highest number
• Mobile A 2005 survey by the of
broadband subscribers, with 49 million,
penetration:
Organisation for Economic Co-Operation but
that’s only 16.8 subscriptions per per
and
Development found there is one mobile hundred
people, ranking it 12th worldwide.
phone
for every person in the developed world. Similarly,
Japan ranked second in the number
In
fact, in Luxembourg mobile phones of
subscriptions, with 22 million, but only
outnumber
people. Researchers say that’s ranked
11 in
t h overall market
because
Luxembourgers need more than one phone penetration.
to
communicate across neighboring The fastest growing broadband markets
borders. are
Australia, Iceland, Finland, Norway and
Countries nearing 100 percent penetration
of the
Netherlands, all of which added more than
mobile phones are , in descending
order, 6
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in
Sweden, Italy, Iceland, Greece, Spain,
Norway, 2005.
Finland, Portugal, Britain and Broadband penetration drives lengthier
Denmark. periods
online, according to Nielsen Netratings’
• Mp3 Player Penetration: Market annualof U.S. broadband users. From 2003
study
IDC reports that sales of researchermp3 to
2006, broadband subscribers doubled,
players,
including iPods, will grow from 26.5 the
average daily usage grew by about 5 minutes
million
in 2005 to 124 million in 2008. per from 25 minutes to about 30 minutes.
day,
Meanwhile,
the number of podcasts already The
research suggests that users are spending
exceeds
50,000. more online with compelling broadband
time
content.
29
Broadband subscribers per 100 Journalism at the University of

inhabitants Maryland,
USA. Executive Director Jan Schaffer
December 2005
has significant changes in journalistic
seen
% of broadband Rank Total quality
as well as news consumer
subscribers subscribers habits.
“What is really clear to me is how
Iceland 26.7 1 78 017 much
people want to be able to multitask
Korea 25.4 2 12 190 711 with
information – listen to the content
Netherlands 25.3 3 4 113 573 while
driving or cooking, get it online while
Denmark 25.0 4 1 350 415 talking
on the phone, get it via cell phone,”
Switzerland 23.1 5 1 725 446 said
Schaffer.
Finland 22.5 6 1 174 200 J-Lab, www.j-lab.org, hosts the annual
Norway* 21.9 7 1 006 766 Batten
awards for Innovations in Journalism. Over
Canada 21.9 8 6 706 699 the
past several years, the entries have
Sweden* 20.3 9 1 830 000 become sophisticated
more and
interactive.
Belgium 18.3 10 1 902 739 “(People) also want to participate with
Japan 17.6 11 22 515 091 the
content – they want to interact with it.”
United States 16.8 12 49 391 060 says
Schaffer. That interaction takes a variety
United Kingdom 15.9 13 9 539 900
of
forms
:
France 15.2 14 9 465 600 • Via a news game or exercise. They want
Luxembourg 14.9 15 67 357 to
try it again if they don’t like their first
play
OECD, 2005 • Lending expertise or information,
eyewitness
accounts, tips,
Media companies are banking on the fact
that knowledge
more users are consuming broadband • Citizen-created content –
content,
and are investing in the development hyperlocal
community news and information,
of
multimedia content that can only play including
stories, photos and meeting
over
broadband coverage
connections. • Querying information – they want to be
The content includes video, able
to search for more information on some
integrated
presentations with audio, video and topics,
to see more links, connections and even
interactive
graphics, and vodcasting, or blogging ask
questions.
with online and on video
video
iPods. The following are examples of
U.S. broadband penetration 2003-2006 media
companies worldwide that are
experimenting
with new forms of journalistic
Month Penetration, % Time per person storytelling.
Feb 2003 33 25:33:24
Feb 2004 45 27:52:29 NaplesNews.com
Feb 2005 55 27:49:58 and Studio 55
Feb 2006 68 30:35:54
Podcasts, vodcasts, Sony Playstation
Source: Nielsen NetRatings
Personal,
cable TV. Naples Daily News in Florida
New forms of storytelling run the gamut is
publishing on multiple platforms to
from to audio to multimedia to
video reach viewers and readers any time and
users,
interactive
news packages. By all accounts, the any
place. Leading the multiplatform strategy
packaging
and display of these new forms of content is
director of new media, Rob Curley. In the
is
becoming more sophisticated and year
since he started, the company has built a
interactive
as news organizations experiment, listen TV
studio with production facilities to
to
reader reactions and get more adept at develop
video for the small screen: video
using
the tools of multimedia and iPods,
mobiles and even Sony PSPs.
interactive
journalism
Curley came from the now-famous
.
One of the several organizations that is converged
media house Lawrence Journal-World,
tracking
interactive and multimedia journalism which
integrated journalistic storytelling across
excellence
is the J-Lab, the Institute for TV,
print, Web and
Interactive audio.
30
CONCEPTS
In February, NaplesNews.com’s Studio • Sweden’s Aftonbladet.se “WebTV” has been

55
began producing thrice daily, 15-minute a huge hit, attracting 400,000 unique
video
broadcasts. Video advertising contracts visitors
in December 2005. Video content
already
in hand will cover the roughly $250,000 it includes
four daily news show and several 3-
costbuild the studio. While he doesn’t
to minute programmes including a
video
expect
high traffic from video at the start, daily
entertainment show and two weekly
Curley a future payoff from the
expects sports plus entertainment, lifestyle, music
shows,
investment. and
sports news. The journalist staff has
”I think people are going to be very
been
expanded to work on the growing WebTV
surprised
by the graphical approach to the newscast,
and the print reporters and how our franchise. Aftonbladet now has 15 of its
how
105
journalists working on
other
products are seamlessly integrated into
WebTV.
each
newscast,” Curley • Arizona Republic’s, www.AZCentral.com
said. webcasts a video news programme called
“It's also being shot much differently
iCast
six times per day, with three minutes of
than TV newscasts, much tighter so that
other
it news,
sports and weather. The news is presented
looks good on a computer or iPod. And
by
professional anchors from Gannett’s local
the
technology to produce it is much
different. TV
station, KPNX. In 2005, more than
We have no tape in our operation.
2,000
visitors watched every
Everything
is being shot directly to hard drives, edited
on day.
hard drives and being delivered off • Associated New Media in the UK has
hard
drives.” launched an ad-supported video news
During the first week of rollout in April, bulletin
service every day at midday,
the
heavily-promoted video broadcast with
entertainment related content provided by
averaged
1,000 to 2,000 downloads per day,” Curley the
UK-based Press Association. One
said. It is unknown how much traffic advertising
campaign featured a “pre-roll” promo to
the
broadcast is getting on their partner the
Universal Pictures film Pride and Prejudice
cable
station, Comcast, which has an installed to
promote the release of the picture’s
baseabout 250,000 in the Naples, Florida,
of DVD.
Banner advertising for the film also
area. will
surround the video
A number of other media interface.
companies
worldwide are experimenting with • Kent Messenger Group,
video
online and on other devices. Among them http://www.kentonline.co.uk/, has created
are
AZCentral.com, Aftonbladet in Sweden, an
online video service to compete with the
Kent
Messenger Group, and the New York Times. threat
of national broadcasters BBC and ITV. BBC
has said they will create regional newscasts
for
the Kent region, south of London and
in
southern England. For just 950 pounds,
they
bought an inexpensive video camera
and
microphone, according to editorial
director
Simon Irwin at KMG. Since April,
they
produce three, 2-minute news bulletins
per
day, Monday through Friday. “News
bulletins
are read by our radio people, who are
writing
short broadcasts scripts. The preparation
is
being done with our Web journalists, who
are
very closely involved,” Irwin said. “It’s
awhole new world. We started pretty
basically.”
During the first week of rollout in April, the • Interactive Magazines Online
heavily-promoted video broadcast averaged (IMOL),
http://www.viewmagazine.tv/index.html, is
1,000 to 2,000 downloads per day,” Curley
aLondon-based quarterly online magazine
said. It is unknown how much traffic the from journalist and vlogger (video blogger)
TV
broadcast is getting on their partner cable
David
Dunkley Gyimah. The site features
station, Comcast, which has an installed vloggers
from South Africa, the UK and the U.S. The
base of about 250,000 in the Naples, Florida, site’s innovative use of video storytelling
area. earned
it a first place award in the 2005 Batten
contest.
31
Database-driven content
The Internet is opening up new ways to
produce
journalism, by marrying database content
with
the analytical power of
journalists.
Adrian Holovaty, now editor of
editorial
innovations at the
WashingtonPost.com,
developed the chicagocrime.org website,
which
integrates publicly available crime database
for
the city of Chicago and Google maps.
Website
visitors can locate crimes by zip code,
crime
type and route. Journalists and researchers
can
extrapolate trends from the mapped data.
The
site won the grand prize in the 2005 votes, most delinquent Congressional
Batten
interactive journalism awards voters
and key votes.
contest.
www.chicagocrime.org http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congres
s/
Beyond public databases, media
companies
can also build their own databases.
The
WashingtonPost.com built a database about
the
key races in the 2006 elections. Each race
has
a name, state, district, and number
of
candidates, Holovaty
said.
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/elections/
keyraces/.
“Because we've databased it, we've
automated
much of the tedium of updating the
site,
because the site runs itself,
grabbing
information from our
database.”
”Journalists are in the business of
Holovaty has been developing other
collecting
information, right? Well, much of
database-
driven projects for the Washington Post.
The the
information that we collect, day to day,
most recent is the Faces of the Fallen,
is
structured. Information such as crime
a
WashingtonPost.com database of the
more 2,683 American service members reports,
obituaries and event listings always follow
than
acertain pattern, which can be richly
who died in the Iraq conflict. The data can
have
be exploited
by databases,” Holovaty said. “The
searched by age, home state, year of death
vast
majority of newspapers take the time
and
military branch.
WashingtonPost.com to
“collect” this information – which is the
researchers procured photos and data
hard
part – but they dramatically reduce its value
about
each service
member. by
NOT storing it in databases. Instead,
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/falle they
distill it into big blobs of text for publication
n/ in
their print editions, and then they shovel
Holovaty urges media companies to exploit
thoseblobs of text onto their Web sites. At
big
the
power of databases they have access to, or
can this all structure is lost: Crime reports
point,
create themselves. Some examples include
can't
be sorted or searched intelligently, and
any of public records like crime reports,
type
fire event can't be viewed in any sort of
listings
station reports, local school data
user- way.”
friendly
and
transportation
data. “The very act of distilling information into
One publicly available database is the
a
news story – which is essentially a big blob
voting
records of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of of
text – removes any sort of
Representatives. The
structure. is exponentially more valuable
Information
WashingtonPost.com
developed a site called the Votes if
it's
Database,makes searchable Congressional
which
structured.”
votes
for all bills since 1991, including Holovaty recommends that media
voting
records for each elected official, late- companies
think about employing a computer scientist
night in
32
CONCEPTS
the newsroom who can design and site, is driven completely by a database.
develop
databases with The
entertainment site includes events, drink
journalists. specials,
bands, musicians, restaurants and other
“It takes a developer/programmer’s
leisure- information for the Lawrence,
activity
mindset,
and I suspect that's the main stumbling
Kansas, Holovaty and a team of
area.
block
for newspapers, who don't employ
technologists,
developed that site before he took
many
computer scientists in the
the
WashingtonPost.com position.
newsroom. ought to hire more people
Newsrooms
Chicagocrime.org
is produced by Holovaty
with
database and computer-
privately.
programming
knowledge. These types of people
are The database-driven content allows visitors
becoming more and more essential – and
to
search for and find entertainment
I'm just saying that because I consider myself
not
destinations
and ticket information for now and
adatabase guy.”
planning
for the future. The information also can
The Lawrence Journal- be
delivered to mobile phones and downloaded
World’s
www.lawrence.com, also an award-winning to
iPods at the user’s
request.
WashingtonPost.com – Travis Fox, Multimedia

Journalist
in hip, “webby” ways that appeal to younger
readers.
Although the business side is excited about
the money-making potential of web video,
not enough attention is paid to content
development. The web is a distinctive
medium and in the same way online
newspapers differ from their dead-tree
parents, web video is not simply television
on your computer. It can combine the in-
depth reporting of newspapers with the
interactivity of the web and the authenticity
of documentary film. Web video is a
distinctive from of video storytelling.
I started producing web video at One of the first mistakes producers make
Washingtonpost.com in 1999. It was a good when creating video for the web is the
year to start, because no one was actually tendency to cram too much content into the
watching it. The video player window was video. A successful multimedia presentation
literally the size of a postage stamp and even matches the story with the best medium on
if you could make out the pixilated images, the web to tell that story. It could be video,
the technology would invariably cause your stills or text or some combination of them all.
computer to crash. It was so bad that at one Video probably isn’t the best medium to use
point I hoped our executive editor wouldn’t to tell a story about the new budget on
try to watch my videos because it would Capitol Hill; a written piece or info graphic
typically result in yelling in the newsroom and might work better. The aftermath of
tech support repairing his computer. Hurricane Katrina should be told in video.
Television only has the ability to work in
In the seven years since then, everything has
video; newspapers are only printed. On the
changed. Fueled by lucrative advertising
web, we have the ability to pick and choose
rates, newspaper websites are expanding
– to match medium and story.
their use of video. In fact, many newspaper
executives see web video as a kind of life Often video tells one part of the story. This
boat, as circulations drop and advertisers was the case with ‘Rebuilding Weligama,’ a
move away from traditional media. Web multimedia look at the post-tsunami
video allows them to capture advertising reconstruction of a village on the south coast
dollars while presenting newspaper content of Sri Lanka. I used video to tell the personal
33
stories of five victims in Weligama. But that type of in-depth context is not possible in a
was only one part of this project. After I left daily newspaper.
Sri Lanka, their stories were updated through
Nearly every video I produce for
a blog. But where the package really makes
washingtonpost.com leverages the reporting
use of the web it is through a satellite map
expertise of the Washington Post in some
dotted with panoramic images. The user
way. The Israeli barrier packages included a
literally gets a bird-eye view of the village.
separate analysis video with John Ward
Icons mark the locations of the character-
Anderson, the Post’s Jerusalem bureau chief.
driven videos and the 360-degree panoramic
I also try to tap this type of analysis in daily
photos give viewers a sense of place,
news video. With just a small amount of time
whereas the video give a sense of the people
from a Post correspondent, , I’m able to craft
involved. This kind of multimedia package
a video that is more informative than what
gives the viewer a picture no single medium
you’d see on the nightly news and at the
could offer.
same time more genuine. TV News television
The Washington Post newspaper will often all looks the same from my perspective:
print projects on the scale of “Rebuilding perfectly coifed correspondent, formal
Weligama.” On the web, however, these delivery and camera angles that we see
projects are continuing stories. They don’t repeatedly.
only appear for one day in the paper or on
the site. This might seem obvious, but we The web is a less formal medium –
don’t consider it enough in our reporting. something we see reflected in blogs and
Often, my videos receive more traffic long chats – web video should reflect his as well.
after they were featured in prominent For example, I teamed up with Pulitzer-Prize
positions on washingtonpost.com. They get winning reporter Dana Priest to produce a
picked up in blogs or emailed around weeks play-by-play video analysis of a Senate
and months after first appearing on the site. Intelligence Committee hearing. The result is
This traffic over time adds up significantly. more informative than what you’d typically
see on television. Dana was on camera, but
In 2004, I completed a project about the not in a formal standup. Her tone was
barrier Israel is building in the West Bank. informal, yet authoritative. The images from
Like the Sri Lankan project, it told personal the room – one of the most photographed on
stories about how the structure affected lives the Hill – were shot in a different way than
on both sides on the conflict. what you’d see on TV, to give the viewer a
It featured maps and panoramic fuller sense of place.
photographs allow the route of the fence and
wall. At the time it was published, it was well These collaborations also benefit the
received; it drove traffic to the site and won a newspaper directly. My video reporting is
couple of awards. But now – two years later – often leveraged in newspaper articles, and
it’s still driving traffic and I’m still receiving photographs taken from my video often run
emails from people who think it’s brand new. in the newspaper, since I shoot video in Hi gh
Although the news in Israel has drastically Definition, which allows me to pull video
changed since I produced it – Yasser Arafat frame grabs that match the quality of
and Ariel Sharon are no longer in power and newspaper photography. For instance a
Israel has disengaged from Gaza – the main recent story in the Post about Romania’s entry
issues associated with the barrier remain the into the European Union included significant
same. The story is still timely. portions of my reporting and a four-column
front page photo from my video.
Many of washingtonpost.com’s users are
regular readers, like those of the newspaper, Collaboration of this sort lowers the cost of
but traffic also comes in from news production. Traditionally, television was
aggregators and blogs. These people might produced with crews because the technical
go directly to the latest Post news article complexity of the gear meant it took several
from Israel. From there, they can click on the people to operate. Although the technology
barrier video package, further driving traffic has changed, the culture of crews hasn’t.
on the site and giving the viewer more Most of my time I work just like a newspaper
background and context on the issues. This reporter would. I head out in the field with my
34
CONCEPTS
camera instead of a notebook. When I’m used as a means of delivery for video.
back in the hotel room or the office, I go washingtonpost.com’s popular video
through my notes – my footage – and edit a podcast on Apple’s iTunes is the first glimpse
video story just like a journalist writes an of this new world. Users subscribe to our
article. video and each new video is automatically
Like most journalists, one of the most delivered to the their computer. Users can
important difficulties I face is having enough then watch it on the computer, their video
time to properly report a story. But working iPod, or, in the near future, on the televisions.
as a ‘one-man-production company’ allows The ability of small video producers such as
me to spend more time in the field. For washingtonpost.com to produce television
example, I spent two weeks in Egypt last that bypasses broadcast or cable delivery
summer reporting about the opposition to will fundamentally change television.
Hosni Mubarak in Egypt’s first presidential Technically, it’s already possible. TiVo users
election. Sending a traditional three-person can access Rocketboom, a web video show,
crew would have cost too much for them to and watch it on their television as if it was
stay there for anywhere approaching two coming over broadcast. It won’t be long until
weeks. Because I was able to stay longer newspaper-produced web video will
than usual, I was able to follow the natural compete directly with television for viewers
progression of the story. sitting in the living room.
Even when I’m collaborating with a Post

reporter, most of my time I spend on my
own. Last Fall I went to Azerbaijan to adapt
Post reporter Philip Kennicott’s reporting into
video. Our trips overlapped by a couple
days, at which time we could compare notes VIDEO URLS: MY ARCHIVE
and work together on a couple interviews
and standups. After Philip had left, I http://www.travisfox.com
continued video reporting for another week.
Rebuilding Weligama
What resulted was a
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
10-minute award-winning documentary
dyn/content/
reported by an expert at the Washington
custom/2005/05/04/CU2005050401353.html
Post, for a fraction of the cost of a regular
television documentary. Just the reduced Defining the Barrier
costs of a one-person crew means we can http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
cover important stories like Azerbaijan that srv/world/
television outlets typically pass up. interactives/israel/israelFence.html
In fact, it allows the Post to fill the gap. My
Dana Priest
Azerbaijan video appeared not only on
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
washingtonpost.com but also on PBS’s
content/video/2005/04/28/VI2005042800780
Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria. Most
.html
of my international reports are also shown on
Foreign Exchange. We have also sold Romania
programs and footage to outlets like ABC http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
News Nightline, PBS’s FRONTLINE and content/video/2006/02/28/VI2006022800645
Britain’s Channel 4. This ‘one-man .html
production company’ model not only helps
to offset the high cost of travel, but it also Inside Egypt’s Oppostion
leverages the Washington Post brand across http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
different media, reaching millions more dyn/content/
viewers, which in turn drives traffic back to custom/2005/07/29/CU2005072901447.html
the site. Azerbaijan
Finally, our web video is moving from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
washingtonpost.com to other devices. In the content/video/2005/10/04/VI2005100400654
future, we will increasingly see the internet .html
35
36
CONCEPTS
5. Publishing consumer-generated
news and information
The Internet has become a virtual Regardless, plenty of blogs get plenty
playground
for people who want to express of
attention and traffic because they
themselvestext, pictures, video and
through are
compelling, well-written and powerful for
artwork. of blogs, photos, video
Millions their
readers. So compelling in fact, that in
clips,
interactive stories and other forms of Japan
alone, blog readership was estimated at
content
are scattered across the Internet on 16.5
million in March 2005, and was expected
personal
websites, blogs, voblogs (video to
grow to 25.4 million by 2006. That’s
blogs), and vodcasts (video podcasts).
podcasts almost the readership of the biggest
twice
The
consumer-generated content can be found newspaper
in Japan and in the world, Yomiuri
by
Internet searchers through blog (Japan)
Shimbun, with a 14 million
aggregators Feedburner.com
like and circulation.
Technorati.com, Media companies are starting to embrace
podcast aggregators like iTunes.com
the
concept of citizen journalism or
or
Audible.com, or on photo websites
participatory
content, and inviting some of the
like
Flickr.com
most
compelling consumer contributors to
.
The latest statistics estimate the number be
published on their websites. Publishers
of
blogs at 100 million. Technorati.com, a are
motivated to integrate voices from outside
blog
search engine, estimates that about 75,000 of
journalism for a variety of
new
blogs are created each day. Most bloggers reasons:
and
editors agree that the majority of these • To add a new viewpoint on debated
blogsnot worth the ether they exist in.
are topics politics and public
like
Rachel
North, a blogger made famous by policy
• To attract more traffic to websites,
her
harrowing experience as a victim of including
those who have never been the
the
London bombings on July 7, 2005, announced
media
company’s audience in the
at the We Media citizen journalism past
conference
in London in May 2006, that “95 percent • To open up new advertising opportunities
of
blogs are on website
the
rubbish.”
37
• The content is free, or very connection with reality. I don't mean that as
inexpensive an
insult; I mean it because it's true of all of
“Media companies should engage in us,
regardless of whether we have press
citizen
journalism because the democratized cards. we see and hear is just a scratch on
What
media and distribution are creating a
tools the
surface of a very large planet. The
global
conversation and (traditional publishers) intensely
difficult job of a professional journalist is
need
to be a part of it. More than that, it’s how to
reach out beyond that scratch, using every
they survive,” said Dan Gillmor, author of
will tool
available, to discover and then present a
We
Media, a seminal text on citizen larger to help others expand
picture
journalism,
and director of the Center for Citizen their
worldviews,” said Jeff Jarvis, blogger-owner
Media,
affiliated with the graduate school of
Buzzmachine.com, and former president
of
journalism at UC-Berkeley, and the law of
Advance Internet, in his blog item, “The
school
at Harvard ethic
of
University.
Mary Lou Fulton, vice president for interactivity.”
“Participating in a community conversation
audience
development at the Bakersfield is powerful tool for doing that. It isn't
one
Californian,
said its citizen journalism cheap,
it isn't easy, and on occasion it isn't
site,
NorthwestVoice.com has turned the very
pleasant. But it's what we signed up
journalism
model on its head. Instead of being for,
whether we knew it or not,” Jarvis
the
gatekeeper and having everything wrote.
filtered a small group of reporters and
through Many other media companies have hung out
editors,
the newspaper’s community website is the
welcome sign for citizen journalists.
opening
up the gates and letting thousands of Consider:
• Morris Newspapers, based in
readers
have their say, she said in a published Augusta,
Georgia, USA, has experimented with
report. avariety of citizen journalism models.
“Blogs are hugely important, It’s not
about
delivering and reciting, it’s about In
Jacksonville, Florida, they
engagement,” built
FirstCoastPhotos.com, a community
said Richard Burton, editor of the
www.Telegraph.
co.uk. “Everyone can be a publisher photo
gallery, where community members
these More people are blogging, from can
contribute their favorite pictures. The
days.
the
village idiot to those giving us valuable most
popular photos are of pets, babies, sunsets
info.” and
vacations. In 2004, citizen
Emily Bell, editor-in-chief for journalists
contributed 80,000 photos. The access of
Guardian www.guardian.co.uk, says we
Unlimited, those has become viral, responsible for
photos
in
traditional media are “still at the bottom 13
percent of the traffic on the website, or
of
Everest in understanding community” 21
million page
Bell
believes that community is a strong part views.
of
newspapers’ future, adding many • The top traffic day for the BBC.co.uk
new was 7, 2005, the day of the London subway
July
perspectives on the news. The
Guardianto expand beyond the handful of
intends bombings. Of the 52 million page views,
blogs 15
million came from consumer-authored
it now posts as soon as it can improve
its text, 5.6 million came from witness-
and
citizen journalism technology
platform. contributed
pictures and video, sent via mobile phone.
“When you involve the community, and The
BBC set up a user-generated content team
let write, producing bits of your site,
them of
three to explore how to integrate
you
have to have absolute clarity about where community
content into the site. After July 7, the team
the came from,” Bell said. Sites need to
info was
expanded. Contributors can send photos
be
transparent about both stories and pictures and
videos via email at
–where they came from, when they yourpics@bbc.co.uk.,
via MMS 07725 100 100
were
updated. “Give as much information about at: via 3G at: 07888 100 100 .
and
the
piece as you can,” says Bell. “It’s
about • VG.no offers a simpler short message code
openness. Then the difference between
to
send contributions: 2200. (see
the
blogosphere and the journalist is
irrelevant.” accompanying
article by VG.no Editor Torry
Community interactivity brings Pedersen.
traditional • Your.Hub.com, owned by the Rocky
media companies closer to the community
it Mountain News and Denver Post, is
serves, citizen proponents
a
community network in Denver, which
say.
“Our newsrooms have, at best, a includes
44 hyperlocal websites and 15 printed
tenuous editions
38
CONCEPTS
for Denver suburbs. The sites Hong said the site is profitable, but declined
allow
community members to interact and to
give specifics. The breakdown of revenues
contributeThe content is then parlayed into
content. are percent from advertising, 10 percent
70
the
weekly print edition. After one year, from
syndicated content, 10 percent from
YourHub
has earned $5 million in revenues, and donations
from appreciative readers who send money
is
profitable. The community platform has via
mobile phone or credit card, and 10
been
licensed to other media companies in the percentmiscellaneous income from hosted
from
U.S. events
(for instance, a
• OhMyNews.com in Seoul, South Korea, has
marathon).
41,000 citizen journalists, including The J-Lab, the Institute for
900
international journalists from 86 countries Interactive also runs a project called
Journalism,
for
their English-language “New
Voices Citizens Media”, soliciting
site,
http://www.ohmynews.com/, The site’s excellent
citizen-journalism
slogan
is “Every citizen is a journalist.” It projects.
receives200 contributions per day, 150 of “(These projects are about) the
about
total
democratization of media. People are
which
are published, according to editor-in-
feeling
very shortchanged by their available
chief
Hong Eun Taek. The site, launched in 2000 by
media
choices, especially in the area of local
Dr. Oh-Yeon-Ho, is credited with swaying
news. say that no one is covering them,
They
the
results of a presidential election in Korea,
their
concerns, their ideas. And, now that new
and
providing an outlet against the
tools
are available, they say they are going to try
conservative
media in
to it themselves.” Said J-Lab
do
Korea.
Citizen journalists are motivated by three executive
Director Jan
things, to Hong:
according Schaffer.
”They don’t call it “journalism,” but it has a
• Social recognition from lot
of journalistic
•society Financial DNA.”
compensation ”The opportunities for mainstream media,
• To change society in they way they
it
seems to me, are to bring programmers
want
to see
into
the newsrooms to help build interactive
society
Of these, Hong says the least important entry new ways for people to access
points,
is
compensation news information other than reading a
and
. narrative
news
A look at the operations of OhMyNews
stories.
sheds
light on how citizen publishing “And with fewer feet on the street, I
works. think
mainstream media has an opportunity to
“Stories move on the site based on train
and build a cadre of citizen correspondents
popularity,
quality, timeliness and relevancy, “ Hong
to the eyes and ears of the community and
be
said.
“The placement decisions are made by to Small-J journalism. Big-J journalists
do
30
copy editors.” The citizen reports are
will to analyze what comes into the
need
paid
based on placement. For example, newsroom
from these people and figure out what needs
stories
published on the home page are paid
to investigated, where there’s a trend story,
be
$20, those that are published on section
while or
where they need to connect the dots on a
pages$10, and those that only achieve a
get
larger – in other words, where they need to
issue
linked
headline, get about $2, Hong do
Big-J journalism,” Schaffer
said.
The operation has 90 employees, 60 whom said.
are
journalists. The financial and societal
success
of OhmyNews has spawned an OhMyNews for Soliciting and packaging user
Japan, in partnership with investment contributions
firm
Softbank. Thirty workers launched the
News companies are preparing for the next
Tokyo-
based initiative in April big – be it an event, a natural disaster or
story
2006.
“I think citizen journalism is the future,” an
election – by soliciting contributions
Hong“The reason I think citizen journalism
said. of
eyewitness accounts in text, photos and
is future is because the flow of information
the videos.
The BBC has created a web page explaining
is
changing. It used to be from company how citizens can contribute, and how they
to
people. Now it’s from somebody to can
deliver content to the BBC. The web page
media.the citizen is more highlighted,
Now is
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/2780
with
‘Web 2.0’ 2
95.stm.
content.”
39
Media companies need to create a similar Unlimited, http://www.guardian.co.uk/,

page,
explaining how non-journalists can send “You
owe it to your audience to do your best.
eye-
witness accounts of breaking news, or other Show a collection of content, and run any
them
day-
to-day contributions. This requires a prismit you want.” (As if to say) “This is
over
detailed
page describing the media company’s rules, what
is here, this is what you think, this is what
and
the means by which the content is Ithink, this is what the bloggers think. Then
transferred. you
have a site that is properly
Gillmor recommends that
sensible.”
publishers
experiment with packaging citizen Gillmor recommends labeling the
content
with traditional journalism content. “No content
clearly, to make it clear the difference
one completely figured it out. Think about
has between
journalistic content and user content.
one of the newspaper of the future, instead
role “With you say, we do not vouch what
labeling
of
being an oracle. Point out local blogs, even you’re
going to see over there. We’re not
if
you’re not doing them, and even if they are responsible
for it, but there’s a conversation that may
not
yours. Help them to start a conversation. have interesting concepts for you.
some
Don’t
pretend they don’t People stupid. If you label a
aren’t
exist.”
Adds Emily Bell, editor-in-chief of separate
community site, make it
Guardian clear.”
VG Multimedia – Torry Pedersen, editor-in-

chief
age. It’s about profound changes in the way
we relate, communicate and in whom we
trust to deliver essential information. In the
analog society, we trusted experts, editors
and authorities. The digital natives trust each
other.
VG publishes Norway’s largest paper, web

and mobile editions, which together reach 48
percent of the country’s population every
day. We have realized how important it is to
transform our readers into our contributors,
and are trying to nurture that transformation.
All decision-makers in traditional media
We’ve made this change thanks to a
houses are digital immigrants--immigrants in
happenstance event. On a dark January
a society to be dominated by young digital
afternoon more than two years ago I was just
natives, who have digital blood flowing
about to leave my office when my mobile
through their veins.
alerted me that a ship had capsized off the
Intellectually we understand that basic skills western coast of Norway. It would take hours
in operating digital gadgets are necessary. If to get a reporter there.
nothing else, we adopt these gadgets to
We immediately looked at an online map,
escape the label “laggard.” But, none of us is
and found the ship had turned upside down
like the new generation of digital natives.
very near the shore. Journalists typed the
To this new generation, the virtual world is as URL to an online phone directory, and
real as the real world. To them, it is as natural started systematically calling everyone living
to produce as it is to consume. Egocasting is nearby. We asked whether they could help
as familiar as broadcasting. In fact, this us take photos or a video of the capsized
group wants its media edited as much by ship. Every single person reached was
themselves as by the medium. happy to assist, and within minutes we had
pictures from the dramatic incident
Are these digital natives our future
published on our website. These were taken
customers? Only if we understand their
by mobile phone, digital camera or a digital
values.
video recorder, and sent by MMS or email.
Don’t be fooled into thinking this is just about This let us capture the story as it was
40
CONCEPTS
unfolding, and chronicled the fact that 18 have about anyone missing. All information
sailors lost their lives in the accident. was checked and clarified by a team of
journalists. From this list, our newspaper
We immediately saw the power of using our
published a list of 85 missing Norwegians
readers as eyewitness reporters, with us
after the disaster. At the time, the authorities
supervising information in real-time, and set
said thousands were missing. On the 3rd of
about building a system to make it easy for
January – more than a week after the
them to report.. We created the VG News
tsunami – the Central Police Agency
Portal – a tool enabling us to communicate
published a list of 279 missing Norwegians.
with our readers, and the readers to
communicate with us, in their language – Today, we know that 84 Norwegians lost their
ultraspeeded snippets of information by SMS lives in Southeast Asia. Our missing list was
or email. nearly exact, whereas numbers presented by
the authorities were completely imprecise.
Nowadays everyone has a digital
communication tool in their pocket. Soon, An independent commission has evaluated
more than the most technically savvy will be the authorities’ handling of the tsunami. As
able to send pictures, video and sound bites part of their investigation, we were invited to
via their mobile. Spectacular pictures of present how we achieved such a precise
megaevents will in the future be taken by estimate. Our central message was this: It is
ordinary citizens – as already proven after the not about technical equipment, but about
tsunami. Take a moment to reflect on the how people communicate today No longer
most intriguing pictures from the disaster in do media firms engage in a linear, one-way
Asia – they were all taken by tourists. monologue. In the global village, we must
interact in real-time with hundreds of
Our reporting on the tsunami won us awards
sources, and then create a comprehensive
– and an essential component in that
picture of what is taking place. If you allow
reporting was our readers. In the middle of
your readers to contribute in real-time, the
the night on Boxing Day, the wire service had
quality of your reporting will improve.
reported one person missing in Indonesia
after an earthquake. But long before any We find that our News Portal gives our
news agency reported it, a reader sent an editors a much more efficient way to
SMS to our News Portal telling us there had supervise the leads coming into our paper.
been a tidal wave on Phuket Island, a holiday Based on our ideas of how people
resort where thousands of Scandinavians communicate, we have built a product now
were vacationing. This information totally licensed to newspaper companies all over
redirected our attention– so essential for a Europe.
news organization in the initial phases of the
coverage of big events. The first picture we For the digital natives, participation and
published was sent by MMS from one of our transparency is a prerequisite to align with a
readers who was there, in the middle of the brand. We allow them to review and rate
carnage. films online, to broaden the perspectives of
our film critics. We have had 17,000 readers
Consider this -- when the world was falling post their own film review – often with
apart around them, Scandinavian astonishingly valuable insight and knowledge
vacationers remembered the short code to about the subject. Meanwhile, 130,000
our News Portal – 2200. It became a lifeline readers have rated films either to support or
to give and get information during traumatic oppose the grades given by our reviewers.
circumstances.
We’ve spent years developing an online
This is the way the information economy dialogue with our readers. We ask them to
works: Quick and precise information send us their funniest home videos. The
accelerates the flow of even more videos get online ratings competitive with
information. After the tsunami, we started an those in the increasingly fragmented digital
online missing persons list. Relatives were TV-world of hundreds of channels.
invited to post pictures and descriptions of
their missed loved ones, and every reader We ask the pupils, teachers and parents to
was invited to give information they might publish diaries about their daily life at school.
41
The content has given a different insight into The results: Thousand of readers are posting
the Norwegian educational system than any tens of thousands of blogposts drawing
governmental report, as more than 3,000 hundreds of thousands of comments. As I
contributed to the diaries. write this, the area on our website devoted to
reader contributions has as its lead story an
We invite our readers to publish travel
article by Nevnarions (a blog pseudonym)
reports giving more unbiased travel advice
claiming Skype is a much better program
than any glossy brochure from a travel
than MSN Messenger. The post is
operator, and we host a discussion forum
accompanied by 188 comments from other
with more than 2.8 million postings on
readers elaborating on this claim,
175,000 themes. Every day, more than
contributing more insight into this uncharted
10,000 opinions are posted in the forum.
territory for digital immigrants than any
Check out how many letters to the editor
professional article I have ever read about
your newspaper prints. Then reflect for a
the topic.
second about whether it might be a
contribution to democracy to allow more Our blogosphere allows the young and
ordinary citizens to express themselves. talented to egocast themselves to the
biggest audience available in the Norwegian
Hence the blogosphere. Traditional media
online market. But it also establishes a
needs to embrace it as an opportunity
sounding board for the underprivileged.
created by digitalisation, probably the most
Prostitutes, convicted criminals, those in
profound cultural transformation process
conflict with child welfare authorities and the
since the invention of the printing press. This
mentally ill write anonymously about their
is the story of how we approached the
problems, sharing feelings and experiences
blogosphere: We wanted a tool for
unfiltered by the attitudes of journalists, most
communication; a tool to preserve and share
of whom come from privileged backgrounds.
memories and adventures. It should be easy
to use for anyone and platform-agnostic. We This creates a more diverse picture of the
wanted to harvest the collective expertise of public, and our readers and contributors
the public, to let those with an opinion gives an insight into the pulse of society
express themselves, to let those in the invaluable for any newsroom.
storms’ eye tell the story from their
To summarise our philosophy and the trends
perspective. Importantly, the contributors go
we see underlining it, we want VG online to
through us and not our competitors, and
be a place where you can tell friends and
further educate the readers to deliver
family about your holiday in Spain, read the
pictures and videos to us.
absolute latest developments about the bird
We wanted mechanisms in place, meeting flu, engage in a heated debate with other
the requirements of a news organization. readers about the Mohammed cartoons,
There was no such system available, check the weather for tomorrow, the traffic
therefore we started constructing one on your way home, and review the movie you
ourselves, just as with the News Portal. saw in the cinema yesterday. And, to create
an environment that makes our competitors
Every blogger has to register via mobile phone
redundant.
in order to ensure that all bloggers are aligned
to a specific identity in our internal system. All newspapers have to adapt to this: The
Everyone can comment on a blogpost. If you development goes from analog to digital,
are a registered user, the posting is published from mass media to a mass of media, and
immediately. If not, the blogger herself has to the power of the informed customer is
allow the comment to be published. This increasing by the minute. To behave like an
mechanism is constructed to leave the ostrich and hope this will go away if only we
responsibility with the bloggers themselves. hide our heads in the sand is a roadmap to
We consistently inform participants that our disaster. Embrace your readers – to improve
blogs are not premoderated. But we do apply your reporting, understand what they are
reactive moderation if we are notified about really interested in, and align with the digital
any inappropriate material hosted on our natives. This time the Indians will get the
website. upper hand.
42
CONCEPTS
Conclusion and recommendations

Engaging readers, viewers and users in • To develop new forms of storytelling
their
preferred timeframe, on their favourite to
excite and retain the audience, such
devices
and most importantly, with engaging as
podcasting, video, blogs,
and
relevant content, is the formula for st Century multimedia
packagers and
21
journalism more.
Perhaps the most sweeping challenge in
.
While changing from the tried-and- the
industry today is for publishers to embrace
true
newspaper tradition is difficult, and
implement the citizen journalism
powerfulforces are pulling publishers into a
market content Vast societal changes are shifting
model.
new
approach to their focus traditional media to a reliance
from
businesses. on
community-generated
Publishers must study their audience
content.
member’s
preferences in channels, time and Publishers should conduct regular
content, a variety of demographics, and
across content
analyses to determine whether the
develop
new products and reshape old products newspaper’s
content is dovetailing with the needs of
to
conform to the audience’s the
audience. Do the stories, pictures and
needs. quotes
reflect that of your readership? Do the
The changes will require an investment
contentmatch the expressed needs of
areas
in
research and training, and a large effort
your
audience members? Are new editorial
in
changing mindset, to external focus
products
under development to better satisfy the
from
internal focus. The key strategies
hunger
for health news, school information,
are:
• To determine who is your audience, and and
family and friends content, to name a
how
to reach few
popular content areas that
them newspapers
frequently
• To determine training needs, to
miss?
give
journalists the proper mindset and skills These are exciting – if challenging – times
to
reach the new news for
newspaper publishers. Markets are
consumers changing
rapidly, spawning new channels, new forms
• To change the one-deadline mindset to
of
storytelling and new preferences for news
a
multimedia deadline and
information consumers. Those newspapers
mindset
• To welcome the audience to that
can respond nimbly to change, that
contributeblogs, photos, videos and other
stories, can
innovate, – will win the
content challenge.
43
44
CONCEPTS
Appendix
The following two pages are a sample of

the
11-page audience survey for one of the
E.W.
Scripps Newspapers in the USA. The company
took about nine months to complete
the
crafting of the survey, and about a year
to
administer and tally the
study.
45
46
THE P UBLISHER
World Association of
Newspapers
7 rue Geoffroy St-
Hilaire
75005 Paris, France
Tel.: +33 1 47 42 85 00
Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48
E-mail:
contact_us@wan.asso.fr
WAN CEO, Timothy Balding

WAN Managing Director: Ali
Rahnema
THE AUTHOR
WAN SFN Project Manager Martha L
Stone
Contact:
Mstone@wan.asso.fr
+ 1 847 382 9968
EDITOR
Michael F.
Fitzgerald
GRAPHICS DESIGNER
Richard
Westgard
PAGE DESIGNERS
Michael Dunbar, Marianne
Audouard
GUEST WRITERS
Torry Pedersen, VG.no
Travis Fox,
WashingtonPost.com
Mark Challinor, Buzz
Mobile
World Association of
Newspapers
© WAN June 2006
The contents of this report may be used in whole or part by publishers

in the execution of their business. Use of any part of the content or
intellectual property herein for the purpose of representation or consulting
requires prior written consent of the author. Any reproduction requires
prior consent of WAN.
STRATEGY Shaping the Future of the Newspaper
REPORT
Volume 5 N°4 JUNE 2006 © WAN ANALYSING STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PRESS INDUSTRY

SFN5 4EditorialConcepts

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Shaping the Future of the Newspaper

New Success in editorial

© WORLD ASSOCIATION OF NEWSPAPERS, 2006

Newspapers are not just about For example, a newspaper in a part of

Institute has produced several massive spent 9 months developing the

This is an example of how

media landscape. Each media The scientific documentation for

20 05 1, 54 8 9 78 18 3 1 79 183 1 24 106 78 76 12 15 3, 483

20 09* 1, 56 2 9 84 16 5 1 65 203 1 21 106 96 99 12 42 3, 555

19 99- 20 04 1. 6 1 .0 -1 .7 - 8. 0 21. 9 - 1. 6 -1. 6 5. 9 1 0. 5 -0 .6 – 1. 2

Source: Veronis Suhler Stevenson, 2005

In many cases, the strategy is paying

1. Managing audience focus

companies must allocate time, money million in the afternoon. Almost 12

Audience Focus/Product Development 1. Audience time connected to

Internet is the balliwick mostly of those 30 company’s strategic research and

trust. In return, we must pass our stories audience.

• Attitude, for 17 to 20 year groups, and we are trying new

“The people who work with these sections

“Readers are very vocal about the redesign,

on the most popular paths people take on

2. Leveraging breaking news

respective newspaper companies, Instead of maintaining the media silos

NordJyske Medier reasons that its

NewsHacker and News News Ticker gets 12,000 unique visitors

Source: SFN research

3. Exploring new channels

A media consumer’s personal Podcasting / vodcasting

New Media Channel Glossary

Skåne: NYTimes.com in the United States,

The key to a good podcast, according to networking strategies. Steve

which was to create a database. It did that HOW TO GET STARTED…

“The Mail on Sunday” newspaper in the 2. Play by the rules!

4. Experimenting with new

Broadband subscribers per 100 Journalism at the University of

In February, NaplesNews.com’s Studio • Sweden’s Aftonbladet.se “WebTV” has been

WashingtonPost.com – Travis Fox, Multimedia

Even when I’m collaborating with a Post

Media companies need to create a similar Unlimited, http://www.guardian.co.uk/,

VG Multimedia – Torry Pedersen, editor-in-

VG publishes Norway’s largest paper, web

Conclusion and recommendations

The following two pages are a sample of

WAN CEO, Timothy Balding

The contents of this report may be used in whole or part by publishers

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