Against the current: The Times charges its readers

They could not find a new business model and instead they charge us. I can just skip the Times. Journalistic elitism will only satisfy journalistic elites….

Times now charging online readers

from BBC News | Europe | World Edition
The Times becomes the biggest UK newspaper to begin charging its readers to access its online content.

Poll shows Americans trust Facebook and Twitter more than traditional media

from Editors Weblog – all postings by Carole Wurzelbacher

facebook-twitter-dollar.jpgA recent poll has revealed the news sources that Americans most trust, reports Reuters. And surprisingly, traditional media ended up on the bottom of the list, under social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Nearly half of the 2,100 adults surveyed said they trusted the three big technology firms (Google, Apple, and Microsoft), while 8 and 13 percent trusted Twitter and Facebook, respectively. Only 8 percent of adults and 6 percent of young adults said they trusted traditional media.

John Zogby, President and CEO of Zogby International, the conductors of the survey, said companies like Facebook and Twitter have not had the time to build a brand identity. Meanwhile companies like Google and Apple are more trusted because they have been able to build a corporate identity.

Could Paypal “save” the media?

from Editors Weblog – all postings by Colin Heilbut

heroIn a June 23rd blog post, media analyst Ben Elowitz explained why he thought Paypal has (whose parent company had a revenue of nearly 9 billion dollars last year) “a the chance to get ahead in an area that still has room for wild success:” micropayments for news.  Elowitz’s proposed formula would entail Paypal creating a more specialized/streamlined system to cater to micro-payments for news articles.  He suggests that if Paypal lowers its security standards, lowers its profit-margin and offers fewer payment options that consumer will soon be lining up at newspaper paywalls to pay via the relatively ubiquitous online payment method.

The OECD on news and the Internet: newspapers are not dying but must look to safeguard journalism

from Editors Weblog – all postings by Emma Heald
“The death of the newspaper” is not imminent, according to a recent study by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development that looked at the effect of the Internet on the news industry. ‘The Evolution of News and the Internet’ aims to assist OECD governments as they consider what sort of support to offer their newspaper industries, and “to provide a platform for further exchange on immediate and longer-term policy development.” It provides readership, circulation and other statistics and looks closely at the effects of the Internet on news publishers, debating whether the Internet poses more of an opportunity or a challenge for news organisations.

Forbes: journalism needs to stay up to date as technology dependence increases

from Editors Weblog – all postings by Carole Wurzelbacher

soccer_ball_grass.jpgA recent report by Forbes has predicted that journalism will become more dependant on technology as mobile devices gain popularity. Writing for Forbes, Trevor Butterworth suggests that with the evolution of 3G, cloud computing, GPS and second-generation barcoding, mobile phones are becoming more like “life devices.” Moreover, Butterworth cites a Forrester report that showed that reading news was the most popular activity on mobile devices.

Butterworth also notes that a recent analysis by the Yankee Group’s Emily Nagel Green showed that US consumers spend an average of $185 per month for phone, Internet and TV services. Clearly, in spite of the strong economic recession, people are still willing to pay top dollar to stay connected to mobile technology. Clearly, Butterworth insists, journalistic news sources would be well-advised to stay current with advances in technology.

Does Sarkozy exert too much influence over the French media?

from Editors Weblog – all postings by Emma Heald

Nicolas Sarkozy has a worrying degree of influence over the French media, according to an article in the Guardian today. Prompted by his “shocking” alleged interference in the recent sale of French daily Le Monde, Guardian writer Kim Willsher looked at the ways in which the French president influenced the media and discussed fears of the “Berlusconisation” of the media.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.