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Can the Star and the Standard both be right?
Wed, Oct 28 2009 12:33 PM
| newspapers, advertising, Indianapolis
| Permalink
Earlier this month, the London Evening Standard, a leading newspaper in Great Britain, broke with tradition and began free distribution of its daily product. The paper more than doubled its daily distribution to 600,000, counting on the increased circulation to boost advertising revenue.
Both of these moves come as a response to the failure of advertisers to value online publications, at least those that are produced by traditional print newspapers. Both companies also are responding to the unsolved problem of free, unregulated online duplication of news produced by their employees.
The Evening Standard's Russian owner, Alexander Lebdenev, seems to believe flooding the market with a free quality product will make his product indispensable to advertisers. Since the change, one other free newspaper in London has shut down.
The Star's Gannett ownership seems to believe that advertisers, with many options, will never again foot the bill for news operations. A good, local news product, they are saying, should be a marketable item.
There are differences between the U.S. and British television systems, which alter the calculations, but it's hard to imagine that both of these moves can be right at the same time. If London is wrong, the Evening Standard will flame out. If Indianapolis is wrong, the Star will start spiraling into a smaller and smaller niche. Let's hope at least one of them has found the answer.
Comments
It's come to this: local news like Google news
Tue, Sep 8 2009 10:49 AM
| newspapers, website, Indianapolis
| Permalink
One theory about how newspapers can survive in a paperless future is the notion that they can become the prime sources of local news. What the President says can be found everywhere. What the Mayor says must be found on a local news site. The theory holds that what used to be called a newspaper's newsroom and now is called an "information center" is well-equipped to become the dominant local news site.
That dominance would mean advertisers get exposure from everyone looking for local news. Being on the welcome page or the main sports page would collect lots of impressions.
What would happen to that dominance if the readers go somewhere else for a news digest and then directly to the story about what the Mayor said? This happens already in a limited way if you use, for example, an iGoogle home page that gives you the top stories of your local paper.
Now an entrepreneur named Yiyi Liu has begun a revolution in that thought. Based in Montreal, his operation, called "City and Press," has taken what Google does in a universal way and made it local. In 30 cities, including Indianapolis, Liu has started local news aggregation sites called "(city).cityandpress.com". In Indianapolis, of course, it's www.indianapolis.cityandpress.com.
How this works, apparently, is that they capture RSS feeds from every local news outlet and publish them on the city-specific site, with stories categorized as "news,", "sports," "business" and more. On each city site, they promise to stop using material generated by a news outlet, such as TV station, on request.
This creates a problem for a newspaper, a radio station or a TV station. Does management want to be left out of what could become the prime index of local news or cede that role to someone else and take the linked hits? The revenue for a "City and Press" site is likely to be small, a least at first, but its overhead is minimal.
As we know, things online are moving faster than we ever expect. How news outlets respond to this advance could be crucial.
That dominance would mean advertisers get exposure from everyone looking for local news. Being on the welcome page or the main sports page would collect lots of impressions.
What would happen to that dominance if the readers go somewhere else for a news digest and then directly to the story about what the Mayor said? This happens already in a limited way if you use, for example, an iGoogle home page that gives you the top stories of your local paper.
Now an entrepreneur named Yiyi Liu has begun a revolution in that thought. Based in Montreal, his operation, called "City and Press," has taken what Google does in a universal way and made it local. In 30 cities, including Indianapolis, Liu has started local news aggregation sites called "(city).cityandpress.com". In Indianapolis, of course, it's www.indianapolis.cityandpress.com.
How this works, apparently, is that they capture RSS feeds from every local news outlet and publish them on the city-specific site, with stories categorized as "news,", "sports," "business" and more. On each city site, they promise to stop using material generated by a news outlet, such as TV station, on request.
This creates a problem for a newspaper, a radio station or a TV station. Does management want to be left out of what could become the prime index of local news or cede that role to someone else and take the linked hits? The revenue for a "City and Press" site is likely to be small, a least at first, but its overhead is minimal.
As we know, things online are moving faster than we ever expect. How news outlets respond to this advance could be crucial.
Is no news business news?
Thu, Sep 3 2009 05:29 AM
| newspapers, Indianapolis Star, business
| Permalink
The departure of John Ketzenberger from the Indianapolis Star should be a red flag to those who care about the future of the central Indiana business community.
This is not to say that a journalist should never leave the business or that no one can be replaced. Ketzenberger's wisdom, experience and commitment to the community will continue to be an asset in his new role at the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute.
The warning sign, rather, is that the position of business columnist at the largest newspaper in the state is not a stable platform. Look to the suburban Journal-News papers in Westchester and Rockland counties in New York, like the Star a Gannett property.
There, every news and advertising department employee was required to re-apply for his or her position. The newsroom staff was cut by one-fourth, including the entire business news group.
Here is where wisdom and experience tells you that you should make this your stop and get off the train. What happened in Westchester easily can happen here.
Reporting the truth about business successes, failures, crimes and trends is crucial to good decisions by investors, consumers and governments. It's often difficult work that requires good sources and the ability to understand what you see.
Aside from Ketzenberger and a couple of reporters, serious business coverage at the Star has been thin. Considering the alternative is nothing, thin may be worth preserving in this market. What else is there?
While Gerry Dick's "Inside Indiana Business" news machine is prolific and available through many channels, it is largely a non-critical deliverer of corporate messages.
The Indianapolis Business Journal is the must-read for business in town. IBJ scraps hard at the news with its limited staff. If the Star follows the Westchester model, will IBJ need to keep trying?
This is not to say that a journalist should never leave the business or that no one can be replaced. Ketzenberger's wisdom, experience and commitment to the community will continue to be an asset in his new role at the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute.
The warning sign, rather, is that the position of business columnist at the largest newspaper in the state is not a stable platform. Look to the suburban Journal-News papers in Westchester and Rockland counties in New York, like the Star a Gannett property.
There, every news and advertising department employee was required to re-apply for his or her position. The newsroom staff was cut by one-fourth, including the entire business news group.
Here is where wisdom and experience tells you that you should make this your stop and get off the train. What happened in Westchester easily can happen here.
Reporting the truth about business successes, failures, crimes and trends is crucial to good decisions by investors, consumers and governments. It's often difficult work that requires good sources and the ability to understand what you see.
Aside from Ketzenberger and a couple of reporters, serious business coverage at the Star has been thin. Considering the alternative is nothing, thin may be worth preserving in this market. What else is there?
While Gerry Dick's "Inside Indiana Business" news machine is prolific and available through many channels, it is largely a non-critical deliverer of corporate messages.
The Indianapolis Business Journal is the must-read for business in town. IBJ scraps hard at the news with its limited staff. If the Star follows the Westchester model, will IBJ need to keep trying?
News without the tease, please
Tue, Sep 1 2009 01:48 PM
| newspapers, television, economy
| Permalink
We all know that the newspaper business is going through a metamorphosis from which it will someday emerge in a form we can't predict. For many of us, the pressure for change grew imperceptibly, like the building force that finally breaks a dam.
We should know that the same thing is happening to television news.
In the Indianapolis market, four stations (WTHR, WISH-TV, WRTV and Fox59) produce five or more hours of local news every weekday and a few hours each weekend day. Some present their news shows on other channels as well. While there's a great amount of duplication of effort (everybody has the same scores to report), local news has the twin advantages of being the prime spot for local advertisers and being potentially the least expensive form of local television production.
If you watch the four local news channels, you'll see some response to the present drop in ad revenue: less feature-type reporting, slimmer staffing of major events, and fewer show-length specials. Look more closely and you'll see reuse of weekend stories on Monday and reuse of Friday stories all weekend. Sunday night football highlights are now Monday night football highlights.
Does this belt-tightening mean station news management understands that what killed newspapers as we knew them will change the way they do business, too? There's no evidence of that. Instead, they just seem to be reacting to the advertising problem as a temporary, economy-related phenomenon.
Case in point: the tease. For decades, television stations have used the last minutes of their evening news shows to promote the late-night news. "The world ends today," the parodies say, "Film at eleven." Even today, you'll hear the 11 p.m. anchors tease viewers by saying something like, "Federal officials say you should stop giving your kids a well-known medicine. Details at 11."
They might as well add, "and don't you dare sneak off to that laptop and look it up. You'll ruin the surprise." The surprise will be on them, because anyone who cares these days already knows what local official was arrested or what celebrity showed up at the State Fair. What they don't know from the Internet is information that good reporting provides. Unfortunately, good reporting is expensive.
Whether television news will save itself or fall prey to the same cheap, flashy tactics that buried newspapers is yet to be seen. I'm not betting that the TV folks are smarter than the print folks.
We should know that the same thing is happening to television news.
In the Indianapolis market, four stations (WTHR, WISH-TV, WRTV and Fox59) produce five or more hours of local news every weekday and a few hours each weekend day. Some present their news shows on other channels as well. While there's a great amount of duplication of effort (everybody has the same scores to report), local news has the twin advantages of being the prime spot for local advertisers and being potentially the least expensive form of local television production.
If you watch the four local news channels, you'll see some response to the present drop in ad revenue: less feature-type reporting, slimmer staffing of major events, and fewer show-length specials. Look more closely and you'll see reuse of weekend stories on Monday and reuse of Friday stories all weekend. Sunday night football highlights are now Monday night football highlights.
Does this belt-tightening mean station news management understands that what killed newspapers as we knew them will change the way they do business, too? There's no evidence of that. Instead, they just seem to be reacting to the advertising problem as a temporary, economy-related phenomenon.
Case in point: the tease. For decades, television stations have used the last minutes of their evening news shows to promote the late-night news. "The world ends today," the parodies say, "Film at eleven." Even today, you'll hear the 11 p.m. anchors tease viewers by saying something like, "Federal officials say you should stop giving your kids a well-known medicine. Details at 11."
They might as well add, "and don't you dare sneak off to that laptop and look it up. You'll ruin the surprise." The surprise will be on them, because anyone who cares these days already knows what local official was arrested or what celebrity showed up at the State Fair. What they don't know from the Internet is information that good reporting provides. Unfortunately, good reporting is expensive.
Whether television news will save itself or fall prey to the same cheap, flashy tactics that buried newspapers is yet to be seen. I'm not betting that the TV folks are smarter than the print folks.