Is the Boston Globe Saved ?

It would appear so after the globe’s biggest union reached a tentative deal last week with the owner of the New York Times according to Reuters. So it appears as if what would have been a horrible moment for the news industry has been avoided. For right now this can just be seen as a positive development, but the fact remains that The Boston Globe was very close to being wiped completely off the news map. 

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This begs the question, has the paper really dodged a bullet or has it just swept the problems under the rug, only to resurface later. While the Boston Globe most likely staying operational is a victory, it’s one of a battle and not a war. The broken business model of newspapers everywhere still exists, and chances are we’re going to be hearing talk of major newspapers possibly closing for a long time to come. Some will inevitably fall, but if something doesn’t give newspaper funerals will soon be overlapping each other.

Concern for the Efficiency of the Media

The media hasn’t just been referred to as a watchdog by the people, but the media has also touted itself as such. Now in a new article by Greg Mitchell he questions whether that viewpoint is being altogether lost. He brings up the medias poor initial coverage of both the war in Iraq and the recent financial collapse of the banks as examples. He also brings up a stat that’s rather shocking. According to a new Rasmussen poll one in four Americans now believe that shows like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report are replacing actual news sources as viable news outlets. This echoes a piece done in the New York Times last year entitled “Is Jon Stewart the Most Trusted Man in America?”

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The media has always been a figure that people love to jump on. When people feel a specific story is being over covered, or that a news out let is showing a particular bias, they are not shy to rip particular media outlets about it. Personally I’ve never had a problem with these people, some are right and many are wrong, but still they’re entitled to their opinions. However this is where the biggest problem sits. Part of the job of the press is to go where regular civilians can’t and be their voice. With newspapers folding and the public losing even more trust in “real” news outlets, the voice of the majority of people and the voice of the media may no longer be the same. It’s this dissention between the two that jeopardizes the media’s watchdog status.

Jrn 24/7 Final Project : News for You

My idea is to create a forum where reading the news you want is convenient and also an interactive experience. The website is called Newsforyou.com. It would work much like social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook. Each user would have to create a unique username and password to become a member. Once registered, each member can begin to create what is his or her idea of the perfect news page. It would be much like an editor laying out the front page of a daily paper, but completely customized based on what each user wants. Here are the steps:

1. Pick from a list of layout templates or upload your own (this will make your news page appear different than other users). Customize things like color and fonts.
2. NewsForYou will walk you through a system where you can choose certain sections from different news outlets all over the web that you want to appear on your page.
3. Once you have chosen the different sections you’d like to display and have refreshed everyday, you can begin to put them into different spots on your chosen layout template for easy navigation of your page.

 

While navigating through either your own news page, or friends, you will be given four options once you highlight a story with the mouse. These options are: Read it, Blog about it, Tell a friend about it, and Clip it. Though largely self explanatory, here is what would happen if you clicked one of these options:

1. Read it – This would bring you to the page that the full story is located on.
2. Blog about it – On each person’s page will be a small area where they can blog about the stories that may have appeared on their site. Friends then can see not only what people are reading, but also what they think about what they’ve read.
3. Tell a friend about it – If you think the story may be particularly interesting to another friend that you have on NewsForYou, clicking this option will allow you to select the friend(s) you wish to send it to. A message will then be sent via the messaging system within NewsForYou’s website.
4. Clip it – Because your news page will be updating regularly, NewsForYou.com will provide a special clips section on your page, where links to stories will be saved for you to read later.

Two things people really seem to like in today’s times are convenience and customization. People love the idea of having something that is just for them. NewsForYou.com could provide both of these things. Its social networking features also allow for news consumption to become a truly interactive experience. This makes NewsForYou more than just a way to stay connected with the news; it’s another way to stay connected with each other.

Tiered Internet Pricing ?

Apparently Time Warner has put their plans for such a pricing system on hold … for now. It’s been something long rumored that internet service providers have been looking to integrate a tiered pricing system to benefit both themselves and customers. Someone who spends all their time downloading movies and uploading things to the web, is taking up much more bandwidth than the housewife down the block who is looking up cooking recipes for her family’s dinner. As it stands right now these two people would be paying the exact same amount for their respective use of the web. 

I personally see no problem with changing the current system. I understand that I use up much more bandwidth than the elderly couple living down the street, and it’s really not fair that we’re paying the same price. People seem to be resisting the idea because it’s a change from the way things have always been, but really it’s no different than paying more for premium cable channels. If you want HBO, Showtime, and Encore you have to pay a bit more. As long as there is an option each month for unlimited internet use then this shouldn’t effect change things to much. Sure the price may go up a bit, but that was gonna happen eventually anyway. 

In the end tiered pricing gives consumers options and it’s always better to have a choice then be forced into something. Imagine if you had to pay $20 a month to be able to text message but you only send 100 a month. Meanwhile the teenager next door is spending 10,000 a month and paying the same price. You’d probably be complaining there was no other option. Tiered pricing is going to happen, it’s just a matter of time.

Online Readership On the Rise

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the number of unique visitors to newspaper websites was up 10% in the first quarter of 2009. What many are waiting to see now is if this report will lead to more money for newspaper websites. In a study by Scarborough Research, 28 percent of those readers were said to be people living in households bringing in $100,000 or more. It remains to be seen if these numbers impress advertisers enough for newspapers to ask more for ad space.

Online revenue had been growing but has faced decline since the recession hit. As we slowly come out of our economic stupor and online traffic continues to increase it’s possible newspapers could start to see more money from advertisers. If this does come to pass it can once again change the way the industry is approaching business. Since the start of the internet revolution the question has been how to monetize this method of distribution. It will most likely remain an issue for the foreseeable future, but let’s pretend for a second that we’re living in a world where it isn’t. It will then be these newspapers websites bringing in high revenues and profits that kills newspapers. If the internet can yield high returns and newspapers continue to struggle then having a print edition of the paper will be useless. And that will be the final nail in the coffin.

MLB Network Hitting to All Fields

 

With the establishment of the Major League Baseball Network this year, baseball fans finally have a place they can turn to for non stop baseball coverage. Local newspapers cover local teams and baseball must share air time on ESPN with other sports. Up until this year if you wanted your baseball news fix on television and ESPN wasn’t covering it, you were out of luck. Neil Best of Newsday has pointed out in his blog how that’s no longer the case.

Living in New York we’re spoiled by how much attention the Yankees and Mets receive, not only locally but nationally as well. But what about smaller market teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates or the Minnesota Twins? MLB Network has provided the outlet for people to get news on these teams no matter where you are in the country. The other important thing that MLB Network does is provide some sort of competition for ESPN. Earlier in the semester I wrote about how ESPN may be developing a bit of a monopoly  on sports news. Organizations like Major League Baseball and  the National Football League establishing their own personal networks are a nice step toward avoiding this. 

However, the MLB and NFL Network must also be watched closely. These networks are owned and operated by the leagues they represent. It’d be foolish not to question the objectivity of what’s reported on these channels. Ironically it’ll fall largely on ESPN to check up on these two young stations. The media may be known as a watchdog over government, but along with the people, it must also be a watchdog over itself.

Are Newspapers Needed To Drive Online Traffic?

Since the Seattle Post Intelligencer published it’s last issue on March 17, they have fallen out of the list of the top 30 newspaper websites according to Editor and Publisher. This could be a telling sign and something to watch in the future. Could out of sight be out of mind for news consumers regarding these papers? It’ll be interesting to see if papers in the future that close their print editions see similar fall off in their online viewing.

If this trend continues it could stand as a reason why newspapers are still relevant in today’s society. Those people who have not followed the Intelligencer online have either gone to a different newspaper or are no longer getting they’re news at all. Either way their reaction proves a point. If they’ve picked up another newspaper it shows that there is still a desire among consumers for newspapers. If they’re no longer getting the news at all this means that a lack of newspapers is leading to an uninformed society, which as we know can be a dangerous place. I’m of the belief that there can still be a place for newspapers even in this technologically advanced world we are living in. Developments like this one can only help that argument.

Blogosphere Pleads NBC to Save ‘Chuck’

If you’re a regular viewer of “Chuck” then you know that it’s usually his CIA and NSA handlers Sarah Walker and John Casey saving his life. However with the second season about to come to a close, ratings remain below average for this critical darling of a show. With rumors swirling that this on the bubble show may be headed for cancellation, the blogosphere has ignited with strong opinions and campaigns to help save it. 

Yvonne Strahovski, Zachary Levi, and Adam Baldwin in "Chuck"

Bloggers from the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and The Star-Ledger  have all voiced their support for the show to continue. Alan Sepinwall in particular from the Ledger addressed his blog as an open letter to Ben Silverman and Angela Bromstad, the co-chairmen of NBC entertainment. The popular television website Give Me My Remote has changed all banners on their website to say “Give Me My Chuck,” until a verdict is come to on whether or not the show will return. Many of these blogs are linking off to an organized online campaign,through which fans have been encouraged to send boxes of nerds to NBC. The nerds are a reference to the group the title character works with entitled “The Nerd Herd,” meant as a rip off of Best Buy’s Geek Squad.

I personally love “Chuck,” and while I’m sure many good shows have been cancelled before, it would be a shame if it were to happen to this one as well. There have also, I’m sure, been online movements to save shows, but I don’t remember anything quite this extravagant. Entertainment Weekly and IGN have also shown strong support  for the show, giving it positive publicity in recent weeks through news articles and feature pieces. NBC is no doubt taking notice of this sudden online surge of support for “Chuck” from both the media and fans. It’s something that is really interesting to watch develop as the internet is used as a tool like this. I’m very curious to see if so much positive media attention around this show ultimately leads to its renewal for a third season.As a fan I sincerely hope it does.

A.P. Cracks down on Re-distribution of Web Content

The world wide web is a place where people are very liberal with content. People think nothing of finding something in one place and sharing it with others on many different websites. This has been a big part of the reason why subscription services to online versions of newspapers have been mostly failures. But the Associated Press has announced that it will now require other websites to seek permission and share revenue in order to make use of the press’ stories. If sites fail to do so, the A.P. is threatening legal action.

This should be something that’ll be very interesting to watch play out. It will surely only be a matter of time until some website takes stories from the A.P. or one of its newspapers with out permission. When it happens, the first court case will likely be pivotal in creating an example for future offenders. If the court were to deem, for whatever reason, that the A.P. has no case it’s likely we will see unpunished re-distribution of news articles on the web for years to come. However if punishment is dueled out it may set a new precedent for online news articles. Other news sites may begin to rethink how they go about business and we could see them start making some changes to their business model.

Online news is still new territory. New innovative ideas and approaches are broached everyday. I think it’s important to realize that all news outlets are dealing with a learning curve. The internet is still a a relatively new medium, and with new advancements nearly everyday its potential still hasn’t been fully realized. I’d be willing to bet the format for news distribution on the web that we have now, will not be the same as the one we’ll have five, three, or even two years from now. The future of news online is being shaped by decisions like this one that are being made today.

Youtube and Disney/ESPN Make A Deal

Youtube and Disney have struck a deal that will see a special ESPN channel added to the popular video website in mid-April. This will be a way for both Disney and Youtube to generate revenue from online content, although it’s reported in the article that Disney will be in control of ad inventory. 

This certainly will add a layer of reliability to sports journalism on Youtube. You won’t be able to pull up these videos in a standard Youtube search, but by going straight to the ESPN channel consumers can be assured they’re seeing coverage officially licensed by ESPN. There are plenty of sports highlights and newscasts on Youtube that have been altered and edited, but now this will be a special page where the content has gone through a filter. 

Disney is welcoming online revolution with open arms.

When people think of getting official video content on the web, most refer to Hulu. But with this deal it seems Youtube is eager to enter into the business of hosting legitimate content. A special ABC channel will go up in mid-May, but there is no word yet on whether or not Youtube will eventually have the rights to host full programs from the network.

This is an interesting, and in my opinion, positive development in the world of online content. If Youtube could strike a deal with ESPN, than it’s possible that they could do the same with national news outlets. Knowing that the content you’re seeing on a possible CNN or Fox News channel is coming straight from the source, not a third party, adds true reliability to the convenience of Youtube.