An article on the growth of online news sites that are linked to newspapers, rather than wire agencies, and how they have proved their worth during the current financial crisis.
Online news sites lead the battle for eyeballs
Scott Murdoch | September 22, 2008
The Australian
THE days of financial market traders glued to the screen monitoring wire news feeds could be lessening, with the growth of global online news sites. MORE
Monday, September 22, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Tribune journos fight back
Reporters From Paper Suing Chief of Tribune
and a media agency head writes about where journalists should turn to for their next pay check:
Future of journalism may be in private companies
and a media agency head writes about where journalists should turn to for their next pay check:
Future of journalism may be in private companies
Saturday, September 6, 2008
'A problem for the democratic functioning of society'
More editorials and opinion pieces about the changing nature of journalism. The two here focus on the structural problems being faced by the industry as a whole. Can they be overcome? Has the industry past a turning point where there's no turning back?
The winter of journalism's content
THE AUSTRALIAN
David McKnight and Penny O'Donnell | September 03, 2008
NEWSPAPERS in Australia and the world face difficult choices in the next decade. The dilemma can be expressed in a simple question: who will pay for quality journalism in the future? Until now the answer has been obvious. Advertising has subsidised journalism since the mass market press emerged at the end of the 19th century.
But the much-despised advertising is on the move. It's heading for the internet and with it is going one of the main props for journalists' salaries. In the language of economists, the business model for journalism is collapsing. But this is more than a problem for journalists or media owners; it is a problem for the democratic functioning of society.
Techno-optimists will tell you that the dinosaur newspaper industry simply will be replaced. The public will be informed by news on the internet, television and radio.
There are at least three problems with this bright forecast. First, newspapers are by far the main source of news as well as agenda setters compared with radio, TV and online, according to research for the Australian Broadcasting Authority in 2001 (now the Australian Communications and Media Authority). MORE
Loss of deepest diggers
Mark Day Blog | September 04, 2008 | 15 Comments
THE ructions at Fairfax Media have succeeded in putting the future of newspapers and journalism front and centre of debate about future trends in media. Commentary has focused mainly on Fairfax’s policies, its financial modelling and the perception that publishing is a business on a slippery slope.
Precious little has been said about how the industry’s structural problems may be overcome. Will it be by slashing and burning, reducing costs by sacking people in a spiralling game with no end? Or will it be by investing in new ways of doing things in the hope or expectation that they will deliver the profits required to grow?
Fairfax, driven by the cost-cutting experts it inherited from last year’s merger with Rural Press, has opted for the slash and burn model. Of the 550 people earmarked for the sack, about 180 will be journalists, with an expected 120 to go from the company’s flagship titles The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Fairfax is not alone in going down this route. The big US papers, led by The New York Times, have been leading the way in recent years. MORE
The winter of journalism's content
THE AUSTRALIAN
David McKnight and Penny O'Donnell | September 03, 2008
NEWSPAPERS in Australia and the world face difficult choices in the next decade. The dilemma can be expressed in a simple question: who will pay for quality journalism in the future? Until now the answer has been obvious. Advertising has subsidised journalism since the mass market press emerged at the end of the 19th century.
But the much-despised advertising is on the move. It's heading for the internet and with it is going one of the main props for journalists' salaries. In the language of economists, the business model for journalism is collapsing. But this is more than a problem for journalists or media owners; it is a problem for the democratic functioning of society.
Techno-optimists will tell you that the dinosaur newspaper industry simply will be replaced. The public will be informed by news on the internet, television and radio.
There are at least three problems with this bright forecast. First, newspapers are by far the main source of news as well as agenda setters compared with radio, TV and online, according to research for the Australian Broadcasting Authority in 2001 (now the Australian Communications and Media Authority). MORE
Loss of deepest diggers
Mark Day Blog | September 04, 2008 | 15 Comments
THE ructions at Fairfax Media have succeeded in putting the future of newspapers and journalism front and centre of debate about future trends in media. Commentary has focused mainly on Fairfax’s policies, its financial modelling and the perception that publishing is a business on a slippery slope.
Precious little has been said about how the industry’s structural problems may be overcome. Will it be by slashing and burning, reducing costs by sacking people in a spiralling game with no end? Or will it be by investing in new ways of doing things in the hope or expectation that they will deliver the profits required to grow?
Fairfax, driven by the cost-cutting experts it inherited from last year’s merger with Rural Press, has opted for the slash and burn model. Of the 550 people earmarked for the sack, about 180 will be journalists, with an expected 120 to go from the company’s flagship titles The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Fairfax is not alone in going down this route. The big US papers, led by The New York Times, have been leading the way in recent years. MORE
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
ABC's take on the media crisis in Australia
Here are two Australian Broadcasting Corporation stories on the current Fairfax Media cuts and the general decline of the media industry.
1. 7.30 Report
Media industry in crisis as standards decline: Davies
Kerry O’Brien speaks with investigative journalist and author Nick Davies about his new book, Flat Earth News. Davies argues that journalistic standards are declining the world over as cost cutting and government pressures take toll on the industry.
Read transcript.
Watch video of extended interview.
2. Media Watch
Trouble at Fairfax
The rise of the internet and a slowing economy has led to the announcement by Fairfax that it will cut 5% of its workforce in Australia and New Zealand. Will these cuts come at the expense of journalism?
Read transcript.
Watch video.
1. 7.30 Report
Media industry in crisis as standards decline: Davies
Kerry O’Brien speaks with investigative journalist and author Nick Davies about his new book, Flat Earth News. Davies argues that journalistic standards are declining the world over as cost cutting and government pressures take toll on the industry.
Read transcript.
Watch video of extended interview.
2. Media Watch
Trouble at Fairfax
The rise of the internet and a slowing economy has led to the announcement by Fairfax that it will cut 5% of its workforce in Australia and New Zealand. Will these cuts come at the expense of journalism?
Read transcript.
Watch video.
Monday, September 1, 2008
The digital side of Fairfax
Fairfax Digital is growing while Fairfax Media is being cut - that's the latest news coming out of the Australian media company. But how effective are the advertising and profit models at the moment. Can the company evolve into a digital information company?
Bright future for Fairfax Media digital division
Michael Sainsbury | September 01, 2008
FAIRFAX Media's booming digital division -- which provided the only bright spot in disappointing recent financials -- is gearing up to grab a slice of $3.3 billion in television advertising as the Australian internet industry moves towards a cohesive audience measurement system.
The Fairfax digital division, which will escape the axe-wielding announced at its Australian and New Zealand broadsheets, boosted profits by more than 50 per cent in Australia and New Zealand and is adding more staff to its existing 600.
In the days after Fairfax's main newspaper group announced staff cuts of 550 people, or 5 per cent of the workforce, Fairfax Digital chief Jack Matthews said the division had added about 100 people in the 2008 financial year.
Mr Matthews said staff growth would continue next year, although not at such a fast rate, and the group could pick up people who had lost their jobs in the newspaper division.
"We are operating in a very different environment but the same kind of pressures to be efficient and cost-effective exist here," Mr Matthews said.
"It's not like we have a blank chequebook. One difference is that our industry and our market are still high-growth areas and we need to invest in that growth.
"Even though revenue growth slowed a bit in the second half, year on year, the bottom line increased in the second half." MORE
Bright future for Fairfax Media digital division
Michael Sainsbury | September 01, 2008
FAIRFAX Media's booming digital division -- which provided the only bright spot in disappointing recent financials -- is gearing up to grab a slice of $3.3 billion in television advertising as the Australian internet industry moves towards a cohesive audience measurement system.
The Fairfax digital division, which will escape the axe-wielding announced at its Australian and New Zealand broadsheets, boosted profits by more than 50 per cent in Australia and New Zealand and is adding more staff to its existing 600.
In the days after Fairfax's main newspaper group announced staff cuts of 550 people, or 5 per cent of the workforce, Fairfax Digital chief Jack Matthews said the division had added about 100 people in the 2008 financial year.
Mr Matthews said staff growth would continue next year, although not at such a fast rate, and the group could pick up people who had lost their jobs in the newspaper division.
"We are operating in a very different environment but the same kind of pressures to be efficient and cost-effective exist here," Mr Matthews said.
"It's not like we have a blank chequebook. One difference is that our industry and our market are still high-growth areas and we need to invest in that growth.
"Even though revenue growth slowed a bit in the second half, year on year, the bottom line increased in the second half." MORE
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
