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November 2008

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• 11.29.08
  If anyone wants a glimpse as to what new media might look like in action, get twittering with Mr Stephen Fry. For there’s a model for us all to follow. General, Journalism | (0)

  Many moons ago, I did a bit on OWAB asking where the next, great publishing houses might be if - and, clearly, it is still a very large 'if' - if it's not going to be that mighty fastness of Midlands multi-media news that is Fort Dunlop. After all, as we speak Peter Mandelson is - apparently, http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/nov/29/peter-mandelson-economy - drawing up a list of companies that he deems need to be saved as the recession bites ever deeper. And, who knows? With a majority to protect, perhaps he might just slip the name 'Johnston Press' onto said list lest his local read ...

  Tagged: BBC, Cardiff, Emily Bell, Robert Peston, Stephen Fry, Twitter
  
• 11.25.08
  In case no-one’s noticed, there’s a very big ‘I’ in the word ‘Internet’. And that’s where many of your problems start… General, Journalism | (1)

  I can't quite remember the exact line; nor can I even find the exact line. Put 'Oliver' and 'Let them eat..' in a search box and it's all Jamie this and Jamie that. Hopeless. But I have it in my tiny little head that in 'Oliver!', there's a line that goes something like that; that just as his lordship asks for more, so the bloke in charge says: 'Let them eat gruel!' Or some such paltry fare. Anyway, the implication is the important bit - that this is all you're getting cos this is all we're giving you. And just be content with ...

  Tagged: BBCLocal, Newsquest, PrimeLocation, RightMove
  
• 11.21.08
  How to bite the hand that could have fed you; and why your new friends in the Tory party might have a nasty surprise up their sleeve General, Journalism | (0)

  There were several points that stuck out like sore thumbs with regard to today's decision by the BBC Trust to formally knock those dastardly local video plans on the head. Many of which are covered here by the learned Professor... http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2008/nov/21/bbc-theregions And the subsequent comments. What fascinates me is the role of the Tory party as the great champions of the local newspaper industry in all this - as the Newspaper Society clearly calls in all manner of favours off those with a marginal seat to protect. Cue Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative culture spokesman, said: "These plans were totally flawed and would have done enormous ...

  Tagged: Archant, BBC Local, BBC Trust, TrinityMirror
  
• 11.17.08
  Courtesy of How-Do, it is the smallest of pebbles. Where the ripples lead, however, will be fascinating to watch… General, Journalism | (0)

  I've no idea if this will ever see the light of day. It is, however, worth a ponder. http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/mediamoney/2008/11/17/guardian-cities-local-sites-for-local-cityfolk/ Worth treating as tiny pebble and throwing into the shrinking pond that is the UK provincial newspaper industry and trying to imagine where the ripples might lead... Clearly GMG have been happily working that Manchester beat for years. The Manchester Evening News was just AN Other city evening paper - just a bigger version of the Trinity-owned Newcastle Chron, the Johnston-run Sheffield Star, the Northcliffe-managed Bristol Evening Post, Archant's Norwich Evening News. Everyone plundered their own little circulation fiefdoms with a passion; everyone knew whose ...

  Tagged: Archant, Johnston Press, Northcliffe, The Guardian, TrinityMirror
  
• 11.17.08
  Here we go again, Mr Murdoch’s mob seeing the benefit of the link; from Sky to The Times and back again… General, Journalism | (0)

  Whether this counts might be something of a moot point given the content is all derived from underneath the same NewsCorporation umbrella... http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=42461&c=1 But there we go... that's the 'link economy' at work; that spares The Times from having to do too much of this TV station nonsense; they just link to their cousins at Sky - just as Sky link back to their cousins at The Times for the kind of written content that they will never produce. And the accountants love it; link and save, link and save... �

  Tagged: News Corporation, Sky TV, The Tines
  
• 11.14.08
  Here we go – the painful birth of the new link economy in the US. And if you can do it in Baltimore, why not Barnsley? General, Journalism | (0)

  For no other reason than Jeff's latest posting touches on exactly the debate we were having yesterday re who does what for whom in Barnsley... http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=175#comments ... here we go with the view from Stateside; Jarvis' thoughts on the painful birth of the US link economy... http://www.buzzmachine.com/2008/11/14/the-birth-of-networks/ By all means, try and be all things to all men; be this all-singing, all-dancing, all multi-media local news platform. That's fine. But all I think both of us are saying is that if it gets to the point over the next 12-18 months when you are literally down to watching your very last penny, maybe, just maybe, ...

  Tagged: Jeff Jarvis, Johnston Press, Sheffield Star
  
• 11.13.08
  A touch of humility in the face of unprecedented adversity… there’s a lesson for us all there. General, Journalism | (3)

  Yesterday wasn't a 'good news' day for Johnston Press; property advertising displaying a 50% fall, etc, etc... And nor did today's interim statement by Trinity Mirror offer much by way of good news, either. Meanwhile, even DMGT were forced to reach for the red-marker pen and slash 300 jobs from their various London titles and operations. If anyone wanted to see what a forest fire looked like, this is probably it. And 2009 doesn't promise to be any better. In fact, it promises to be 'challenging' according to the Trinity Mirror suits. Johnston Press also rolled out their No1 suit today, Tim Bowdler - ...

  Tagged: BBC, Craig's List, DMGT, Johnston Press, Sly Bailey, Tim Bowdler, TrinityMirror
  
• 11.12.08
  Lost no longer? That maybe our future lies as the bastard child of old media journalist and new media blogger. A jogger, in short. General, Journalism | (0)

  For reasons that may well become apparent over the next couple of weeks, we've started to put a lot of thought and effort into this idea that the future of journalism might have something to do with the art of stimulating and sustaining a conversation. We've been round this block before; as have others - we've even proposed an idea that, say, Channel Four could become this 'House Of Many Conversations'... if we could only just give all those passionate niche communities that gather around www.channel4.com/lost a 'voice'... http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=166 It's actually quite interesting poking our nose round that little Lost community - they ...

  Tagged: Channel Four, Lost
  
• 11.10.08
  Do citizens really need the voice that a local newspaper offers? Or have they long discovered a powerful chorus of their very own? General, Journalism | (2)

  Two different stories on the MediaGuardian website; two very different takes on this new media world of ours... One is Alan Rusbridger's thoughts ahead of the Society Of Editors gathering in Bristol today - an event that could have all the joyous trappings of a particularly miserable wake... http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/nov/10/newspapers-the-future-alan-rusbridger The other is Jemima Kiss' report on how one of the biggest winners of the US election was new media - in all her many-headed forms... It was the web wot won it... http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/nov/10/obama-online-strategy Put together and they make for an interesting read. Rusbridger's call for a spot of top-slicing-cum-state-subsidy to head the way of the provincial ...

  Tagged: 4iP, Alan Rusbridger, Jemima Kiss
  
• 11.10.08
  Somewhere in between total offense and Fort Dunlop-like defense there ought to be a way forward. In theory… General, Journalism | (0)

  There was clearly a very interesting discussion to be had at Jeff's latest CUNY gathering; in particular, the one about starting from scratch... 'So I proposed a problem to solve: What if a city, say Philadelphia, loses its paper tomorrow. What would you build in its place to serve the community? The group went to town. Rather than trying to hack at the old, they build something new. 'They calculated the likely revenue Philadelphia could support online and then figured out what they could afford in staffing. Instead of the 200-300-person newsroom that has existed in print, they decided they could ...

  Tagged: Fort Dunlop, Jeff Jarvis
  

• « Previous Entries

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• OK, as austerity bites ever deeper into our daily lives lets go round this block again: planning application or lollipop lady?
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