Archive for category Technology
It’s a small world…..
Posted by jareetz in Digital, Industry, Newspapers, Radio, Social Media, Technology, Television on August 10th, 2010
In the Dark Ages - about two years ago - newspaper companies with a healthy stable of smaller to medium size properties felt like they had the ultimate insurance policy. Perceived remoteness.
“It’ll be years before Google, Yahoo and the rest discover us,” was the line of thought, as they watched the metros they owned struggle with competition from new digital information sources.
It was “years” before the big guys discovered the smaller players. About two, in fact.
So much for “perceived remoteness.” Like the song says, it really is a small, small world.
When the big guys looked, they saw “remote” markets that weren’t that remote. Maybe suburban towns and cities that lost their zoned editions - and news-gathering capabilities at the same time - in reactive cost-cutting efforts by the metros. Perhaps they were still served by a community newspaper that believed print would carry them to the next generation, not yet plugged in to the need to compete digitally.
They also found cities of good-size population, a couple hours’ drive from big metro areas. And they found these papers making money. So maybe this was a good market after all, right? “Bird’s nest on the ground,” as a buddy of mine says.
What happened? A bunch of hyper-local companies jumped right in. There were as many different formulas as there were companies.
None of them caught hold in a big way. But that was two years ago - remember, the Dark Ages.
Now AOL is making a run at it, pumping $50 million into a company called Patch Media. Out of the blue I got a cold call from a recruiter, scouring LinkedIn for editor/business types in my city - Atlanta - where they will be rolling out many sites soon.
Clear from the beginning that I was happy and quiet busy work-wise, we nonetheless talked about their approach - in case I knew anyone (and I did, and passed along names).
Just like any good community newspaper, their staffers will live in the community they cover and be part of that community. They clearly understand that connection.
Their people will work hard, pound the pavement, file from coffee shops wth free Internet service and generally act like community newspaper employees. It won’t be easy.
You can find debate in several areas about whether Patch is just really efficient or runs a sweatshop. But when you run the sweatshop claim up against the newspaper industry - never been known for short hours and great pay - it becomes an academic debate.
There are plenty of out-of-work newspaper-types signing on, and good for them if that’s what they want.
This year Patch plans to launch “hundreds” of local web sites. The $50 million in expansion cash can be chewed up pretty quickly across a national network.
Bu regardless of whether Patch succeeds or not - and they seem to have a better shot than most that have come before - this ought to be one more of many, many shots fired across the bow of newspapers who think they don’t have to worry about that pesky ol’ web site.
Because Patch is not alone out there. Look for more on local from Yahoo! this year. Two years ago - Dark Ages again - who would have thought Yahoo! would be publishing a hard copy book - called “The Yahoo! Style Guide”? When you’re writing for the web, will you buy the Yahoo! book or AP book?
What will small and medium-sized newspapers do, faced with this bothersome development in an already troubling time?
Please don’t do what your metro kin did and wait for the bad times to pass.
And don’t blame AOL and Patch and the other local news wannabees. They see a market that they think is underserved digitally, so here they come. It’s called free enterprise.
Most smaller to medium-size newspapers still have a strong hand. They are profitable, respected in their communities, have the reporting resources and knowledge in place, not to mention outstanding local ad sales capabilities.
But are those papers paying attention to digital, focusing on their web sites, looking to grow them and increase revenue? Many are doing just that, and there are some tremendous web operations and products in medium and small markets.
In those markets, a tip of the pressman’s folding newsprint hat to the local newspaper.
In other markets, where the web site is of little interest or attention, don’t fret.
Soon, there will be a nice, community-focused web site in your market, either from a suddenly-alert newspaper or other media outlet. Or from someone like Patch.
Because it’s a small world after all.
Who says newspapers can’t move quickly?
Posted by jareetz in Digital, Industry, Newspapers, Technology on February 3rd, 2010
Well, me.
And, most likely, you.
“We’re like a battleship; it takes a long time to change direction,” a senior newspaper exec told me decades ago, trying to calm my impatience with the pace of a large project. “But when we change course, we’ve got awesome firepower.”
Well, the firepower is greatly diminished, and the great, gray battleships are finding it harder to fight off pesky opponents circling them.
Speedy decisions and rapid implementation are essential to survival.
As most newspaper companies come out of two years of cost-cutting, is the industry alive with a thousand new strategies and ideas, or are the budgets being perused for just another round of cost-cutting since ideas and speed are in short supply?
“Every day I read Romenesko,” another industry friend told me recently. “and it’s the same thing from a year ago. Is anybody moving forward with any kind of speed, doing anything?”
Yes.
In the middle of the country, in the heart of Texas, there is a paper that is bucking that creaky, go-slow mentality at a time when it is essential for the industry to change, and change rapidly.
They are not a battleship; they are more like a PT boat.
Six months ago the Waco Tribune-Herald, formerly a Cox Newspapers paper, was sold to local owners, Robinson Media Company (Clifton Robinson and Gordon Robinson).
A lot has changed; no, everything has changed. But you haven’t heard much about it.
Contrary to what most of you likely think about Texans (and I am one), they are sometimes prone to understatement, and avoid bragging. (Anyway, like they say, it ain’t bragging if it’s true.)
There’s not a lot of industry talk about what’s going on at the Trib, and that’s just fine with the folks at the paper.
Their audience is their community; not those covering the newspaper industry’s woes. They’re not trying to please Wall Street; they’re trying to please Main Street.
Since the sale, circulation has steadily increased, ad revenue is growing, there is a re-emphasis on local news. And new reporters are being hired. Tell me how many newspapers are creating and filling new reporter positions?
Waco is.
And, incredibly, Waco has launched a brand new Web site - from ground zero (no contracts or vendors finalized) less than four months ago - to a clean, sharp, snappy Web presence today.
Take a look: www.wacotrib.com.
Now that the site is launched, Phase Two additions are under way now; Phase Three is coming.
What is even more remarkable here is that, prior to the sale, Waco’s Web presence was delivered to a great degree on a platter by COXnet, a group I ran as General Manager until it dissolved as Cox sold nine of its daily papers. Not always did the papers want everything on the platter, because some strategies were centralized and everyone participated. But for the most part they didn’t have to worry about vetting, and running, hosting, infrastructure, content management system, classified vendors, product development and everything that is not obvious to the public but makes up the Web site.
Under the old structure, they had the keys to the car, and produced a great site, sold advertising and were strong in their community. But they never got to leave the driveway with the car.
Now, they’ve not only got the keys, but they’re ripping up and down the highway, own their site, don’t have any ties - and that can be good or bad - to a mother ship.
As the day for launch came close, there was a feeling of the importance of the moment. For 33 years, Cox owned the Waco paper.
Ecstatic about the new ownership and management and what has been done for the paper, there was still a sense of this is a big deal, and the Web change is the final cutting of the cord to Cox.
Former publisher Dan Savage, who came out of retirement to work with the Robinsons to create a community-centric Trib, talked about that in an editorial board meeting. He talked of how monumental it was for the paper, its people and the city.
I relate to Dan’s view: I ran the COXnet group, and then I came in to lead the Waco Web transition project. There is irony there - working for years to knit www.wacotrib.com into the old infrastructure. Then working to break those ties and set them on their way.
What can your newspaper achieve in 94 days?
Take a look at the Trib and see what they did. Spend some time looking around. The site deserves your focus.
But I bet many of you wonder why it worked in Waco, while much of the industry seems to be stuck in neutral.
That’s in my next blog.
Let’s take a look at the Fast Flip side
Posted by jareetz in Digital, Newspapers, Technology on September 16th, 2009
Sometimes the road to new habits and new technology is littered with temporary bridges and make-do paths, products with a very important but very short shelf-life, and products that fill a gap until a better idea comes along.
Is Google Fast Flip one of these, or is it the start of something much bigger?
In a media industry that focuses on every piece of info, trivial or not, press coverage of Fast Flip the last few days has been middle of the road, respectable but not overwhelming.
The New York Times wrapped up Fast Flip nicely in its article. PC World and Mashable provided similar coverage.
Google’s Fast Flip is basically just a new way to view the news. Google has 39 partners, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, Cosmopolitan and Harper’s Bazaar.
Give it a try. Click on an article and flip through the article, a la traditional media. There are ads on the pages, and it’s a revenue share with the partners.
Maybe it’s a short-term play, has a comfort level for some and bridges the gap for others. Maybe it’s a keeper.
And maybe - just maybe - it doesn’t need a lot of analyzing. It’s just another way to read, and whenever that happens, it’s good.
Also, not a bad thing that Google and traditional media found a way to work together.