Who in class pays for online news content? Agenda Changing news landscape King Kaufman’s argument Murdoch’s announcement Different pay models Industry response (journalist and business) Future of Journalism
Open salon - social content site real-time online magazine register – star blogging / posting and commenting Ref - http://open.salon.com/blog/future_of_journalism/2009/07/17/pay_for_news_its_just_not_worth_it
All news organisation would charge for news Rising newsstand and subscription costs were driving readers away Newspapers are still full of great reporters and storytellers and photographers who can provide coverage of city hall and cops and local events and all sorts of important issues like nobody else But is that work sufficiently unique and valuable that significant numbers of people will pay for it? Probably it's just not enough King Kaufman stresses the need for quality content at a good price Ref - http://open.salon.com/blog/future_of_journalism/2009/07/17/pay_for_news_its_just_not_worth_it
Newspapers are full of Great reporters and storytellers photographers Strategy for the future – specialised and niche information Ref - http://open.salon.com/blog/future_of_journalism/2009/07/17/pay_for_news_its_just_not_worth_it
Uses the example of the Itune store In an era when mp3 and file sharing were wrecking revenues for music labels iTunes revolutionised the music industry Critical to note - cost was a big factor in the success of the store Ref - http://open.salon.com/blog/future_of_journalism/2009/07/17/pay_for_news_its_just_not_worth_it
Google is doing valuable work of aggregating news the journalism industry is busy attacking because it thinks Google's making money by selling advertising against the valuable, unpaid-for work of journalists Google is providing something worthwhile by aggregating and making some sense out of the massive flow of news and information Kaufman scoffs at every business executive who is against paying for online news trying to get subsidies or laws enacted to save this industry so vital to our democracy, who warns the citizenry that without a watchdog fourth estate corruption will run wild King Kaufman believes these executive would be better spent trying to figure out how to give people value for their money Ref - http://open.salon.com/blog/future_of_journalism/2009/07/17/pay_for_news_its_just_not_worth_it
Alan Rushbridger has been editor of the Guardian since 1995 Member of the board of the Guardian News and Media Author, father of two and big advocate of free press At a lecture in Jan 2010 to honour the memory of Hugh Cudlipp (another great journalist) he said; “ They lived at an age where if you get the editorial product right, money was usually not a burning issue. There was a cover price and there was advertising send thought of course, there were newspaper failures along the road – there was no great mystery about where revenues came from” according to Alan most great journalist / editors of his time – their job was to edit great papers and other people worked out how to pay for it. Times have changed and these days editors have the responsibility of editing papers but also ensuring the news is compelling enough to get people to buy it Rupert Murdoch’s announcement to go pay raises two questions Open versus closed – if you make people pay for your content, you are no longer open to the world except for a cost. May be a good business decision but its does REDUCE access and influence in editorial terms Authority versus involvement – shift from where journalist considered themselves and were considered by others to be special figures of authority. They were trusted to filter news and prioritise it. These days people are more interested in being INVOLVED in the process of creating news – they want to challenge, respond, link into several sources. Raises the pertinent question – Does journalism carry sufficient authority for people to pay both online (where it competes in an open market of information ) and print (Ref – Editors Weblog – Jan 2010) http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2010/01/guardians_alan_rusbridger_on_why_his_pap.php
Sir Martin Sorrell- influential person in advertising Employs 140,000 people in 106 countries Believes consumers are spending 20% of time online Clients are only spending12% of advertising budget on online advertising Hoping to convince Clients to make that gradual shift to online ad spend Estimates that by 2014 – 40% of business will be online (Ref – London Evening Standard – 8 th MARCH 2010 http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23812323-famous-last-words---sir-martin-sorrell-puts-his-faith-in-advertising-upturn.do)
Specialist, highly-targeted, hard-to-replicate content Rushbridger believes some stories are effectively told when they combine print and web “be OF the web” and not simply ON the web The Times – Ruth Gledhill – example of layer reporting How does it work – paper carries a paragraph on a controversial sermon by Bishop of Chichester Gledhill will explain its significance on her blog and ink the full sermon Readers can debate the text on the blog and follow other links An era of ‘THROUGH EDITING’ Journalists are bouncing ideas of each other, linking into each others stories, citing sources, allowing responses, using technology to produce good quality news – print / visual media Building trust and relevance Linked reporting Collaborative as well as competitive approach
Annual session for the International Press Institute (IPI) congress in Vienna, Bill Mitchell of Poynter Institute Investigated : cutbacks in U.S. newsrooms have challenged investigative capacity, noting, "With many newspapers at death's door, there's worry about whether they can keep the [investigative] flame alive. Democracy and technology are prying open previously closed societies and providing citizens with information unavailable to them in the not-too-distant past. From Bahrain to Burma, from Russian to China to Zimbabwe, the new muckrakers are using blogs, mobile phones and social media to expose the predations of those in power." Partnered : Palestinian journalist Daoud Kuttab challenges such thinking by highlighting the groundbreaking reporting of courageous bloggers and other non-journalists in oppressive societies. Alan Rusbridger, argued that the future of news, period, is collaborative. He and his colleagues have their own name for it -- "mutualized news" -- and include openness as a key characteristic along with collaborative. Sustained - focus less on business models per sé, but instead describes ways that journalists worldwide are creating new value for a range of constituents across new and legacy platforms. Some of that new value will result in new revenue streams; some of it won't. News organizations will almost certainly be smaller, with some of their diminished news capacity replaced by the contributions of -- and collaboration with -- partners.
Don Tapscott (born 1947) is a Canadian business executive , author , consultant and speaker based in Toronto , Ontario , specializing in business strategy , organizational transformation and the role of technology in business and society. Tapscott is chairman of business strategy think tank New Paradigm (now nGenera Insight), Don Tapscot author of ‘Growing Up Digital’ writes about the impact of technology on developing a generation of; Independence Emotional and intellectual openness Inclusive society Biased towards free expression and strong views Interest in innovation Used to immediacy Sensitive to / suspicious of corporate interest Preoccupied with issues of authentication and trust which includes having access to sources Interested in personalisation / customisation rather than one size fits all Not dazzled by technology – more concerned with functionality
New wave of journalism’s impact on society Freeing up data Museum and galleries opening up their doors NGO and charities are becoming publishers Universitiees are opening up lecture halls virtually Corporations are sharing knowledge
Associate Press news registry based on the news aggregation model Ref - http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=167852
With the growing popularity of e-readers some pay models explored is pay as you read – similar to the iTunes store concept where you buy the songs you want
Monthly subscription Pay per view tie-up with service providers