People abandoning print because it is too long?

Are newspaper articles too long?

In this age of short attention spans and multitasking,Michael Kinsley certainly thinks so

Writing in the Atlantic he says that

one reason seekers of news are abandoning print newspapers for the Internet has nothing directly to do with technology. It’s that newspaper articles are too long. On the Internet, news articles get to the point. Newspaper writing, by contrast, is encrusted with conventions that don’t add to your understanding of the news. Newspaper writers are not to blame. These conventions are traditional, even mandatory.

Let's here it for the power of print

to capitulate to inevitability due to a lack of forward thinking is unforgivable in the digital age. The print medium is sitting on true firepower: brand loyalty, killer lists and well-established communities. In today's age of community-based, social marketing, no medium has more underutilized assets than newspapers and magazines. They have communities of readers that offer marketers the real power to have one-to-one relationships with interested and motivated consumers. Yet they are not using the new metrics and database tools to tap into that there gold.

writes Parnell Woodard

The information junkie will always go online

Mark Glaser throws a shot across the bows of some of the new media commentators who forecast the death of print and the move to online.

He writes at Media shift that

most of the public discourse tends to be dominated by information junkies and there is little doubt that if you're an information junkie, the web is the way to go. But the reality is that info-junkies are only a small tribe. They consume the news at a prodigious rate and the web is the fastest way to satisfy their appetite. Thus, they're also the most vocal tribe -- so it's easy to get the impression that theirs is the most widely held conclusion. But if you listen to some of the discourse, it soon becomes apparent that it's only one way to look at it.

Signs that point to a non web strategy

Thanks to Martin Stabe for this link to Web Publishist which has identified five recognisable things that show a newspaper doesn't have a web strategy.

1.If more than 25% of the content comes from the Associated Press.

2.If web content only starts appearing as the print edition is put to bed.

3.A lack of evidence of blogging.

4.Little sign of multimedia

5.All text and no photographs

Decisions to be taken if going down the route of a web only strategy

By closely monitoring properties with diminishing returns, publishers can evaluate and even try multiple turn-around strategies for maintaining the print product against attempting the migration to a 100% Web-based business. It's important to choose the leap to the Web instead of it being the only option.

Prescott Shribles looks at the criteria that should be considered when deciding whether to take that decision to publish online only.

He lists four

1.Content management-

the editorial team will need to become experts at writing for the Web, search engine optimization, Web traffic analysis, and community building. It's not just about writing articles we think people will like.

2.the change in workflow patterns-

The transition from a "close"-based workflow to dynamic publishing model has implications for editorial, marketing, and sales. Many will struggle with how to create deadlines without the print product.

3.sales strategy-

Focus on charging premiums for targeting and segmentation. Don't chase the buzz of the next cool thing (social networks, vertical search, video). You can create a product that happens to be on that list, but make sure it has real value behind it.

4.the timeframe-Give your team time to acquire the skills it needs before pushing the web-only red button.

For PR people print is far from dead

Here is an interesting statistic (Via Editors Weblog).

According to a survey by most PR people prefer printed media coverage rather than online and this despite the fact that research identifies online as being the preferred medium.

The survey by Parker Wayne and Kent found that

More than half (52.9 per cent) of PR professionals believe that offline
media coverage is more valuable than online media coverage.
- Nearly two-thirds (63.8 per cent) of PR professionals believe their
stakeholders refer to print coverage more than online, television or
radio.
- More than half (52.9 per cent) of PR professionals believe their
stakeholders are more influenced by print coverage than television,
online or radio.
- More than one in 10 (11.7 per cent) PR professionals believe offline
coverage is becoming less relevant to PR campaigns

.

Brand Republic asks therefore

Does it mean PR people should be selling online more to their clients to get across the influence of the medium in relation to print? Or does it mean that clients have a lot of catching up to do?

Working harder and more online work

The shift from print to online is giving journalists more responsibility, changing job requirements, and more awareness of the commercial side of the business,

That's according to a survey carriedout by PR week( via Editor and Publisher)

The key findings in a survey of 1231 people include

1. Fifty-seven percent of respondents feel they are being asked to work more today that in the past few years
2. Sixty-seven percent of newspaper journalists anticipate "declines in print circulation and increased focus on the Web" over the next three years.
3. few reporters believe their publications in their current state will disappear
   
   

How might a newspaper look if it was invented today by a bunch of Web editors

Via Martin Stabe.

Some musings over at Poynter Online.Ernst Poulston poses a question.

How might a newspaper look if it was invented today by a bunch of Web editors, and aimed at the average no-patience readers?

He gives one example

Leads written as bullet points seem like a nice detail. But what else might make sense to an audience with too little time

but asks for more comments

Perhaps the newspaper simply wouldnt exist?

Long Live Print

one of the most interesting things to emerge in the media business this year will be a comeback of sorts for print.

According to Jonathan Weber writing on Times Online

the story in the field, especially outside of the big coastal media hubs, is quite different from what the media news websites would lead you to believe. If you want publicity in Anytown, USA, the best way to get it, still, is a story in the local newspaper. And if you're selling advertising to local businesses, a lot of your clients still want to be able to hold that ad in their hands.

And if you want to read,you want to hold it in your hand I will add.Long live print

As journalists should we read papers?

I note with interest the comments of Roy Peter Clarke writing on Poynter online.

Roy writes that

The future of journalism, not just newspapers, depends upon such loyalty. And now I pose this challenge to you: It is your duty as a journalist and a citizen to read the newspaper -- emphasis on paper, not pixels.

I must admit I have a problem with what Roy is saying,does it matter how we read the journalistic material or is the fact that we are not paying for it directly,but Roy goes onto say

Who will pay for good reporters and editors? Who will pay to station them in statehouses, or send them to cover wars and disasters? Who will finance important investigations in support of the public's health and safety?

The comments to this piece are well worth a read(76 at the current count)-here is a snippet

Industries that dictate to customers how, when and where they should consume their content are doomed to failure.
Despite all the high minded talk about journalism and civic responsibility, the business part of the "newspaper business" is selling eyeballs to advertisers. If you're in that business, you have to make your content available to people when, where and how they want to consume it.

We shouldn't let the backlash to Roy's article let us miss the fact that he diagnosed a real and important problem: that the economic model of print newspapers is falling apart and not being replaced online. The destruction of the print business is leaving an online business too small to support the cost of creating original content at all but the largest scales.

Steve Borris as always give an alternative point of view as his priorities for journalists-well worth a read http://thefutureofnews.com/2007/10/12/4-even-more-important-duties-for-journalists-than-reading-the-paper/

Perhaps the best being "Get out there and compete" whose sentiments I totally agree with

Don’t just sit there and buy your own papers, but figure out what your customers want and make technology your friend.

Five misnomers for newspapers online

The Bivings report blog (via Martin Stabe identifies 5 misconceptions that newspapers have about the internet.



1.That it is the enemy-but only if they fail to use it correctly

2.That all the content should be displayed over the homepage.

Littering a homepage with buttons and links distracts people's eyes and prevent them from focusing on anything. Newspapers are better off leading with a couple of big headlines and pictures, letting a strong navigation do the rest of the work.

3.That people will pay for online content-a misnomer that surley by now has been misproved

4.That newspapers cannot compete with online classifieds

5.That the web is complicated

Philip Knightley yearns for the "Good Old Days"

Student journalist Dave Lee tells of a lecture given by Philip Knightley at the University of Lincoln.

Dave reports that

Knightley’s guest lecture tonight (at the University of Lincoln) was a clear reminder of the old-fashioned dinosaurs that still lurk in today’s journalism. His lecture, which should have been titled ‘The Good Old Days’, analysed the decaying quality of journalism in the UK — a fair point — but badly put.
He insisted that coverage from Burma would have been better produced by foreign correspondents, and not, as it has panned out, citizen journalists. It would provide better coverage, he said.

I commented that

He has obviously been reading Andrew Keen’s book.

Burma is a great example of how citz journalism works.It has been difficult for Western journalists to enter the country and has been for decades.The last atrocities in the late 80’s resulted in thousands of deaths,vaguely reported and the junta stayed in power.Now with the advent of the internet and mobile phones,the news has got out that much quicker.The result?Uneccessary deaths probably avoided and the world is more aware of the problem……
And perhaps…just perhaps democracy might prevail

19th Century paper online

Brilliant news that the British Library is to digitize 19th newspapers(as reported by Press Gazette)

The library will launch its newspaper digitisation project next month, which will give readers access to electronic versions of every national, regional and locally important newspaper from 1800 to 1900. Though tailored for a further and higher education students and academics, general readers will be able to log on for a small subscription fee.

Over two million pages will be put online so let's wait for the site to crash

To succeed sometimes you have to fail

A good piece in Editor and publisher which looks at some of the not so successful moves into the web by newspapers in America

After more than 10 years of newspapers slowly migrating to the Web, most have embraced the medium as their future, showing they can break news, provide audio and video extras, and give readers more space to react and rebut than ever before

But for all those successes there have been some failures as well,the article lists them as

1.Blogs can backfire
2.Technology can go wrong
3.Reader reaction can turn ugly
4.Not everybody wants to chat
5.There is a limit to being local
6.Pay sites won't always work
7.Print can sometimes get lost in web translation
8.It is best to choose podcasts and webcams wisely
9.Beware of moving design around
10.Be careful with databases
11.Too much traffic can be a disaster

My favorite story?

"People say things in front of a computer screen they would never say to someone's face," he adds. One such incident happened on New Year's Day when a member of the Denver Broncos, Darrent Williams, was killed in a drive-by shooting. The Post included a space for reader comment with the Web story. "It got very ugly, very quickly," Cardwell recalls. "It attracted people from all over the country because it got national attention and it got racist and really stereotypical." Cardwell was called at home at 5 a.m. on the holiday and had to remove the offensive postings from the reader response space. "I was told the comments were blowing up," he notes.

A tenplate for online

Via Poynter,the Washington Post has produced 10 principles for its journalism on the web and tries to define the boundries between print and online.


1.The Washington Post is an online source of local, national and international news and information. We serve local, national and international audiences on the Web.

2.We will be prepared to publish Washington Post journalism online 24/7. Web users expect to see news as it happens. If they do not find it on our site they will go elsewhere.

3.We will publish most scoops and other exclusives when they are ready, which often will be online.

4.The originality and added value of Post journalism distinguishes us on the Web. We will emphasize enterprise, analysis, criticism and investigations in our online journalism.

5.Post journalism published online has the same value as journalism published in the newspaper.

6.We embrace chats, blogs and multimedia presentations as contributions to our journalism.
Accuracy, fairness and transparency are as important online as on the printed page. Post journalism in either medium should meet those standards.

7.We recognize and support the central role of opinion, personality and reader-generated content on the Web. But reporters and editors should not express personal opinions unless they would be allowed in the newspaper, such as in criticism or columns.

8.The newsroom will respond to the rhythms of the Web as ably and responsibly as we do to the rhythms of the printed newspaper. Our deadline schedules, newsroom structures and forms of journalism will evolve to meet the possibilities of the Web.

9.Newsroom employees will receive training appropriate to their roles in producing online journalism.

10.Publishing our journalism on the Web should make us more open to change what we publish in the printed newspaper. There is no meaningful division at The Post between “old media” and “new media.”