AAN News
Publishers Take Issue With Boston Globe Reportnew
The Globe's thesis is that "falling advertising revenue" is forcing weekly papers to "scale back dramatically." But Phoenix Media/Communications Group president Bradley Mindich says his publications don't fit that mold. "We are not cutting back," he tells reporter Johnny Diaz, who nevertheless intimates that the Boston Phoenix is using less color and sharing film reviews with its newly-acquired Spanish-language weekly to save money. "We actually have more color now" and cutting expenses is not the primary reason his papers are sharing content, Mindich tells AAN News. Weekly Dig publisher Jeff Lawrence says the story was mostly accurate but that it suffered from faulty framing: "Our business model is intentionally evolving -- not reacting to the economy," he tells AAN News.
The Boston Globe |
03-04-2009 3:26 pm |
Industry News
Creative Loafing Cuts Executive Compensationnew
Starting in April, the six-paper chain will cut executive compensation by five to 15 percent, Washington City Paper's Erik Wemple reports. On a conference call today, COO Kirk MacDonald said that he and CEO Ben Eason will take the 15 percent cut and that others -- including publishers, sales executives, and top editors -- will get more moderate slices. Wemple is glad he didn't have to implement another round of layoffs. "This approach makes way more sense," he writes. "No depressing discussions with the staff today!" MORE: The Chicago Reader and Creative Loafing (Tampa) weigh in.
Washington City Paper |
03-04-2009 12:43 pm |
Industry News
How the Santa Barbara Independent Beats the Local Daily Onlinenew
Alan Mutter says newspapers shouldn't charge for access to their websites unless they provide content that is "unique and valuable." As an example, he says the pay wall erected by the daily Santa Barbara News-Press has left the paper with less than half of the traffic generated by the much smaller Independent. When wildfires threatened Santa Barbara in November, Mutter says, "scant information" was available for non-subscribers on the daily's site, while the alt-weekly's site -- which won a 2008 EPpy Award for best weekly newspaper-affiliated website -- "brimmed with up-to-the-minute bulletins, first-person reports" and fire photos.
Reflections of a Newsosaur |
03-04-2009 10:34 am |
Industry News
Creative Loafing (Sarasota) Debuts Weekly Radio Shownew
Starting tomorrow, the paper will have a show every Thursday on WSRQ-AM. Editors will take to the air to talk about what's in the current issue of the paper and preview upcoming events and stories.
Creative Loafing (Sarasota) |
03-04-2009 8:42 am |
Industry News
Facebook Partners With Oodle to Revamp Classifieds Sectionnew
Online Media Daily |
03-04-2009 9:26 am |
Industry News
Google Rep: Publishers Should Focus on Bounce Rate, Not Hitsnew
Online Media Daily |
03-04-2009 9:05 am |
Industry News
How Anthony Bourdain Almost Launched His Career in an Alt-Weeklynew
At an event in Santa Barbara last week, the host of the Travel Channel program No Reservations touched on his early brush with journalism in New York City. Bourdain said that the first piece he ever sold was to the New York Press, but it was never published. "Week after week after week I kept getting bumped," he said. "And in some moment of drunken hubris I called up [the Press] and was like, 'Fuck you man! I'm pulling the article. I'm going to the New Yorker.'" The New Yorker ran the piece, and as the Santa Barbara Independent puts it, "from there, it was a quick hop to best seller list status and worldwide fame."
Santa Barbara Independent |
03-03-2009 9:35 am |
Industry News
Matt Groening's Comic Dropped by L.A. Weeklynew
The Simpsons creator and longtime alt-weekly cartoonist tells CNN that, after 22 years, "Life in Hell" is being dropped by its flagship paper. The cut is part of Village Voice Media's suspension of all syndicated cartoons. Groening hints he's thinking of discontinuing the cartoon. "I'm still in a bunch of other papers, so I may continue to do my strip," he says, "but it doesn't look good."
CNN |
03-03-2009 8:52 am |
Industry News
Research Firm: Smartphones To Be Mainstream By 2013new
Online Media Daily |
03-03-2009 8:53 am |
Industry News
Copyright Holders Challenge Sites That Excerpt Contentnew
Some media executives are growing concerned that web curators like the Huffington Post are taking away potential readers and profiting from content paid for by others. The New York Times reports that lawsuits in this area are on the rise, and interested parties say the government hasn't clearly delineated how copyright law applies. "New modes of creation, reuse, mixing and mash-ups made possible by digital technologies and the internet have made it even more clear that Congress's attempt to define fair use is woefully inadequate," the director of the Citizen Media Law Project tells the Times.
The New York Times |
03-02-2009 10:26 am |
Industry News
Despite Downturn, Local News Sites Are Doing OKnew
David Westphal checks in with eight local news websites across the country to see how they're doing financially. "So far they're hanging tough. Business hasn't fallen much, if at all, and most are instituting expansion plans," he writes. "If they're a barometer, community news sites have some resiliency to them."
Online Journalism Review |
03-02-2009 10:00 am |
Industry News
Analysts Predict First Contraction of Online Ad Market Since 2001new
The research group IDC has reversed its online advertising growth estimates from 10 percent growth in 2009 to a 5 percent drop in revenues in the first quarter that could get worse in the second. It would be the first contraction in online ad spending since the dot-com bubble burst in 2001. TechCrunch's Sarah Lacy says that the online ad industry needs to come up with innovative products to thrive. "There's too much outsourcing to the ad networks and too much of an assumption by the portals and other large properties that gaudy eyeballs will be enough," she writes. "That's old media thinking. It's enough to get ads when times are good, but not necessarily to keep them when times get bad."
TechCrunch |
02-27-2009 1:48 pm |
Industry News
Salt Lake City Weekly Editor Departsnew
Holly Mullen left on Wednesday after nearly two years at the alt-weekly, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. Neither Mullen nor publisher Jim Rizzi would disclose the reason for Mullen's departure, which she described as a "mutual decision to part ways." Rizzi says Mullen has been replaced by Jerre Wroble, who joined the paper as a copy editor in 2002 and has been managing editor since April 2005.
The Salt Lake Tribune |
02-27-2009 9:23 am |
Industry News
Prediction: Mobile Ad Revenues To Hit $3.1 Billion By 2013new
According to the Kelsey Group, revenues from mobile advertising will jump to $3.1 billion in five years. Currently, mobile advertising sits at $160 million in 2008. The group also says expected revenues from local search will increase more than 130 percent per year to $1.3 billion by 2013.
Media Daily News |
02-25-2009 10:59 am |
Industry News
City Pages Will Run Daily Webcast from Local Radio Legendnew
Last week, City Pages announced that it was bringing longtime local radio host TD Mischke on to host a webcast streaming live on its website for two hours every weekday. Along with the daily web broadcast, Mischke -- who brought his own advertisers into the deal -- will screen original videos on citypages.com and publish a weekly column in the paper. MinnPost's David Brauer says the deal "show[s] how old and new media can be woven together."
City Pages |
02-24-2009 1:16 pm |
Industry News
