Category Archives: Media & Publishing

Publisher David Black’s views on what’s wrong with the newspaper industry

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Source: blogs.vancouversun.com

Newspaper publisher David Black on Friday announced plans to promote a “world state” $13 billion oil refinery in Kitimat to take advantage of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline.
On Thursday in advance of the story I had an interview with him for a profile that was to run simultaneously to Gordon Hoekstra’s news report on the announcement.
For reasons of length and subject I didn’t include some quite provocative comments Black made about the publishing industry, including his view that many of the problems besetting large dailies are “self-inflicted”. However, I’ve included them here because I think they’re worth getting on the record.

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Pay for Journalism or Pay the Consequences

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Source: fogcityjournal.com

When longtime reporter Bill Snyder joined a panel of fellow labor journalists during Laborfest, he brought along a copy of Moby Dick. When it was his turn to speak about the issues journalists face today, Snyder opened the book to an earmarked passage and began to read.

“Again, I always go to sea as a sailor, because they make a point of paying me for my trouble, whereas they never pay passengers a single penny that I ever heard of. On the contrary, passengers themselves must pay. And there is all the difference in the world between paying and being paid.”

For Snyder, being a journalist is about earning a living while producing the important stories that affect the world.

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Conrad Black’s comments fuel speculation about return to Canadian media

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Source: theglobeandmail.com

Conrad Black and Warren Buffett have something in common – they both think newspapers are undervalued.

As newspapers across North America frantically build paywalls to charge their online customers and cut back on their publishing schedules and staff to reduce costs, the former publisher says there’s still value in the industry if it’s run the right way.

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Newspapers will remain in demand

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Source: thestar.com

Even with the push for new ways of delivering news, publishers of Toronto’s four dailies and three freebies are confident the demand for the newsprint copy won’t disappear, despite dire predictions of its impending death.

“I feel very optimistic about the long term for our news organizations … the best of times are ahead for the best of brands,” said Toronto Star publisher John Cruickshank, during a panel discussion at the Four Seasons hotel on Thursday.

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Godfrey on Postmedia’s executive shakeup

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Source: marketingmag.ca

Will ‘digital first’ lead to a digital burst?

The following appears in the Dec. 12 issue of Marketing

In his bio on the Postmedia Network website, one of the responsibilities for executive vice-president of digital media Malcolm Kirk included chairing a special committee undertaking Postmedia Network’s “transformation plan.”

Kirk and two fellow Postmedia executives, chief information officer Ed Brouwer and senior vice-president, digital content strategy and managing director of Canada.com Scott Anderson, themselves became part of that transformation last month, dismissed in a management shakeup that came with the standard descriptor in such matters: “organizational changes.”

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Newspaper Digital Revs Won’t Offset Print Decline

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Source: mediapost.com

For at least a decade, newspaper publishers have been looking to the huge potential growth offered by digital advertising revenues — but now, 10 years on, digital revenues still make up a relatively small part of the business. Worse, slow growth in digital advertising means it’s unable to offset the precipitous, ongoing decline in print revenues…….Read entire story here

The glitch in Postmedia’s digital switch

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Source: theglobeandmail
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Paul Godfrey escorted directors of Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (PNC.A-T10.00—-%) on a tour of the Calgary Herald earlier this year to showcase the struggling newspaper company’s digital future.

The Postmedia chief executive officer presented a remodelled newsroom where teams juggled written and visual content for the Herald’s websites, social media platforms such as Twitter and its 128-year old newspaper. The Herald has been so much “quicker off the mark” with digital initiatives, Mr. Godfrey said, that it is now one of the company’s most profitable divisions, and a beacon for change at Canada’s largest newspaper publisher.

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The next generation of news consumers relies on social media, TV, Web for information

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The Knight Foundation’s latest survey of high schoolers found that 92% of students say it’s important to stay informed about the news (the same percentage says it’s important to vote). The research shows a shift in how teens get their news. In a typical day, they report doing the following to get news:

  • Watch TV for news 1-3+ times: 77%
  • Read an article online 1-3+ times: 54%
  • Watch video news online 1-3+ times: 48%
  • Read an article in print 1-3+ times: 42%

Read entire story here:  poynter.org