21stnews

FT.com plans pay-per-article system

Editor — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:53:17 +0000

The Financial Times is to introduce a full “pay-per-view” model for accessing online articles by next summer and is reviewing whether any content on FT.com will remain free to access.Pearson’s business and financial broadsheet is exploring online payment systems that offer a user-friendly “one-click” process, such as Amazon and Apple’s iTunes.

Read the Guardian story

Post Pulls Milbank’s “Mad Bitch” Video

Editor — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:09:30 +0000

When The Washington Post started drawing heat for its latest “Mouthpiece Theater” video, in which Post staffers Dana Milbank and Chris Cillizza suggested it would be appropriate for Hillary Clinton to drink “Mad Bitch” beer, the paper made the problem go away-literally. As a Post spokesperson noted via email to several outlets, including CJR, the video was removed from the Post Web site Friday evening. Search for it by title now on the “Mouthpiece Theater” home page, and this is what you’ll find…

Read the Columbia Journalism Review piece

Murdoch to charge for all online content

Editor — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:48:08 +0000

Rupert Murdoch has vowed to charge for all the online content of his newspapers and television news channels, going well beyond his prediction in May that the company would test pay models on one of its stronger papers within the year.The comments by News Corp’s chairman came as he predicted a “high single digit” rebound in the group’s operating profits next year. The worst of the media sector slump might be behind the company, he said, as he reported “some good signs of life” in advertising.

Read the FT story

Read the analysis in the Guardian

Pay-out to staff as Bloomberg sales fall

Editor — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:48:08 +0000

Falling terminal sales have prompted Bloomberg to make one-off payments to staff whose pay packages would otherwise have come in more than 20 per cent below expectations.In a rare disclosure by the privately held news and data company, Bloomberg said its total terminal numbers had fallen by 11,470, or 4 per cent, from a peak last November of 268,800. Sales of its distinctive black screens had been growing at 25,000-30,000 a year.

Read the FT story

FTC May Ease Anti-Trust Laws to Save News

Editor — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:11:15 +0000

The federal government is preparing an inquiry into the endangered field of news and reporting — and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz is dropping some broad hints about what will be in it.In an exclusive interview with TheWrap, Leibowitz expressed some sympathy to easing antitrust enforcement of media consolidations to prevent more newspapers from folding or further declines in TV news staffs.

Read TheWrap article

Sony to Release Two Lower-Priced E-Readers

Editor — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:24:13 +0000

Sony Corp. plans to offer two new e-reader devices priced at $199 and $299, a move that intensifies competition in a burgeoning market dominated by rival Amazon.com Inc.

Read the Wall Street Journal article (subscription)

BBC expansion in China under threat

Editor — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:16:54 +0000

The BBC’s Wild China was a successful co-production last year with CCTV, the Chinese state broadcaster. Photograph: Gavin Maxwell/BBCThe BBC’s ambitions in China, one of the world’s fastest-growing television markets, could be undermined by the government’s anger over a recent Kate Adie documentary about the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Read the Guardian story

UK: Sunday Times to set up its own website and may charge

Editor — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:15:13 +0000

The Sunday Times said on Monday that it was to set up its own website, and online readers may be charged to read articles from it.It would be the first time that a UK Sunday newspaper has set up its own site. Previously, they have always published under the same internet banner as daily sister titles.

Read the FT story

Now on YouTube, Local News

Editor — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:58:08 +0000

With its ability to collect articles and sell advertisements against them, Google has already become a huge force in the news business - and the scourge of many newspapers. Now its subsidiary YouTube wants to do the same thing to local television.

Read the New York Times article

UK: Axe hangs over The Observer

Editor — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:55:39 +0000

Guardian News and Media was on Sunday considering options for the future of the UK’s Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper, that could see the 218-year-old title close in its current form.GNM has started work on a three-year strategic plan, including radical measures aimed at assuring the future of The Guardian, the group’s daily newspaper, a senior figure in the group said.

Read the FT story