Group items tagged

"The cesspool that many newspapers occupy is the "Comments" sections of their websites. This is the space,  typically following a paper's own stories and editorials, where readers have their say. If postings to that space are completely unfiltered, it is sure to be stuffed with the rants and invective of people who have too much time on their hands (and too little gray matter between their ears.)"

MediaNews is testing a paid-content model at two of its newspapers. The company says it creating new types of content for users, including geo-targeted, personalized, user-generated and aggregated content, and will include classifieds and local directories.

ROME - Three Google executives were convicted of violating Italian privacy laws on Wednesday, the first case to hold the company's executives criminally responsible for the content posted on its system. Enlarge This Image Paolo Bona/Reuters Bill Echikson, a spokesman for Google, called a judge's ruling against executives "astonishing." Related New Complaints Filed Against Google in Europe (February 25, 2010) Times Topics: Google Inc. The verdict, though subject to appeal, could have sweeping implications worldwide for Internet freedom: It suggests that Google is not simply a tool for its users, as it contends, but is effectively no different from any other media company, like newspapers or television, that provides content and could be regulated.

Columnists are struggling to survive in today's media landscape. At best, they are hanging in there. Only about 20% are actual employees of newspapers rather than free-lance writers. Some columnists are writing blogs and books instead. But, like we mentioned in class last week, it is very very difficult to generate income from blog writing.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday resurrected a possible settlement in a class-action lawsuit brought by freelance writers who said that newspapers and magazines had committed copyright infringement by making their contributions available on electronic databases. The proposed settlement was prompted by a 2001 decision from the Supreme Court in favor of six freelance authors claiming copyright infringement in The New York Times Company v. Tasini. After the Tasini decision, many freelance works were removed from online databases. Most publishers now require freelance writers to sign contracts granting both print and online rights. After the decision, the authors, publishers and database companies who were parties to several class-action lawsuits negotiated a global settlement that would pay the plaintiffs up to $18 million.

The Knight Foundations responds to shifting media industry economics by donating $2 million dollars to fund freedom on information act requests. While these requests are traditionally paid for by newspapers and news organizations, economic challenges facing the industry are undercutting traditional funding models.

Network television and cable networks have a bright future, despite the inroads of TiVo and the threat of free video on the Web. And book publishers may also see growth in the years ahead, if they can learn to relax and love the e-reader. Newspapers, however, can pretty much pack it in.

Part of a large-scale set of projects at USC Annenberg School/Knight Digital Media Center, looking at current conditions and possible future business models for newspapers.

"The Los Angeles Times' critic may have panned the film, but that didn't stop Disney from paying top dollar to turn the newspaper's front page into a special advertisement for the new movie, "Alice in Wonderland." The ad, believed to be the first of its kind among America's leading big-city dailies, dismayed some readers and was lamented by media scholars as the latest troubling sign of difficult times at the newspaper and for journalism generally. Hollywood blogger Sharon Waxman cited one "media buyer insider" as saying the Walt Disney Co, the studio behind the film, paid $700,000 for the space.

Publishers, newspapers, and magazines are looking to create new apps for the iPad.

"When Google unveiled Buzz, its answer to Facebook and Twitter, on Tuesday, it hoped to get its service off to a fast start by scanning the contact lists of Gmail users and automatically adding the most frequent correspondents as online friends. But what the company viewed as an obvious shortcut stirred up a beehive of angry critics.

Employees at USA Today will be required to take a full week of unpaid leave between now an July, a move affecting nearly 1,500 staff members.

"It may be a bitter pill for public critics to swallow, but media outlets have to operate in the black to continue operating. Antiquated media ownership rules are going to have to be revised to reflect reality."

NBC, with its exclusive rights to broadcast the Olympics, cut away from the closing ceremonies to debut its new marriage show starring Jerry Seinfeld. Outraged viewers took to twitter, and the incident raised an interesting question of balancing exclusive rights against commercial interests.

"Although Apple won plaudits from the book publishing industry for offering it more control over pricing and a richer split of sales - publishers retain 70 per cent of sales and have control over the customer pricing of books - the revenue sharing plan makes less sense for recurring charges such as subscriptions, publishers said. The concept of giving away close to a third of subscription sales over an indefinite period was difficult to accept, publishers said. "Thirty per cent forever changes the economics," one media executive in discussions with Apple said. "You can imagine we feel less good about it. Should (subscriptions) be treated differently than single item sales?""

"Mr Jobs articulated his belief that a "functioning media" is vital to a "functioning democracy" and how his "gorgeous" device would help safeguard that role...The question haunting publishers is whether they will suffer the same fate as the music industry, which was hit by Apple's 2003 deal to unbundle the album format by offering downloads of individual songs via iTunes."

NBC's current online coverage of the Olympics is discussed in light of the online technology and the use of "cable verification" to establish new online models limiting free content.