Managing Newspaper Convergence: The Way Forward

So, what resolutions have emerged, given the discussions that occurred in the Essentials of Newspaper Convergence short course? The course ran from 3 August and was led by new media expert, Vin Crosbie (www.digitaldeliverance.com). There is no doubt that print media are facing their moment of truth. What, the, should print publishers and executives be thinking about at the present moment?

> Don’t feel you’re behind.
> Invest in mobile technologies such as BlackBery phones for your staff > You now need to think across the platforms and publish multimedia
> Print journalists need to continuously learn new things In the > coming few years, we will be able to see what the viable business > models for new media publishing are and follow those.

And what do the course participants themselves have to say about the course and the future of print media?

Gerjo Hoffman (Media 24) – Its not about making people in our newsrooms aware of the technologies available to them but to challenge them to use such technologies and understand how these can shape the future of media production. Companies also need to evaluate internal policies on the use of technologies such as Skype and Facebook.

Kwanele Ncalane (Isolezwe) – Not many people have thought of using tools such as Facebook, for example, as a way of growing our business. What we have learned here is valuable and worth recommending to my bosses.

Samantha Smith (The Herald) – We have to identify the opportunities we have here in South Africa and start acting now. We also have an advantage in that we can see what is hapening overseas and learn from that. We have time to prepare for the arrival of enhanced broadband and mobile technologies.

Sanaa Peterson – It was comforting to note that bigger media organizations are facing the same constraints as grassroots media are facing. We have a young audience and we are already online and on MxIt but i have seen new ways in which we can be creative and innovative in order to reach out to our audiences better. The amazing thing is just i feel less fearful about what we do as i have come to realize that we are not off the mark at all.

Cheri-Ann James (Dispatch Online) – We are making changes to our print and online editions and it was quite interesting to note that we are moving in the right direction, seeing what the others are doing. When you make changes – and people are afraid to make changes – i think its important to state that “stop whining and act!”

Steve Kretzmann (West Cape News) – We are now operating in a level playing field where small companies can take on big companies. Things have changed significantly and the media now have to follow consumers as opposed to the previous status quo. We need to re-evaluate what our core business is and identify strategic business models for that.

Mahmood Sanglay- This has been a useful forum. We have had a good networking platform as well. This has also been a good way of small media to discover new ways of reaching our audiences and packaging content to them in a way that suits their lifestyle. Human beings are narratives and as much as there is a paradigm shift, we must look at the warning signs if they are there and prepare for change, embracing it when it arrives.

Levi Kabwato (Zimbabwe in Pictures) – The future in Africa is mobile. We seriously need to consider servicing this area even though there is not much money to be made. And with audiences that are shifting their consumption patterns, we need to ask ourselves if we are offering products or services. How we view this determines how we reach out to our consumers.

Paul Crankshaw (Consumer Fair) – There was a fine combination of the visionary and practical. Media can be used as an educational and what was really exciting was the discovery that we can pursue new media with the idea of building the democracy of the mind. New media can become a vehicle through which we can empower the citizenry.

Bronwen Dyke (The Big Issue) – We have had a bit of challenge in getting the dialogue going with our audiences. But using tools such as Twitter, i have begun to see that a lot of people are interested and have a lot of feedback to offer to the magazine.

Tegan Bedser (Dispatch Online) – I found the course to be encouraging and as a confirmation of what we are doing. But more importantly, i thoght it was reminder not to be complacent but remain hungry for innovation and to see new things happen in our newsrooms.

Petrus Kruger (Media 24) – Hopefully, we will be more smarter than other global media as the space opens for development in South Africa. The crucial question is whether we still have room for the paid journalist or citizen journalism is going to take over completely?

Angela Quintal (Independent Newspapers) – Given my background as someone who sat at a political bureau, i’m certainly energized about digital media. All of us have not entirely been readied to embrace new media and it is crucial for media companies to look at senior executives from all departments and challenge them to start thinking about the possibilities of digital media.

Short Course in Pictures

Here are some of the pictures from the ongoing Essentials of Newspaper Convergence short course taken this morning.

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r l bronwen tegan petrus angela

course participants pose for a photo

projector shot

sponsored courseparticipants pose for a photo

vin crosbie demonstrating a point

The days of just doing print are over

Day 4 of the Essentials of Newspaper Convergence short course currently underway at the Institute has indicated that the time is now for newspapers to adapt to change or face storms which they may not be able to ride. “If newspapers are going to do multimedia journalism, the time is now,” Vin Crosbie has said.

Using a case study of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, Crosbie pointed out what newspaper products should be looking at. In addition to Print, newspapers must also be on the Internet, have a Mobile paltform, use Teletext if it is popular, engage audiences via Video/TV as well as Radio/Audio (Podcasting).

Crosbie noted that it has become easier to do this work with the availability of free web-based software.

Key questions for newspapers

As a newspaper Publisher or Editor, what questions do you need to be asking yourself at the present moment? We have some questions that are being discussed right now in a short course.

• Will people continue to pay fro print?
• Will more people do so?
• Will they pay online?
• Will ad revenues continue to increase?
• What is adjustable in your editorial mix?
• What more could you do to report news?
• What do you consider to be news?

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Newspapers facing moment of truth

What would be the best advice for newspapers right now? “Stop whining and act!” says Vin Crosbie. But how should newspapers act. Crosbie says there are no perfect models yet and therefore it is difficult to recommend anything. “The nature of our business is such that we become so risk-averse and this make it impossible for newspapers to try new things,” he adds.

So what should newspapers be at least looking out for in the meantime?

The future could be in the customization of print products. Just as we do not have supermarkets that have pre-packaged groceries, it now looks certain that news products that are customized have more opportunity attract audiences (and hopefully, revenue).

One other way is via the provision of information services. If people are paying for print news at the moment, they might be willing to pay for other information products such as directions, restaurant special and the like. Enhanced information services can be seen as ancillary products for the core product and get your consumers to pay for those.

Final word: What matters is the value your consumers put on your product!

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Tackling New and Traditional Media Laws

SO how can you go about operating a successful website that is not ‘illegal’ or engaging in illegal activity? Well the key issues shich have emerged in the afternoon session centre around the following themes;

Broadcast Royalties > Licencing of content and administering who has access and who does not.

Moderated/Unmoderated Comments > How people who comment and engage your content affect your organization.

Spyware/ISP Monitoring > Visiting various websites may result in some ‘sour’ cookies being planted into your systems the result of which will illegal monitoring and potential theft of your confidential material.

Cybersquatting > This refers to the act of someone deliberately purchasing web addresses in anticipation that someone will need them in future. Tip: Make sure you’re paid for your hosting services as a simple slip-up may result in your address being ‘taken hostage’.

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Web 2.Ooops!

Social media thrive on large amounts of traffic and the feedback they generate. And, as news media go the way of Online, various challenges and opportunities are springing up. One such challenge is the issue of reader comments on news website. As traditional media open their spaces up, removing much of gatekeeping influences, Online Editors and executives are often called upon to address some unpleasant comments.

“How should we [news media] react to the neagtive comments readers post on websites? Some of these comments are hurtful and racist,” said Samantha Smith of The Herald in Port Elizabeth. Responding to this question, Vin Crosbie who is taking the short course had this to say; “I advise newspapers to use the same standards they use in print.”

This immediately prompted a follow up question; “How many people should media firms employ to work on moderating reader comments onlne?” Tegan Bedser of The Dispatch Online stepped in with some of her experiences and best practices. “We have a moderator who looks at these comments and if some people are stepping out of line, they are told to stick to the subject. And also between themselves, the readers censure each other and just try to promote debate,” she said.

And so the final word? “There is no free lunch,” Crosbie said. “When you get 10,000 hits on your site, you can’t really expect all of them to behave,” he added. And oh, also make use of the ‘Report Abuse’ button!

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Short Course Video on Qik

Editor-in-Chief of Media24, Petrus Kruger is uploading some short videos of the short course proceedings on video sharing site Qik. CLICK HERE to go to Petrus’ page on Qik.

Your “Daily Sun”…on DVD

The Daily Sun is South Africa’s largest circulating newspaper with its circulation figures of well over of half-a-million every day. Of course, the readership is said to be close to four million everyday. The paper appeals to the “blue collar” worker, those who live in the township and generally, the middle-class black population.

Inspired by this account of the Daily Sun’s appeal to the ordinary man in the street, journalist Tshwarelo Mogakane has gone a step further and is now packaging Daily Sun-type stories on DVD in his Bushbuck Ridge community in Mpumalanga Province where he hails from. Working in partnesrship with his brother, Mogakane records live events, council meetings, cases of water shortages and the like, compose a DVD and sell it to members of his community.

“It’s a project that we introduced as a response to the proliferation of Nigerian movies in our communities. These movies are popular and we saw an opportunity worth exploring,” Mogakane said in the on-going Essential of Newspaper Convergence short course. H added: “We’re having a converstation with our people and they are very interested in what we are doing.” Mogakane said they were currently moving close to distributing 1,000 copies every two weeks. Their target is distributing 4,000 copies per fortnight.

Speaking of supply and demand

The economics of supply and demand have been severely disrupted by the introduction of new media technologies. Therefore, “the bundle of news we put together tends to unbundle,” says Vin Crosbie.

For this reason, people tend to gravitate towards websites that gratify their interests. This phenomena has been described in the media as the Long Tail and is most visible where there is a sharp difference in the topics favourite within groups and those favourite within specific sets of people.

This setup has some news distribution implications. “Consumers want information in the now and whatever newspaper has the news gets the traffic,” Crosbie says. However, since the apparent pitfall here is the possibility of loyal subscribers feeling cheated by subscribing to print editions while the online edition breaks ‘free’ stories.

“Yes, you might lose subscribers,” Crosbie adds, “but the net gain for breaking news online is more than the loss of a few subscribers although an online user is not as valuable as a print user.”

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