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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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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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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Online is not a sideshow

IN A circus they have a sideshow. What do they have in the media? Online? NO! Publishers, Executives and journalists can only ignore the Online revolution at their own peril. This revolution is not a sideshow to how the media operate but it is the main event. These are the sentiments coming out of the short cours being taught by Vin Crosbie at the Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership at Rhodes University in Grahamstown.

The key issues that have emerged so far:

> Can “traditional” media institutions embrace change as new technologies arrive?

> Despite the high cost of bandwidth in South Africa, are media institutions prepared to take advanatge of this as costs go down?

> Mobile telephony is tipped to grow significantly in South Africa. How are media companies redying themselves for this?

> It’s not just the mainstream media that are going through these transformation. The film industry is also facing stiff challenges and great opportunities with regards to distribution.

> How are media companies adapating to the technlogies available to their audiences?

For up-to-the-minute updates of what is going on, CLICK HERE!

South Africa has a vibrant print market

IN the face of a global economic meltdown that has not spared the information industry arounf the world, South African print media can breathe a sigh of relief for the next 5 – 10 years, at least. This is the view of Vin Crosbie, a globally respected media

Vin Crosbie discussing newspapers

consultant whose focus is on what news media need to do to survive and profit in the 21st Century.

Crosbie is spending this week at SPIML where he is running a short course titled, Essentials of Newspaper Convergence which has started today. The course has attracted senior journalists, most among them, executive editors and publishers from South Africa’s leading media outlets and some small but vibrant local media.

You can follow up-to-the-minute updates on Twitter by clicking here

Essentials of Managing Newspaper Convergence

THIS IS the title of a short course that kicks off at SPIML this morning. The short course will be lead by Vin Crosbie, a globally respected media consultant whose focus is on what news media need to do to survive and profit in the 21st Century. Having consulted with titles across the globe, Vin is convinced that newspapers in countries where the mass adoption of digital technologies has been slow can avoid making mistakes that have ravaged their contemporaries in the West.

Vin Crosbie

The short course is primarily intended for editors and senior editorial staff responsible for developing and implementing new media strategies for their publications. However, it will also benefit production staff and journalists who increasingly have to think differently about the content they produce and the platforms for which they produce. The seminar is designed to accommodate participants who are grappling with the questions of how new technologies will shape the future of the industry, but does not assume advanced technical knowledge.

According to IFRA, the worldwide research and service organisation for the news publishing industry, “Vin Crosbie is widely regarded as one of the most outspoken and expert critics of how the newspaper industry worldwide and particularly in the United States has responded to the digital media revolution. But no one disputes that his is a critique borne of dedication to the newspaper tradition.” Vin is a fifth-generation newspaperman with 30 years experience in the news industry, including executive positions with United Press International and Reuters, director of online publishing at News Corp. His Digital Deliverance consulting firm provides international publishers with strategic direction on interactive publishing. Vin is currently serving as an adjunct professor and the senior consultant on executive education in new media at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.