Media News, May 6, 2010
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Newsweek’s Sale and the Future of Journalism (Atlantic)
The Washington Post Co. is looking to sell Newsweek, its vaunted but money-losing magazine jewel. Media analysts are in a frenzy, and many are envisioning a future in which Newsweek has no paper edition. Some are wondering whether the magazine should merge with Slate, an all-online magazine also owned by the Post. Others like Gabriel Sherman are worried about branding: will the company struggle to find buyers considering the words “news” and “week” don’t really work on the Web?
Newsy raises $2M for honest-to-God mobile video journalism (VentureBeat)
Newsy, a startup formed in 2008 and based in Columbia, Missouri, announced this morning that the company has raised $2 million from undisclosed angel investors. The money, president Jim Spencer wrote in a prepared statement, “will allow us to grow our news operations and deliver a remarkable product.” Separately, Newsy’s free iPad app, released last week, shot to No. 6 on Apple’s list of most popular news apps.
Media Executive Suggests Unlikely TV Opportunity: Start A News Program (MediaPost)
On Fox Business’ “Cavuto” on Tuesday, Murdoch said: “There has never been such demand for journalism as there is today.” More TV news networks? More print news publications? Murdoch didn’t say. But as we know, Fox News Channel is still up in ratings as well as operating income (the latter by 31%), posting its best results ever. Murdoch also said The Wall Street Journal’s advertising revenue rose 25% — when all other national newspapers’ ad efforts have been down.
48 Hours, 1,000s of Contributors, 1 Magazine (Gizmodo)
Can you make a magazine in a weekend? Of course you can. But can you make it good? That’s the question 48 Hour Magazine is trying to answer, using online media tools to make an old-school rag in two days.
Why does the BBC want to send its readers away? The value of linking (Nieman Journalism Lab)
The BBC aims to double the number outbound clicks from its site by 2013. That’s double the number of people sent away from the BBC site — intentionally.
Pink Weekly Debuts Cash-for-Traffic Reporter Bonus Jackpot Scheme (The Awl)
At last Wednesday’s weekly staff meeting at the New York Observer, an old-fashioned paper memo was distributed; it was not sent out by email. It explained a new trial incentive program for reporters, to begin immediately. A bonus pool—of money—had been set aside, and, beginning immediately, it would be dispersed to the staff as incentives for web popularity and web traffic.
‘Tentative Recovery’ Eases Thomson Reuters’ Falling Profits (Paid.Content.org)
Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer pointed to the “tentative recovery” as helping fuel momentum for the company in the past quarter, as the company’s profits fell less than analysts anticipated. Still, revenue remained largely flat, as the financial sector, a major part of the company’s client base, was still lagging from the recession.
CBS News and CNN Are Back in Partnership Negotiations (New York Magazine)
CBS News and CNN are in advanced negotiations about signing a news-gathering partnership, according to executives familiar with the discussions. The talks revolve around how the two news divisions can combine operations in a bid to cut costs and expand audiences on both sides.
Janet Malcolm on Journalism’s Long Con (NYT)
In the May 3 issue of The New Yorker, Janet Malcolm takes on what she sees as a broken system of criminal justice in a story about the trial of a Queens doctor convicted of killing her husband, but as is often the case in her work, there is a baked-in critique of the craft of journalism, says David Carr.
