Friday, July 20, 2001

Posted 1:33 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

The Best Online Newspapers

Steve Outing on the Edgies
The Newspaper Association of America has announced the newspaper Web site winners of its annual Digital Edge Awards (a.k.a., the Edgies). It's always educational and useful to surf the winning sites in contests like this. Here's the list of winners. If you follow online newspaper awards, you will not be surprised to know that WashingtonPost.com won four of the 23 categories: Best News Site (big-paper category); Best Classified Use of New Media; Most Innovative Use of Digital Media, News Event Coverage; and Best E-mail Publishing Product. WashingtonPost.com similarly dominated the annual EPpy awards by Editor & Publisher last February. The reign continues. ... Also, congrats to Rob Curley of Morris Digital Works, who won the New Media Pioneer award.

Posted 11:24 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

No Mercy If Your Earn No Money

Katja Riefler on new victims on the content slide
Sad news from Germany. "Economy one," the new media venture of Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt, just made some "corrections" and fired nearly one-quarter of its staff among the the leadership of Handelsblatt.com, Wirtschaftswoche, and DM Online. You really can't charge them with being unsuccessful. The page impressions of those online publications doubled within one year. In addition, Handelsblatt.com has 35,000 paying subscribers for its premium content "Topix," and also some syndication deals. DM-Online won last year's IP-TOP competition and could call itself Best European Financial Site. The turnover of all the sites more than doubled to 18.8 million DM (about US $8.5 million) in 2000 compared to 1999.

But overall it's a cool summer here in Germany for the content business. Most of the new content syndicators — there have been far more than a dozen in 2000 — have announced their insolvency or gone out of business. The latest set-back has been the withdrawal of Bertelsmann from its stake in iSyndicate Europe. Everyone is talking about selling content. But I doubt that newspapers in Germany even make the shabby 500 bucks a month from online content sales that seem to be most common among U.S. newspapers. (Read the free AIM Group report from April 2001 for more details.)

Posted 8:40 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

More Problems With Execution

Rich Gordon on Inside.com
As a matter of fairness to Inside.com, I should report that my old login/password have resumed working on the site. (See my earlier Tidbits item.) But there's something else peculiar about the new site: there's no longer a "printer-friendly version" of articles. I'm hoping this is just another technology transition: Especially if you're paying for content, you have a right to a nicely formatted printout. I also think the site could have done a better job of communications: We paying subscribers have received no notification of the revamped site, and there seems to be no "note to readers" announcing the changes.

Thursday, July 19, 2001

Posted 6:46 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Free to Fee

Norbert Specker on the pay-for-content trend
The recent trend to paid content is a boost to creative pricing. As the formerly raw perception of "paid content" vs. "free content" is refined into a variety of "partly paid," "somewhat free," "article by article," and "monthly pass," the pricing options and strategies proliferate. With Blogger CEO (or as he likes to call himself, COE = chief only employee) Evan Williams among its contributors, The End of Free weblog chronicles the transition of free content Web sites into a paid-for model. Recommended.

Posted 5:49 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Seeing Shadows

Rich Gordon on questionable advertising
I found a copy of the print "shadow ad" that I mentioned in yesterday's Tidbits column. The promotion for "Jurassic Park III" appeared in yesterday's Chicago Sun-Times on the weather page. Here it is. You make the call: Creative and fun, or inappropriate advertising intrusion into editorial space? Comments welcome at richgor@northwestern.edu.

Posted 5:26 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Pinch-Hitter

Steve Outing on this weblog
There's been a change in the line-up of writers for E-Media Tidbits. Interactive media consultant and longtime journalist Peter Zollman has signed on to contribute items to this group weblog. He replaces Kerry Northrup of IFRA, who I am sad to report is leaving us.

Posted 5:20 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

The Webbies

Steve Outing on the best Web sites
Got some free time today? Then it's certainly worth your while to peruse the Web sites of the winners of the 2001 Webby Awards, which were announced last night.

Posted 3:14 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Why, Oh Why, Oh Why?

Rich Gordon on Inside.com
A lot of us are watching Inside.com's approach to paid subscriptions closely. I can say that they're doing one thing right: In addition to charging a monthly subscription fee, the site allows users to buy individual articles for a reasonable price (15 to 40 cents). This is the right idea, because it allows first-time or infrequent users to (a) obtain single articles cheaply and (b) be lured into a monthly subscription. The site is using technology called "Media Pass," which I have not been able to find out more about. I can't tell if it's proprietary to Inside.com and/or Steve Brill's Contentville empire (if the latter, it is nowhere to be found on Contentville), or whether it's a technology available to other content sites. If made available to other sites, it could be the start of a multiple-site subscription program that many (especially Steve Outing) have been pushing.

But I can't let Inside.com off the hook for one thing. I was one of the few people who paid Inside.com for an annual subscription when the site first launched — and, I would say, I felt I got my money's worth. But now that the site has moved to the new payment system, my login and password no longer work. I called Inside's customer service line and was told that "a lot of people are having problems. They're working on it. They're telling us to tell people just to keep trying." Now there's a recipe for success: Get your most loyal customers mad at you.

Wednesday, July 18, 2001

Posted 7:11 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

And the Wall Comes Tumbling Down ...

Rich Gordon on "shadow ads"
Back in March (see E-Media Tidbits item from March 13), CBS Marketwatch got some strong criticism for allowing Budweiser to buy "wallpaper" (an advertising image) as the background to content pages on the Marketwatch site. Critics said (and I agree) that this represented an inappropriate intrusion of advertising into editorial space. Doing something similar in the pages of a magazine, for instance, would be a clear violation of the print guidelines of the American Society of Magazine Editors.

Guess what? It looks like a bunch of newspapers are going to do something similar — in print. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports today that the silhouette of a flying pteranodon from the film "Jurassic Park III" will appear in print editions — superimposed on stock or weather pages, supposedly — of papers including the Chicago Sun-Times, Asbury Park Press, and Los Angeles Daily News. It's a paid placement from Universal Pictures, whose vice chairman says the ad is "fun" and "doesn't in any way influence or affect the information content." I think this is one slippery slope we don't want to go down any further.

Posted 12:43 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

News Is Just 'Nice to Have' ...

Katja Riefler on new research
News site managers rack their brains each day to provide compelling content to their users — and now a new survey reveals that, with the exception of major events, for most Internet users getting news is a by-product of going to the Web for other purposes. This is not the only interesting result of the new research by Clark, Martire & Bartolomeo Inc. in commission for the Newspaper Association of America (NAA). Most users seem to most value robust search capabilities, comparison-shopping services, and advertising messages that match the content of the Web pages they’re viewing. News articles are secondary to tools that help visitors quickly accomplish their tasks. You'll find a summary of the findings at The Digital Edge.

Posted 12:37 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

That'll Be 40 Cents, Please

Steve Outing on Inside.com
The media-news site Inside.com as of today has walled off all its stories. (Previously, only some content was behind a paid-subscription wall.) If you want to read any of the site's stuff, you'll need a US $3.95 per month subscription, or you can pay 15 to 40 cents for access to a single article.

Is this the way of the future for online news content? I don't think so. As I've said before, the solution is for publishers to cooperate and offer packages of content from many sites. Individual sites trying to sell their content is a losing battle for the majority of content sites. As for one-off fees per story, the problem is that Inside.com's content is not always unique. For instance, you can pay 40 cents to view Rafat Ali's article, "After the Deluge: Can Online Media Sites Survive by Latching on to ISP's?" about a Swedish company that's trying to get ISPs to pay for content. Or you can read Wired News' story on the same topic for free.

Posted 10:43 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

From Free to Fee

Carla Passino on pay-for-content move
The Times Online will soon start charging for content, according to Silicon.com. In a few weeks, the online arm of Britain's most established newspaper will introduce a £10 yearly fee for its popular crossword, with a view to expand the subscription model to other areas of the site.

Whether the move will be successful crucially depends on the type of content The Times will charge for online. The public may be prepared to pay for the crossword because it is unique. But would they pay for news? After all, The Times Online offers little more than the paper edition and certainly doesn't rate up to the Guardian Unlimited, the Electronic Telegraph or the BBC Online — all of which provide faster, easier to access, and more frequently updated content free of charge. Times publisher Katie Vanneck believes that her core audience will not rush off to the competition. "People who come to us just for news coverage will go elsewhere," she said. "But a lot of our users are highly loyal to the brand." While I wish her every success, I would be extremely surprised if any user actually coughed up cash for the current Times content.

Posted 10:38 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Watching Our Backs

Jade Walker on electronic piracy
The U.S. government takes copyright infringement very seriously. On Monday, the FBI arrested a Russian computer programmer in Las Vegas for "allegedly distributing software that could be used to make copies of electronic books," the Los Angeles Times reported. Dmitry Sklyarov allegedly distributed a program that breaks through e-book encryption codes at the Def Con hacker convention. Sklyarov is believed to be the first person arrested under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Tuesday, July 17, 2001

Posted 6:47 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

From High-Tech to No-Tech

Steve Outing on the technology slump
For quite a few years now, many metro daily newspapers have had special Technology sections, separate from Business sections. Looks like the dot-com downturn has shifted the trend and is putting technology coverage back in Business. As Editor & Publisher reports, the Toronto Star has killed its long-standing Technology section (since 1994). Tech and Internet news will now be found throughout the paper instead of being called out separately. The media recession (hey, why not call it what it is) marches on.

Posted 6:31 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Scoundrels No More?

Steve Klein on online journalism
Dave Kansas may be an industry insider, but the former editor in chief of TheStreet.com has good things to say about the current state of online journalism in an article in the New York Times. Just a few of his observations, which should provide some cheer to the often beleaguered and criticized industry:

• "Despite the early concerns about quality and despite its sometimes raw nature, the Internet has become a trusted medium for the delivery of news. ... As with the print and broadcast media, some are more reputable than others.
• "Mainstream news organizations — including CNN, ABC, MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal and New York Times — have made the Web an important part of their distribution systems.
• "If the news site is not trustworthy, the readers will slip away. ... The readers have learned where they can go to find trustworthy information.
• "The Internet has made it possible to offer a quick first draft of print journalism, a format in which readers have come to expect facts and interpretation. By requiring a writer to show his or her hand earlier and earlier, the Internet has helped expose the raw nature of the news-gathering process. And often, that early hand is imperfect."

Posted 12:27 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Afghanistan Outlaws the Internet

Carla Passino on the Taliban’s crusade against the Internet
Afghanistan’s Taliban regime has banned Internet use in the country, reports the BBC Online. Taliban foreign minister Maulvi Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil told Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press that the Taliban "are not against the use of the Internet, but are against the broadcast of obscene and immoral material, and material on the Internet that is against Islam."

However, the ban — which also applies to offices, aid agencies, and governmental bodies — will be extremely difficult to enforce, as Afghans access the Internet through Pakistani telephone lines. Indeed, Muttawakil said that the Taliban may not be able to censor usage of the Pakistani phone lines. This is the one attempt to crush freedom of information that could — and hopefully will — fail miserably.

 

Posted 12:21 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Searching for a Business Model

Rich Gordon on making money with online content
Some fascinating reading lately on the topic of making money via online content:

• Andrew Sullivan in hot water for accepting a site sponsorship from a trade organization representing an industry he's praised in his "me-zine."
• Jason McCabe Calacanis agreeing with Steve Outing that a "premium content pass" subscription for multiple online content sites is a good idea.
• Vin Crosbie's "Why Web periodicals cannot profit" speech.

I find Vin's arguments compelling — at least, his arguments (backed up with evidence!) on why trying to transfer the publishing model to a Web site isn't going to work. I also agree with him that portable electronic devices will be critical to developing a profitable online publishing industry. But I still believe that the Web can deliver profits for publishers — if two things happen. First, we need better distribution and personalization technology so people are alerted to content that will be interesting to them. And second, we need innovations that will make online ads more targeted, compelling, and interactive.

Posted 11:19 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Empowering the Masses

Carla Passino on the rise and rise of Fiorentina.it
With Florence's Serie A football club, AC Fiorentina, on the verge of going into receivership, an online sport site has become the catalyst of fans' protest. Since the end of June, when news of the team's financial difficulties first emerged, supporters of the struggling football club keep rushing to Fiorentina.it, an independent sports site devoted to the Florentine club. Fiorentina.it, which has seen a 40% traffic increase over the last weeks, has given fans a way to make their voices heard — and, in the process, has grown from a fairly niche e-zine into a leading portal whose comments are picked up by major publications such as CNN Italy.

Whether the site will manage to avoid the gloomy fate of other sports start-ups remains to be seen. But Fiorentina.it has shown that, at a time when the online publishing industry appears to be dominated by large media conglomerates, it is still possible to launch a successful content site on a shoestring by building on and empowering a community of like-minded people.

Posted 11:16 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Competition? What Competition?

Steve Klein on online sports sites
So, just how does ESPN view its online competition? Uh ... what competition? Just listen to this comment by ESPN.com senior vice president and general manager John Skipper in the Washington Times (story not available online) on the idea that ESPN.com will lose its traffic lead as a result of pulling out of bidding for NFL.com rights: "You could drive a fleet of trucks in the gap (in traffic) between us and (CBS SportsLine). If you rounded up a thousand people and asked them what their favorite sports site was, and had a bet between (CBS SportsLine) and us in which the loser bought those thousand people dinner, I assure you I won't be paying."

Monday, July 16, 2001

Posted 7:30 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Is Digital Journalism Credible?

Steve Outing on ONA study
The Online News Association is inviting journalism professionals to take part in its Knight Foundation-funded study of digital journalism credibility. Journalists and other media workers (in print, broadcast, and online) can take the survey, which will take about 10 minutes. The results of the survey, which is being conducted by project leaders Howard Finberg and Martha Stone, will be released at the ONA annual conference on October 26-27 in Berkeley, California.

Posted 6:52 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

ESPN Bringing TV, Online Closer

Steve Klein on online sports content
The PC and the TV haven't merged yet, but ESPN is getting ready to move closer to that new day. When ESPN relaunches its ESPNews channel in September, it will be more closely cross-pollinated with ESPN.com, according to Michael Hiestand of USA Today. Part of the picture includes more words and numbers on the screen in conjunction with online and TV reporters, who will become increasingly interchangeable.

''It seems natural to marry the mediums,'' said ESPN executive editor John Walsh. ''One day, when one box (carrying the Internet and TV) delivers it all, we want to be able to say we've been there.'' ESPNews is carried in 22 million cable TV households, compared to 82 million for ESPN.

 

Posted 12:23 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

'Digital' OK; '.com' KO'ed

Steve Outing on the demise of .com
This is not the first time that an E-Media Tidbits item has reported on a company getting rid of the ".com" part of its name. The latest is Knight Ridder (the big U.S. newspaper/media chain), which is eliminating "KnightRidder.com" as the corporate name of its new media unit — in favor of "Knight Ridder Digital." Of course, the Web site URL for KRD will continue to be knightridder.com.

While no doubt this is partly a reaction to the dot-com downturn — many companies have gone before KR in hacking .com from their names — it also makes sense. To my mind, Company.com implies an Internet/Web organization focus. As we move forward to new digital information delivery (wireless devices, especially), .com doesn't always apply.

Posted 12:04 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

The Latest in Words

Steve Klein on the state of the language
Looking for the latest in high-tech language? Then look no further than the latest revision of the 10th edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary, which adds such words as "MP3" for the music file, "e-book" for a paperless book, "i-Mode" for Japan's wireless Internet service, and "digital divide," defined as "the gulf between those who have ready access to computers and the Internet and those who do not."

The popularity of text messaging isn't ignored, either. There's an appendix of common abbreviations used by "texters" as they ply their tiny screens and keypads, and a list of emoticons, those little faces that e-mail users make with combinations of punctuation marks.

... I wonder if these words count in Scrabble.