Staying relevant

Blogger and long-time journalist Renay San Miguel offers a rambling but interesting look at what he calls "old new media dogs," older journalists retraining themselves. It offers some gems of insight into how journalism is changing over the years, and how we can keep ourselves relevant. There's a lesson here for students as well. Keep yourselves relevant, and don't lock yourselves into any media idea -- except to always remember that it's about telling stories.

Has social media turned life into a worldwide living room?

Time magazine has an interesting take on new media by . Calling the Internet our "new living room," he maintains that social media can offer sort of a multiplier effect for viewership of big network TV events. After pointing out the high ratings for the Oscar telecast and the Super Bowl, he calls on television -- and print -- to recognize that we are using social media in a different way. He doesn't offer specific suggestions as to how to do that (and several come to mind just sitting here), but suggests that old media needs to recognize the potential. As he suggests, they need to "pull up a chair" in this worldwide living room.

Atlantic executives talk about new design and the future

The Atlantic redesigned its web site for the second time in two years, and a couple of its executives talked about pay walls, redesigns and platforms. It's informative, especially to those interested in magazines.

Digital ads pass those in print

According to Forbes, the day has arrived when American advertisers are spending more on digital media than on print.

The study by Outsell finds nearly a 10% increase in ad spending on digital media pushed it past print. However, print magazines continued to increase advertising (roughly 2%), and mobile advertising seems almost dead, off 16%. A reality check by Outsell's Chuck Richard: "The Sports Illustrated swimsuit iPhone app was touted by many as a huge success. The issue is the most hyped magazine event of the year. The app was the 33rd-highest-grossing mobile app in the iPhone store. But if you do the simple math, 32,000 people paid $2 apiece to download it. That's $64,000." A single page of advertising in the print version of the swimsuit edition, says Richard, brings in about $135,000 a page. "It's time for a reality check."

Backpack journalism in the real world

The Washington Post offers a nice feature on television -- now including networks -- turning to backpack journalists. It gives you a good idea of what life is like for a backpack journalist these days, including the downside (not enough time) and the upside (one-person camera crews don't intimidate people as much).

It also shows the continuing mismanagement of the news business with many reporters being asked to increase their workload significantly by doing their own shooting and editing while taking often-large paycuts.