Lawsuit may change news on the web

A company you've never heard of, Gatehouse Media, which operates a string of small newspapers in New England, has launched a lawsuit that, if Gatehouse wins, could have major repercussions. Gatehouse has sued the New York Times Company over links to Gatehouse stories on the Times' Boston Globe website.

It's probably going to lose, but what if Gatehouse wins? The Internet is built today on a framework of linking. Virtually every site -- including this blog -- is little more than news aggregators with links to the actual news sources. What if a judge were to rule those links were illegal? Seems to me that Drudge, the Huffington Post, JSonline, etc. would have to dramatically change their ways of doing business.

Internet grows in influence

With a big jump in 2008, the Internet has overtaken newspapers as a favorite source for news although both still trail television. All this is according to a new Pew Research Center report. Some very interesting data there -- newspaper loyalty climbed (even more among young people) but the Internet climbed more. Both took market share away from television. And the results were for national and international news, not local news where most newspapers are concentrating their efforts.

Should newspapers go the nonprofit route?

Editor & Publisher columnist Joe Mathewson suggests newspapers look at nonprofit models if they really are hurting. He offers a couple of examples. They could also think about employe ownership as a model. Oh, yes. That's what the Milwaukee Journal Co. was back when its newspapers were honored, its radio and television stations on top of the ratings, it never laid off anyone (even during the Great Depression), and its stock price increased every month. In other words, before the current management (how is it still in office?) took the company public a dozen years ago.

Be that as it may, nonprofit might well be a saving business plan. I'd certainly explore it before just shutting the doors as a few publishing companies threaten.

Washington Post, Baltimore Sun to share stories

The Washington Post and Baltimore Sun announced plans to share content, especially Maryland stories and sports. A Post story said: "Exclusive stories will generally not be shared between papers. Also out of bounds are articles about Maryland state government and University of Maryland athletics, both of which are competitive subjects to each paper." This latter gives this story a Marquette tie since the Post writer covering the University of Maryland is Steve Yanda who was the Marquette Tribune's sports editor a year ago.

Will we get what we pay for?

That's the question raised in an essay on the news business byJames Surowiecki in the current New Yorker magazine. Nothing here you shouldn't already know, but it's written in the usual excellent New Yorker prose that makes you yearn for more good writing, which, frankly, you aren't likely to find on the Internet -- and that sort of sums up his argument.

Philly newspapers start local music website

I've criticized many old media companies, especially newspapers, for doing little beyond cutting staff and offerings to customers, to build readership. At the same time, some are working with new media to build a new form of company. Now comes a story from Philadelphia where the newspapers are starting a website offering both free and available for download streaming music and videos of local groups. The Philadelphia newspapers are returning to their local roots, and trying things. That I applaud.

I think it's worth mentioning that the newspapers aren't conceding all their subscribers to the web. They don't post all articles automatically. They post their news stories, but not all columns and features. I think this is well worth trying. Clearly this is one old media company that's not going quietly into the dark.

Watergate and the new media. What would happen today?

Catching up on a story I forgot to post yesterday, very interesting column from former Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. keyed to the death of Mark Felt ("Deep Throat") where he asks whether the truth would have been found out about Watergate given today's media landscape. Speculation, of course, but interesting take on how the media changes could impact how we cover news.

And the top media story of the year is . . .

Editor & Publisher lists its annual Top Ten industry stories of the year, and guess what is the top story? Yep, it's the massive cutbacks in the industry. By my count, eight of the ten are bad news for the industry.

Interestingly enough, E&P calls it "Top Newspaper Stories," even though one is only about web sites.  Maybe it should be "print media" stories since the web is print. 

Boston company to offer foreign news

Meanwhile, another web startup offers something different for media junkies. In this case, Boston's Phillip Balboni has hired veteran Boston Globe foreign editors to offer foreign coverage, something that's becoming almost non-existent in American media. Read the Boston Phoenix's story about the new venture, which has a chance of really improving our knowledge of the world. It's called globalpost.com, and is coming January 12.

That's the thing about the changing media landscape. It's costing us lots of jobs and lots of expertise and shaking up where we go for news, but it's also extending what and how we learn about our world. As a journalist, I can't help but be excited about the potentials (as well as fearing about the paychecks). I watch Marquette student journalists using multimedia to bring stories to life in a way that I couldn't when I worked in print media and with more depth than available in broadcast. The potential is what is most exciting. I can't wait.

How about some success business models for newspapers?

PBS's Mark Glaser gives us a wonderful overview of "successful alternative business models" for newspapers. There are many ideas out there, some already successful. Is any one the perfect one? Not likely, but some show great promise.

I've long advocated special, niche content at a premium, the way the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel does with its wildly success Packer Plus magazine and online section (go to this page, scroll down to "Packer Plus Magazine" to see a listing of some of its content). Thousands of Packers fans, from throughout the country, pay at least $45 extra for access to this section -- and most think it's a bargain. It's a model I'd stretch into other areas, and ADVERTISE WHAT'S THERE. For example, you have to scroll two-thirds of the page just to find the listings of what you are missing, and this is already on a Packer coverage page. I'd get those stories higher.

I used to wax poetic about the intelligent way the JS was handling a columnist named Vicki Ortiz. She generally wrote two online-only blogs, then the paper ran a third as a column in the Weekend Cue section. It also ran online. I got hooked into going to her blogs by reading the printed column. I've often wondered why they didn't also cross-market by not putting her Friday column online. That would make me subscribe to the Friday paper if I liked the column. It's a model that works, so why not expand it.

Is the end of home delivery near?

MSNBC and ABC takes a look (and here) at the Detroit newspapers' decision to cut back home delivery to three days a week, and quotes experts predicting that home delivery might be gone in the near future. As someone who has subscribed to home delivery since leaving my boyhood home, it's a hard concept to grasp. But, you know, it makes more sense than just waiting until your costs overwhelm your company. Picking up individual papers on the other four days of the week isn't all that hard, although I'd suspect advertising would really drop off then.

I would predict that home delivery will continue for smaller community newspapers. But, for metro papers, I'm not so sure. Nevertheless, I look for growth in "total market coverage" products as some advertisers realize that their appeal doesn't fit into the narrower and narrower niches that media is targeting. I think of this every time I try to look something up in the Yellow Pages. Once, it was simple to find numbers and addressed. Today an advertiser has to buy niche ads in several areas. For example, a restaurant might have a listing under "restaurants," another under "ethnic restaurants," another under "cuisines," another under "Neighborhood restaurants," and who knows what other areas?

I remember how nice it was to take the Sunday newspaper's listing of open houses (generally the back page of the Sunday classified section), mark the ones I was interested in no matter the realtor (deliberate lower case of this ostentatious word), and drive around to visit them. Today, one has to go to each website, try to figure out where your interest is, then print out a guide. Then go to another company's site and repeat the process. Of course, I'm going to be told there is an aggregator out there somewhere, but I sure don't know where it is.

Pew study reminds us that technology changes are uneven

As our conception of what constitutes media continues to grow, technology keeps expanding our potentials. I'm reminded of this as I'm preparing for a backpack journalism workshop in India, which has me thinking anew of the great tools available for journalists today. The easily used, portable cameras and audio devices have made a new kind of journalism possible. At the same time, the Internet has expanded news consumers' choices exponentially -- even while creating competition that has cost thousands of jobs in the traditional media.

Nevertheless, events and reports keep coming that forces us to rethink many of our assumptions, including those of the immediate demise of one form of media or another. For example, the rise of mobile technology has many proclaiming that 2009 will be the year when mobile media (basically cell phones) overtakes computers for accessing the Internet. Well, Pew Research has come out with a study that points to 2020 as that year. And who can accurately predict what will happen technologically by then?

The bottom line for those studying or practicing journalism, I believe, is to stay loose. Take advantage of what technology exists today, but be alert for potential new venues or technology. And don't forget, good storytelling relies on good techniques -- and they're the same no matter how the end product is delivered.