Reporters unhappy with Obama administration

Interesting report in Politico today, especially given the 40-year-old mantra by Republicans that the mainstream press (that's "lamestream press" to many commentators on the right) gives Democrats a bye.

Politico reports that the atmosphere between the press and President Obama is the most hostile in years. And "this attitude, many believe, starts with the man at the top. Obama rarely lets a chance go by to make a critical or sarcastic comment about the press, its superficiality or its short-term mentality. He also hasn’t done a full-blown news conference for 10 months.

The exception is the New York Times, which, many reporters believe, is favored by the administration.

What's new is old once again

Ad Age reports on another front in the ever-changing world of media today -- the use of free lance publications. In this case, it's purchasing material from associations of free lance writers that pay as little as $5 a story.

It's yet another case of what's new is really what's old, since these networks are very similar to associations a hundred years ago. While researching the past of Journal Sentinel columnist Ione Quinby Griggs, I found that while she was a writer in Chicago in the 1920s, her material was being syndicated by a group that later became King Features throughout the eastern half of the U.S.

If this trend continues, I'd expect the law of supply and demand to move the price up to a worthwhile figure.

Washington Post watching pay walls

Pay walls even figure in today's news about the Washington Post. In particular, Post vice chairman Boisfeuillet Jones, Jr., says that his company will "watch and see" before making any moves. In a talk Saturday but reported today, he outlined the state of the industry, making one point seldom mentioned: newspapers are largely making money, it's just not the huge profit margins of the past. He talked at length about different types of pay walls and content pay plans.

Craigslist gains, but newspapers lose

Interesting analysis of Craigslist projecting revenues of $122 million with profits of $80-$90 million this year. The story also goes into the potential concerns for the site since adult advertising makes up much of its revenue and it faces other problems.

What's missed in all this is the incredible loss of revenues to media in general. Sure Craigslist is making millions for its owners, a good thing, but that $122 million in revenue pales in comparison to the profit lost by publications that it's replaced. Newspapers posted $19.6 billion in classified advertising revenue in 2000. Most of that's gone, especially to Craigslist.

Free is good for consumers and appears to be good for one company. But it's wreaked havoc on an entire industry. And that's not good.

Pay walls cost visitors, but what about profits?

As the news business continues to struggle through dark days, we're beginning to see some glimpses of light -- not necessarily good light, but lighting up certain pathways.

For example, we now have some data about what happens when we erect pay walls. In this latest case, figures are now available for both Variety and Newsday, publications that erected pay walls. Both initially took huge hits in page views, but those have stabilized in both cases. So the question becomes: Are you making more money with a pay wall than without? With a corollary: Are you profitable? We're still waiting for those answers.

Newspaper print readership (not circulation) continues to increase

In a finding that reflects other research, Scarborough Research found good news for printed newspapers with the readers per copy continuing to increase. The study found that over the past three years, the number of readers-per-copy has risen 7.5%, to 3.30 adults in 2009 from 3.07 adults in 2007.

The findings give newspaper ad departments and advertiser media buyers something to think about. The MediaDailyNews report quoted Scarborough executive Gary Meo as saying: "Readers-per-copy is especially important as newspapers compete for their share of a brand's media budget, particularly among national advertisers."

Ad forecast is bullish

New forecast is bullish on advertising, especially radio and local television.

The most recent numbers by Barclays Capital have virtually all segments (except newspapers and yellow pages) moving into the black in ad sales, and even the newspaper decline will be minimal. The growth will come from all over, reflecting better economic times ahead, but especially in the automobile and political segments.

Transparency would aid Internet ad growth

The chaotic growth of Internet advertising has led to one of the major factors holding it back. A study finds that lack of "transparency" is keeping a significant amount of display ads off the Net.

The depth of the concern shows up in this comment by Jonathan Margulies, a director of the Winterberry Group, which sponsored the study: "It's critical that advertisers and agencies understand the extent to which certain issues -- the possibility that ad will appear next to content that could potentially undermine its message, for example -- continue to present real threats."

The problems appear to be that advertisers can't control where their ads may be placed (the old airline ad next to a plane crash story, for example) and, even worse, placement next to inappropriate subject matter or ads appearing on pages that "defy" "taste, respect and basic courtesy."

E-readers showing strength of printed word

A new report shows the strength of the printed word. This time it's on e-readers, where the study showed that 91 percent of e-reader owners read print or digital magazines, compared to 84 percent of all adults. That demonstrates the appeal of magazines can be directly tied to willingness to try the new platform.

The key is reading. Frankly, we're entering an age where platforms aren't as important as content, assuming the publishers can get paid for their efforts. I believe that demonstrating the audience is there will lead to the money. The study shows that e-reader readers (I sort of like that phrasing) will pay for content, if it's not exorbitant. After paying $9.99 for a paperback novel just to get something to read on a plane, I'm redefining exorbitant in my own mind.

Greed and stupidity

That's all I could think of while reading MediaPost's account of a pushback by iPad users who feel gouged by magazine publishers. The problem's that the wonderful magazine apps -- which are supposed to save magazines -- cost $4.99 an issue. As one user said, " I can get 56 issues of the paper version for $20. How am I supposed to feel about this?” If the iPad is the future of magazines, then poor management better be in the past.

By the way, cost of product is what's keeping me from buying a Kindle. With a public library right down the street and paperbacks going for $5-6 (cheaper used), why would I pay $14.99 a book? I'm going to be spending a month overseas and have been buying 30 used paperbacks to take at a total cost of not more than $60. The Kindle price would be nearly $450 for 30 books. Doesn't make sense to me.

The filterless presidency?

The daily Gawker suggests that Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are making the White House press corps obsolete, suggesting a future where "the filterless presidency" is a reality. Not that long ago, a television show called "Who Do You Trust?" was popular. Given the fact-free zones that cable television networks have become and the incredibly ignorant stuff that fills Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, I'm ready to bring it back.

British newspaper websites offer a laboratory

As paywalls rise and fall, Britain is becoming the new media laboratory.

The Times of London (a storied newspaper now owned by Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp) plans to erect a fairly expensive paywall in June. Online readers will be asked to pay about $2 a week. Meanwhile a Scots paper, the Southern Reporter, is abandoning its pay wall.

Given that newspaper readership is healthy in Britain and that the BBC website and the Guardian, which intends to continue free access, offers solid journalistic alternatives, it will be interesting to watch. And journalism itself has a stake in the outcome.