Rebuilding Media

This is WSJ Breaking News Why, Exactly? (Dorian Benkoil)

2008-07-21T20:15:17-05:00

Sure, Alex Rodriguez is a star, and it's a big deal in advertising and entertainment circles that he's signed with a given talent agency. But why exactly is this worth interrupting us on Monday evening (I'm signed up for general Wall Street Journal alerts, not every last smidgeon of entertainment or sports news).

WSJ.com Editors to DORIAN show details 7:40 PM (1 hour ago) Reply
__________________________________
NEWS ALERT
from The Wall Street Journal

July 21, 2008

New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez has signed on with the William Morris Agency. William Morris, the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based talent representation company, has a client list that includes some of the biggest names in entertainment, sports and the corporate world. For Mr. Rodriguez, the move marks the latest turn in his relationship with Scott Boras, one of baseball's most successful and controversial agents. Mr. Boras, who has represented Mr. Rodriguez throughout his career, said he will continue to represent Mr. Rodriguez in any baseball-related negotiations.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121667673378471533.html?mod=djemalertNEWS

Future of NYTimes (Dorian Benkoil)

2008-06-10T09:46:54-05:00

Twittering Argyle Executive Forum call on Future of NYTimes. Twitter.com name: DorianBenkoil. Or feed is in right column of mediaflect.com.

It's Official: WSJ Not Free (Dorian Benkoil)

2008-01-24T13:25:26-05:00

Looks like the rumor was true: WSJ is not going fully free, according to Murdoch, in Davos.

The Wall Street Journal Online Wants to/Does not want to be free, Part 7 (Ben Compaine)

2008-01-16T23:20:54-05:00

Did I say in November that Rupert Murdoch said that the Wall Street Journal Online would do better with a totally ad supported business model? As Emily Latella would have said, “Never mind.”

We had some discussion here last summer on the scenarios that might justify a free strategy, wherein lower ad rates and foregoing $60 million or whatever in subscription revenue could be made up by 10x greater readership.

Apparently the new owner of Dow Jones is backing off. A report on a Wall Street Journal bureau chiefs’ meeting last week says that “Murdoch has scaled back his ambition to make WSJ.com entirely free.” According to one who was there “He said he originally thought making it free would bring in the biggest audience, but that after studying it it’s not as simple as he thought.”

It rarely is.

Benazir Bhutto Front Page Roundup (Dorian Benkoil)

2007-12-28T15:27:35-05:00

SAJA, the South Asia Journalists Association, has a roundup of front pages covering the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Many carry the same image if a distraught man.

CNET Shuts Down Its Reader (Dorian Benkoil)

2007-12-12T18:08:15-05:00

Could this be a sign that there's not enough room in the market for all the feed readers? (I know I'm not alone in wondering why we need so many different ones, and when the shakeout would come.)

CNET.com has, they say in an email, decided to turn off Newsburst, their attempt at a feed reader page.
They will provide a link for people to import their favorite feeds to other means.

Murdoch confirms WSJ Online wants to be free (Ben Compaine)

2007-11-13T13:40:02-05:00

Reuters reported that News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch said on Tuesday he was planning to boost the numbers of subscribers to the Wall Street Journal's Web site more than tenfold by making access free.

"We are studying it and we expect to make that free, and instead of having 1 million (subscribers) having at least 10-15 million in every corner of the earth."

No ambiguity there.

More Thoughts on TimesSelect (Dorian Benkoil)

2007-09-19T12:00:33-05:00

I don't want to bump Ben's post down with a long one of my own, when some of what I say overlaps, so I'll just point over here to my thoughts on TimesSelect, some remarks from the NY Times' publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Rupert Murdoch, and where it's heading.

Pulitzer: WSJ gets 2, Heavy on NY (Dorian Benkoil)

2007-04-16T14:56:00-05:00

Pulitzers are out. Surprisingly, Wall Street Journal is the only one with two, this time. And it's heavy on NY-area, as usual, and East Coast, as well.

The challenge of media competition from ground level (Ben Compaine)

2007-03-02T10:41:25-05:00

This letter to The Wall Street Journal yesterday succinctly sums up the state of competition in the media world today and the rapidity with which the landscape is changing. It helps explain why the National Association of Broadcasters, of all special interest groups, is opposing this particular flavor of radio merger.

XM and Sirius
March 1, 2007; Page B7
The thought that a merger between XM and Sirius could create a monopoly is absurd ("Making Radio Waves," Review & Outlook, Feb. 21). They would offer only one of many content options for consumers. It's a moot point anyway. By the time the merger is completed, satellite radio will have won the battle with radio but lost the war. When I subscribed to XM three years ago, I immediately quit listening to traditional radio. Satellite radio is simply a superior choice. However, now that my 927 favorite songs reside on my iPod, I have little need for radio of any kind. Why scan the dial in hopes of finding a song that I like when my iPod contains only songs that I like?

Scott Stolz
Tarpon Springs, Fla.

Federated Expected to Drastically Reduce Newspaper Advertising (Ben Compaine)

2006-08-11T11:39:47-05:00

More down news for big city newspapers: Federated Department Stores, owner of Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, is expected to trim (perhaps "hack" is the better term) its current $825 million expenditures for newspaper advertising by 25% to 50%. Federated’s department store brands reportedly are the single largest advertiser for newspapers. Spot TV is also expected to suffer. According to Advertising Age the new mix will favor national TV and magazines.

We Media: A False Divide (Dorian Benkoil)

2006-05-03T09:26:40-05:00

Lots of talk here at the We Media conference in London at BBC about "blogs vs. mainstream media." It's an artificial divide. Any journalist worth his salt reads the blogs on his beat and those inform the coverage, at least, and are quoted by name if he's honest. And the bloggers repay the favor, giving the journalist more voice by commenting, linking, and taking it further. It's more of a feedback loop than a divide.

Technorati tag: We Media. Conference tag: wemedia

Also been blogging it here.

Cauthorn webcast (Vin Crosbie)

2006-04-13T13:37:32-05:00

The webcast (QuickTime) of my Rebuilding Media colleague Bob Cauthorn's lecture last month at the University of California at Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism is online. Although Bob could tell you its contents better than I can, he addresses topics such as why today's local newspapers aren't really local; why newspapers shouldn't blog but should work with outside bloggers; how newspapers could better use their readers' input to focus their news instincts; the value of free newspaper archives online; why newspapers should be open tagging their online content; why Yahoo!'s hiring of reporters is merely a Geraldo Rivera-like stunts and not really journalism; and much more. His speech was part of the New Media Lecture Series sponsored by the Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. — Vin Crosbie

Finally: The New York Times to Cease Printing Daily Stock Tables (Ben Compaine)

2006-03-14T14:18:44-05:00

The New York Times announced today that it would cease printing the daily stock listings, except on Sunday. It joins, among others, the Tribune Co.’s papers in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Orlando in cutting back on the pages of agate type. This has been a long overdue measure. The Internet has provided financial data faster and easier for years. Most investors who need to know the price of their securities would have found online access worth the price of an ISP service long ago. It's a no-brainer for saving tons of newsprint at a time when big city newspapers are under cost ands revenue pressures. The Times Co., however, declined to provide an estimate on its savings.

John Naughton Foresees the End of Traditional Broadcasting (Vin Crosbie)

2006-03-06T12:54:12-05:00

British TV reviewer turned internet guru, John Naughton, foresees the end of traditional broadcasting and the rise of a new media ecology amid unending change. He names a few of its characteristics he foresees, in a Guardian essay (free registration required) that's adapted from the UK Marketing Society's Annual Lecture he delivered on February 28th. Worth reading.