Alan Mutter started it. He said the newspapers "Original Sin" was not charging for online content from the beginning.
He was wrong, of course -- many newspapers tried and failed at paid content online in the early days, and even the ones who stuck with it never generated enough revenue to [...]
There are those in our industry who seem to assume that newspapers emerged in 1835 in full flower, that many of the elements of the newspaper world that were until recently taken for granted were all part of world of James Gordon Bennett and Horace Greeley.
An example of such thinking [...]
This tweet:
Why didn't I watch Senate hearing today? Because I'm busy working on journalism's future, not worrying about its past.
Proved quite popular this evening.
I posted it in light of news about the Senate Subcommittee Hearing today on the future of journalism. For months (years?) we've been assaulted with notions of [...]
Maybe it's time your newspaper reconsidered its Web site's commenting policy.
If the same group of people are dominating the discussion and ganging up on newcomers who aren't part of the clique, maybe it's time to reconsider your policy.
If flame wars are frequent, sock puppets obvious and informative discussions rare, maybe [...]
"Hyperlocal" is an ugly word.
This fad coinage is meant to represent a new discovery, a new way of thinking about journalism: "Hey, gee, we should do some of this local stuff. People might actually like to read about their home towns."
"Hyperlocal" is ugly because it attempts to rewrite history, ignoring [...]
It seems like it was my first day on the job; I don't remember -- sometime in that early era of my career with GateHouse Media -- Boston.com linked to a story on a GateHouse New England Web site. It was about a murder and a GateHouse reporter had the scoop.
The' [...]
I've received almost universal positive feedback on my "hyperlocal" post (well, from everybody but Jeff Jarvis).
I think the only people who would disagree are those at least maginally connected to the New York VC bubble, where the cocktail chatter is always about "scale." It's never about building a [...]
Over the past three days or so, I've had a few conversations about "scale."
If you haven't dealt much with the IT side of the online world, you may not be too familiar with the meaning of the word in context. For years, the only time I heard the word "scale" [...]
During my last trip to Boston, I asked a friend: "When is the last time you picked up the Boston Globe and read it cover to cover, every story?"
He starred at me blankly, not comprehending the question.
It was a stupid question, because pretty much nobody ever reads a newspaper cover to [...]
All web activity is intention driven.
People visit web pages, whether arriving via search, a link or a bookmark with a specific intention. That intention might be to read a specific story, see what's on sale, scan headlines or connect with a friend.
How well a web page helps a user satisfy' [...]
Not all links are created equal.
Not all links generate traffic.
Some links are downright harmful.
Yet, to a large class of digerati, the link is a fetish.
Woe to he who questions the value of a link.
I'm sorry to state the truth, but just because you create a link doesn't mean a single [...]
If you run a small town, local community newspaper site, the most important page on your server is your home page.
Take a look at your stats: More than 50 percent, and maybe as much 70 percent of your Web traffic flows to your home page.
Now, some people who think they [...]
Aggregation is the Internet term for harvesting information from a variety of sources and repurposing it into a single presentation.
There are four types of aggregation sites:
• Human edited
• Algorithmic selection
• Social bookmarking
• Automatic scraping or ingestion
Almost all forms of aggregation mean acquiring content without paying for [...]
Giving your newspaper content away for free online is foolish.
It does indeed cannibalize your circulation.
Qualification: I'm speaking only for local newspapers who's community focused content is unique and generally valued by only a narrowly defined audience. For news organizations with national or international aspirations, different rules apply.
Here's the conundrum for' [...]
When I look at the names of the people who have already registered for the new HowardOwens.com, I see nothing but a list of friends.
And that's part of what I want for the resurrected HowardOwens.com. I want this to be a site where people feel safe to discuss whatever issue I happen to' [...]
Yes, I'm no longer employed by GateHouse Media.
But I do have a big job ahead of me: running The Batavian.
I'm grateful to Mike Reed, CEO, Kirk Davis, COO and my boss Bill Blevins for all of the opportunities afford to me by GateHouse. I learned much, grew much and was [...]
Final Edition from Matthew Roberts
My father was born in Colorado. One of my brothers lived for years in Aspen. He now lives in the Denver area, as does another brother.
In my youth, I visited Colorado a handful of times. As an adult, a few more times still.
When I first settled [...]
Maybe my favorite aspect of YouTube is its role as an archive of great, old music videos.
Here's Howlin' Wolf performing "How Many More Years."
*Note, this post represents to things: Testing video embedding on my new Drupal set up; second, demonstrating that my future blogging on this site may not [...]
I'm still working on putting this new site together (and I'm still looking for help on getting the archives set up), but a couple of people have already registered.
That's great, but I didn't have the registration form configured yet.
Now it is. So it seems like a good time to mention: I'm going' [...]
I'm setting up a new blog in Drupal.
My biggest challenge is trying get my WordPress 2.5 blog archives converted to Drupal 6.
Apparently, none of the available scripts for such a conversion are up to speed with that migration path yet.
Anybody out there want to help? Meanwhile, I'm planning some blog [...]
In Google Books, I found some history on the Kansas City Kansan, which delivered its final print edition today. Which is drawn from the minutes of a meeting of something called the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the National Association of Commercial Organization Secretaries. The group appears to [...]
In Google Books, I found some history on the Kansas City Kansan, which delivered its final print edition today. Which is drawn from the minutes of a meeting of something called the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the National Association of Commercial Organization Secretaries. The group appears to [...]
Found this history of the Rocky Mountain News via Google Books. The passage is from History of American Journalism, published in 1917.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN PAPERS OF COLORADO
In Denver The Rocky Mountain News has the distinction of being the oldest paper in Colorado. Its first issue was April 23, 1859, in [...]
Found this history of the Rocky Mountain News via Google Books. The passage is from History of American Journalism, published in 1917.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN PAPERS OF COLORADO
In Denver The Rocky Mountain News has the distinction of being the oldest paper in Colorado. Its first issue was April 23, 1859, in [...]
It’s been quite a year for journalism. It’s been scary at times, aggrevating at times and there have been some glimmers of hope for future success. I don’t feel like the same person who started 2008 and who ends it now, and I bet you don’t either.
A year ago, I [...]
It's been quite a year for journalism. It's been scary at times, aggrevating at times and there have been some glimmers of hope for future success. I don't feel like the same person who started 2008 and who ends it now, and I bet you don't either.
A year ago, I [...]
I think this obit of Tom Gish came to me via Romenesko earlier today. I just now had time to read it. It’s all worth reading, but here’s the relevant hyperlocal/citizen journalism part:
The Gishes were city journalists when they published their first edition in January of 1957, and they [...]
I think this obit of Tom Gish came to me via Romenesko earlier today. I just now had time to read it. It's all worth reading, but here's the relevant hyperlocal/citizen journalism part:
The Gishes were city journalists when they published their first edition in January of 1957, and they [...]
Horace Greeley to “Friend Fletcher” in April, 1830:
Begin with a clear conception that the subject of deepest interest to an average human being is himself; next to that he is most concerned about his neighbors. Asia and the Tongo Islands stand a long way after these in his regard…. Do [...]
Horace Greeley to "Friend Fletcher" in April, 1830:
Begin with a clear conception that the subject of deepest interest to an average human being is himself; next to that he is most concerned about his neighbors. Asia and the Tongo Islands stand a long way after these in his regard.... Do [...]
The quote is from Walter Lippmann’s book Public Opinion. Keep in mind, he wrote this in 1922, not 2002.
This insistent and ancient belief that truth is not earned, but inspired, revealed, supplied gratis, comes out very plainly in our economic prejudices as readers of newspapers. We expect the newspaper [...]
The quote is from Walter Lippmann's book Public Opinion. Keep in mind, he wrote this in 1922, not 2002.
This insistent and ancient belief that truth is not earned, but inspired, revealed, supplied gratis, comes out very plainly in our economic prejudices as readers of newspapers. We expect the newspaper' [...]
If you’re in New England, I invite you to attend the New England New Media Associate fall conference.
NENMA gathering are always good events — neat people to meet and talk with.
I want you to come Oct. 30 if you’re in the area so you can hear my keynote presentation [...]
If you're in New England, I invite you to attend the New England New Media Associate fall conference.
NENMA gathering are always good events -- neat people to meet and talk with.
I want you to come Oct. 30 if you're in the area so you can hear my keynote presentation [...]
If you asked me, what’s the one thing you do well, I would say: Hire people.
Not every hire I’ve ever made has worked out (I can think of two that haven’t out of about 15 I’ve made), but I’ve learned from my mistakes. Today, I’m quite confident that I have [...]
If you asked me, what's the one thing you do well, I would say: Hire people.
Not every hire I've ever made has worked out (I can think of two that haven't out of about 15 I've made), but I've learned from my mistakes. Today, I'm quite confident that I have [...]
I’ve just sent this e-mail to Berkeley Breathed in response his quote in this Salon piece.
Dear Mr. Breathed,
I was surprised to read in Salon:
‘In 1986 I had a cockroach scream, “Reagan sucks!” in print size that took up the entire cartoon box. Nobody blinked — 1,000 newspapers, quiet as [...]
I've just sent this e-mail to Berkeley Breathed in response his quote in this Salon piece.
Dear Mr. Breathed,
I was surprised to read in Salon:
'In 1986 I had a cockroach scream, "Reagan sucks!" in print size that took up the entire cartoon box. Nobody blinked -- 1,000 newspapers, quiet as [...]
A while back, I did a blog post about bright people who have left the industry. Here’s a quick update (and I welcome further input from anybody who has other names to add).
A while back, I did a blog post about bright people who have left the industry. Here's a quick update (and I welcome further input from anybody who has other names to add).
Chris Jennewein is back in, having gone to work for the Las Vegas Sun. Sean Polay has rejoined' [...]When, as a journalist, you possess information that will have some impact on society, will effect people’s lives, or otherwise rises to some level of salient import, do you have an obligation to publish or broadcast that information immediately, or is it OK to hold it to serve the business [...]
When, as a journalist, you possess information that will have some impact on society, will effect people's lives, or otherwise rises to some level of salient import, do you have an obligation to publish or broadcast that information immediately, or is it OK to hold it to serve the business' [...]
In the days prior today’s bailout vote, you could surf through Google news and find any number of stories that told us that the U.S. economy is in a crisis, and that spending $700 billion to bail out Wall Street bankers was unavoidable.
Or you could turn on the television and [...]
In the days prior today's bailout vote, you could surf through Google news and find any number of stories that told us that the U.S. economy is in a crisis, and that spending $700 billion to bail out Wall Street bankers was unavoidable.
Or you could turn on the television and' [...]
Some people think the web makes the world bigger. I say, it makes it smaller. Some people say the web makes us neighbors with people in Kenya or the Ukraine. I say it makes us better neighbors with the family next door.
There was a time in United States history when [...]
Some people think the web makes the world bigger. I say, it makes it smaller. Some people say the web makes us neighbors with people in Kenya or the Ukraine. I say it makes us better neighbors with the family next door.
There was a time in United States history when [...]
Soon after our launch, we owed Philip Anselmo a vacation (he transferred from another GateHouse paper), so I got to be The Batavian’s reporter for four of five days (Ryan Sholin filled in for a day, too).
During that week, there were two fire in Genesee County — one was a [...]
Soon after our launch, we owed Philip Anselmo a vacation (he transferred from another GateHouse paper), so I got to be The Batavian's reporter for four of five days (Ryan Sholin filled in for a day, too).
During that week, there were two fire in Genesee County -- one was a' [...]
On May 1, we launched a project in Batavia, NY to work out how to build an online-only, local news business. We wanted to go to a town where we didn’t have a newspaper so that we could have the freedom to experiment without concerns about disrupting one of our [...]
On May 1, we launched a project in Batavia, NY to work out how to build an online-only, local news business. We wanted to go to a town where we didn't have a newspaper so that we could have the freedom to experiment without concerns about disrupting one of our' [...]
From today’s Vin Crosbie’s post — a nugget related to why the BiggerBetter video strategy is a sputtering strategy:
The overabundance of suppliers of news and information, nonetheless the supply, leads to another corollary, one that might seem to be counter-intuitive: the ‘good enough’ beats perfect. The overabundance of [...]
From today's Vin Crosbie's post -- a nugget related to why the BiggerBetter video strategy is a sputtering strategy:
The overabundance of suppliers of news and information, nonetheless the supply, leads to another corollary, one that might seem to be counter-intuitive: the 'good enough' beats perfect. The overabundance of [...]
Newspapers should have kickass web sites.
Take your typical major metro — a content producing staff that out paces in training, experience and numbers any rival.
A typical metro remains the best advertising buy in town, retail and classifieds.
The free cash a good metro site can through off on print up sells [...]
Newspapers should have kickass web sites.
Take your typical major metro -- a content producing staff that out paces in training, experience and numbers any rival.
A typical metro remains the best advertising buy in town, retail and classifieds.
The free cash a good metro site can through off on print up sells [...]
From Beet.tv:
Online videos have a short shelf life, getting a quarter of their views within four days of being published, Brett Wilson, CEO of video distribution site TubeMogul, says. Content creators who publish a lot of video will have a better shot at success.
He suggests that content creators [...]
From Beet.tv:
Online videos have a short shelf life, getting a quarter of their views within four days of being published, Brett Wilson, CEO of video distribution site TubeMogul, says. Content creators who publish a lot of video will have a better shot at success.
He suggests that content creators [...]
Reporters who own their jobs with an entrepreneurial spirit and energy will also own each story they do. What does story ownership mean?
Reporters who own their jobs with an entrepreneurial spirit and energy will also own each story they do. What does story ownership mean?
You generate your own story ideas. You decide the angle, who to talk to, where to gather information and what you do with it. As you gather information, you find [...]Nick Sergeant has completed his first Django project. It’s called Finisht.com. It’s really for developers who want a quick and easy way to track finished projects.
In an era when journalists are asked to do more and more, I can see reporters and editors using this for their own [...]
When I posted about journalists setting their own 2008 MBOs, A couple of executive editors like the idea of the program and instituted something like it in their own newsrooms. Today, John Robinson reports that his wallet is $100 lighter.
Among other things, designer Mel Umbarger created a copy [...]
Nick Sergeant has completed his first Django project. It's called Finisht.com. It's really for developers who want a quick and easy way to track finished projects.
In an era when journalists are asked to do more and more, I can see reporters and editors using this for their own [...]
When I posted about journalists setting their own 2008 MBOs, A couple of executive editors like the idea of the program and instituted something like it in their own newsrooms. Today, John Robinson reports that his wallet is $100 lighter.
Among other things, designer Mel Umbarger created a copy [...]
Blogging has been light here for some time.
I’m tired of arguing with curmudgeons and the class hearty souls who discovered the web in 2004 and now has all the answers (many of them tried by online news veterans 10 years ago).
Just about everything I have to say, I’ve said. I [...]
Blogging has been light here for some time.
I'm tired of arguing with curmudgeons and the class hearty souls who discovered the web in 2004 and now has all the answers (many of them tried by online news veterans 10 years ago).
Just about everything I have to say, I've said. I [...]
Which of these stories would you rather read?
After Fleeing Psychiatric Unit, Ex-Officer Is Killed in a Gunfight With Police
Carrying two handguns and a Bible, a retired city police officer was killed in a gunfight early Tuesday on a residential street in Staten Island by former colleagues who returned his fire, [...]
Which of these stories would you rather read?
After Fleeing Psychiatric Unit, Ex-Officer Is Killed in a Gunfight With Police
Carrying two handguns and a Bible, a retired city police officer was killed in a gunfight early Tuesday on a residential street in Staten Island by former colleagues who returned his fire, [...]
I’ll be attending two journalism conventions over the next couple of months to talk about digital-age journalism.
On August 8, I’ll be on the luncheon panel at the AEJMC convention in Chicago. The topic is Networked Journalism: The Changing Face of News. Also on the panel, Kate Marymont, a Gannett [...]
I'll be attending two journalism conventions over the next couple of months to talk about digital-age journalism.
On August 8, I'll be on the luncheon panel at the AEJMC convention in Chicago. The topic is Networked Journalism: The Changing Face of News. Also on the panel, Kate Marymont, a Gannett [...]
Here’s a quote for any online manager dealing with a newsroom of curmudgeons. It’s from Theodore Roosevelt. Blow it up big and post it for all to see.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer [...]
Here's a quote for any online manager dealing with a newsroom of curmudgeons. It's from Theodore Roosevelt. Blow it up big and post it for all to see.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer [...]
The Ventura County Star’s Scott Hadly is reporting from Iraq. I haven’t been following his coverage, but I met none of it matches the intimacy and immediacy of this letter he wrote to a fellow reporter.
In one short letter, I got a better idea of what’s going on in [...]
In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, many newly minted bloggers expressed frustration at the mainstream media’s (soon to be dubbed MSM) lack of attention to serious international news.
Case in point was cable news obsession with Chandra Levy’s death. So, when on the E&P site today, I saw a [...]
There are three main points from the new report from the Readership Institute (via Romenesko):
It’s a nice virtuous thing that Meranda Watling is proud to work for a newspaper. But that’s not the reason I’m linking to her post. This is:
That story that broke at 4:30? It came in via an e-mail tip. I actually “broke” the news about 4:40 p.m. I had [...]
There continues to be lots of chatter about the closing of Online Journalism Review.
I used to work with Robert Niles at E.W. Scripps. He’s a fine person and did an admirable job with OJR given the resources he was given. So no slight intended here …
I’ve been an [...]
I’m seriously behind in my gmail inbox … can’t sleep tonight for some reason, so thought I would try to widdle the pile down a bit …
Found an e-mail from John Solomon, who wrote to say he was inspired by the wired journalist MBO post, which led him to [...]
I’ve set up my work phone to forward to my iPhone. I never touch my desk phone except for conference calls.
Unfortunately, if a call forwards to my iPhone, if I don’t get it by the third ring, for some odd reason, the call reverts to my desk phone. This leads [...]
John Wilpers is taking aim and taking names … he goes hunting for the top newspapers in the industry and asks if they’re really doing a good job at being the center of the local mediasphere.
And notice, I didn’t say “blogosphere,” because even though he concentrates on blogs in [...]
Via Martin Stabe, comes this provocative post on the deconstruction of the story.
But here’s the thing: journalists have always been far more entranced by ‘the story’ than audiences. Less than a quarter of newspaper readers claim to read to the end of a story, even [...]
Christopher Wink sends this e-mail:
What is the line with all of these online networking devices? I read with interest through my Google reader your post on increasing one’s searchability online , which was exactly why I started my Web site back in December. I have a Flickr account and [...]
Interesting post from Howard Weaver about what some newspaper companies are going through (and I think his primary intended audience is McClatchy).
He says this:
Time is not our friend. Mark Zieman in Kansas City introduced me to the poem Calmly We Walk Through This April’s Day, which includes the [...]
Ok, so I’m going to show bad form and gloat a bit.
I read this post from Beet.tv this morning with some sense of vindication.
With hand held cameras, video reporting is a natural extension of print reporting and holds great advantage for newspaper publishers, says pioneering news producer Tammy Haddad.
In [...]
The blogosphere has been abuzz with chatter about the Orlando Sentinel redesign, so I’ll skip hunting up some relevant link for this post — you all know what I’m talking about.
The whole hullabaloo reminds me of a thought I’ve had many times recently: Why not just let a print newspaper [...]
So far, 18 people have registered to comment on howardowens.com. For a fairly low traffic blog, I think that’s pretty good.
What’s interesting is how many people have registered — the majority — without then leaving a comment. They just registered.
That’s a phenomena we’ve observed at GateHouse, too, where we [...]
There is much being made of the Orlando Sentinel redesign.
Yes, it’s shocking. It’s bold. It’s wild.
But original? Hardly.
Just take a look at the Bakersfield California’s front page from today.
Orland’s plans seem tame by comparison, and Bakersfield launched that format on March 1, 2006 (I know, I was there; [...]
My post critiquing the online activity of SPJ’s Mark of Excellence caused a stir. Predictably, not everybody liked it. But it also seemed to do some good. A few of the students mentioned came to the site with positive responses.
Claire St. Amant just left this comment on the post:
I [...]
I’ve told you before, Topix is not your friend. They’ve been taking your headlines and links, even your photos, and using them to build a community of people interested in those local topics, your franchise. And all the while, trying to build a local classified network of FREE classifieds.
Now [...]
Here’s a fairly dramatic bit of cellphone journalism — it’s of a three-car crash in Brookline, Mass.
Just sharing as yet of another example of how spot news can be reported by anybody these days. I recommend clicking through to YouTube and reading the eyewitness account.
Make Your Media Searches Easier: [...]
Would you run something like this in your traditional newspaper?
I’m a bisexual woman, age 20, and I am threesome-ing it with my best friend and her boyfriend during a stay abroad. I knew the girl (who’s mostly straight) beforehand. The girl thinks it’s hot when I participate — i.e., when [...]
I can think of some very good ideas for brining in people from outside the newspaper industry to help us save ourselves:
