An interesting piece in the Boston Globe got me thinking about some of those “most popular” story listings on sites like CNN.com and the dangers of social news sites. The Globe’s article looks at the oversaturation of John Mark Karr coverage on television news: “`It’s an embarrassment,” says Tobe Berkovitz, associate dean of Boston University’s… Continue reading News Sensationalism
Author: Dan Blank
You Can’t Cut Your Way to Success
The New York Times profiles the fall of Knight Ridder, the newspaper giant. A cautionary tale for publishers in the Internet age: “The real story of the fall and decline of Knight Ridder is… the notion that you can continue whittling and paring and reducing and degrading the quality of your product and not pay… Continue reading You Can’t Cut Your Way to Success
Ranking Newspapers
A new study takes a look at which newspapers have the greatest reach: “When we look at individual markets, the general trend is that the online audience is growing — not by leaps and bounds — but growing [while] the print audience is on a slow and steady decline,” said Gary Meo, senior vice president,… Continue reading Ranking Newspapers
Link Prudes
Paul Conley has a few interesting comments about publishers who are shy about including links within stories that take you to other websites: “It seems Crain Communications has decided that its Web sites are, in fact, part of the Web. The company has begun using external links in its articles.” In another entry, he finds… Continue reading Link Prudes
Bloggers Top Journalists for Scoop
Robert Scoble has a long rant on public relations, and how bloggers have changed the way stories break, and whether A-list journalists should get the scoop first: “The thing is people in the new word-of-mouth network are figuring out it really doesn’t matter WHO you talk to first, as long as you talk with a… Continue reading Bloggers Top Journalists for Scoop
The Anti-Journalist
The Washington Post profiles someone who submits stories to social news sites. These online hunters “neither reports nor writes the news, but he submits stories he finds interesting.” “This is a new field, in some ways, a new talent pool,” said Jason Calacanis, general manager at Netscape, a division of AOL. “They have a different… Continue reading The Anti-Journalist
Newspapers Look Online
There is no shortage of news to help newspaper executives lose sleep. From The Economist: “For most newspaper companies in the developed world, 2005 was miserable. They still earn almost all of their profits from print, which is in decline. As people look to the internet for news and young people turn away from papers,… Continue reading Newspapers Look Online
False Expectations?
Chris Pirillo has an interesting rant on how social bookmarking buttons for sites like del.iciou.us and digg are popping up on sites all over the web – many that he feels have false expectations. “Okay, I understand the need to make it easier for your visitors to bookmark sites on their favorite Web service(s), but… Continue reading False Expectations?
Time Inc. Kills Website
“Time Inc.’s decision to close down its Office Pirates humor site on Sept. 1 — abandoning its first stab at an online-only property after just six months — was driven by the fact that it couldn’t get big enough fast enough to benefit parent Time Warner in the eyes of Wall Street.” A comment about… Continue reading Time Inc. Kills Website
Blog Explosion
Now that the web offers us citizen journalism, and no barrier for entry to post news, opinions, or anything else you can think of, some are feeling overwhelmed by all the choices. For those producing information on the web, some are feeling just plain lost. But this sudden overwhelming stream of content online is not… Continue reading Blog Explosion