Briefs: Olympics, Merchant Circle, Google Maps
- NBC stations gear up to cover the Olympics in tough economy (Broadcasting & Cable) – Local business directory Merchant Circle signs up millionth merchant (TechCrunch) – Google Maps “place pages” includes reviews from blogs, too (Blumenthals.com) – 2010 may be make or break year for Google TV ads (PaidContent)
Cover it on Twitter, says newspaper editor’s daughter
We wrote last weekend about the Ferndale Enterprise, a tiny weekly newspaper in a small farming town in Northern California that covered a 6.5 earthquake exclusively on Twitter. Photos from the paper’s Twitter coverage were the first from the epicenter, appearing on major news sites across the country, from msnbc.com to LATimes.com. “I basically was [...]
Report: NYTimes.com to roll out pay model
New York Magazine reports that NYTimes.com will announce a metered pay model in the coming weeks. The new model will offer users a certain number of free pages before they’re asked to pay, the magazine said, adding that NYTimes.com has decided not to team with Journalism Online to add the technology. In an interesting twist, [...]
Real estate ad market may have bottomed out
Borrell Associates has published a new report on real estate advertising. This has been, historically, one of the most important ad sectors for local newspaper revenues and things may be looking up a bit. According the the report summary: This ad category declined 20% last year, from $24.4 billion to $19.6 billion. We’re forecasting a [...]
Grants playing increasing role in journalism
How big a role will foundation funding for local news and information play in the continuing evolution of local media? An ever-increasing one, it appears. As we reported a few days ago, The Knight Community Information Challenge announced 24 winners of its latest round of funding (worth $4.3 million). The projects are diverse in their [...]
Deal nears for Conan exit from NBC
Conan O’Brien will leave NBC after just 7 months as host of the Tonight Show, says the Hollywood Reporter. The trade mag says final details are still being negotiated, but the deal will allow Conan to join another network — and give the host a parting gift of 30-40 million dollars. Jay Leno will return [...]
Yelp adds check-ins on mobile app
Many location-aware social apps, like Foursquare and Brightkite, offer the ability to “check in” to a location. And now Yelp, which has a much larger community than all the location-aware apps before it (1.25 million people used the Yelp app last month), has added its own check-in feature with a brand new update. When you [...]
MediaNews to enter bankruptcy protection
Yet another addition to the ranks of newspaper companies in bankruptcy. MediaNews, which publishes the Denver Post, San Jose Mercury News and dozens of other papers, says it plans to seek bankruptcy protection, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Orlando reporter covers Haiti with iPhone
Central Florida News 13 reporter Christine Webb was on a charity mission in Haiti when the quake hit. She filed numerous video reports for broadcast from her iPhone 3GS — standard issue for reporters at the station, reports Broadcasting & Cable. You can watch the videos here.
RTDNA planning joint convention with SPJ
Updated: The Radio Television Digital News Association has produced a four-day conference at the National Association of Broadcasters for years, but coming after this year’s convention in April, RTDNA plans to cut back to a single-day event. Meanwhile, RTDNA says it’s in “continued talks” with the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) to hold a joint [...]
Social media powers local word-of-mouth marketing
Yesterday, an email promotion for the next BIA/Kelsey conference on local media asked: “How Much Will Social Media Eat into Advertising Budgets in 2010?” While not a comprehensive study that answers that question, here’s one story that puts it in perspective. A friend of mine, Brian Forth, recently made a reservation at the Hotel Murano [...]
Local TV cleans up at prestigious duPont Awards
Six local television stations have won Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards for excellence in broadcast journalism, the highest number of local stations to win in more than two decades. The winning stations: KHOU in Houston, KMGH in Denver, WCAX in Vermont, WTVF in Nashville, WSVN in Miami and WWL in New Orleans. This is also [...]
Businesses post Twitter-like messages on Google
More and more local businesses are signing up on Twitter to publish specials, coupons, new product announcements and events to their followers. And now Google Maps has unveiled a new feature that allows business to post similar messages with links on their corresponding “place pages.” Here’s a screen grab: In this example, a Montana winery [...]
Briefs: MSN Local, NBC, Google, Local.com
- Users “consuming dramatically more local information” on new MSN (PaidContent) – NBC unveils new 10 p.m. lineup, including Jerry Seinfeld production (NY Times) – Google’s suggested searches on mobile now factor in location (Mashable) – Looks like Local.com has launched a local events section (Screenwerk)
Editor & Publisher back in business
The newspaper industry’s longtime trade magazine and website, Editor & Publisher, has been bought just two weeks after closing down. Duncan McIntosh Co. Inc., a California magazine and newspaper publisher, purchased the company for an undisclosed sum, and EditorandPublisher.com was back up and running a few hours later. Mark Fitzgerald, a 26-year veteran, was named [...]
PolitiFact courting local partnerships
Matt Waite, who helped build PolitiFact and win a Pulitzer prize in 2009, offered the use of this groundbreaking technology to his followers on Twitter yesterday: “If you’re interested in a partnership with @politifact like PolitiFact Texas, email (me).” This is a pretty cool example of how collaboration happens today, both in terms of how Waite went about publicizing the opportunity through social media, and how the company that employs him is making its technology available to other news organizations.
And make no mistake, this is a great opportunity for local news organizations. The St. Petersburg Times developed the PolitiFact website around Waite’s technology for the 2008 elections and created a robust, sophisticated web presence that rivaled anything the Washington – or Huffington – Post ended up producing. The Truth-O-Meter, in particular, has become part of the political pop culture landscape, thanks in part to its “Pants on fire” level. So the people behind PolitiFact decided that it shouldn’t be limited to just national figures; local public officials should face it, too.
Mass. Murdoch paper begins charging for content
The Standard-Times of New Bedford, Massachusetts, has begun charging for its online local content. The paper, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s Dow Jones Local Media Group, is charging about $3/week (depending on where you live) to access its site, SouthCoastToday.com. If you don’t pay, you can only access ten free pages of local news [...]
Online-only Cap Times still ‘work in progress’
For the past two years, the Capital-Times in Madison, Wis. has been publishing news as an online-only publication. Editor Paul Fanlund told About.com it’s still a work in progress. “We were right at the cutting edge,” Fanlund is quoted as saying, “but we’re still in the midst of a major evolution.” Capital Newspapers, the parent [...]
