Props to TBD for Discovery Channel hostage coverage

Of all the sites I looked at, the nascent TBD.com did the best job of covering the Discovery Channel hostage situation on Wednesday. It was all over the story. But more than that, it put its information into a river of news. That meant constant updates – even a sentence or two – as the [...]

Advertisers pulling out of Times following paywall implementation

There is mounting evidence that putting up a paywall is bad for business. That’s not much of a surprise to most people, but London’s The Times is – for now – sticking with its paywall. The paper implemented the paywall in early July, and traffic has plummeted to 10% of what it was. Unsurprisingly, advertisers [...]

Hyperlocal network Neighbortree raises $120,000

Just one month into the hyperlocal biz, and startup Neighbortree has $120,000 in angel money. The company hopes to build out a network of hyperlocal sites. I should say “hyper-hyperlocal sites,” since the company’s goal is to have sites as micro as neighborhoods and apartment buildings. The company offers its services for free to [...]

Chicago web writers become first to unionize

Broadcasting & Cable reports that the Writers Guild of America East has signed its first Web-only writers and producers. Four webbies from Chicago’s CBS affiliate, WBBM-TV, joined the union. B&C notes that the WGAE will likely have to organize Web writers shop by shop. From the WGAE release:
 “This victory for web writers demonstrates that even [...]

Conflict of interest: paper tells Craigslist to stop adult ads

The Boston Globe is running an editorial today asking Craigslist to stop running its “adult services” ads. This strikes me as a terrible conflict of interest and a bad decision by a paper whose business model is being decimated by Craigslist. Say what you want about the ads, but for a paper to write this [...]

AJR writes about ‘The Hazards of Hyperlocal’

I’m not sure I agree with the headline (or some of the assertions therein) but I recommend reading AJR’s essay on “The Hazards of Hyperlocal.” Barb Palser, the director of digital media for McGraw-Hill Broadcasting Co., wrote it. Her main point is that it’s hard to make money off a hyperlocal site. I agree it’s [...]

Partnering for Better Journalism

This week’s episode of PBS’s “Frontline” was striking for two reasons. First, because of the outstanding reporting that went into its heartbreaking story of police behavior during and after Hurricane Katrina. But second, because Frontline didn’t go it alone. The episode, “Law & Disorder,” was a partnership of Frontline, ProPublica and The Times-Picayune of New [...]

Will local TV adopt animated news?

You know that media company in Taiwan that produces the animated versions of current news? The one that made the version of the Tiger/Ellin fight and Steven Slater’s slide ride off that Jet Blue plane? It turns out it’s backed by a billionaire, has 200 employees and can turn around a clip in just 2-3 [...]

Seattle Times speeds coverage using new tools

There’s an excellent report at Poynter Online that looks at how the Seattle Times is using tools like Twitter and Qik to provide faster, more comprehensive coverage. The article points out that the Times used these tools in its Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of four police being shot to death last year. Tiffany Campbell, lead producer [...]

Phildelphia bloggers required to pay $300

If you’re a blogger in Philadelphia and your site brings in any revenue, the city wants $300 from you. Philadelphia has a number of local taxes on businesses and it apparently considers a blog that brings in any gross revenue a business. If you make a net profit (even so much as one blogger’s $11) [...]

NAB and RIAA’s wacky idea: FM in every device

This is nuts. The National Association of Broadcasters and the RIAA are lobbying Congress to mandate – mandate! – that portable electronics have FM radio receivers built in. That’s right, the NAB (whose job it is to preserve the status quo for broadcasters) wants every smartphone, mobile device and God knows what else to be [...]

Patch hits 100 site mark, aims for 500 by 2011

AOL’s local website initiative, Patch, has announced it now has 100 local sites up and running. And that’s not all. According to a press release out today, Patch wants to be in 500 communities by the end of the year.

That process, it says, makes it the single largest hirer of journalists in the country [...]

Chicago hyperlocal launches today

Welcome Roscoe View Journal to the ranks of hyperlocals today, as it launches coverage of its neighborhood in Chicago. In addition to the site, RVJ is on Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. Writes founder Mike Fourcher:
“We’re published and written by people from and in your neighborhood, and while we do have advertising, most of our [...]

Times-owned paper starts charging for content

Worcester Mass. paper Telegram & Gazette kicks off its paywall today. The paper, owned by the New York Times, will let you look at just 10 pages per month before the charge kicks in. You can get a day pass for $1, or a monthly pass for $14.95. People who subscribe to the dead tree [...]

Google Wave: Failure Can Be Great

You may have heard that Google is discontinuing support for its Google Wave product. Google Wave, for the uninitiated, is a real-time communication and collaboration tool. It got some initial buzz, and there were a lot of discussions about how it could be used in newsrooms. Google hyped it as a replacement for email. [...]

CBS New York rolls out new website model

In what is likely to be the pilot of CBS O&O sites to come, WCBS in New York City has relaunched its website as CBS New York. Its most notable feature is a news “river” – brief story updates run continuously throughout the day. This is the trend.
Writes Broadcasting & Cable’s Mike Malone:
CBSNewYork.com [...]

Roundup: Google Wave, Patch, All-traffic channel

Google Wave waves goodbye. (Yes, I realize other people are using roughly the same headline.)
Patch comes to Boston, is now in 99 communities.
The case for Newsweek as a non-profit.
California Watch’s distribution model, by the numbers. Very interesting.
NY1 will roll out a 24-hour traffic channel.

Roundup: August 3, 2010

91 year-old Sidney Harman has made some kickass stereo equipment in his day. But is his purchase of Newsweek a smart idea? The Daily Beast uncovered some internal documents that paint a bleak picture, even for someone who paid $1 for the franchise.
The New York Times is offering its iPhone/iPad platform to publishers for a [...]

Welcome new LR blogger Polly Kreisman

We at One LR Plaza have a new colleague! Please welcome Polly Kreisman to the ranks of the LR blogging team. Polly wrote a piece for us earlier this week (which was tweeted 25 times), the first of many we’ll be publishing. Polly brings an entrepreneurial perspective to Lost Remote; she has started the local [...]

Roundup: Paid Business Model Edition

Global Post, which hoped for 25,000 paying members, has fewer than 500. Is changing pricing model. Good for them for being transparent. (Disclosure: I worked for Global Post boss Phil Balboni.)

Times of London, which lost 90 percent of its readership when it erected a pay wall, is giving iPad readers another free month.
TV host Peter [...]