New Kindle promises to kindle new cravings

Today in New York Amazon CEO Jeffrey P. Bezos launched the 9.7-inch-screen Kindle DX (for "deluxe"), the latest of the portable, personalizable content readers.

College students are clearly a target market.

Other than the increased size, the biggest improvement in the Kindle ecosystem is the deal with textbook publishers. The textbook market will be key for the DX to succeed. Amazon has already signed up three of the top five textbook publishers (Cengage Learning, Pearson, and Wiley) as well as 27 University Press Publishers. The Kindle DX will be used in trials with at least five universities this fall.

So are digital newspaper aficionados. The New York Times reports:

Amazon also said that three newspapers, The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, would offer a reduced price on the Kindle in exchange for a long-term subscription, but only for people who live in areas where their paper editions are not available. Amazon and the newspapers described it as a pilot program.

Meanwhile, Mark Glaser is at a symposium at the University of Missouri where "a group of newspapers and tech folks . . . are looking at how newspaper content might work on various e-readers like the Amazon Kindle."

Economics of delivering a newspaper on Kindle:

> Avg. file size = 1.2MB
> Bandwidth cost = .12 cents MB
> Selling price = $13.99 month
> Monthly bandwidth cost = $4.32

That eats into monthly cost of serving content into Kindle. So Amazon is probably losing money on some of the lower cost publications it sells. This cost doesn't even include advertising in the mix.

Mr. Glaser has a blog post about "the next generation of e-readers." Check it out. It's good stuff.

Also see: Could Kindle 2 save the newspapers?
And: Huffington counsels old media: Monetize links, don't try to sell exclusive content
And: What will the future newspaper look like?

Huffington counsels old media: Monetize links, don't try to sell exclusive content

Arianna Huffington, goddess of the Huffington Post, has called for "a distinction between saving journalism and saving newspapers."

Today we live in the linked economy, not a walled-off content economy. The challenge is to find different ways to monetize links among media through advertising or micropayment or whatever, not subscription for exclusive content. In this environment, good journalism will survive, and even flourish, though most newspapers--except for a handful of the very best papers and magazines in every national market -- probably will not. There will be more bottom up, citizen journalism, which is great.

For more check out this interview in the German weekly Die Welt.

Image courtesy of Gawker.com

Also see: Huffington Post's checklist of "citizen journalism publishing standards"
And: Newspaper layoffs zoom
And: Could Kindle 2 save the newspapers?
And: The one business Warren Buffett will not buy "at any price"
And: Fox launches a conservative counter to HuffPo
Finally: Walter Isaacson advises media to stop giving away content via Web

AllVoices giving cash incentives for high quality citizen journalism

Because "citizen journalism only works if the content is high quality," AllVoices is offering cash incentives until the end of the year.

Citizens, aspiring journalists, writers, bloggers, students, photographers and videographers from around the world . . . will be rewarded based on the quality of their submissions, response from the community and strength of their brand . . . in the following three categories:

Stringer
First time or infrequent contributors in the process of building a social network based around their news. Stringers have tremendous potential to build their brand and make money by leveraging the Allvoices platform.
• Per 1,000 page views: $0.25
• Quality: No copyright violations (text or photos)
• Audience: Minimum of 10,000 views and 25 fans

Reporter
Reporters generate a lot of attention to their contributions. People in their Allvoices social network respect a Reporter’s opinion and content.
• Per 1,000 page views: $1.00
• Quality: No copyright violations (text or photos)
• Audience: Minimum of 25,000 views and 50 fans

Anchor
Anchors are contributors who have a tremendous following within the Allvoices community. Anchors exert influence beyond their social network, and their work is closely followed.
• Per 1,000 page views: $2.00
• Quality: No copyright violations (text or photos)
• Audience: Minimum of 100,000 views and 75 fans

More here.

Also see: AllVoices now accepts citizen contributions via SMS
And: AllVoices pioneers credibility ratings
And: AllVoices claims a leap in popularity

CCJIG bib updated with three dozen new titles

Consider your summer reading list ready.

Sue Ellen Christian, our group's veritable bibliographer, has updated her May 2008 listing with more than three dozen newly published titles relevant to public/participatory journalism.

The update, starting page 12, is available here (pdf, 85.3 kb).

On behalf of CCJIG I thank Sue Ellen for her generous effort given the many demands on her time.

Local TV stations are eager to step into closing newspapers' shoes

Closure of a newspaper means broadcasters in that market no longer have a traditional source of story ideas for later-in-the-day newscasts.

Hofstra University's journalism chair and former television journalist Bob Papper has been quoted to say, “There are any number of markets where newspapers don't set the news agenda.”

Instead, local television stations are stepping over one another to fill the newspapers' shoes.

Broadcasting & Cable deputy editor Michael Malone writes that Detroit's Fox-owned-and-operated WJBK station is sending out a 6 a.m. e-newsletter to inboxes hoping to replace the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News, both which have gone from daily home delivery to thrice a week.

As newspapers continue to ring up giant losses—Gannett, for one, saw its publishing revenue plummet 27% in the first quarter—it's the perfect time for stations to grab market share from their beleaguered print brethren. Some station sales staffs have been working local papers' demise into their sales pitches. . . .

“It's early to forecast, but we're already experiencing a revenue increase in broadcast,” says [WJBK general manager Jeff] Murri of Detroit's newspaper retrenchment. Retail outlets that relied on papers to promote date-specific sales, he says, still need to get the word out in a timely fashion.

Some CBS-owned stations have reorganized their creative services departments to help lure advertisers from newspapers. The departments pre-produce commercials featuring a potential advertiser to show the client how its goods look on television. “With newspapers shrinking, it's a good time to dig deeper in terms of where you get your accounts,” says WCBS New York President/General Manager Peter Dunn. “It's really helped us a lot.”

More here.

Also see: Detroit's newspapers cut home delivery from daily to thrice a week
And: Broadcast stations enlist college students as citizen reporters
And: Indian TV station offers prizes to citizen journalists for "news reality" programming

Four business models take root as online news goes hyperlocal

CNN producer John D. Sutter identifies four business models for online news to go hyperlocal -- by using donations from readers, by using volunteers, by going nonprofit, and by aggregating.

In order, he cities as examples Spot.us, ChiTownDailyNews.org, VoiceofSanDiego.org, and EveryBlock.com.

Mr. Sutter is hopeful as he discusses the future of hyperlocal journalism.

[T]he people who run hyperlocal Web sites say they are optimistic about the future of the news business. They say they won't be able to replace all that's being lost as large news companies crumble but say they are excited about the fact that they're able to offer something new -- at least for the moment.

Check out the story.

Also see: A sustainable model emerges: Use collective intelligence but fact-check with journalists
And: "Hyperlocal Web journalism meets civic, intellectual and social needs"
And: Mainstream media sites increasingly welcome citizen participation
And: Community blogs, "a new breed of watchdog"
And: Citizen journalism will complement "public media 2.0," says white paper
And: SPJ partners with Helium to champion citizen journalism
And: Citizen journalism is "all baloney," says Indian editor
Finally: Asia's social media use zooms

Newspaper layoffs zoom; more than 70 jobs lost every day

This year American newspapers are shedding jobs one-and-a-half times faster than they did in 2008.

Paper Cuts records that so far in 2009, nearly 8900 jobs have been lost to layoffs or buyouts -- that is more than 70 jobs per day.

In 2008, a total of nearly 16000 jobs were lost. In the latter half of 2007, 2112 were lost.

The rate has been unerringly incremental, and a ceiling is not in sight.

Summing up, since June of 2007 America's newspapers have shed about 27000 jobs.

A consolation, if at all, is that some other businesses are doing decidedly worse. For example in the first quarter of 2009 America's technology sector (much bigger than newspapers to begin with) shed more than 84000 jobs.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations reported that at the end of March 2009 newspaper circulations were on average 7 per cent lower than a year ago.

Meanwhile here's what a co-founder of the Huffington Post, Kenneth Lerer, said at the Columbia Journalism School:

“The future of journalism is not dependent upon the future of newspapers.” He suggested that newspapers and magazines had failed to adapt because they were imprisoned by their own success . . .

Also see: Could Kindle 2 save the newspapers?
And: The one business Warren Buffett will not buy "at any price"