Media Giraffe Project --
Link & reference blog

"Long term, we've got to get paid for news (online) or we can't keep producing
it," he said. But he said that has to be an industry-wide solution and not just
one paper acting alone.

ORIGINAL URL (no longer active):
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/14446579.htm

Posted on Fri, Apr. 28, 2006

No major changes, new owner tells Pioneer Press

BY JOHN WELBES
St. Paul [Minn.] Pioneer Press

The fate of the Pioneer Press became a little clearer Thursday as William Dean Singleton said the newspaper won't see major changes after his company becomes its owner sometime this summer.

"You're joining us because we want you," Singleton, the CEO of MediaNews Group Inc., told employees packed into a stifling conference room. "We think there's a lot of opportunity here, and if we didn't want it, we wouldn't have bought it."

His arrival at the Pioneer Press followed the announcement Wednesday of a four-paper acquisition by MediaNews, which is based in Denver. Singleton's company, teaming with Hearst Corp., is buying the St. Paul paper and three California papers in a complicated $1 billion deal.

Singleton said he and the top people at his newspapers are trying to craft the best strategy for growth on the Internet side of the business.

"Long term, we've got to get paid for news (online) or we can't keep producing it," he said. But he said that has to be an industry-wide solution and not just one paper acting alone.

John Welbes can be reached at jwelbes@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-2175.

----------------------------------------------------------------

This article above is copyrighted material, the use of which may not have
specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is made available
in an effort to advance understanding of political, economic, democracy, First
Amendment, technology, journalism, community and justice issues, etc. We
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' as provided by Section 107 of U.S.
Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 107, the
material above is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a
prior interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this blog
for purposes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright
owner.

# posted by newshare @ 7:45 PM

Leading digital journalists, bloggers and educators from around the world will gather to discuss the practical and the possible in online journalism during the eighth annual conference of the Online News Association (ONA), to be held Oct. 17-19, 2007, in Toronto.

Organizers say the conference will feature panels, workshops and hands-on training. Participants will glean skills and information that will enrich newsrooms, transform classrooms and further the goals of those wanting to tell stories and create communities on the Web.

"There are conferences for Web strategists and advertisers, technical people and publishers, but as far as I know only the Online News Association focuses on Internet information and journalism for journalists," said Leonard Apcar <mailto:lapcar@journalists.org> Deputy Managing Editor, International Herald Tribune and ONA board member.

The conference is aimed at new and veteran Web journalists, bloggers and executives charged with growing the bottom line. It is structured around three tracks: community and convergence, content and design, and business.

The Community and Convergence track will sort out the nuts and bolts of how to build a strong online community and use cutting-edge software to tell stories in new ways. Community news experts, including Rob Curley and JD Lasica, will give attendees insight on how to become community evangelists. The brightest minds from ESPN.com, CBC News and CNN.com will show how broadcasters can rule online news.

The Content and Design track will focus on how best to create and package content for the Web. Each panel in the content and design track will spur the audience to think of new ways to engage their online audiences and ask questions about what lies ahead for interactive experiences. Panel attendees will come away with specific tips and tricks to be used immediately, as well as ideas for future projects.

The Business Track will focus on emerging technologies and publishing trends and will feature speakers who have innovated tools that can be applied to online news sites. The future of advertising, monetization and staffing will be addressed, as will the new legal challenges facing digital news production.

"So much of what will determine the future of journalism is happening online today, and there's no better way to keep up with the latest trends than by attending the only all-digital journalism conference," explains Jim Brady <mailto:jbrady@journalists.org> , Executive Editor & Vice President, washingtonpost.com.

In addition to the three tracks, additional workshops are happening on Wednesday, Oct. 17. Come hone your skills on Flash, video shooting and citizen media. Join representatives from the Knight Foundation and learn about the Knight News Challenge, meet this year's winners, and find out more about deadlines and requirements for the next competition.

The conference capstone will take place on the evening of Oct. 19, when the Online Journalism Awards are announced.

Register online <https://www.123signup.com/register?id=qktxv> (https://www.123signup.com/register?id=qktxv) for the conference and awards banquet. The early bird conference fee for ONA members is $399. Early bird registration lasts until Sept. 16. After Sept. 16, the fee will be $449 for ONA members. The non-member rate is $549, regardless of registration date.

Reserve your hotel room by Sept. 16 to get the ONA discount rate: The Sheraton Centre, Toronto, is offering conference attendees a rate of $191 ($229 CAD) a night. After Sept. 16, regular rates are in effect. Reserve rooms online <http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/booking/reservation?id=0608080027&key=F26D1>(http://tinyurl.com/yvf5th) or call (416) 361-1000. When calling, mention the ONA conference to receive the discounted rate.

**A passport is required for U.S. citizens traveling by air to Canada.**

For more information, contact Tiffany Shackelford
<mailto:tshackelford@stateline.org> (tshackelford@stateline.org) or
Chrys Wu <mailto:chrys.wu@gmail.com> (chrys.wu@gmail.com).

also MSWORD DOWNLOAD:
http://www.mediagiraffe.org/docs/ona-toronto.doc

SUBMITTED BY:

Tiffany Shackelford
Assistant Managing Editor for Outreach and Technology
Stateline.org
The Pew Research Center
1615 L Street, NW
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036
202-419-4476

# posted by newshare @ 4:18 PM

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/blogger-agrees-to-pay-30000-in-sec-case/

August 8, 2007, 2:15 pm
Blogger to Pay $30,000 in S.E.C. Case
By Chris Suellentrop

Tags: Jerome Armstrong, s.e.c.

Prominent liberal blogger Jerome Armstrong has agreed to pay nearly $30,000 in fines in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations that Armstrong touted the stock of a software company on Raging Bull, an Internet bulletin board, in 2000, without disclosing that he was being paid to do so.Armstrong, the co-author of .Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics,. with Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos, and the founder of the Democratic activist site MyDD.com, consented to a civil penalty of $20,000, plus disgorgement of $5,832, and $3,235 in interest.

The settlement resolves the S.E.C..s claims against Armstrong, said Robert Burson of the S.E.C..s Chicago office.Under the agreement, Armstrong neither denies nor admits to the allegations..It.s good to see the matter finally end,. Armstrong said in an e-mail message to The Opinionator today.

BELOW FROM:
http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2007/lr20228.htm

U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
SEC Seal Home | Previous Page
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 20228 / August 7, 2007

SEC v. Sierra Brokerage Services, Inc., et al., United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Civil Action
No. C2-03-326

On July 26, 2007, the Honorable John D. Holschuh, U. S. District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio, entered a Final Judgment as to defendant Jerome B. Armstrong ("Armstrong"). The Final Judgment permanently enjoins Armstrong from future violations of Section 17(b) of the Securities of 1933. The Final Judgment further orders Armstrong to pay disgorgement in the amount of $5,832, prejudgment interest of $3,235, and a civil penalty of $20,000. Armstrong consented to the entry of the Final Judgment without admitting or denying the allegations of the Commission's Complaint, except as to jurisdiction.

The Commission's Complaint, filed on April 14, 2003, alleged that beginning on March 6, 2000, Armstrong touted the stock of BluePoint Linux Software Corporation ("BluePoint") by posting unsubstantiated, favorable buy recommendations on the Raging Bull internet site. Armstrong posted over eighty such recommendations during the first three weeks that the stock of BluePoint was publicly traded. According to the Complaint, Armstrong praised BluePoint's investment value and encouraged investors who were experiencing trouble having their orders filled to keep trying. The Complaint further alleged that the promoters of BluePoint were secretly transferring stock in three other companies to Armstrong at prices below the then current market for those three stocks and that Armstrong made at least $20,000 by selling the shares he received from the promoters of BluePoint. The Complaint alleges that Armstrong did not disclose in his internet postings that he was being compensated for !
making the postings.

http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2007/lr20228.htm

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Modified: 08/07/2007

# posted by newshare @ 8:40 PM

Native Chicagoan began blog as 'personal therapy'

August 3, 2007

By Abdon M. Pallasch
Chicago Sun-Times

Markos "Kos" Moulitsas Zuniga, 35, started blogging five years ago as "personal therapy" to get his frustrations with the Bush administration off his chest. "It was the tail end of the Afghanistan war and the lead-up to the Iraq war, and any sort of dissent against the president was considered treason and unpatriotic," he said. "It was never intended to be anything beyond personal therapy." But a lot of Americans were feeling the same frustrations, and his blog caught on. Now, he says, it's the most popular political blog out there.

"A lot of bloggers out there are much better writers than I am," Moulitsas said. "My talent has been in building communities." It wasn't until late 2004, when some conservatives started attacking him, that Moulitsas realized the impact he was beginning to have. "I knew they would not be hammering me if they did not perceive me as a threat," he said.

Moulitsas had an unusual childhood. Born in Chicago and raised in El Salvador, he returned here with his family after a civil war broke out there in 1980. He felt he did not fit in with the 2,000 students at Schaumburg High School. "They weren't really my type," he said. "I would have been happier if this technology existed back then. I would have been online talking to people like me. All we had was Pong."

Moulitsas graduated at 17 and joined the U.S. Army. After a three-year hitch, he enrolled at Northern Illinois University, earning degrees in philosophy, journalism and political science. He got a law degree from Boston University, then moved to Berkeley, Calif., to work in the tech industry. He lives there now with his wife and two children. He won't be coming back to Chicago: "Too hot, too cold, too flat."

----------------------------------------------------------------

The article above is copyrighted material, the use of which may not have specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of political, economic, democracy, First Amendment, technology, journalism, community and justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' as provided by Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 107, the material above is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this blog for purposes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

# posted by newshare @ 8:42 AM

Newspaper Study: Investing in the Newsroom is Good for Business

Journalism and Marketing Researchers Determine News Quality Directly Impacts Profitability

By Bryan Daniels
MU News Bureau

Columbia, Mo. (Feb. 15, 2007) -- In recent years, the newspaper industry has experienced a variety of changes. None have been more noticeable than declining profit margins. Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia now have valuable information that could help publishers reverse the downward trend.

Murali Mantrala, who is the Sam Walton professor of marketing in the College of Business, and Esther Thorson, director of research for the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute and associate dean for graduate studies in the Missouri School of Journalism, recently examined the profitability of newspapers. They collaborated with marketing doctoral students Hari Sridhar and Prasad Naik, who is now a professor at the University of California-Davis. The team of researchers focused on three areas of operation - news quality; distribution and circulation; and advertising - by analyzing financial data of small- to medium-sized newspapers with circulations of 85,000 or less. Research revealed that news quality most directly affects the bottom line.

"The most important finding is that newspapers are under-spending in the newsroom and over-spending in circulation and advertising," Thorson said. "If you invest more in the newsroom, do you make more money? The answer is yes. If you lower the amount of money spent in the newsroom, then pretty soon the news product becomes so bad that you begin to lose money."

The assessment was made using a diagnostic tool developed by the researchers. It consists of a mathematical formula that breaks down revenues and expenditures from news, advertising and circulation departments and predicts profitability. The financial data, which covers a 10-year period, was provided by Inland Press Association, a trade organization of more than 900 daily and weekly newspapers. The identities of the newspapers were anonymous.

What they discovered is that during down cycles, newspapers generally focus more on increasing advertising sales and boosting circulation. With the popularity of the Internet and specialized Web sites, Thorson said newspapers have lost some of their advertising appeal with high-dollar advertisers, such as automobile dealerships and major retail establishments. She said classified advertising also isn't as reliable because readers now search online for jobs, houses and various niche items. As societal norms and preferences change, Thorson said that "newspaper revenues are increasingly threatened."

Mantrala and Thorson are confident that industry leaders and publishers will appreciate the value of their research and utilize the information when attempting to rebound from negative cycles. Thorson said the findings, and equally importantly, their solution, can be applied to any newspaper - regardless of circulation.

"By looking at the data, investing in news quality does pay off," Mantrala said. "It improves circulation and advertising revenues, which are the bulk of a newspaper's revenues. Better news quality drives circulation, and circulation drives advertising revenues."

The study, "Uphill or Downhill? Locating Your Firm on a Profit Function," will be published in the April issue of the Journal of Marketing.

----------------------------------------------------------------

This article above is copyrighted material, the use of which may not have specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of political, economic, democracy, First Amendment, technology, journalism, community and justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' as provided by Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 107, the material above is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this blog for purposes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

# posted by newshare @ 11:19 AM

In a news release sent by email, Fisher said the move was "part of its initiative to develop new online-only content for its key local markets" and said it plans to take Pegasus' news, information and advertising model to additional U.S. markets in the coming year. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Pegasus News will continue to operate from Dallas, Texas, said Orren.

THE NEWS STATEMENT SAID:

"With the Fisher deal, Pegasus News enters the next stage of growth," said Mike Orren, president of Pegasus News. "We have been doggedly committed to delivering local news and advertising of unparalleled relevance to our community, and we're excited to have found a partner who understands the importance and value of local and niche information. We look forward to accelerating our growth and to reaching more cities, towns and neighborhoods over the coming year."

"Our acquisition of Pegasus News exemplifies Fisher's mission to connect people with their local communities," said Colleen Brown, president and CEO of Fisher Communications. "While the Internet has made the world accessible at the click of a mouse, it's still often a challenge to find out what's happening around the corner. Pegasus News has done an outstanding job of creating timely, hyper-local content that is helpful and meaningful to its users and advertisers. We are excited about bringing the Pegasus team to Fisher and see great opportunities in extending this kind of rich local content offering across the communities we serve."

Based in Dallas, Pegasus News launched its Web site at in 2006 with a small editorial team and key content partnerships focused on providing the latest, most relevant news and information about the Dallas / Fort Worth metropolitan scene. It delivers easily accessible local information that simply could not be found anywhere else on the Web, including time-sensitive information on area garage sales, daily specials, local sports, and more.

In 2007, Pegasus News rolled out a feature called The Daily You*, an automatically personalized news service for registered users that, unlike other news services, doesn't require users to go through the hassle of setting up a profile first. The proprietary technology behind The Daily You generates individualized news based on what users actually search for, click on, and read.

Fisher Communications, Inc. is a Seattle-based communications company that owns and manages 19 television stations and eight radio stations in the Pacific Northwest. The Company owns and operates Fisher Pathways, a satellite and fiber transmission provider, and Fisher Plaza, a media, telecommunications, and data center facility located near downtown Seattle. More information about Fisher Communications can be found at www.fsci.com

Pegasus News is a multimedia local news service providing the depth of neighborhood and niche news with the breadth of a daily newspaper. News and data comes from a wealth of sources including reporting by professional staff journalists; aggregation from local sites; content partnerships with local newspapers, broadcasters and bloggers; and user submissions.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Amina Suchoski
The Fearey Group for
Fisher Communications, Inc.
Phone: (206) 229-0496
Fax: (206) 622-5694
Email: asuchoski@feareygroup.com

Amina Suchoski
Vice President
The Fearey Group
1809 7th Avenue, Suite 1111
Seattle, WA 98101
206.343.1543 t
206.622.5694 f
www.feareygroup.com <http://www.feareygroup.com/>

# posted by newshare @ 10:34 AM

Citizens are the media in S. Korea
OhmyNews' populist approach, though risky, is widely emulated.

By Don Lee
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

SEOUL . Kim Hye-won's journalism career began when she decided to write
about her teenage son fighting with his father. The elder Kim was pained
by a long layoff; his 17-year-old son resented parental pressure to study
and was carousing with a rock band. Caught between them, the Seoul
homemaker posed a question to the world: "What can I do to help them
overcome their struggles?"

Her article was posted online under the headline: "Daddy's Depressed,
Son's Taking Tests, and I'm Worried." Readers poured in with empathy and
advice. Since then, the 45-year-old's writings of ordinary life have
become so popular that readers have clicked thousands of dollars into a
cyber tip jar.

Kim is a writer for OhmyNews, a free online news service that has been
held out by some as the future of journalism. Amateur reporters across
South Korea submit some 200 news and feature articles a day, which are
fact-checked and edited by a professional staff of about 65 at its
newsroom in Seoul.

Although traditional newspapers and magazines around the world are cutting
jobs amid declining circulation and a shift toward the Internet, OhmyNews
continues to recruit. It currently has a reporting corps of 50,000. The
company's motto, posted outside its crammed office in central Seoul, is a
big help-wanted sign: "Every citizen can be a reporter."

The experiment has been lauded by the Economist and other publications.
OhmyNews' founder and chief executive, Oh Yeon-ho, a onetime writer for a
dissident magazine, has traveled the globe extolling the virtues of
"participatory citizens' journalism" and offering a new business model for
a struggling industry. "I find some universal applicability in the
OhmyNews model," says the wiry 42-year-old.

But as the news service has matured, a bit of the sheen has worn off. The
headline on OhmyNews' story could be "Business Is Depressed, Readership Is
Down and Backers Are Worried."

After making a big splash during South Korea's 2002 presidential
elections, the company lost money last year on revenue of about $6
million, most of it from ads. Its readership, as measured by page views on
the Internet, has fallen to about 1.5 million a day, from a peak of 20
million five years ago.

Last summer OhmyNews expanded into Japan, with $11 million of financing
from Tokyo-based investment giant Softbank Corp., but neither that site
nor the English-language international site has come close to matching
OhmyNews' performance in South Korea.

"My personal feeling is the future is not bright," says Yoon Young-chul, a
journalism professor at Yonsei University in Seoul. "Its impact has been
decreased."

In some ways, OhmyNews is a victim of its own success. It was a pioneer of
citizen journalism, but its ideas of engaging readers, particularly
younger ones, have been co-opted by rival news purveyors in South Korea
and all the way to CNN and the BBC. Mainstream media websites, including
that of the Los Angeles Times, now post videos, photos and comments from
the public.

But OhmyNews has encountered other problems. It has faced questions of
credibility, partly because of its liberal bent and its army of
nonprofessional reporters. In one instance, an advertising agent and
citizen reporter wrote a story promoting a company that, it was later
discovered, was one of his clients, prompting Oh to issue a public
apology.

Oh declined to comment about that incident, but in an e-mail reply he said
citizen reporters were required to reveal their association with clients.

Reporters must also use their real names on stories and promise to abide
by an ethics code similar to those of other news-gathering organizations.
Thus far, the company says, only a few stories written by citizen
reporters have been involved in legal disputes.

As a journalist a decade ago, Oh was a rabble-rouser struggling to make
his voice heard under South Korea's authoritarian rule and a conservative
media dominated by conglomerates. So on a shoestring budget, he began in
2000 with a staff of four, cranking out news and analysis.

Oh says the company's name is a play on "Oh my God!" a popular comic line
here at one time.

Oh's populist approach to news found mass appeal during the heated 2002
presidential elections, especially among youths who had grown up in a
society transformed by two simultaneous revolutions . digital and
political. South Korea is one of the world's most wired nations, with
broadband connections in about 70% of homes. Blogging is a common form of
communication.

Media pundits believe OhmyNews played an important role in the 2002
election of Roh Moohyun, but since then it has had few such powerful
issues to galvanize audiences. After Roh, a former labor lawyer, took
office, the news service has been like a rebel without a cause, some
analysts say.

Meanwhile, South Korea's mainstream media have been boosting their online
presence, and the rise of news on portals such as Daum and Naver.com . the
Korean equivalents of Google and Yahoo . have further diluted OhmyNews' ad
revenue.

To broaden its appeal, though, OhmyNews is devoting more resources to
reporting on the economy and other topics. Oh is offering Journalism 101
classes to citizen reporters and trying to improve collaboration between
the company's amateurs and professionals. OhmyNews has created a "panic
button" online that citizen reporters can tap to talk with editors about
what's happened to their stories. About 30% of submissions are rejected.

OhmyNews has a small crew of professional reporters and multimedia
specialists who work in a newsroom that calls to mind an earlier era in
journalism. Desks are jammed together, sans partitions, with head editor
Lee Han-ki, an industry veteran, issuing orders. News blares from
televisions above.

When rioting broke out on the streets during recent free-trade talks, some
dispatches and videos came from activists doubling as citizen reporters.
That's raised questions about objectivity and sparked criticism that
OhmyNews reporters practice "guerrilla journalism."

OhmyNews managers don't see an inherent conflict in being both participant
and reporter, so long as the reports are fair and accurate. In fact, they
contend, that's what gives citizen reporters insights and an insider's
perspective.

For example, Kim Yong-ruk, 35, who reports on legal affairs, works
full-time as a clerk at a courthouse. Another popular OhmyNews writer,
Song Sung-young, is a farmer in a mountain village southwest of Seoul.

Song, with a thick beard and the look of a naturalist, has written more
than 200 articles about the simplicity of rural life, accompanied by
photos taken by his wife.

"I earn a little, eat a little and spend a little," Song says in an
OhmyNews profile about him. "I make just a little for each story. That's
why OhmyNews is the perfect fit for me."

Little indeed. Citizen reporters can't make a living working for OhmyNews.
The company pays no more than $22 per submission, though readers can
contribute as much as $54 at a time for a story they like through a
tip-jar system, a la PayPal. Kim Young-oak, a Harvard-trained classics
scholar, holds the record: More than $30,000 poured in after he wrote an
article questioning the logic and wisdom of moving the nation's capital
outside Seoul.

"The established media refused my manuscript," says Kim, 59, adding that
he plans to donate the reader contributions to charity.

Kim doesn't consider himself a citizen reporter, although he has written a
number of articles for OhmyNews. Many other contributors have full-time
jobs or are students or stay-at-home mothers, such as Kim Hye-won, who
wrote about being caught between her husband and her son.

Kim had no training in journalism, nor had she worked outside her home.
But her writings for OhmyNews led to her selection by Time magazine as a
"person of the year" for her role in the changing face of media. Kim says
she wrote her first piece after 18 years of living in obscurity as a
homemaker in Seoul.

"Rather than say I'm a reporter, I prefer to just listen to the concerns
of friends as if I were talking with neighbors," says Kim, whose writings
have included stories about neighbors helping disabled children ride sleds
and street vendors struggling to make ends meet.

"I sometimes forget I'm doing an interview and get lost in the
conversation, crying, getting off topic and exchanging jokes," she says.
"That's possible because I'm a citizen, not a reporter."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
don.lee@latimes.com

----------------------------------------------------------------

This article above is copyrighted material, the use of which may not have specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of political, economic, democracy, First Amendment, technology, journalism, community and justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' as provided by Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 107, the material above is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this blog for purposes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

# posted by newshare @ 1:47 AM