26 June 2006
18 April 2006
The web as newspaper support
Many years ago, I recall thinking and speaking about how newspapers should deal with the arrival of then electronic information services, well before the web arrived. I said then and I keep reminding myself today that the best way to think of the internet is as a giant support or supplement to the printed newspaper. Well, I don't mean any longer necessarily the printed part of it, but I do think there is lots more that can be done to enhance the value proposition of most newspapers.
What I mean, really, is that the internet ought to be viewed as a supplemental means - in a support sense - to do more of what a newspaper has traditionally done with print - to be what an advertising acquaintance once said --- the physicall representation of the geographic market the newspaper seeks to serve.
With that thought in mind, I am beginnin gto think more about how to view the interrelationship between printed newspaper and the internet.
My desire to do stems from having watched a couple of news programs on French television here and being very frustrated not to find anything in their websites that gave me the additional links I needed to pursue the subject of the shows. In the US, I frequently have had the same problems with sites such as for the Today Show.
I am going to look at some more newspapers here, and their websites and see what sorts of things are being missed in viewing the internet as the action arm of the newspaper. Other than tearing out a page, or maybe copying it, there is not much that can be done with the printed copy beyond reading it. Having read it, of course, you are free to think, to call someone, to buy something, to write something....lots of things.
Among them is that you are free to take something that is the product of having that printed newspaper in hand and DO something in the internet - either via a website or e-mail.
The question I want to address is how good a job are some newspapers doing at taking advantage of that opportunity?
I'll try to start with the Interntional Herald Tribune, and Le Figaro, Le Monde, Liberation and possibly some United Kingdom papers available here in print, plus La Stampa and Il Secolo XIX from Italy.
What I mean, really, is that the internet ought to be viewed as a supplemental means - in a support sense - to do more of what a newspaper has traditionally done with print - to be what an advertising acquaintance once said --- the physicall representation of the geographic market the newspaper seeks to serve.
With that thought in mind, I am beginnin gto think more about how to view the interrelationship between printed newspaper and the internet.
My desire to do stems from having watched a couple of news programs on French television here and being very frustrated not to find anything in their websites that gave me the additional links I needed to pursue the subject of the shows. In the US, I frequently have had the same problems with sites such as for the Today Show.
I am going to look at some more newspapers here, and their websites and see what sorts of things are being missed in viewing the internet as the action arm of the newspaper. Other than tearing out a page, or maybe copying it, there is not much that can be done with the printed copy beyond reading it. Having read it, of course, you are free to think, to call someone, to buy something, to write something....lots of things.
Among them is that you are free to take something that is the product of having that printed newspaper in hand and DO something in the internet - either via a website or e-mail.
The question I want to address is how good a job are some newspapers doing at taking advantage of that opportunity?
I'll try to start with the Interntional Herald Tribune, and Le Figaro, Le Monde, Liberation and possibly some United Kingdom papers available here in print, plus La Stampa and Il Secolo XIX from Italy.
"2 indicted; papers sealed" - Herald-Sun
This and the next four postings are just a test to see how it would look if someone were able to see four interesting stories written not by the AP or other independent news organizations, but rather by the local newsppaer itself on one day. In France, this happens on television every morning, but I am not aware of anything similar in the US.
13 March 2006
"Books: Control and Freedom" - The Washington Post
Why should all the questioners in this exchange be anonymous? Their choice or the Washington Post's requirement?
11 March 2006
Google map use
When I looked at this site at 4 PM today, there is a one sentence bulletin reporting a shooting, with one dead, in nearby Durham, NC. Immeditatley following the sentence is a link to Google Maps, showing the precise location.
Why wouldn't newspapers want to do this not just with breaking news, but for all stories with geographical element(s)?
Why wouldn't newspapers want to do this not just with breaking news, but for all stories with geographical element(s)?
"Online, Some Home Buyers Find a House of Cards" - New York Times
Traditionally, the newspaper response to a story like this is to argue that the printed newspaper is much safer than online. The smarter course is to use this story to help newspaper customers do what they want to do with lower risk.
Every newspaper that cares about its customers - the people who place and/or read real estate advertising published by the newspaper in print or electronic form - should link to this story, pointing out why these customers should read what The New York Times has reported.
Every newspaper that cares about its customers - the people who place and/or read real estate advertising published by the newspaper in print or electronic form - should link to this story, pointing out why these customers should read what The New York Times has reported.
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