WHAT'S NEXT: INNOVATIONS IN NEWSPAPERS
BY JUAN ANTONIO GINER, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER OF INNOVATION INTERNATIONAL MEDIA CONSULTING GROUP. LONDON.
Rede Brasil Sul (RBS) is the leading regional multimedia group of Brazil.
Today they are celebrating the foundation of the group 50 years ago.
INNOVATION has always been very close to the Sirotsky family.
Juan Senor and I will be speaking in Porto Alegre next week in front of almost one thousand directors, managers, editors and journalists from RBS.
Our message fits very well with the traditional multimedia culture of a group that started with radio, became a TV operator, and launched very successful newspapers, among them the leading quality tabloid of the country, Zero Hora.
RBS is an example of how you can operate a very professional multimedia business in a country that is very well known for its creativity.
We need more companies like RBS.
And more media managers like the ones that founded and run this family-owned group today.
An excellent cover story from California.
Many U.S. cities have some of the worst traffic light systems of the world.
Lack of synchronization.
I was in Barcelona a few days ago, and one of the most populated downtown areas in Europe has one of the best traffic light systems in the world.
I was able to go from north to south, and east to west, in just a few minutes always catching one green light after another.
This is the kind of local story that every U.S. newspaper should to cover.
Fix the traffic light system and you will improve the life of your readers.
And commuters.
His resignation was advanced by a U.S. News & World Report blog on Friday.
On Sunday he had lunch with Bush.
And on Monday morning, the news was announced by The New York Times Web site.
At 10:30 AM, Alberto Gonzales spoke to the press.
And 20 minutes later, President Bush had nice words about his controversial attorney general.
CNN, Fox and all the TV networks followed the story.
Blogs and Web sites did the same.
Politicians spoke.
Media pundits did the same.
So… what do you do in a newspaper the next day?
Well, not too much.
But what some U.S. newspapers have done today is not bad.
Deep analysis.
Smart explanations.
Good background.
And, yes, this is the way.
Today’s newspapers show the right direction.
They avoided the easy job (give the old news) and went further.
These front page are good examples of “what’s next” journalism.
Journalism by journanalysts.
Period.
Only a few Monday newspapers published the dramatic NASA picture taken last Saturday of the fires in Greece.
Well, many Sunday editions are done on Friday night…
And readers need to wait until Monday to get the news.
A risky behavior in the internet era.
Some of the exceptions:
An amazing image released yesterday by NASA.
Fires in Greece are seen from space.
(AP Photo/NASA)
Two front pages with the same photo.
But one of them is better thanks to a small map.
Infographics are always big winners.
The Economist is a great magazine, but its subscription department is very poor.
Otherwise, how could you explain these standard words in a recent mailing card for new US subscribers:
“Please allow two weeks for delivery of first issue.”
In a world of instant communication, these two weeks can kill any marketing effort.
Greek newspapers are having a rough summer.
Fires, fires, fires…
And now Presidential elections.
Today´s Eleftheros Tipos has another first-class front page.
A real piece of art.
