WHAT'S NEXT: INNOVATIONS IN NEWSPAPERS

Rupert Murdoch makes the point:

“I believe that newspapers will reach new heights. In the 21st century, people are hungrier for information than ever before. And they have more sources of information than ever before….Amid these many diverse and competing voices, readers want what they’ve always wanted: a source they can trust. That has always been the role of great newspapers in the past. And that role will make newspapers great in the future.

“If you discuss the future with newspapermen, you will find that too many think that our business is only physical newspapers. I like the look and feel of newsprint as much as anyone. But our real business isn’t printing on dead trees. It’s giving our readers great journalism and great judgment.”

“In short, we are moving from news papers to news brands. For all of my working life, I have believed that there is a social and commercial value in delivering accurate news and information in a cheap and timely way. In this coming century, the form of delivery may change, but the potential audience for our content will multiply many times over.”

He always has been a little crazy, but now Ted Turner is showing a lot of common sense.

I was in Atlanta at the NAA Congress where he announced the imminent death of newspapers.

And, many years ago, I was invited to visit CNN’s original facilities and attend the station’s first anniversary.

I always respected his drive and amazing vision for TV news.

Now, as he promotes his memoir (Call Me Ted), Time magazine interviews Ted Turner.

Time reader Kristina Popski, of Sofia, Bulgaria, asks:

Would you agree that 24-hour breaking news has diminished the value of in-depth journalism?

His answer:

No. I think it has made people more interested in news in general. And breaking news doesn’t give you depth or perspective. You need magazines and newspapers because regular television news doesn’t do it either, usually. People, if they’re interested in news, they’ll get the headlines on television and then go to print for depth and perspective.

In the AP picture, Turner is seen at his Montana ranch.

Launched only a few months ago, the new editorial and graphic model of Diari de Balears is one of the winners of this year’s European Local Newspaper Award.

This INNOVATION project shows how you can successfully upgrade a very small newspaper with wild ideas.

The paper is a winner with really unique inside section fronts like this:

It also was selected as the best designed newspaper of the year in Spain and Portugal

And now it has won the same European award that another INNOVATION project, Eleftheros Typos, won last year.

The new Diari de Balears involved an INNOVATION team led by our president, Carlos Soria, and consultants like Javier Errea, Carlos Enrique Bayo, Chiqui Esteban and Ismael Nafría.

Congratulations to all of them and also to Pedro, Miquel and Carmen Serra, and to Manolo Riera, the fantastic art director.

Watch here the video clip of the launch.

Yes, they came to see each other.

To talk to each other.

But without Obama, the meeting was just another stupid photo opportunity.

A pseudo-event.

The Spanish prime minister was very happy to visit the White House for the first time.

And to have a picture with Bush.

Vanity Fair!

As Al Neuharth said in his last column for USA Today, the U.S. Constitution should be reformed again so that the new president takes over in the first week of December.

Instead, we must wait until January.

Then things will change.

Now, nothing is going to change.

Nothing.

Picture by AP/Evan Vucci.

Watch here an interesting video of the QE2 grounding on the early morning of Nov. 11 on arrival in Southampton.

In the video, the QE2 is in red, Southampton Patrol is yellow, the Tenax is blue and the Svitzer tugs are black.

“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from the old ones.”

John Maynard Keynes, Baron Keynes, British economist.

Time cover by Robert Vickrey.

Vivian Schiller, the head of The New York Times’ digital efforts, has left the company to go to the National Public Radio.

As Senior Vice President and General Manager of NYTimes.com, she led the day-to-day management of The New York Times online edition, as well as other Internet efforts by the Times. 

A great loss.

At the worst time for the paper.

NYT shares today were less than $8 USD.

Lower than ever.

Philip M. Stone reports the bad news:

US newsprint pricing is currently at  a 13-year high with 30lb paper now at $740 a tonne – that compares with $567 at the beginning of the year, so that’s a 30% increase.

And for newspapers like the New York Times that switched to lighter 27 pound paper to save money, well, the price of that is $790 a ton. 

I read all The New Yorker reports about the Obama victory flying from New York to Brussels last night.

An amazing issue with fantastic stories.

Once again, its editor writes the longest and best piece.

What an editor and what a magazine!

The New Yorker is pure caviar.

When some of our clients saw the good news from Portugal, they told me about their own success, too.

So, here are the most recent winning INNOVATION projects since they were relaunched:

VECHERKOM, Ukraine. UP & UP.

REVISTA UNICA, Portugal. UP & UP.

DIARI DE BALEARS, Spain. UP & UP.

VISAO, Portugal. UP & UP.

CORREIO DE BAHIA. Brazil. UP & UP.

SEGODNYA, Ukraine. UP & UP.

EL HERALDO, Colombia. UP & UP.

ELEFTHEREOS TYPOS, Greece. UP & UP.

EXPRESSO, Portugal. UP & UP.

AL BAYAN, Dubai. UP & UP.

EMIRATES BUSINESS 24/7, Dubai. UP & UP.

EMARAT ALYOUM, Dubai. UP & UP.