WHAT'S NEXT: INNOVATIONS IN NEWSPAPERS

Some recent, provocative quotes from John Micklethwait, editor in chief of The Economist (newsstand sales have gone up 107 percent since 2000, and the magazine now reaches a total audience of 1.8 million):

TIME AS THE MAIN COMPETITOR

People have very busy lives, particularly the sort of people who tend to buy The Economist.

You are trying to squeeze into their life, and you have to make that worthwhile, because often I think the choice is not between us and BusinessWeek, or The New Republic, or the LA Times; it’s more, “Are you going to spend 10 minutes grazing on the Internet or are you going to watch a soccer match on the internet, or are you going to watch a film?”

You have to come up with something as challenging, interesting, and provocative enough to demand someone’s time.

You don’t really think too much about the competition, because in the end it’s just about producing something interesting and relevant to people.

INTERNET

One thing we’re doing is just increasing the amount of daily content [online], so that people can come back every day and find something worthwhile. And we’ve done a lot to make sure the content online is at the same level as the content in the magazine, even while we’re introducing blogs and a rather good weekly correspondent’s diary from some distant part of the world.

One place on the Internet that we’ve done really well is in audio.

We’ve discovered that audio seems to do particularly well for us; we’ve had a big success in starting a weekly podcast.

And on top of that — and I think we’re alone in the world in doing this — we now offer a full audio version of The Economist online.

You can listen to the whole thing read by BBC newsreaders.

It’s a way of getting people used to experiencing The Economist in different ways; people who are jogging; people who are in cars; people who are cooking; people who are at the gym.

We remain provocatively paranoid about the Internet; you have to be thinking of ways in which you can deal with it.

When I first came on I thought of the Internet as this sort of hurricane coming right towards us, that had already hit newspapers and now would come to magazines, which were further ashore.

But now it seems to be sort of glancing magazines, rather than hitting directly.

It’s not true for all magazines — there are some that have been hit quite badly — but the sort of thing that we’re doing at the moment seems to be helping us rather than hurting us, because it’s putting so much more information out there.

“The Internet is not a problem for magazines and newspapers.

It is a problem for the paper industry.”

Emilio Arzcarraga Jea, President of Televisa, Mexico.

During a recent roundtable about the future of newspapers:

“The internet will save Journalism.”

-Javier Moreno, editor, El Pais, Madrid, Spain.

Amen.

Good news:

More than 59 million people (37.3 percent of all active Internet users) visited newspaper Web sites on average during the second quarter of 2007, a record number that represents a 7.7 percent increase over the same period a year ago, according to custom analysis provided by Nielsen/NetRatings for the Newspaper Association of America.

In addition, newspaper Web site visitors generated nearly 2.7 billion page views per month throughout the quarter, compared to slightly more than 2.5 billion during the same period last year.

The second quarter figures are the highest for any quarter since NAA began tracking these numbers in 2004.

During the presentations being made this week at the Mid-Year Media Review in New York, the statement by Reid Ashe, Media General’s CEO, sums up best what they all seem to be saying:

“The Internet is no longer an add-on. For many applications such as breaking news or, increasingly, classified advertising, it’s now our primary medium.”

Media General owns three metropolitan newspapers, 22 daily community newspapers, and more than 150 weekly newspapers and other publications, plus 23 network-affiliated television stations.

It operates 75 online enterprises aligned with those newspaper and television outlets.

I was with their top editors in Richmond, Virginia, a few months ago.

Yes, this is a big strategic shift.

As INNOVATION says all the time:

From readers to audiences.

From audiences to communities.

“At the core of our strategy is the goal of increasing our total audience in all markets.

“We are achieving this by creating a strong Internet presence, by introducing new products and services, and by continually enhancing our newspapers and television stations,” said Marshall N. Morton.

And why such attention on the Internet?

Morton is looking for $40 million in online revenues this year, growing to $50 million next year.

“Going forward, we are focusing increasingly on display and rich media ads from local and national advertisers.

“These categories have grown 65% and 104% respectively, in 2007,” Morton said at the New York meeting.

So… traditional media know that there is no other option: the digital multimedia transition is the only way.

(Thanks to Claude Erbsen in New York)

Larry Kilman, WAN communications director, reports from Cape Town (bolds are mine):

World Association of Newspapers (WAN) President Gavin O’Reilly today dismissed the doomsayers predicting the death of newspapers, saying the industry had seldom been in a better position globally.

With circulations on the rise, a record number of paid-for titles in existence, capital investment in excess of $6-billion dollars last year, the aggressive marketing of brands and the launch of a plethora of brand extensions, the demise of newspapers had been greatly exaggerated.

“It’s too easy to be negative about newspapers and many commentators are profoundly bearish,” O’Reilly said.

He explained that many myths existed about the future of print, including the threat posed by the Internet.

These myths had “polluted” the international capital and equity markets, he said.

Armed with reams of data about the latest global trends, O’Reilly told delegates the WAN was planning a series of initiatives amounting to a “fight back” campaign aimed at setting the record straight.

O’Reilly said the suggestion that the internet was damaging newspapers was “unfounded”.

“The data suggests increased Internet usage tracks increased newspaper
usage.

There is an increase in total audience (if newspapers are linked to internet), proving yet again, in spite of what the doomsayers say, the complementary nature of print and online”.

Sceptics argued that the roll out of broadband was another threat to the future of newspapers, O’Reilly said, “but the data shows that in markets where broadband penetration is at its highest, newspaper penetration is also high”.

In fact, broadband’s conversion of the Internet into an audiovisual medium represented more of a threat to television than it did to newspapers, he argued.

O’Reilly said he was “not negative about online”, but believed the platform should be used to aggregate larger audiences rather than to cannibalise existing ones.

“Our only risk is inertia in our industry which leads to consumer apathy.”

You can agree or desagree with Mr. O’Reilly but what he says is what a president of the newspaper industry must say.

If you don’t believe in the future of this business, you’d better sell your paper and go home.

If you believe, say so.

Pay attention to this story.

A local story that has become a global one.

Madeleine is now a girl known around the world.

Why?

Mainly because of the Internet.

And the hunt for the criminals is global, too.

The Observer’s front page story today says “the support is overwhelming.”

The flyers are on Fatima and everwhere, as you can see in these Reuters pictures.

Including video-prayers.

Many celebrities are now asking for help.

From Richard Branson to David Beckham or Cristiano Ronaldo, they’re begging for Maddy’s safe return.

Speaking in English and Portuguese, 22-year-old Ronaldo said: “I was very upset to hear of her abduction.”

Wearing a yellow ribbon, Chancellor Gordon Brown added his support for the McCanns.

Speaking in Gillingham, Kent, he said “My thoughts, like the thoughts of all parents, are with Maddie’s parents.”

Harry Potter author JK Rowling put up a staggering amount — the largest single donation.

But she asked us not to reveal the exact figure.

JK married a Portuguese TV journalist and her first child, Jessica, was born in Portugal, a few hours drive from Praia da Luz where Maddie was snatched 10 days ago.

An appeal for sightings of Madeleine will be made at the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend.

For Portugal this is a global nightmare.

A worlwide tourism campaign is promoting the Algarve as one the best European destinations for family holidays.

Two great front pages from two different editions of the same paper.

This is serious stuff.

Brilliant design.

Brilliant illustrations.

Brilliant marketing.

That’s why this quality, popular Austrian newspaper is so successful.

Because they pay attention to women.

And to young people.

It’s as simple as that.

Try to find similar front pages around the world …

… you won’t.

So… let´s not blame TV, Internet or MySpace.

They are not killing us.

We are.

elmundo.es is the world leading Spanish speaking news web site but now elpais.com launches a new design that is big, clean, clear and easy to navegate.

As always, Ben Bradlee is bold and direct:

“How do you cope with the Internet?

How do you cope with kids not reading enough?

There are problems of comparable scope, but his are probably harder than mine,” Ben Bradlee says of Leonard Downie Jr. challenges at the Washington Post.

The former Post executive editor tells Joe Strupp that reducing staff through attrition shouldn’t affect the paper’s quality. “I think we’ve got too many people.

You’ve got people who write three or four pieces a year.

Some people can write three or four books a year.”

Well, he is gone but still he is right.