It’s all about content, stupid!
28.01.2008
Update: This blog from across the Pond explores some of the issues. But it’s still all about content.
http://www.buzzmachine.com/2008/02/07/whither-withering-newspapers/
Two significant snippets of media news in the last week.
1: While Audit Bureau of Circulation figures show that The Sun sales have dipped under three million, traffic to its website has risen by 46 per cent in the last year.
2:Peter Hain’s fall from grace was not initiated by an investigative newspaper reporter but by a bloody-minded blogger, Guido Fawkes (who also beat Sky News to the punch with news of his imminent resignation).
The Sun’s website attracted more than 213 million page views in December – and that was two million fewer than in November – which suggests that more and more people are asking themselves “what’s the point of buying the paper?”.
As a journalist by training and inclination, I do feel slightly guilty that I rarely buy a newspaper off the rack – but I probably read more of them, thanks to broadband, RSS feeds and a plethora of online gadgets at Montage!
Not only am I very selective in my reading, however, but I have been forced to widen by news intake to include bloggers such as the intrepid Guido, (as talked about in Matt's blog last week).
Why? Because they are filling the void left by the underinvestment in news gathering by the large newspaper groups, particularly in the regions. If they want to recover the lost legions of readers they must give them something of value to read – even if it is only online.
http://www.buzzmachine.com/2008/02/07/whither-withering-newspapers/
Two significant snippets of media news in the last week.
1: While Audit Bureau of Circulation figures show that The Sun sales have dipped under three million, traffic to its website has risen by 46 per cent in the last year.
2:Peter Hain’s fall from grace was not initiated by an investigative newspaper reporter but by a bloody-minded blogger, Guido Fawkes (who also beat Sky News to the punch with news of his imminent resignation).
The Sun’s website attracted more than 213 million page views in December – and that was two million fewer than in November – which suggests that more and more people are asking themselves “what’s the point of buying the paper?”.
As a journalist by training and inclination, I do feel slightly guilty that I rarely buy a newspaper off the rack – but I probably read more of them, thanks to broadband, RSS feeds and a plethora of online gadgets at Montage!
Not only am I very selective in my reading, however, but I have been forced to widen by news intake to include bloggers such as the intrepid Guido, (as talked about in Matt's blog last week).
Why? Because they are filling the void left by the underinvestment in news gathering by the large newspaper groups, particularly in the regions. If they want to recover the lost legions of readers they must give them something of value to read – even if it is only online.
