The newspaper industry, they gave it away online for a decade or more, suddenly decided to charge for it online and now, I’m sure, are stupefied by this news:
Now that roughly a third of the nation’s newspapers are charging for access to their web and mobile content, the early evidence suggests that digital audiences aren’t nearly as enthusiastic about paying for news as publishers are about charging for it.
Although digital-only subscribers make up 37.6% of the total circulation of the Wall Street Journal and 34.4% of the total readership of the New York Times, the number of digital-only subscribers at Gannett, the largest publisher of general-interest newspapers in the land, is 2.2% of its average aggregate weekday circulation of 3 million subscribers.
Notwithstanding the relative productivity of their paywalls, the paid penetration at the Journal and the Times pales in comparison to the success that Netflix, Spotify, Major League Baseball and other ventures have had in selling entertainment-oriented digital content.
Some of those entertainment and news comparisons stretch the bonds of credulity, but they do say one thing: People will pay for a service online, just not the news.
It is simple economic theory, really. You can easily charge for a scarcity. There is a great volume of news, analysis and information around us. Some of it isn’t worth the download to be sure, but a great deal of it is readily available.
You might say it isn’t the news they need. You might be right, to an extent. You might also be called an elitist gatekeeper for saying that.
At the end of the day your news seeker is a resourceful individual. He or she has plenty of options to find what they want, or at the very least, enough to make them feel they’ve gotten what they need.
So the search for a compelling and profitable news model will continue. Even as I remind you that news has always been a (civically minded) loss leader.
Reviewed the newspaper this afternoon. They are designing a sharp looking product — and they were only in the newsroom until 2:30 this morning, so that is an improvement. Today we talked about story selection and word use.
Pretty soon I’ll run out of things to find wrong and will simply be down to the very subjective things.
Here is the rainbow I saw on the way home this evening:
One of the meteorologists said there was a storm in some little town, a wide spot on the road really, to my east. I was on the interstate about 20 miles away. I glanced up and saw the clouds. I looked back to the road. I glanced up again and saw the rainbow.
Spent the day transferring data on computers. You know how that goes, right? Here are a bunch of files on this machine. But this machine is going to be replaced by that machine. So you have to move all of these directories and files from here to there.
Fortunately I have a great server I can connect to and swap out files. Unfortunately I have a lot of big files. A lot. And big ones. So this took Much of the day and night.
And then the process of making sure you don’t need any of those other files. And then double checking that, because once you return this computer it is over, pal.
And then loading new software on the new machine. Only you don’t have all of the software, so you have to track people down tomorrow. No matter, though.
Tonight the students are working on the newspaper. Two weeks ago, on their first issue, they were in the newsroom until 5 a.m. Last week it was 3 a.m. Here’s to hoping that’s a trend.
But they working hard and laughing and sound like they are enjoying their evening. They do good work and ask a few questions and I’m impressed by the quality of work they are producing in just two weeks. They have a great deal of potential.
Went for a swim tonight. I did 1.25 miles. That’s 45 laps, or 90 lengths, if you are counting. It has to be the greatest distance I’ve ever traveled in water that didn’t include a boat or inner tube.
I did 250 yards with a breaststroke. It was slow. It was probably sloppy. And I was exhausted from just that. This summer I could do about four strokes before I had to stop because of my shoulder, so 250 sloppy yards is a tremendous improvement. Someone should have been there to give me a high five.
Well, maybe a low five.
I do not know what is happening.
Also, people need to learn how to swim in lanes. I’d complain, but the guy might read this and just keep distractedly swim right on to my side.
The Samford football team wrapping up practice:
Pat Sullivan just rejoined the team. The head coach had spinal fusion surgery and missed the first three games of the season, but returned on Saturday to coach from a booth above the field.
I’ve interviewed Sullivan. We’ve shook hands. He’s 63 and has paws made of stone and fingers made of iron. Some of his players have been in my classes. I’ve dismissed classes early and watched his players stay in the room. Because, I was told, “Coach said the class runs until 5:30, I don’t want to see you down here until 5:30. Stay in the class.” He’s a good man. A solid, certain, Southern gentleman. The kind of man you’d want to grow up to be like.
I don’t know if he is back at practice yet, out in the gloom and rain and under the low clouds — you can see them clinging to the top of the mountain — but I know that’s where he wants to be.
Things to read: Full of stories I’ve enjoyed today, which you might appreciate as well.
Since we were talking about football, did you hear the one about the team who’s bus caught fire last weekend? It was a small college in Alabama. Concordia-Selma was on their way to a game at the time:
Concordia, a small United States Collegiate Athletic Association school located in a city more famous for its role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s than anything, saw all of its football equipment, $90,000 worth, including their only set of jerseys, get destroyed in a freak bus fire on its way to play Miles College this past Saturday.
In the days since the incident, the team has drawn closer and others have been drawn to it, donating everything from shoulder pads to girdles so the Hornets can continue their season Thursday at 6 p.m. in Demopolis against West Alabama.
[…]
“It’s made us value each other, made us value life more,” (freshman Treyvond) Moore said. “We look at those pictures and we’re like, ‘Man, that could’ve been us. But it wasn’t. It’s just brought us together as a team. I feel like can’t nothing divide us.”
The local story, with another incredible picture of the bus that carried 62 people:
We have about 10 helmets left,” (head football coach Don) Lee said. “We lost jerseys, camera equipment, shoulder pads, everything. Right now, we’re trying to figure out what we need and where to get it from.”
Lee said he had received a call from Dallas County High School, which offered some shoulder pads to the program, but that won’t be enough to meet the demands of a college program scheduled to play its next game Thursday. Concordia College-Ann Arbor in Michigan has also called and offered aid.
“We are still going to play Thursday,” Lee said of the Hornets’ scheduled game in Livingston against the University of West Alabama. “UWA has been great. Their coach called me Saturday afternoon, while we were still on the side of the road, asking if there was anything they could do.”
Yesterday, in that time between afternoon and evening, when the crickets are warming up and the sun is cooling down, we went out for a run. We’ve been running most recently through the neighborhood. We have a great sidewalk path that meanders through the residential areas and the artery that connects different parts of the neighborhood. At times, on foot, they feel far enough apart that you could be running in the woods. But that’s just if you run slow, like me.
There is a roundabout down by the creek bed that has become a good turnaround point for the standard three-mile jog. We ran out together at the same pace and I figured I would run beyond the roundabout, and my lovely running wife would make the turn and then I’d have to try and catch her on the way back in.
Only she ran on beyond the roundabout too, up the hill to the stop sign.
So I ran on beyond the stop sign, turning right and going up the road beyond an elementary school and on. This is one of the routes we ride on our bikes and, indeed, a guy passed me as I shuffled along. I got 4 km, or 2.5 miles and decided to turn around. And then I had to run up the hill to get back to the road that leads down to the roundabout and into the neighborhood.
I ran five miles in the time between afternoon and evening.
I do not know what is happening.
More physical therapy on my shoulder this morning. We’ve added stretchy bands to the routine of motions, movements, pinching and flexing and whatnot.
You meet some interesting people at the therapy place. There’s an older man there working his way back from some sort of accident that left his doctor telling him he’d never do this or that again. The guy left his doctor’s office — I believe his quote was “You don’t know God” — and went to work and proved the doctor wrong. There’s a young guy there who’s trying to get healthy so he can rejoin his high school football team. The therapist is leaning toward shutting him down, and that’s a terrible thing for the kid to hear. There’s a very old gentleman who asked me if I was from Savannah since I had on one of those shirts this morning. He was stationed there with the 2nd Bombardment Wing once upon a time. There’s a lady who works at a nearby deli, and when she visits the staff knows where they are going for lunch that day.
One day you quit going to physical therapy, because you’re better and that’s what you do, but you miss out on learning a little about a lot of people.
In class today we talked about story assignments that the students are working on. We talked about photojournalism. Usually that’s a pretty good lecture because there are plenty of great pictures. And so it was today. After that I scribbled on students’ hard work and they thanked me for it. Life is good.
After that I hit the pool. I swam a mile tonight in my little crawling, breaststroke-esque style. I did 75 yards freestyle, which is a significant improvement for me. More than four strokes before I had to stop! I felt like climbing out and celebrating on the deck.
I ran five miles yesterday and swam one today. I do not know what is happening.
Here is the best video you’ve ever seen about science, a capella, string theory and puppet Einstein.
Things to read: The interesting material I’ve found today that I wanted to share with you.
“Tweets drive discovery, ratings, and engagement for networks and advertisers, and that means more tweets. It’s a virtuous cycle,” Matt Derella, Twitter’s vp of sales, told a room full of ad industry folks. “We want to be the preeminent compliment to the TV experience. The social soundtrack is about TV multiplied by Twitter.”
Twenty years ago, computing was just coming into its own as a medium to which designers could usefully contribute. Since then, it has become the source of just about every major opportunity for product innovation. Audio devices are essentially small computers. Mobile phones are small computers. Everything from medical devices to sports equipment is being augmented by computing. Today, as the once difficult feats of functionality and usability become table stakes, our focus is shifting toward driving greater systems-wide thinking and more beautiful, humanistic experiences. Computing-driven products are no longer islands. They exist as parts of greater systems and brand experiences. The product design industry has collectively responded to this challenge over the last few years; but as we do, new waves are coming that will drive product design going forward.
I’ve been saying for some time now that I want an aerial drone. You can chip in for a nice one for me and I’ll think of you every time I fly it and edit amazing (to me) videos.
If that’s too expensive, I’d understand. You can always train an eagle and strap a camera on its back. I’d take that:
I never get tired of these crowd-funding stories. This one is about a woman in Texas who is fighting stage four lymphoma. Her family asked for help getting a good place to tailgate before a Texas A&M game. Someone picked up that idea and ran with it. And then Aggies from all over the world, people who didn’t know each other, did something amazing. The video is a bit long, but it is worth it:
Last night the student-journalists at The Samford Crimson wrapped things up at about 3 a.m., a two hour improvement from last week.
At their critique meeting this evening I bragged on them — they’re doing a really good job at such an early point in their newspaper — and told them we were already down to picking on a lot of little things. Soon we’ll be on to the tough love, and challenging each other to go from good to great.
I am not a good swimmer. I have been in and around the water my entire life. I started SCUBA diving two decades ago. I’m perfectly capable of staying afloat, getting from A-to-B and all that. It might not be fast or especially efficient, though. And, most tellingly, I am not a lap swimmer.
That’s something to work on. I hit the pool this evening and swam a mile. I’m pretty sure that’s the most I’ve ever swam at one time. And if it isn’t, it is close.
A mile in the campus pool is 72 lengths, 36 laps. While I was there in lane two there was a youth swim team practice going on in most of the pool. Lane one was occupied by two ladies enjoying the opportunity to chat and gossip. On the deck there was a lifeguard. One of those three people had to be. How you could tell which from behind their phones and iPads and laptops, I’m not sure. There was also the sonorously loud swim coach who was emphatic about detail and all of the small things and had no problem singling the kids out for the wrong kick or whatever. When he was talking to them individually he seemed like a thoroughly decent man.
In my lane there was a teenager. And, later, his friend joined him. So, lap swimmers, how many people are you sharing a lane with? Because three people in one space seemed to much to me.
Especially when one of the kids kept moving swapping sides. And then he would swim under and across and it was hard to keep track of him and I found the entire thing annoying. It was my Get Off Of My Lawn moment of the day, something which is beginning to happen a little more frequently. Perhaps I should keep track of them.
But the swimming was nice. I did about 500 yards in a side crawl and the rest in a modified breaststroke, because I can only do so much freestyle right now — about 100, it seems.
The first 18 laps were kind of slow. Somewhere between 24 and 34 things really took off. By then I was almost the last person in the pool. I didn’t time anything, but I swam a mile.
I do not know what is happening.
I had burritos for dinner, vegetables for lunch and I wasn’t nearly as hungry as I expected I would be. I could go stand in the shallow end of a pool for an hour and be starving, ordinarily. Today, not so much.
Netflix is simply acknowledging that it doesn’t just compete with other TV networks (although, in another change to the document, Netflix calls itself a “movie and TV series network” for the first time). It also competes for attention with nearly any kind of leisure activity.
That may not seem revelatory, but it’s rare for media companies to think of their competition as extending beyond discrete industries like news or music or television.
I discussed this more than two years ago, but Netflix is a fine platform — we enjoy it — doomed to fail. I said it better this spring: Netflix becomes just another layer in the stratification. The problem is that Netflix, as a pioneer, is inherently reproducible. If you have a smart TV or a streaming Blue Ray or similar opponent, you can see all of the On Demand stations, the branded streaming platforms and even the high end magazines are getting into the act. Everything is a competitor, everything is another vector to take on. Netflix’s purchase, production and streaming of original programming is a strategy to combat that. Will it be enough?
Social media is a blessing and a curse when it comes to pitching journalists. While Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare and Instagram — yes, Foursquare and Instagram pitches happen — present many new opportunities to forge connections, it’s very easy to step onto inappropriate turf.
Because the dos and don’ts of reaching out via social media can be messy, we compiled some solid rules for when it’s cool and when it’s creepy to contact a journalist. Here are 10 tips on how to pitch a journalist on social media, largely based on the experiences of Mashable’s editorial team.
Most of those ideas are common sensical, which is precisely why someone needed to write about it.
Here’s the only substantial difference between the information Facebook gave the National Security Agency’s PRISM program and the information Facebook sells to its customers—the NSA didn’t pay for it. In fact, it turns out what Facebook sells could be even more personal than what the NSA requires. And a study that came out yesterday shows Americans are waking up to that possibility.
… the information Facebook and the other eight companies associated with PRISM are sharing with the NSA includes “the content of the communications and not just the metadata.”
In Alabama, about 914,000 people received SNAP benefits in June, a 61-percent increase from the 567,000 state residents who received them five years ago. That’s similar to increases around the country during the economic downturn.
But the 19 percent of Alabama residents who use SNAP benefits puts the state ahead of the national average of 15.4 percent, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In 2008, before the recession, Alabamians received $663 million in SNAP benefits. By 2012, it was $1.4 billion.
You remember the Costa Concordia. The big cruise ship that had the misfortune of having the wrong guy at the helm and then sank off of Italy. They raised it, a historical feat of engineering that took 19 hours. You can see a time lapse here.
One of our students produced this, in part, with his new aerial drone. It was one of his first projects with the thing and, for a first try it looks pretty great:
