Guardian unleashes pigs to promote “open” journalism
The Guardian enlisted The Three Little Pigs on Feb. 29 as part of an “open journalism” advertising campaign for its social-network-connected news products.
Online, the video ad is accompanied by Editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger‘s notes on the thinking behind what the Guardian calls its digitally empowered approach to active-audience journalism, also highlighted in a March 24-25 “open weekend.”
The paper said the two-minute spot “imagines how we might cover the story of the Three Little Pigs in print and online. Follow the story from the paper’s front page headline, through a social media discussion and finally to an unexpected conclusion.”
Note: I aggregate other video newspaper promotions and commentaries at my Other Journalism Video Pages.
Times to Start Metering Frequent Readers in 2011
New York Times reporter RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA’s lead calls it “a step that has tempted and terrified much of the newspaper industry.”
The Times announced on Wednesday that it is developing an e-commerce software system to meter use of NYTimes.com and charge non-subscribers who are frequent visitors.
Starting a year from now, you will need either a subscription to the newspaper or its online product for unlimited access to NYTimes.com.
Other readers will continue to have free access to the site — directly or by following links from Google News or RSS feeds, up to a to-be-determined number of articles.
Times President Janet L. Robinson and Martin A. Nisenholtz, senior vice president for digital operations, will be answering questions from readers today on the “Talk to The Times” page.
A 21-questions FAQ file says search engines will still deliver readers to Times stories, but after reading the found story, clicking through to additional Times stories will count toward a monthly limit.
The story’s sidebar is Dialing in a Plan: The Times Installs a Meter on Its Future by media business columnist David Carr.
“By setting the meter back a ways, The New York Times can maintain not only visibility on the Web, but also still participate in selling a mass audience to advertisers,” Carr says.
Related: Staci D. Kramer at PaidContent.org, including a memo to the Times staff first posted at Romenesko
Finally, here’s the press release from NYTimesCo
“Our new business model is designed to provide additional support for The New York Times’ extraordinary, professional journalism,” said Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., chairman of The New York Times Company and publisher of The New York Times. “Our audiences are very loyal and we believe that our readers will pay for our award-winning digital content and services.”
‘Tell Us Something We Don’t Know’ department
New Adweek Media/ Harris Poll…. Click through for the results after teasing yourself with the questions. I hate to spoil the suspense…
TABLE 1
NEWSPAPER READERSHIP
“Approximately how often do you read a daily newspaper, either online or in print?”
Base: All U.S. adults
TABLE 2
PAYING FOR NEWSPAPERS ONLINE
“How much, if anything, would you be willing to pay per month in order to read a daily newspaper’s content online?”
Base: All online adults
Afterthoughts: Of course this is only the Harris Press Release, not the whole survey… But am I the only one who wonders how many readers (given the option) might answer one or both questions differently for local, state or national newspapers? Or might respond differently to questions about certain information rather than generalities like “a daily newspaper’s content”? Or who grimaced at the Adweek Media heading on a question about paying for media through means other than advertising?
NAA has hopes for targeted ads
From Online Media Daily:
“The Newspaper Association of America is touting online behavioral targeting as a partial fix for the industry’s revenue woes.
“‘Targeted advertising shows significant promise for newspapers seeking new ways to support local journalism,’ the organization writes in comments filed with the Federal Trade Commission. The comments were filed in advance of this week’s FTC public workshops about media, ‘From Town Crier to Bloggers: How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age.’”
The NAA questions the idea of regulations that would require a consumer “opt in” system for targeted ad programs. Some privacy advocates think opt-in is a good idea.
More from OMD reporter Wendy Davis: Newspaper Group Argues Against Opt-In Consent For Behavioral Targeting. Via MediaPost Publications
