Journalism Topic
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Newspapers
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New York Times free again
The New York Times is dropping its online paid-subscription plan two years after launching it (and four after The Globe and Mail launched the model The Times used). The spin is the online advertising boom change the rules of the game. However, advertising revenue would be a pittance compared to the potential revenue generated through annual subscriptions. -
Trouble at Toronto papers
Trouble has been brewing at Toronto Sun for a while, and was already apparent while working at Sun Media’s CANOE in the late 1990s. On the weekend, my current employer, The Globe and Mail wrote a surprisingly sympathetic piece on troubles at Toronto’s tabloid. -
The New York Times flirts with paid subscriptions
Rumour has it that the The New York Times is planning on doing what The Globe and Mail did (partially) four months ago: introduce a subscription fee to read it online. Unlike here in Canada, the critics are quite vocal. -
Registering the Star
As promised, the Toronto Star is encouraging its users to register — in method sadly reminiscent of another paper’s attempts -
Post out
As promised, the National Post will be pulling out of CP June 30 because the paper can’t afford its dues. Since its establishment 1917, the news service has grown to include more than 600 Canadian newsrooms and news agencies from around the world and its style guide and spelling guide is the standard for Canadian writers, journalists, and editors -
RSS and newspapers
RSS’s relationship with online newspapers is on my brain, and the topic seems to be appearing everywhere: -
Thomson eyes the Globe while Shafer eyes e-editions
I was going to blog about the Thomson’s renewed interest in The Globe and Mail yesterday along with the other newspaper stories, but rumours of the sale of the paper have been swirling since Mr. Monty left the scene. However, combined with the announcement the sale of BCE’s e-commerce company and the improved financial performance of Bell Globemedia, maybe the Globe really will have a new owner. -
Labour woes at Toronto’s newspapers
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Black on TV
Lord Conrad Black will now have to suffer the ignominy of a TV movie of his life; CTV has confirmed that it will be adapting the biography, Shades of Black. Of course, Black could do worse than have the Churchillian Albert Finney portray him -
Print, past; future…?
David Akin points out that the latest newspaper readership numbers show the papers are actually losing younger readers (or perhaps more accurately, they aren’t attracting new younger readers). So where are those people going for their news? Maybe the Web sites of said newspapers — I know I have for the past eight years or so. -
National Newspaper Awards nominees; CP goes wireless
The 2003 National Newspaper Awards nominees were announced last Friday, with my employer taking 13 of 60, and the Toronto Star a close second at 12. The National Post got three nods. -
Oops, we did it again
No paper likes running corrections once, let alone twice, but that’s what the L.A. Times had to do when an overzealous editor altered a story to suggest an opera was against abortion -
Stevie’s “big bad”
Stevie Cameron rose to fame by exposing the skeletons lurking in the closets of people like our former prime minister, Brian Mulroney. Since November her former employer, and my current one, has been doing the same to her. The Globe and Mail claimed she was a confidential informant for the RCMP. At first Cameron denied it, and then when more evidence became available, she conceded she might have been considered a source. Antonia Zerbisias’ recent column explains why this is “big bad” (thanks Steph) -
Saving online newspapers
Another community — the online news one — is buzzing about an article written by Vin Crosbie about “what newspapers and their Web sites must do to survive.” Most who know the industry say Crosbie has nailed it, and I’d generally agree -
The Globe at 160
Canada’s self-proclaimed national newspaper (and my national paper) is also older than the country itself; the Globe and Mail celebrates its 160th anniversary today -
Shutting the gates
Online newspapers are rushing to set-up registration systems, but at what cost? -
Honderich resigns; CSS tooltips
And so ends a dynasty: John Honderich, and his trademark bow-tie, won’t be seen around the offices of the Toronto Star for much longer. The paper’s publisher is leaving his post “with regret” due to a “corporate desire for change.” -
Recognizing abbr; are newspapers the last mass medium?
The aforementioned rant on the RCMP raid of a journalist’s home, and the precedent it may establish, has now been posted. -
Black’s tragedy
Wow…even if you aren’t a business and media buff, this is one engaging, and tragic story: the mighty Lord Conrad Black has lost his media empire after (among other things) being fired from, and sued by, his own company, Hollinger International. -
Black resigns; OJA winners
Former-Canadian newspaper magnate (and author of a very well-reviewed biography on FDR) Conrad Black has resigned as CEO of his own company. Something about $32-million in unauthorized payments to he and his co-executivess… -
Eolas patent re-examined; Canadians willing to pay for content; homepage usability
Microsoft nature is so often debated in Web/software-related discussions, it’s mere mention is almost becoming a variant of Godwin’s Law. The one safe area seems to be when discussing the company in relation to Eolas’ “906” patent. The problems with said patent have encouraged the USPTO to re-examine the issue (no doubt prompted by Microsoft’s lobbyists), and I hope, it will rule the patent invalid. -
Eolas forces IE update; HTMLDog; Izzy Asper has died
Eolas has forced Microsoft to release an new version of Internet Explorer that causes an alert box to appear whenever a plug-in loads on a page. To get around it, Microsoft is suggesting developers add a proprietary attribute to object or write the entire object to the page using JavaScript. -
Asper v. MacDonald; calling VeriSign’s bluff; future of email
Still more on Asper v. MacDonald, via the Toronto Star media column by Antonia Zerbisias and a press release from Leonard Asper about the aforementioned Canadian Press article. -
More fallout from Asper’s speech
The debate over Leonard Asper’s speech has continued on the Canadian Association of Journalists’s mailing list (much of it focusing on the use of an ellipsis), and in the op-ed and letters to the editor pages of The Globe and Mail (no doubt relishing a chance to criticize its competitor’s owner. -
Aspers’ hobby horse
An unsanctioned attempt to make Mozilla’s Web site support standards, has devolved into a sadly typical debate. A new, sanctioned, design should be appear in a couple of weeks (probably along with Mozilla 1.5, Firebird 0.7, and Thunderbird 0.3). -
The case for standards; more on Eolas; newspapers tackle the future
A year or so ago, before big sites began embracing CSS-based layouts a group called MACCAWS formed to push the commercial case for Web standards. Although its efforts have yet to be released, Jeffrey Veen has written an excellent argument supporting the idea. -
Building fans online
Here’s an idea that hasn’t surfaced for a while (and runs counter to some recent predictions): build a publication then move it to print. This time round, though, it’s a national newspaper. A Canadian national newspaper. -
From Web to print
Just as one of Canada's national papers is on its deathbed, another begins online with its eye on a paper product -
Blatchford to the Globe; progressive enhancement; Web standard articles
Coup: Christie Blatchford is leaving the National Post to join my employer, The Globe and Mail. -
Top Times editors resign
Whoa. The executive and managing editors of The New York Times just resigned. -
Ottawa Journal resurrected?
Seems the decades-dead Ottawa Journal might be resurrected on September 1, 2003 according to a promo site at ottawajournal.com. In late February, The Toronto Star reported that the domain owner is located at the same address of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Might someone be making an run around Canada’s foreign ownership rules? Doubtfully, the phone number and name seem bogus and the hosting company is in Ottawa. Guess we’ll find out in about six months -
Mozilla is five; a newspaper’s relationship with it’s Web site
Update: Kirk Franklin wrote to say moreCrayons now gets along with Mozilla completely, and it does. Go bookmark this great little resource. -
Russell Mills, CanWest make-up; intermediate design guide
You may remember how Russell Mills was dismissed from CanWest allegedly for publishing an article questioning one of the owner’s friends (i.e., Jean Chrétien). Seems they’ve kissed and made-up. -
Fixing Trade by Numbers; Sun to unionize?
Mozilla 1.2.1 is out, and it fixes the problems that caused 1.2 to be pulled. -
Multiculturalism and privacy
Canada takes pride in describing its implementation of multiculturalism using the metaphor of a tapestry (or salad bowl , or mosaic) to contrast with the idea of a melting pot. But recent attempts by the U.S. government to fingerprint some foreign-born Canadians crossing the border prompted the federal privacy commissioner to suggest passports no longer display the place of birth. -
Star redesign; responding to Asper; privacy in Canada
The Toronto Star, Canada’s biggest paper, is celebrating 110 years in print by redesigning itself (due a week today), and running a retrospective series. Some of the more interesting ones are about the paper itself, including a great piece on the Star’s legendary switchboard and a bittersweet reminisce of the newsrooms of old. -
IE 5/Mac tips; Asper rants
The Macintosh version of the Internet Explorer 5 was the best browser for rendering CSS when it first appeared in early 2000. Now, two-and-a-half years later, other browsers provide more consistent support and that browsers quirks have become more apparent. Thankfully Apple.com commissioned an excellent article detailing workarounds for the most common problems. (A thorough list of bugs is available from CodeBitch.) -
Searchable newspapers from history
Following on the heels of the Newseum’s showcase of the latest front pages, xBlog plugged the Canadian site Paper of Record (aside: its unlinkable about page has some interesting history on Canadian newspapers). -
thenewforum.ca; news front pages
So you know about Monday, yesterday I had a brutal headache, and today I wish I just stayed in bed. Looking forward to the rest of the week… -
Welcome Netscape users; CanWest gives up
For the first time in recent memory, a version of a Netscape browser is now the second most common browser used to visit this site. The good news, it’s identified as Netscape 6. (View the list of the top 10 browsers.) -
Black doesn’t back CanWest; G8
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Timothy Findley is dead; CanWest damage control
Timothy Findley is dead. He was 71. -
Mills fallout
Because the firing of Russell Mills story is malleable enough to suit a range of topics, you may notice this blog bend away from Web building and Web journalism issues for a bit — but I have no plans to turn this into the press freedom (or whatever) equivalent of a warblog. -
Russell Mills explains; Webby winners
Russell Mills publicly explains, in today’s Globe, what happened — which includes allegation CanWest was willing to pay him off for his silence on the issue. -
No Mozilla AOL; Russell Mills was fired
AOL 8.0 beta is being tested and IE, not Mozilla, is the default browser. -
Fact checking
One of the dark secrets of journalism is almost no-one double-check’s the reporter’s facts (except in magazines—usually). -
CanWest defending national editorial; Salon in print
Ironically, two days after a major U.S. paper ran a scathing report on CanWest’s policy of imposing national editorials, a CanWest national editorial appears defending the policy. -
CanWest’s editorials; hip iMacs; dull newscasts
A whole bunch of media stories caught my eye today. -
Newspaper subscriptions
Following on the heels of a study saying Canadian news sites lost ground to CNN post-September 11, The Globe and Mail reports the Winnipeg Free Press is moving to a pay model. -
Dis-Connect
The Toronto Sun’s Connect is no longer. The end of the weekly technology section comes on the heels of continued lay-offs at the paper. Toronto’s other daily, The Star, shuttered its tech section a few months ago. -
Digital editions
The Globe and Mail unveiled today a very old-school idea: put the entire paper online. The catch is, this electronic version lets you see the pages as they were printed—full-colour layout, ads, articles, and…ads. -
Commuter paper shake-up
Well, with the Post sold and speculation on its future running high in forums like the Canadian Association of Journalists email list, the next victim may be Sun Media’s free commuter paper, FYI. Just look at the signs: -
CanWest buys all of Post
The timing of the announcement was a surprise, the move really wasn’t. Conrad Black made it pretty clear that he wanted to get out of the Canadian news business when he started dumping his papers here. But selling his “baby”, the National Post, to the Liberal Asper’s does not bode well for the future of the conservative paper. Either it will be remodeled into a national equivalent of The Toronto Star or it will die as a full-on competitor to The Globe and Mail. Let the speculation begin -
Sun layoffs
Pierre Karl’s bloodlust continues…. Quebecor has cut 302 positions from Canada's second largest newspaper chain, Sun Media. Media watchers should not be surprised by the announcement, given the signs: -
Sun redesigns
The Toronto Sun, the city's brashest tabloid (and sister company to my former employer), has undergone a complete redesign which saw an end to a couple of its own trademarks. -
Papers must push online news
During this latest U.S. election some media outlets declaring a new president even though there officially wasn’t one. To be fair, it was already 3 a.m. ET when the networks started predicting a Bush victory, and newspapers must go to print at some point. Despite being an offender, The Globe and Mail at least directed readers to its Web site for updates. Of the five Toronto papers, The Globe was the only one to prominently do so. When will they get it? -
Net Newspapers of the Great White North
The first in-depth analysis of Canadian, broadsheet newspapers' online presence; originally published in the Spring 1997 issue of the Ryerson Review of Journalism.