editorsweblog.org

Switzerland: common Sunday supplement for four newspapers

From Publicitas: "Effective January 8, 2005, Basler Zeitung, Berner Zeitung and Solothurner Tagblatt will include Das Magazin in their subscription copies on Saturdays. As a result, the print circulation of the supplement, which is aimed at urban readers and which has accompanied the Tages-Anzeiger for years, will increase from about 280,000 to more than 530,000 copies... In view of its broader geographic distribution, «Das Magazin» will have a national orientation under the leadership of Res Strehle, Editor-in-Chief.

Source: Publicitas

New Spanish-language daily newspaper in Houston, USA

"Meximerica Media, a U.S.-based publishing company, announced that Rumbo de Houston, its second Spanish-language daily newspaper, has started publication on August 30. After the successful launch of Rumbo de San Antonio, Meximerica Media continues its efforts towards establishing a new chain of Spanish-language dailies in Texas with the launch of Rumbo de Houston, to be followed by subsequent launches in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and Austin in September and October. Rumbo (pronounced room-bo), comes from the Spanish word often associated with the Latin American phrase meaning "heading north" and, by implication, heading to move up in life. Rumbo de Houston is a complete full-color, tabloid-size, Spanish-language newspaper, primarily aimed at Hispanic men and women between the ages of 21 and 54.

The paper has its own staff of reporters covering local and community news of particular interest to its readers, including education, personal finance, and health. Rumbo de Houston also offers in-depth national, international, sports and entertainment news coverage, with particular emphasis on Mexico and Latin America.

"We are proud to introduce Rumbo de Houston to the city with the fifth largest Hispanic population in the country," said Chief Executive Officer and Editorial Director of Meximerica Media, Edward Schumacher Matos. "We recognize the importance of Houston's Spanish-speaking population and are confident that our high-quality journalism standards will enable us to continue building our network."

Rumbo de Houston will cost 25 cents and will be distributed at some 2,500 points-of-sale throughout the city, including supermarkets, convenience stores, stores, restaurants and red coin boxes. Rumbo's launch in Texas is being supported by an aggressive .7-million marketing campaign to attract readers."

Source: Publicitas

WalMart shoppers are Bush supporters

I just like this information: "BIGresearch conducted the largest online Presidential poll this month as a part of the Consumer Intentions and Actions Study. The report finds that a higher percentage Bush loyalists (23,5%) and Undecided voters shop at WalMart than those supporting Kerry (16%)."

Source: Center for Media Research / Mediapost

Malaysia: media urged not to sensationalise sex and crime reports

Sometimes, we can regret not to have a Prime Minister like Abdullah Badawi (I joke). According to The Straits Times, "the Malaysian Prime Minister is sad that competition has prompted the local media to sensationalise some sex or crime stories. He said that this could raise false public alarm and give other countries a wrong and distorted impression of Malaysia. Commercial considerations must not kill the noble values media practitioners must practise, he told his audience at the launching of KOSMO!, a tabloid published by the Utusan Group... The Malaysian PM stressed that if independence of the media was used irresponsibly, this would lead to destruction of society and eventually the nation."

Source: The Straits Times

Michael Moore joins the press...

Day One at the Republican National Convention and first funny story related by the Washington Post: "Michael Moore -- filmmaker, rabble-rouser, citizen -- wandered into a dangerous neighborhood on Monday. As a guest columnist for USA Today at the Republican National Convention (today and the three next days), he only wanted to take some notes, he said, to observe. But from the moment he entered Madison Square Garden, Moore was the one being observed... For more than two hours, he created a comet's tail of commotion. Holding a rolling news conference as he dragged a clot of some 70 reporters past a growing wave of security officials and hostile conventioneers, Moore came close to disrupting the entire convention.

Source: Washington Post and the Michael Moore's column in USA Today

Online obituary solutions

It's a press release, but it can be useful for some editors: SageMetrics, a leading provider of web analytics and behavioral targeting solutions, today announced that Legacy.com, the nation’s leading provider of online obituary solutions for the newspaper industry, has chosen SageAnalyst for reporting on its entire network of affiliates, consisting of 170 newspapers nationwide. Legacy.com will use SageAnalyst to monitor all aspects of site traffic and activity on hosted obituary pages for each of its individual newspaper affiliates, which in total, equates to almost 50 million page views and 2.5 million unique visitors per month. Legacy.com replaced its existing solution with SageAnalyst because its multi-dimensional reporting capabilities allowed more sophisticated reporting and easier dissemination of data to the individual newspaper affiliates."

Source: Scotsman.com

Described by CBSMarketWatch as the ?granddaddy? of online obituary companies, Legacy.com powers obituary sections for more than 170 U.S. newspapers, providing monitored guest books, archive services, and other features.

US: an evening newspaper becomes The Morning Times

It happens near "Big Apple" between the New York state and Pennsylvania: "This morning history is being made in the Valley. Since 1891, readers have been stopping by their newsstand or heading to their paper box in the afternoon to pick up a copy of their local newspaper -- The Evening Times. Today, the name The Evening Times becomes a mere historical reference. Today, a new name emerges as the leader in Valley and Twin Tiers news. That name is Morning Times." The newspaper's Web address has also changed to www.morning-times.com.

Source: Morning Times

Editors have to train readers to interact

From Poynteronline: "Readers equipped with picture phones can turn into reporters instantly, anywhere and anytime. Yet another example came from the Danish regional newspaper Aarhus Stiftstidende, which recently published a picture of two bank robbers waiting for a bank to open. The picture was taken by a witness who passed the bank minutes before the robbery. In this case, the picture probably won't help solve the crime, but it certainly makes the story come alive both on paper and on the Web. Getting such scoops doesn't come without hard work. Editors who constantly "train" readers to interact will no doubt get more tips, scoops, and good leads from readers, as readers learn there is a demand for their ability to turn into reporters on the spot."

Source: Poynteronline / E-media tidbits

Fund raising as a priority in NIE programs

A good synthesis on NIE programs (Newspapers in Education) in North America with this new challenge: fund raising becomes more and more important as papers count on readers of the future. An estimated 950 newspapers in the United States and Canada have NIE programs, which provide newspapers as teaching tools to educators, along with training materials and goodies like posters and activities for students that are often underwritten by sponsors.

Source: Newspaper Association of America

After Italy, France threatened by Iraqi terrorist group

You know this weblog is not dedicated to press freedom issues. But after the assassination of Enzo Baldoni, an Italian journalist, it's impossible to be silent... And since 20 August, the same terrorist group has taken as hostages two French journalists and has warned that they faced death if France refuses to yield to their demands to repeal legislation which will ban Islamic headscarves in schools. Here in Paris, we have a thought for all journalists working in Iraq: they are doing their job and only their job.

According to The Guardian, "new footage showing the radio correspondent Christian Chesnot of RFI and Le Point and Georges Malbrunot of Le Figaro and Ouest-France was broadcast on the Arabic satellite channel al-Jazeera, soon after the 48-hour deadline for their release expired. Their captors extended the deadline for the government to overturn the law by a further 24 hours.

"I call on President [Jacques] Chirac to _ retract the veil ban immediately and I call on French people to protest the veil ban. It is a wrong and unjust law and we may die at any time," Chesnot said, according to al-Jazeera's translation into Arabic...

The French Muslim organisations which had opposed the new headscarf law expressed outrage at the kidnapping and condemned foreign interference in a domestic issue.

The Union of French Islamic Organisations (UOIF), which had previously urged schoolgirls to flout the ban, said it was vital to avoid exacerbating hostility towards France's 5 million strong Muslim population."

Source: The Guardian