Newsonomics: On End Games and End Times

Platish or perish? With those malaprop-sounding fighting words a year ago, digital entrepreneur Jonathan Glick neatly, if broadly, summed up a question of the moment on Twitter. We’ve read so many obits for news media over the past 10 years that you’d think we’d be inured to yet another. But ...

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New York Times Digital Chief Search Hits a Bump, After Erik Huggers’ Rejection

In The New York Times Company’s annual earnings conference call tomorrow, expect few surprises: 2014’s four quarters won’t be markedly different from 2013’s, the numbers adding up to a business still in mortal struggle, an enterprise in the press vanguard moving its business from print to ...

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The New York Times and the Thompson Effect: Blow Over or Blowback?

Is the conflating of Hackgate and this BBC scandal fair? We'll see. Let's be clear though. This one will quickly push Hackgate to the background. So, instead of the New York Times playing the white knight, aiding the Guardian in its disclosure of Hackgate, it now gets sucked into the scandal of ...

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The Newsonomics of a New York Times/CNN Combination

Both CNN and The New York Times fill in numerous of the other’s weaknesses. At this digital moment when “mobile” and the tablet are tossing old habits up in the air and forcing consumers to re-form new ones, it’s a great time for both the Times and CNN to double down on their native advantages, ...

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BBC’s Mark Thompson Jumps Out of the Frying Pan and into the New York Times Cauldron

We could also argue that the BBC and the NYT are cousins across the sea. Two august, truly global news institutions, the Cokes and Pepsis of the news world in brand awareness. Both are immensely powerful, sometimes comically balkanized in their decision-making, too often lumbering in execution, ...

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New New York Times Plan: (Digital) World Domination

Today's news that the Times Company is finally selling its New York Times Regional Newspaper Group holdings of 14 newspapers absolutely fits with the last week's news of CEO Janet Robinson's abrupt departure. Expect the new CEO, most likely from the outside to be focused on three A's: audience, ...

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The Newsonomics of Yahoo’s New Livestand

With the launch of Livestand, we see the beginning of Aggregator Wars 2.0, to be fought on a tablet near you. Livestand pushes the question: How are we going to receive news and features via the tablet, through individual apps (paid or free) or through an aggregator? And how are publishers ...

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The Newsonomics of the New York Times’ Sunday Circulation Gain — and Getting Ready for Paid Content 2.0

Next Tuesday, look for The New York Times to announce its first Sunday print circulation gain…since 2006. Let three words soak in: Print. Circulation. Gain.... What’s been dismaying this week, though, as I talk with many publishers at the dozens of other dailies now charging for digital ...

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The Newsonomics of Disruption

Consider emerging tablet news disruption. For 18 months, the tablet and smartphone news environment has been single-brand-oriented. Early top-drawer brand winners include: The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, the BBC, NPR, the Financial ...

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Schadenrupe: Murdoch Woes, Others’ Joy and What the WSJ Editorial Misses

The Journal itself, with its publisher gone in a heartbeat, wouldn't be hurt with a little contrition either. It is, unmistakeably, owned by News Corp and run by Rupert Murdoch. As such, it should distance itself from what anyone would think is wrongdoing, and use its space, to defend its own ...

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