The Newsonomics of Newspapers’ Slipping Digital Performance

Follow Newsonomics @kdoctor   First published at Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab   As we approach the middle of the 2010s, where do newspapers fit in the battle for America’s largest ad sector — digital? And how well are all those paywalls doing? Two reports tumbled into the ...

Read More

Six Things to Consider About the New Los Angeles Register

Follow Newsonomics on Twitter @kdoctor First published at Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab   The last time a daily paper launched in L.A. was back in the Carter administration. The Valley Green Sheet, a green newsprinted shopper that would get thrown on my doorstep a few times a ...

Read More

The Newsonomics of 50/50 and The Unchaining of the U.S. Press

Follow Newsonomics on Twitter @kdoctor   First published at Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab   Asked last week whether he was buying the Star Tribune for business or altruistic reasons, Glen Taylor said a lot in a two-word answer: “50/50.” News observers have parsed and poked at ...

Read More

Inch by Inch, the New York Times Seeks Daylight Down the Field

Inch by inch, the New York Times’ strategies seem to be working. This is, though, a game of almost inches, as we look at the Times’ full-year and fourth-quarter financials, just released this morning. Overall, there’s a remarkable flatness to the business: Profit of $256M as ...

Read More

Digital Native Ezra Klein Finds Post-Post Voice; Will Lewis Hops into New Frying Pan at WSJ

The trials of legacy newspaper companies are apparently without end. This month, we see two quite different challenges confronting two of the most prestigious newspaper companies: the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. The Post bids adieu to three next-generation journalists, people ...

Read More

The Newsonomics of Momentum in the WSJ/NYT Battle

First published at Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab   What a difference a year makes in America’s national newspaper war. When Rupert Murdoch bought the Journal and its parent Dow Jones six years ago, he declared that war, aiming to blur the historic line between a business newspaper ...

Read More

The Newsonomics of How the News Industry Will Be Tested in 2014

First published at Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab   Our 2014 stage is set, and oh what a marvelous assortment of characters will be walking across it. Many of these characters — the Bezoses, Henrys, Kushners, Omidyars, and Buffetts — are new non-newsies thrusting themselves into the ...

Read More

New Hollywood Sequel: Aaron Kushner’s L.A. Register

Why, I asked, Aaron Kushner, is he announcing the new L.A. Register as we’re winding down toward the end of the year? Given that the big questions about it — when will it launch, how will it be staffed — are as yet unannounced, why put the news out now? “We were ready to ...

Read More

The Newsonomics of Public Radio’s All-in-One Tablet Strategy

First published at Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab   It’s a tablet experiment in cross-pollination. How do you use the 48 square inches of an iPad to expose the depth of public radio — thousands of hours of national programming, local shows, and community news that add up to a ...

Read More

The Newsonomics of Scripps’ TV Paywall & the Last Man Standing Theory of Local Media

First published at Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab   How much would you pay for online access to Ron Burgundy — or at least the Ron Burgundys of Cincinnati? In an industry-shaking move, E.W. Scripps’ WCPO.TV — that’s the website of Cincinnati’s ABC affiliate — is putting up a paywall ...

Read More