Doing Words

Apple’s tablet might change the way writers and photographers are paid

// December 3rd, 2009 // 0 Comments // Media, News, platform

Today I watched an amazing video demo from Time Inc., showing some of the things they can do with Sports Illustrated magazine when it’s available on devices like the rumoured Apple Tablet. The video in question is reproduced just below, for your future-reading pleasure. While watching the reader navigate their own way around the publication not just on a page-order basis but subhead and by image or video, it occurred to me: this could really change the way ‘real’ (read: print) journalists and photographers get paid for their work.

At the moment, most of the journalists in the world who still have paying work are paid by newspapers and magazines. And most of those journalists — whether on staff or freelance — are paid either by the number of words or pictures published, or paid a salary.

When you watch this video, take a moment to consider how much the reader is able to customise their reading material. It’s almost like no reader will read the magazine the same way. When you think about it, that’s probably true with most readers of print publications today; most of us start at the front and flip pages, but many of us start on a favourite section and hop around from section to section. (more…)

Rupert the Sun King: lots of heat, not much light

// October 12th, 2009 // 0 Comments // News

Insiders at News Limited used to joke about the company’s negotiating tactics — “We stride in, boots-and-all, and shout, ‘Don’t you know who the #%^$ we are? We’re @&*^ News Corp!’ Apparently, that’s served them well for many years.

I can only assume that’s what’s to be read between the lines here, as Rupert Murdoch once again fires broadsides at what he sees as the pirates of online news revenue, Google and Yahoo!. I doubt he believes the internet industry might come round to his way of thinking surely this is just blustering and threats to reinforce the subtler negotiations being conducted privately behind closed doors.

In more than a decade, News has failed to learn a simple lesson: there’s no dabbling in this internet media thing — if you dabble, you die. If you’re going to work with internet search engines to grow your online business, withholding anything kills the consumer offering, kills the revenue and ultimately kills the deal. You’ve got to go in boots-and-all. It’s surprising that such a boots-and-all company culture can’t go boots-and-all into the future.

As Product Director for Yahoo! Australia & NZ I was responsible for managing a news content distribution deal with News’s Australian News Network (ANN) way back in 1997. I think that may have been News Corp’s first deal to licence online content of any kind to a third party. Though they barely got their shoes damp, much less went in boots-and-all.

At first, I thought we understood each other. I thought we agreed to set our differences aside, take some risks and experiment together on how to ‘monetize’ news content online. (more…)