Bangkok: Global Newspaper Chiefs Confer On Challenges Facing Industry

[webfact]

Newpaper chiefs confer on challenges facing industry
Pravit Rojanaphruk,
Asina Pornwasin
The Nation



Global newspaper chiefs are here in Bangkok to confer on the big challenges that face the industry, which include poor press freedom and financial struggles.

BANGKOK: -- At the International roundtable entitled 'The New Media Landscape and its Press Freedom Challenges" yesterday, the audience was told that Southeast Asia is still filled with a lot of "sad story" when it comes to press freedom while a number of African countries pose serious challenges for working journalists.

Though Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia are regarded as more free when it comes to press freedom in the Southeast Asian region, these countries have their own challenges such as the lese majeste law in Thailand, the killings of journalists in Indonesia and the Philippines and the controlling of the Internet through laws such as Computer Crimes Act in Thailand and the Philippines, said Gayatri Venkitesuwaren, executive director of the Bangkok-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA).

From the African continent, Ferrial Haffajee, editor of City Press in South Africa, said problems ranged from jailing of journalists in Ethiopia to the state of emergency in Nigeria. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, said Haffajee, the country has become a no-go zone for journalists and other countries in the continent including North and South Sudan, Zimbabwe and Somalia are difficult for journalists to operate.

Kavi Chongkittavorn, columnist at The Nation and chairman of the roundtable, said press freedom in Southeast Asia still has a lot of problems, including the lese majeste law in Thailand. The region, he said, is like a Disneyland of political systems due to the wide range of governance methods. The event was part of the four-day 65th anniversary of the World Newspaper Congress. The annual summit meeting of the world's newspapers and news publishers, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), ends on Wednesday.

The congress started with a roundtable discussion on digital media, where panellists agreed that newspapers across the world would need to go digital, encompassing websites, smart phones and tablets to meet the needs of the consumers. Through the digital platforms, they can seek revenue from online subscription and advertising.

Stig Nordqvist, an executive director for Publishing & Digital, WAN-IFRA, said that the consumption of news will soon be as big on mobile as on laptop and PC, while print circulation and advertisement is rapidly decreasing in mature markets. Supporting this is a change in consumer behaviour as well as structural change in advertising strategy to cover new media.

Media publishers without healthy online business are extremely weak, and increasing the digital focus is key for building business. Nordqvist said that leading publishers are now heading to generate more than 50 per cent of revenue from digital platforms. For this, newspapers need a proper data management system to manage and balance their customers and advertisers.

Anders Berglund of Schibsted Media group Sweden urged news organisations to adopt the real-time bidding (RTB) model, as this will be the next big thing for online media. RTB is an automated process that allows online bids and purchases by media buyers.


-- The Nation 2013-06-03

[tominbkk]

Print news is dying everywhere. Move with the times or lose out.

[wealth]

NYT closed down the largest part of printing press years ago.

With digital media extending, people can't be manipulated like before.

Alternative media is on the rise.

I predict that news companies will split into smaller community units, and to become more versatile. This way a more direct democracy will be approached. This is good for the people.

[webfact]

World newspapers mull paywalls for survival

by Aidan Jones

BANGKOK, June 03, 2013 (AFP) - Global newspaper chiefs have some rare good news to share after years of slumping print sales and advertising revenues -- readers appear increasingly willing to pay for online news.

Over 1,000 newspaper editors and other media figures are meeting in Bangkok this week as papers continue to shed readers -- at least in the older markets -- and the shift to the Internet draws more "eyeballs" but lower ad rates.

Press freedom, journalist safety, the use of new technology and future trends in print and advertising will all also be discussed at the four-day annual World Newspaper Congress, which runs until June 5.

The issue of charging readers for web and mobile content looms largest, with editors casting an envious eye at media groups who have successfully implemented "paywalls" after years of giving away news for free.

"The general impression was that it would be impossible to reverse the culture of free (online) content... that people will never pay for it," said Gilles Demptos of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.

"The great news is that is changing dramatically," he added, citing the boom in paid-for online subscriptions for the "high-quality" journalism of the New York Times and Financial Times.

Last month the New York Times became the second most-read US daily newspaper, with a circulation of over 1 million, boosted by 325,000 new digital readers -- who have joined since a paywall was introduced in 2011.

For $35 a month subscribers gain unlimited access to the New York Times' website and mobile apps, while casual visitors to its website can still read 10 articles without charge per month.

The paywall trend -- either full or "metered" -- has tentatively taken off across the world, although many publishers closely guard the numbers of paying subscribers signed up.

Newspapers have few choices, said Demptos, as advertisers continue to balk at spending on a diffuse online audience the sums editors want -- and need -- to sustain quality journalism.

"It's often repeated that a dollar in print becomes a dime online," Demptos said, adding that the US's biggest publisher, Gannett Company, has introduced paywalls on all of its 80 websites, while metered access was offsetting ad declines at Hong Kong's South China Morning Post.

While that should be a harbinger of better times ahead, analysts say it is a model that may only buoy top-end titles, such as the New York Times, even though just a fraction of its unique users now pay for content.

"There are many newspapers that are not very good that are trying to charge and I do not believe that will work," says media commentator and blogger Jeff Jarvis, of the City University of New York.

Moreover, the newspaper industry's "infatuation with paywalls" was encouraging it "to replicate its old, industrial business models in a new, digital reality," he said, adding the real problem remains a lack of "engagement" with web communities.

Those young, tech-savvy communities are increasingly receiving their information on reader-driven social news sites such as BuzzFeed.com or Reddit, which says 70 million people visited its site last month.

Newspapers should prioritise "building a stronger relationship with the public we serve," Jarvis said, warning success in doing so will dictate the odds of long-term survival.

But it is not all doom and gloom for news chiefs, with many Asian print markets booming in parallel with their economies and increasingly literate and aspirational populations.

"I have absolute confidence in Asia," said Pichai Chuensuksawadi editor-in-chief of Thailand's Post Publishing, which counts the daily Bangkok Post in its stable.

"It's still a growth market driven mainly by China, India and Indonesia," he said, citing new print products -- such as giveaway commuter papers -- being gobbled up by the Thai public as signs of a regional market in robust health.

In neighbouring Myanmar, relaxed censorship following the end of military rule has transformed the media sector, with privately owned daily newspapers hitting the streets in April for the first time in decades.

The congress will also hear from the team behind Ebela, a newspaper launched in Calcutta in 2012 aimed at young people which now sells 300,000 copies a day.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2013-2013-06-03

[Curt1591]

"Alternate media" is the only real news. Unfortunately, too many take it all to heart without any fact checking, or verification.

The "established" media is all owned by multinational corporations.

[chainarong]

Print media maybe dying but the freedom of free speech is also , this is happening on all fronts whether Thailand or Australia , you only have to make a comment on a particular race to emphasize a point and you are labelled racist in Oz, in Thailand a particular pattern is to muzzle opposition parties by intimidation and court action, people have become soft .

[wealth]

Print media maybe dying but the freedom of free speech is also , this is happening on all fronts whether Thailand or Australia , you only have to make a comment on a particular race to emphasize a point and you are labelled racist in Oz, in Thailand a particular pattern is to muzzle opposition parties by intimidation and court action, people have become soft .

you may follow up on Alex Jones and others who are currently in the UK to cover the Bilderberg meeting. Real brave-hearts.

Some politicians asked for media coverage, but non of the established ones show interest. Why? No wonder when they go down.

Edited June 3, 2013 by wealth

[retell]

"high-quality" journalism of the New York Times and Financial Times.

as if the media is not controlled by the rich and allmighty

as if for example the worldwide marches against Montsanto get any news coverage

all got their nose stuck inside the butt above them

[wealth]

"high-quality" journalism of the New York Times and Financial Times.

as if the media is not controlled by the rich and allmighty

as if for example the worldwide marches against Montsanto get any news coverage

all got their nose stuck inside the butt above them

Thanks to alternative media coverage for many years, Monsanto has moved out of Europe last week. No kidding. Governments used a trick and slowed down whatever they could, so they threw the towels. THE US even threatened European countries years ago to have Monsanto going it's way to fully control the food market.

There was a coverage in the Media about last week's decision to move out and it is feared they may try something else again. For now, Monsanto is out of Europe.

[wealth]

Now police place journalists in same bracket as criminals: Officers will be forced to name any friends who work in the media... or face the sack

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2328088/Police-officers-forced-friends-work-media--face-sack.html#ixzz2V7oklneQ

[chainarong]

Print media maybe dying but the freedom of free speech is also , this is happening on all fronts whether Thailand or Australia , you only have to make a comment on a particular race to emphasize a point and you are labelled racist in Oz, in Thailand a particular pattern is to muzzle opposition parties by intimidation and court action, people have become soft .

you may follow up on Alex Jones and others who are currently in the UK to cover the Bilderberg meeting. Real brave-hearts.

Some politicians asked for media coverage, but non of the established ones show interest. Why? No wonder when they go down.

It's all the feel good or do what we say , not as we do , these days, have you have your 5 vegie's today , thought police telling us what they want you to know and you already know it. boring little people.