Reply

Liz Smith

Posted by Gloria Kelley on February 25th, 2009

Well, if this isn’t a sign of how much is changing in our media world, after 33 years with the New York Post, legendary gossip columnist Liz Smith has been let go.  The New York Post is dropping her column, citing hard times. Smith, who turned 86 on February 2nd, is not one to let grass grow. She is heading over to the website she helped launch, The Women on the Web, or WowOWow! Joni Evans wrote on WowOWow about Liz’s departure from the NYPost and her full time arrival to the Wow site.

This sad news for the New York print business is spectacular news for us. Our fabulous and beloved Diva of Dish will be here on wowOwow, posting exclusive-to-Liz breaking celebrity news as it happens. It will, occasionally, be highlighted with audio and film and all the tools of an Internet entrepreneur.

The New York Post editor-in-chief Col Allen has written to Liz to say, “Like so many other newspapers around the country, we are buffeted by unprecedented economic gales” and could not renew the contract for what he described as a “legendary column.”

Reply

Journalism

Posted by Jocelyn on February 23rd, 2009

I think that any time I have an opinion or a question regarding the media industry in general, I’m going to post that picture of “girl on laptop” because to me, that epitomizes where we are right now as a society. We are all sitting by ourselves, connected to the internet, while the clock ticks endlessly forward, wondering what the future holds.

A recent piece in AdAge asks if we are ready to pay for content online, content that, if we do enough searching and sifting, we should be able to find for free somewhere else. And what is happening to the quality of this content?

According to a survey released this week by PWR New Media, a leading e-marketing firm based in Chicago, Illinois, 60% of journalists responded that they now contribute to a blog or other on-line site. 39% of these journalists said they acquired these responsibilities in the past year and 71% added on-line work to their duties in the past two years.

Reply

Writer’s Digest

Posted by Jocelyn on February 17th, 2009

Kelley & Hall is mentioned in the newest issue of Writer’s Digest on sale now! Brunonia Barry, author of THE LACE READER, talks about her breakout success story and how it was with our help she was able to garner the attention that lead to such a significant deal. The issue covers all aspects of self-publishing and provides valuable advice. There is also an interview with James Patterson who discusses the importance of branding yourself as an author.

Reply

Print Advertising

Posted by Jocelyn on February 17th, 2009

A recent interview that ran in Forbes Magazine with the outgoing editor of USAToday, Ken Paulson, provided some interesting insight into the world of print journalism and print advertising. According to Paulson,

I don’t think print advertising will ever return to the same levels it was before the Wall Street crisis. But it’s easy to confuse the state of the industry with the state of the economy. The newspaper business is in better shape than it looks. There is a generation of newspaper readers who will stay with us for the rest of their lives. They will also be willing to pay a higher single copy price.

Paulson is also quoted as saying USAToday is the most consistent newspaper on the planet.

It’s just important not to risk alienating readers who will read you until their dying day. USA Today has not eliminated stocks or television listings. These are defining elements of the American newspaper. … We don’t mess with what works.

When asked how well newspapers are mining the Web for income, Paulson responded with this answer:

The assumption has always been that if you ramp up online revenue quickly enough, it would offset losses in print. That appears not to be happening. But there are other ways of building revenue. USA Today publishes travel and personal finance books. There are USA Today-branded reading glasses. All these ventures are profitable. Journalism works; there is nothing wrong with the product. There is just a disconnect between what we deliver and what people are willing to pay for that delivery. That’s bad for newspapers, but it’s a little early to write an obituary. Home Depot is in the midst of massive layoffs, but nobody’s writing off hammers.

Reply

Tina Brown

Posted by Gloria Kelley on February 17th, 2009

Tina Brown, editor behind the newest online news source THE DAILY BEAST, spoke with Columbia Journalism students last week. Interestingly, the story is reported by THE HUFFINGTON POST. Friendly competition anyone? Below is a quote from Tina’s discussion:

In some ways, I feel that the web will revive that kind of ‘little magazine’ journalism, because recently there hasn’t been a market for it.

And here is a quote from one of the students who attended the speech:

Brown also re-hashed the fate of her short-lived venture Talk. She emphasized that one of the problems facing monthly magazines was the lag between production and release, and the inability of print magazines to adjust quickly enough to criticism. The criticism spurs advertisers to pull out, which deprives magazines of the funds needed to fix the problems, which leads to more criticism. This is possibly why Talk reportedly lost $50 million before it folded, after opening with what was described as one of the most lavish launch parties in magazine history.
Brown rightly noted that the current concern over the closing of the foreign bureaus of many major media outlets was not necessarily a bad thing, as it could lead to the cultivation of local reporters who would have greater context for unfolding news than foreign reporters parachuted in from outside. She also noted that, “If I were young, I would go to India,” and encouraged students to take advantage of the media culture there.
–Cara Parks