SteveOuting.com

Journalist, consultant, entrepreneur ... Musings on digital media, Web 2.0/3.0, & news in the Internet era

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NYT paywall quote of the week

Jan 29, 2010 5:16pm

This is a quickie. … With all the fuss this week made over the New York Times’ decision to develop and implement a metered paywall on NYTimes.com in 2011, my favorite line comes from a colleague who shall remain unnamed: “Maybe the NYTimes is much more clever than we think. They...

Personalized news and why the iPad is no savior

Jan 28, 2010 8:45am

If any traditional news publishers are still thinking that the Apple tablet — finally, it has a (strange) name, iPad — points to their salvation by bringing a new business model, they’ll likely be proven wrong. No doubt, the iPad is an incredible, slick piece of technology. It’s not the “Jesus...

NYTimes.com’s decision: Preliminary thoughts

Jan 20, 2010 8:30am

So the long-awaited (well, at least by many of us media geeks) decision by NYTimes.com has been announced. And the winner is: THE METERED PAYWALL! According to the Times’ own report, by Richard Perez-Pena: “Starting in early 2011, visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being...

If NYTimes.com does put up a metered wall…

Jan 18, 2010 10:46am

“New York Times Ready to Charge Online Readers,” said NYMag.com’s Daily Intel in a Sunday report. I’m not sure whether to believe the story or not, but since there’s no definitive word from NYT executives yet, let’s play along and pretend this is an accurate report: NYTimes.com this spring will launch...

A golden age for news start-ups? The impact of another newspaper bankruptcy

Jan 15, 2010 9:44pm

I can’t say I’m surprised that Denver-based MediaNews Group (well, technically its holding company, Affiliated Media Inc.) has said that it will file for bankruptcy protection. The Wall Street Journal has a report on the latest newspaper-industry dour development, pointing out that the Hearst Corp. has $400 million in equity...

Converting a book reader to a nook reader

Jan 7, 2010 2:39pm

My wife, Suzanne, has long had to put up with a husband who’s a new-gadget hound. I’m an early adopter but not a super-early adopter. We’ve had a TiVo DVR for years, but I wasn’t among the very first to purchase one. I waited for the iPhone 3G to come...

Hey, news sites: Think like retailers!

Jan 4, 2010 12:44pm

Today I received an e-mail promotion from an electronics e-retailer that I’d purchased from before. The after-holidays sales promotion looked interesting, so I clicked the ad to go to the site. I spent very little time there, didn’t see any deals I couldn’t live without, and clicked away. About an hour...

At last, I can complain about E&P’s website!

Jan 1, 2010 9:19am

Throughout much of my nearly 15-year gig as a freelance columnist for Editor & Publisher Online, I’ve cringed at its website. Now that E&P is shutting down (though with some hope of a last-minute save) and my “Stop The Presses!” column has ended its run, I’m free to stop the...

Farewell, E&P: The last of my 14-1/2 years of columns

Dec 29, 2009 9:39am

After writing a column for Editor & Publisher Online for so long (it was my “Stop The Presses!” column that served as the website’s main original content at the very beginning), it feels weird to have the final one published. But it’s online, “Goodbye, for Now: Looking Foward.” (My editors rejected...

MiamiHerald.com asks for donations (too subtly)

Dec 15, 2009 9:29pm

I seem to be one of the few media writers who believes that there’s potential for newspapers to earn a decent revenue stream from donations by loyal website users (and even drive-by’s who want to reward journalistic excellence). It’s not that I think it’s going to save lots of newsroom...