Charlie Rose: The Future of Newspapers

Watch Charlie Rose discuss the bleak future of newspapers with:

* Walter Isaacson, former managing editor of Time, who wrote this week's cover story, "How to Save Your Newspaper"

* Robert Thomson, managing editor of the Wall Street Journal

* Mort Zuckerman, owner and publisher of The New York Daily News, and owner and editor-in-chief of U.S. News and World Report

3 Ways to Rescue Newspapers... Without Killing Them

American newspapers are dying fast. What can possibly rescue them?

The current stopgap remedies (layoffs, ceasing home delivery, gutting entire sections and bureaus) are only making matters worse -- destroying the product and repelling more readers (and, hence, advertisers). Desperate cost-cutting can only lead to an irreversible death spiral.

Nobody questions that our democracy demands an independent watchdog Fourth Estate, but with the advent of the Web and it's "free content" protocol, nobody's yet figured out a sustainable business model to keep newsrooms alive.

Here are three novel solutions.

First, independent journalist T.J. Sullivan proposes that all newspapers simultaneously shut down their websites for a week, so that readers will be forced to pay for the print version. ("You'll miss me when I'm gone.")

Second, in a Time cover story, former managing editor Walter Isaacson advances a micropayment model, akin to iTunes, whereby readers would pay pennies to read individual articles, and those aggregator blogs that feed off news sites will have to pay royalty-based licensing fees. ("Fair is fair.")

Third, Editor & Publisher columnist Steve Outing supports an NPR-based approach, whereby content remains free, but regular users are encouraged to donate to the sites they frequent most often, via a monthly subscription that's divvied among their Web destinations. ("This will only sting a little.")



Sullivan has posted a petition calling for

...each and every daily American newspaper and The Associated Press (to) shut down their Web sites to non-paying subscribers for a period of one week -- from Saturday July 4 to Friday July 10, 2009 -- and during such time publish news only in print, or behind existing, password-protected Internet barriers accessible only by paying subscribers.

We believe such action will allow newspapers and The Associated Press to fulfill their obligations to deliver news during this time while also drawing attention to the threat posed to democracy by the loss of professionally staffed and ethically bound American newspapers.

Of course, news would still be reported daily in every newspaper's printed product. No editor, or reporter or publication would dare shirk their watchdog responsibilities. This isn't about stopping the presses.

But the Web? People can do without news on the Web for a week. They won't like it. They'll complain about it. But, that's exactly what has to happen before they can be expected to care. Pulling the plug gets their attention... This isn't about saving journalism jobs; it's about saving American democracy.

In his Time cover story, Isaacson points out the paradox underscoring the newspaper crisis:

Newspapers have more readers than ever. Their content, as well as that of newsmagazines and other producers of traditional journalism, is more popular than ever — even (in fact, especially) among young people.

The problem is that fewer of these consumers are paying. Instead, news organizations are merrily giving away their news. A tipping point occurred last year: more people in the U.S. got their news online for free than paid for it by buying newspapers and magazines. Who can blame them? Even an old print junkie like me has quit subscribing to the New York Times, because if it doesn't see fit to charge for its content, I'd feel like a fool paying for it.

This is not a business model that makes sense.

Isaacson appeared as a guest this week on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to discuss his micropayment scheme:

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But Editor & Publisher's Outing says fooey to micropayments.

Ugh. This approach hasn't worked. It won't work. Is completely counter to the nature of the Internet. It will hasten newspapers' death spiral.

Instead, he proposes Kachingle

Ka-what?

Kachingle is an embryonic service that plans to charge subscribers a small voluntary monthly fee (starting at $5) that will be distributed among affiliated websites who wear the Kachingle badge, based on actual traffic.

Think of it this way and you'll understand the core concept behind Kachingle: Just as online users currently pay an Internet provider and perhaps a monthly fee for all the music they want from a service like Rhapsody, they'll also pay a monthly fee for all the news and blog content on the Web. Only the last fee is voluntary, and it will be up to publishers to educate the public on the importance of paying for content online. (National Public Radio has been doing this for itself for decades. Now commercial news publishers and bloggers need to do it to benefit all of them, not just one entity.)

The next important point to grasp about the Kachingle model is that it allows individuals to financially support the online content providers that they like best. So if a newspaper wants to get paid for its content when a Web site visitor clicks through to one of its articles, it should ask that the visitor support the site via Kachingle.

Unfortunately, judging from its skeletal website and blog, Kachingle seems very much in its formative stages, so it's premature to evaluate its potential merits.

Everyone's struggling to invent a new business model to rescue newspapers. Whoever succeeds will become a superhero -- and probably a very wealthy one. We'd love to hear your thoughts. Especially if your solution incorporates the power of videojournalism in the mix.

Multimedia News Reporting Workshop

The Knight Digital Media Center's Multimedia Reporting and Convergence Workshop, May 17-22, 2009, offers intensive, short course multimedia training for mid-career journalists.

The UC Berkeley workshop covers all aspects of multimedia news production, from basic storyboarding to the incorporation of multimedia features in storytelling.

Participants are taught the technical skills they need to produce quality multimedia stories including audio/video recording and editing, Flash graphics, digital cameras, Photoshop and web design concepts. Guest speakers discuss the future of journalism, the role of technology and the importance of audience engagement.

The application deadline is March 13. Info here:

KickLight: Thinking Outside the (Video) Box

Here's a nifty way to enhance online video. KickLight enables you to add synchronized visual elements (“Kicks”) in a separate field adjacent to the video itself. Wherever that video is ultimately sent or embedded, the Kicks go with it.

Kicks can be any form of digital information - as simple as text or still image or another video, or as complex as a miniature application. For example, a video of the “10 Greatest Yankees Baseball Homeruns” might include a dynamic Kick that presents the up-to-the-minute score of the most recent game played and tickets to an upcoming game -- irrespective of when the video is actually viewed.

A kicklight is the actual combination of a video with one or more Kicks. For the technically minded, a kicklight is a Flash-based video player that synchronizes images along the video timeline. Despite the tremendous amount of information that is potentially relevant to each video, online videos are currently stuck “inside the box” and fail to make connections outside of themselves.

So, as online video becomes increasingly prevalent, the video-based Internet is inherently becoming less “connected” and is falling far short of its potential. Kicks enable the creators of online video to link their work to the Internet’s entire breadth and depth of relevant information. Just like hyperlinks, this capability can be used for creativity, community, or commerce - it’s up to you.

Here's a 30-second demo -- the Kick is underneath the main video:

You can find actual Kicklight examples here.

Kicklight.com offers producers the ability to make a simple do-it-yourself Kick, utilize our tools to make more complex “Quick Kicks,” or make your own using any tools you want (like PhotoShop) and upload them as .jpgs. Ultimately, you’ll be able to obtain Kicks from other members of the community and from KickLight’s own libraries. For example, if you’re making a kicklight from a snowboarding video, you might make your own title Kick, borrow a Kick from our snowboarding library, purchase for pennies a Kick from an snowboarding Kick specialist, make an Amazon Quick Kick, and borrow a Kick provided by a snowboarding manufacturer.

Applications like these will not only add more functionality to videojournalism, but also help distinguish the medium from what's available on TV or in movie theaters. All that's required is the creativity and imagination of videojournalism producers to find great uses for this technology by literally thinking outside of the box.

What's Fair about "Fair Use"?

"Fair use" is a complicated legal concept that will keep intellectual property attorneys plenty busy as videojournalism proliferates. Basically it dictates the conditions under which intellectual property (e.g. music, images) can be used for illustrative or critical purposes without permission from (or remuneration to) the copyright holder. Suffice to say that "fair use" is wide open to interpretation, with "users" generally taking a more liberal stance than "usees."

It's only the tip of the tip of the iceberg, but TVWeek's Daisy Whitney takes a stab at explaining 3 basic guidelines in her New Media Minute below (starting at 1:11).



But remember, if everyone agreed on what constitutes "fair use," then courthouses wouldn't be crowded with cases right now. Your best bet is not to contemplate how you can justify, rationalize, or "get away" with using existing images (or audio), but rather take the time and effort to track their source and formally seek permission and offer credit and/or compensation.

In short, journalists should follow that valuable lesson they learned long before J-school -- the Golden Rule. Ultimately, that's what's fair.

Who Owns This Face?

Who deserves to profit from this iconic image? Photographer Mannie Garcia shot it at the National Press Club in 2006 of then junior Senator Barack Obama, for the Associated Press. Artist Shepard Fairey then used it last year for his ubiquitious campaign posters, which have generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue. Fairey acknowledges the source material, but argues that it's "fair use," and that he neither has to credit nor compensate Garcia or AP.

To further complicate the issue, Garcia's assignment was as a "temporary hire" -- neither freelancer nor staffer -- and he worked without an AP contract. Therefore he believes he solely owns the copyright to the image, but of course AP is also claiming ownership. It may be to Garcia's advantage to have AP in his corner when it comes to convincing Fairey to share profits and bestow a credit. (In this interview, Garcia says he wants recognition, but that financial gain is not his motive; he's planning to sell autographed original photo prints to raise money for charities.)

And so lawyers are hashing it out, trying to find an amicable resolution that benefits everyone. Intellectual property is a tricky business. The ability to "mash" video footage from multiple sources, and create derivative moving images, will inevitably entice videojournalists and fill courtrooms in the process. The safest solution? When in doubt, sign contracts, seek permission, give credit.

Reeling Them In: Building an Audience for Videojournalism

Want to know how the top mainstream media organizations are using web video, and what their future plans are?

Then you won't want to miss this panel discussion(below, 1:11:20), sponsored by YouTube, and moderated by WashingtonPost.com's political blogger Chris Cillizza ("The Fix").



The topic: "Reeling Them In: Building an Audience for News Video." The panelists: Jim Brady, Executive Editor of WashingtonPost.com; Ann Derry, The New York Times' Editorial Director of Video and Television; Refet Kaplan, Managing Director, Fox News; Lila King, Director of CNN iReport; Jon Sawyer, Executive Director of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Online video has presented a new frontier in the future of news. It's easier than ever to use video to tell stories; even news organizations that traditionally published in text are adding substantial video capacity to their staffs. Traditional media organizations have started arming their reporters with video cameras, and today's journalists are expected not only to research and write, but to blog and shoot video for rich multimedia packages. Yet the market for video is so saturated - how do you rise above the chatter, for example, of the 13 hours of video that are uploaded to YouTube every minute? This panel discusses how news outlets are using video to enhance their content offerings and reach new markets.