Join ACAP for the good of the industry

Newspaper publishers attending the World Newspaper Congress were invited to join a growing list of publishers around the world who are implementing the Automated Content Access Protocol on their websites.

The Automated Content Access Protocol, or ACAP, “is a lot of words to describe something that is not that complex,” says Mr O’Reilly.

ACAP, which builds on existing technology, allows the terms and conditions that already exist on most websites to be put into a format that can be read by the automated crawlers and spiders that search engines and news aggregators use to index content.

ACAP is being implemented by a growing number of publishers. The protocol, and instructions for implementing it, can be found at http://www.the-acap.org

The major search engines have been involved in the project, but are have not yet implemented it, said Mr O’Reilly. They’re taking a “wait and see” approach, which makes publisher implementation all the more important to convince the search engines to adopt ACAP.

“The big three search engines are not fully signed up,” said Mr O’Reilly. “It’s understandable - they have had unbridled use of our content with very little terms and conditions associated with that.”

“ACAP purpose is ot to define new business models, but to enable them. It is our right, and I don’t think even the search engines would argue this, it is our right as content owners to express how our content should be ultimately used.”

More on ACAP from Mr O’Reilly on YouTube.

Protecting the Right to Sports Coverage

Gone are the days when applying for a press pass to cover sports events was merely a matter of submitting your name.

Now you need a lawyer to understand the terms and conditions associated with accreditation. The problem is, many newspapers still don’t read the fine print, “and it’s likely that you’ve already handed over some of your rights to the people who organised events”, says Mr Young.

Here are some examples of the restrictions that sports organisations have been including:

  No text superimposed on photographs in print, so headlines and captions can’t be used on photos.

  The organisers or club might take a revenue share if the material is used in a commercial way.

  An article must damage the integrity of the sport, so no criticism of players and officials.

But the most widespread restrictions concern digital media - limits or bans on photos on websites, bans on blogging, no audio-visual materials and no mobile delivery are common restrictions.

The news media has come together to protect the right to free and open coverage of sports and other events. The News Media Coalition, which brings together forty media and their representative organisations, including the World Association of Newspapers, has been formed to raise awareness of the issue and to negotiate with sports organisers. Successful and partially successful negotiations have already been conducted with FIFA, UEFA, the International Rugby Board, the Indian Premier League and others.

For more information on the NMC, including how to join, www.newsmediacoalition.org.

The Virtuous Circle is the key

Like many newspapers, Le Figaro, one of the leading press group in France, found itself facing new competition for advertising revenues and readers. Unlike many others, it only has one brand, so there were no niche products to help it find incremental revenues.

“Having only one brand is a strength, but it means we don’t have other products to help us grow,” says Mr Morel. “So we have to capitalize on the brand as we move into new business territories.”

The presentation by Mr Morel and Mr Conte described the construction of a new business model that began two years ago that combines both print and digital developments. They described the relationship between print and digital as a “virtuous circle” - the company concentrates on synergies between its print and on-line products.

Among the new developments:

  A cooperation agreement with the magazine L’Express to create a new classified advertisement web company for recruitment, training and real estate.

  A new integrated advertising sales structure that offers tailored print/web packages to clients, and a move to use contextual and behavioral targeting.

The company has also just completed a new print plant, and Mr Morel said it was important to keep the focus on print as well as development new on-line businesses.

Multi-media enhances local newspapers

Digital platforms have the capability of delivering news and information far beyond a traditional newspaper’s borders. But they can also be used to enhance a newspaper’s position in its own local market, says Mr Koch.

As a media group based in Trondheim in central Norway, Adresseavisen has a strong presence in local and regional markets. Its strategic goals are to maintain current circulation and readership (250,000 readers in print) while becoming the leading digital provider in central Norway. The company has had uninterrupted revenue growth since 1997 and has reversed a circulation decline.

“Through focused strategies and diligent work, traditional newspapers can successfully achieve the transformation to a profitable multimedia organization”, says Mr Koch.

Here are some of the key points of the Adresseavisen strategy:

  The focus remains on developing our core product - the print channel.

  Heavy investment in the online channel, which continued despite the collapse of the “dotcom boom” in 2002.

  Forming alliances with other regional newspapers in Norway.

  Taking part in developing FINN.no, together with other regional newspapers, to become Norway’s dominant classified company.

2008 World Report on Newspaper Innovations

The annual Innovations in Newspapers presentation by the Innovation International Media Consulting Group is always one of the highlights of the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum.

This year’s presentation, based on the Innovations in Newspapers 2008 World Report for the World Association of Newspapers, focused on the future of digital media, design, newsrooms and in news way to communicate with the audience.

These were some of the issues examined:

  How some newspapers are opening their editorial meetings to the public.

  How the best multi-media newsrooms are organised.

  Successful weekend newspapers and supplements.

  How to use video to enhance on-line offerings.

  Keys to internet success.

  The lessons - both postive and negative - from the experiences of free newspaper companies.

  And much more.

The 2008 World Report, in English and Spanish is available from the World Association of Newspapers. To order, or for more information, contact contact_us@wan.asso.fr.

Putting Decline into Demand

The growth of news delivery from digital sources has made it necessary to adapt today’s print media and find ways to support its vital need in society, says Mr Wallin.

Print can successfully competing with digital media if print media keeps its well-defined focus on readers and advertisers and the things print does best, he says.

Mr Wallin provided some grim figures about newspaper circulation and paper demand in North America and Western Europe since 1990.

But within those markets, newsprint demand is uneven - for example, it is growing in the 10 new EU members while it drops in western Europe.

To illustrate two different approaches to print development, Mr Wallin cited the cases of two of Holmen’s biggest clients: Alex Springer and News Corporation.

He quoted Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner as saying, “We do not view our online business as a separate and independent business area. Our goal is rather to digitize all our strong brands, content, and business models.”,

He quoted News International’s Rupert Murdoch as saying, “While I share the concerns of those who fret over the future of newspapers, I have never shared their sense of gloom. We recognize the necessity in these times above all to ensure our newspapers remain market leaders - and ours most assuredly are. As the digital revolution accelerates, newspapers should be seen as simply one delivery method for news organizations. Properly executed, great news brands will expand not contract”,.

Outsourcing editorial - still controversial

News agencies are among the earliest examples of outsourcing, says Mr Watson, who acknowledges that ”the notion of outsourcing parts of the editorial process remains controversial.”

But he made a case for outsourcing certain jobs as a way for publishers to save money and to free talented journalists for other tasks.

Outsourcing works best for repetitive processes, filling template pages and large scale data gathering, he said.

”It makes no sense for skilled journalists to do this work when they can produce greater value elsewhere,” he says.

Still, journalists are resistant and there are other challenges for publishers thinking about outsourcing: the content might be treated as ”not invented here”, and vested interests within the newspaper company will oppose sending even the simplest tasks out of house.

Mr Watson said his company is putting together television listings for 300 newspapers and magazine, processing 6,000 pages per week. ”But it took 18 years for this process to evolve,” he says.

But he believes the process is accelerating as publishers look to cut costs and improve efficiencies.

“It’s Still Your Business”

Independent Newspapers in Ireland has adopted outsourcing as a central business strategy - but outsourcing advertising pre-press, advertising telesales, circulation sales, accounting, on-line activities and even some editorial functions does not mean the company has outsourced control over its product, says Mr Webb.

“Remember that nobody understands your business better than you do,” says Mr Webb. “If you take the attitude that it’s someone else’s problem, you’re on the road to ruin.”

His presentation examined the reasons for outsourcing such functions and how the company protected its core values in the process.

“Outsourcing has been very successful for us,” says Mr Webb “It has freed up management time and resources to focus on critical areas of our business.”

“It’s been a major catalyst of change in our business,” he says. “It’s led to significant savings and greater margins. It’s allowed investments and enhancements. And it’s led to product improvement and efficiencies.”

Here are some of Mr Webb’s keys to making outsourcing successful:

  Top and middle managers have to support it wholeheartedly.

  The service level agreements with the outsourcing companies must be reviewed regularly.

  Planning is essential for mapping the process, preparing for contingencies and selecting partners.

Reality catches up to the hype

Before speaking about the need for re-engineering the newspaper business model, Mr Shepherd acknowledged that the audience probably has heard such warnings about the need for change before.

“You’ve probably heard it every year for the last 10 years. In the year 2000, you probably had the same discussion. You might be wondering what some of the fuss is about. “

One of the reasons that newspaper companies have been slow to change is because they’ve been able to maintain or grow advertising revenues despite a decline in circulation, Mr Shepherd said.

“On the advertising side, the revenues have been pretty resistant to the changes in circulation,” he said. “This could be because the advertising industry itself is rather conservative.”

But Mr Shepherd warned against such complacency and said there were indicators that negative change had arrived. And the most important change is the growth of broadband, he said.

“The industry has got to start thinking, it is changing, and there will be a more challenging environment ahead,” he said.

Pointing to the UK market, Mr Shepherd said the internet hype was five to 10 years ahead of reality. Growing broadband penetration is effecting both consumer and business behaviour, he said.

And, as a result, on-line advertising in the UK is growing an at average 50 percent rate per annum and reached 71 percent between 2004 and 2005.

The growth is effecting print revenues, Mr Shepherd said. Even more worrying, Mr Shepherd said, was that most of the online advertising growth was going to non-branded new entries, and not to newspaper websites.

“There is a feeling in the market that once you’ve lost this to the online specialists - because we’re getting a feeling from advertisers that there is value for money here - once the market turns, these advertisers won’t be coming back.”

But Mr Shepherd said all isn’t not grim for newspapers. “I’d like to remind everyone that the newspaper business has a tremendous foundation,” he says. “What these online companies don’t have is the quality editorial, the readers, the relationship with the advertisers. These are tremendous advantages that can be leveraged,” he says.