When will the first paper go online only?

I have thinking that I wanted to make this whole blog lark a bit more interactive so I thought I would ask you guys a question for a change. I have set up a quick poll about the future of newspapers with the single question – “When will the first national paper go online only?” – by this I am thinking of the big London-based dailies really.

Would love to get your feedback. I can’t quite work out how to embed the thing in my blog (tips please) so have a click through below…

When will the first national newspaper go online only?
(polls)

Twitter takes over the courts…

Today, in what is thought to be the first case of its kind, the judge in the Julian Assange case has said that journalists can tweet throughout the trial providing “it’s quiet and doesn’t disturb anything.” This case really is landmark in the future of journalism.

The EU, the SNP and student fees – why is the Mail not having a field day?

Guest Blog by Alex Rowley

 

Reaction to the tuition fees debate has been in the papers a lot recently. The UK government voted in favour of raising the fees to a minimum of £6,000 and maximum of £9,000 in exceptional cases. In Wales it was confirmed that these rises would not be taking place, in Scotland it is under review but still free and Northern Ireland may follow the Welsh lead of keeping fees the same for those resident there.

The EU has not been in the news recently but to jog your memory, institutions must charge EU students the same as local students. So while those from Gretna are charged the same as those from Guttenberg for attending the University of Aberdeen, those from Berwick-upon-Tweed are not.

The Times abandons its own front page…

On Monday night I blogged that the Times’s story for Tuesday’s front page was a woeful rehash of a Telegraph story from last month. Either someone is reading this blog or someone else noticed because by the second edition they had changed the story on the front page, something you very rarely see in national papers.

The first edition led with “One dose of aspirin a day cuts cancer risk” but by the second edition that night they had changed to “Pullout of Helmand troops to start early”

This Wikileak shows it has taken control of the press

Wikileaks no longer needs newspapers, newspapers need it.

This was not always the case. When the website first started publishing leaked documents it found it hard to get coverage in the ‘traditional’ media and the website’s founder Julian Assange is hardly a big fan of newspapers. For the first year the papers and the website had a mutually hostile relationship, with occasional bits of coverage the exception rather than the rule.

The Independent, the Nazi and the Croatian fascist

Sometimes it feels like this blog is almost solely dedicated to discussing the Independent, but they do make the most interesting cock-ups. Today’s it emerges that they may face a law suit about a story two days ago in which they had a picture of former Nazi war criminal splashed across the front page. Well they thought they did…

The not-so-slow decline of the I-paper

The I Paper may be a new idea, but it seems to be failing pretty fast. The Guardian reports today that sales of the Independent’s new 20p daily have fallen over half in the month since launching. It is obviously still early but the figures suggest that the Indy’s gamble may not be paying off. The reason? It’s too expensive…

Why data is the future of journalism (or the data boy triumphs)

In my year at university I am often mocked because I once said “I really like data.” In a bunch of journalists this is apparently sacrilege, and the class have taken to calling me ‘Data Boy’ as a polite way of reminding me that I have no life.

Well, my friends, I feel completely vindicated after the inventor of the web declared that the future of journalism is in trawling through data sets, not in chatting to people down the pub.

The Aussie papers show Murdoch thinks the Times paywall is failing

No newspaper round-up from me over the weekend so I thought I would analyse what The Times paywall has taught Murdoch.

It has been announced that the Australian Murdoch papers are going to go behind a partial paywall, with some content free and some charged, along the model of the Wall Street Journal rather than the much more stringent Times paywall. The editors of the Aussie papers are saying their decision has nothing to do with the UK but I think it shows the Times paywall is failing.

3 ways local papers can save themselves

Local newspapers are dying. I say that not as a wish but as a fact. I would love to see the resurgence of locals but sadly the economic model that funded them belongs to a bygone era. Here’s just a few ways they can save themselves.