Check out Forbes new homepage

Inside Forbes: The 5 Reasons Behind Our Bold New Home Page

Stop the Digital Presses: 
FORBES is disrupting 
the media model for news.

I have this thing about home pages of news and information sites. They pretty much all look, feel and function the same — equal parts overwhelming, lifeless, a chore to navigate. A colleague of mine calls it “user punishment.” On CNN.com, I recently counted 315 links (373 if you include the 58 links in two drop-down menus). AOL.com, a quasi news site, asks you to click through a 40-slide module to find what might interest you. Others blind you with a mishmash of bright colors, squares, rectangles and circles. More telling, every one is a throwback to another era. Editors present their agenda as if it’s the only one that matters.

Read Lewis DVorkin's post here

http://blogs.forbes.com/lewisdvorkin/

5 Ways Journalists Can Use Pinterest

Does Pinterest, the digital pinboard site, have value as a tool for journalists?

Of course it does writes Elana Zak if you want to:

1. Share The News

2. Give Your Audience a Preview of What’s Next

3. Showcase Photo Galleries, Profiles, and Features

4. Show Off Your Reporting Staff 

5. Invite Readers To Participate

Read Elana Zak's post here:

http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/5-ways-news-organizations-can-use-pinterest_b9897

What does 'digital first' really mean?

Rob O'Regan's Blog

“Digital first” is a great rallying cry for the struggling publishing industry 

– but what does it actually mean?

Read Rob O' Regan's blog here:

http://www.emediavitals.com/content/what-does-digital-first-really-mean

US students on the future of media

 

Speaking at The Nation/Campus Progress annual Student Journalism Conference, a range of student journalists reflect on the future of media. Where is journalism headed? What trends and technologies are changing the game? And with print in peril, is a career in journalism still worth it? Students from all over the country give their view of the changing media landscape, and the efficacy of current "J-School" curricula.

Check out the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e23mInmBHNY&feature=channel&list=UL

 

For the full report, click here

http://stateofthemedia.org/2012/overview-4/

By Amy Mitchell  and Tom Rosenstiel of PEJ

In 2011, the digital revolution entered a new era.

The age of mobile, in which people are connected to the web wherever they are, arrived in earnest. More than four in ten American adults now own a smartphone. One in five owns a tablet. New cars are manufactured with internet built in. With more mobility comes deeper immersion into social networking.

For news, the new era brings mixed blessings.

New research released in this report finds that mobile devices are adding to people’s news consumption, strengthening the lure of traditional news brands and providing a boost to long-form journalism. Eight in ten who get news on smartphones or tablets, for instance, get news on conventional computers as well. People are taking advantage, in other words, of having easier access to news throughout the day – in their pocket, on their desks and in their laps.

At the same time, a more fundamental challenge that we identified in this report last year has intensified — the extent to which technology intermediaries now control the future of news.

NYT backs away from The Local

 

Five things The New York Times learned from its three-year hyperlocal experiment

 The Local was billed as an open-ended project with some specific ideas in mind. Blogs would be helmed by a couple of professional New York Times reporters, but story ideas and contributions would come from the community. If all went well, it might create a platform the Times could license to other communities.

But now The New York Times is backing away from The Local, says it doesn’t make sense to pay its staff to be in the hyperlocal business. 

Read the story here:

http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/06/five-things-the-new-york-times-learned-from-its-three-year-hyperlocal-experiment/

Best Designed Newspapers in the World

Best Designed Newspapers in the World
 6/20/2012

Politiken, Copenhagen, Denmark)

To see all five go to
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/ASection/Article/Best-Designed-Newspapers-in-the-World

 

by: Nu Yang

Five newspapers representing four countries were recently named the World’s Best Designed Newspapers as part of the Society of News Design’s 33rd annual World’s Best-Designed News competition.

The winners are Excelsior (Mexico City, Mexico), National Post (Toronto, Canada), Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (Frankfurt, Germany), The Grid (Toronto, Canada), and Politiken (Copenhagen, Denmark). The publications were chosen from 230 entries from 39 countries.

Papers were judged on writing, visual storytelling, use of resources, execution, photography, illustrations, graphics, headlines, and the paper’s “voice.” Each entrant submitted five complete issues from five different months of the year.

Excelsior won for the first time with “sophisticated typography, bold color palette, and overall visual energy.”

The Post celebrated its third win. Judges said, “(The Post) lures its readers in with a sultry beauty and then captivates them with an authoritative attitude that makes this Canadian daily a must-read.”

FAS was commended for its “excellent photojournalism, vibrant illustrations, and clear, direct information graphics,” while The Grid surprised judges with “sparse but great inside photography on full spreads.”

A previous winner in this category, Politiken once again wowed judges with its “thoughtfulness to the cropping and editing of photographs with designers using full width of pages for impact.”