Media

One of the first questions I asked Jim Brady when he went public with his Allbritton local news startup was when would Erik Wemple be joining? The answer is now. Wemple, the high-profile editor of alt-weekly Washington City Paper for the last eight years, will be the new enterprise’s editor, reporting to Brady, president of...

The NYTimes.com’s latest community news site is centered in the East Village, a few miles downtown from its own midtown headquarters. The East Village site will be part of The Local,  the hyperlocal project it started last year. The project will be run by New York University’s journalism faculty and...

For nearly 40 minutes, top executives from The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) took questions from interviewer Staci D. Kramer, co-editor and EVP of ContentNext Media, and participants in paidContent 2010. Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., chairman and publisher; Janet Robinson, president and CEO; and Martin Nisenholtz, SVP-digital operations, knew the interest would...

The FT.com, whose metered model has been considered an example for other outlets, such as the NYTimes.com, has 1.9 million registered users, plus 121,000 paying subscribers, said the site’s Managing Director Rob Grimshaw in a Q&A with ContentNext Managing Editor Ernie Sander at paidContent 2010.

Grimshaw on why the FT is also offering...

While others are trying to figure out how to charge for their content, Dow Jones’ financial news site MarketWatch is plowing ahead with plans for several new pay-to-subscribe newsletters. On Monday, MarketWatch will unveil Revolution Investing, a premium newsletter aimed at traders for an annual fee of $199; the early-bird rate is $99....

The discussion started by ContentNext’s Ernie Sander and FT.com’s Rob Grimshaw at paidContent 2010 continued with a panel of other digital media execs from traditional media companies—along with Google (NSDQ: GOOG) product manager Josh Cohen.

—Flavor of the month: CNN.com’s KC Estenson: “There are new revenue opportunities...

Highlights from our Staci Kramer’s conversation with Steven Brill of Journalism Online, Jeff Price of The Sporting News and David Hyman of MOG:

—Sporting News: A new convert to the paid content model. Price, who just joined Sporting News as publisher this week, says that the Sporting News will charge $2.99 for a...

I wondered how long it would be before print media pointed at the BBC’s new smartphone apps plan as another example of expansion in to their commercial territory. The answer: just 24 hours...

The Newspaper Publishers Association, in an emailed statement, says its members believe BBC...

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is giving new life to “Living Stories,” the format for online news it announced in December. The company is open sourcing the format—which features a summary of recent developments related to a news topic, along with a timeline, on a single page—so that any publisher can...

Is Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) turning to “research” in its pitch to paywall-happy news publishers?

MSN UK content manager Alastair Bruce has published a 60-slide personal presentation on the topic (via J.co.uk) that nicely surveys 30 paid content sites - and then concludes: our search engine will protect your upcoming charging model...

As ad revenues decline, publishers continue to experiment with new areas of content and distribution platforms. What will users pay for? What’s working, or rather, what holds the most potential for growth? Local, niche? Subscriptions, metered? When the internet levels the playing field and anyone can be a publisher or reporter, how do news outlets...

—STV/NetPlay: More crossover between online gambling and broadcasters in the UK. Scottish ITV (LSE: ITV) franchise STV signed a two-year distribution deal with NetPlay, an interactive gaming company. The TV deal will see ChallengeJackpot.com broadcast six days a week on late-night TV. NetPlay has deals with Virgin 1, Bravo 2 and Channel Five. (Via