Wall Street shows faith in news publishers’ digital future

The willingness of some of the traditional news industry’s top players to take risks and experiment with their digital offerings is contributing to their recent success on the stock market. While circulation figures continue to fall and ad revenues diminish, some of the US’s most prominent news titles are reporting healthy rates on Wall Street.

Three years into The Times’ paywall, CEO says revenue’s worth lost reach

News UK Chief Executive Officer Mike Darcey said The Times’ strict, nonporous paywall has brought enough revenue to make it a success, three years since its introduction.

Sales of French national dailies plummeted in May

With the sole exception of La Croix, all national daily newspapers in France reported declining sales figures for the month of May, according to the OJD (Association pour la contrôle de la diffusion des medias).

RCS Mediagroup’s shareholders at loggerheads over plans for restructuring publishing business

Tensions are running high at the heart of RCS Mediagroup as key shareholders fail to agree on plans to turn around the ailing multimedia publishing company that controls the Corriere della Sera, Italy’s largest daily news title.

Should newspapers raise cover prices?

Several regional British newspapers are tweaking their cover prices in an attempt to combat plummeting advertising profts. As news organisations shift focus from reach to revenue, is it in newspapers’ best interest to raise prices?

Con: Raising prices will shrink reader base

Jordanian online press freedom is threatened as 254 unlicensed news sites are blocked

On Tuesday 2 July the Jordanian government announced it had blocked 254 news websites that had failed to obtain a government license. This move follows a controversial change to the Press and Publication Law in 2012 dictating that online news sites must register with the government, a policy that independent watchdog organisation Freedom House fear will “risk curbing their independent reporting and analysis.” Among the blocked sites are those for Al-Jazeera, Time Out magazine and AmmanNet.

News Corp turns to mobile in an attempt to make its news titles profitable

Robert Thomson, chief executive of the newly created News Corp, has been unveiling the company’s mobile-first strategy in the hope of convincing investors that there is a future beyond print for the now independent branch of Murdoch-owned news titles and publishers.

Newspapers’ TV purchases may backfire comeback plans

Tribune Co., owner of eight newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun, announced its intended purchase of Local TV LLC’s 19 television stations on Monday. The $2.7-billion deal, which will make the company the country’s largest commercial TV station owner, trails Gannett Co.’s $2.2-billion purchase of Belo Corp.’s 20 TV stations in early June.

Struggling French weekly ‘Marianne’ makes a comeback ‘Le Nouveau Marianne’

Jean-François Kahn, founder of the current affairs magazine Marianne is looking to revolutionise the notion of the weekly news magazine. The journalist, who has just celebrated his 75th birthday, took the decision to transform the struggling weekly publication Marianne into the new and improved Le Nouveau Marianne, which debuted in kiosks on Saturday 29 June at a price of 3 euros. Kahn is hoping that Le Nouveau Marianne will follow in the footsteps of Le Nouvel Observateur, the highly successful news weekly which came into existence as a result of the relaunch of the floundering publication, France Observateur in 1964.

Hailed as the ‘fastest growing news site ever’ Upworthy looks to develop advertising strategy

Upworthy, the news aggregator that seeks to make viral hits out of serious issues, is about to capitalise on its status as the “fastest growing news site ever.” According to Forbes, Upworthy is ready to start working with advertisers through a sponsored content programme that will enable marketers to promote their messages alongside the site’s curated collection of what it deems to be the most important political, social and cultural important images and videos on the web.