Online news in 1981

All eight newspaper sites, publishing via dial up, were only weeks old at the time. It took over two hours to receive the full text of the paper over the phone line ... at $5 per hour!

"This is an experiment," says David Cole of the San Francisco Examiner. "We're trying to figure out what it's going to mean to us as editors and reporters and what it means to the home user." (No office users back then.)

"And we're not in it to make money."

*!*

"We're probably not going to lose a lot, but we aren't going to make much either."

An elderly 'home user' (1:35) - who must be 70 if he's a day - really gets it, though.

Says Mr Halloran, "I think it's the future of the type of interrogation the individual will give to the newspaper."

Working the night desk

Margaret Simons has been all over the Michael Backman incident at The Age this week. Her column in Crikey today discussing how the paper could publish a piece like that in error reminded me of the scene in The Thick Of It (Spinners & Losers episode) where the night desk at the Daily Mail is trying to follow Labour hacks' twists and turns in positioning a replacement for the recently departed PM.

Night Editor: You know our coverage tonight has either been wrong or guesswork. Which was wrong. So all we have now is a story shaped hole.
Angela: Seriously, your blood sugar's low and it makes you very irritable.
Night Editor: No. What makes me very irritable, Angela, is having no f*&*ing story and having to fill an entire newspaper with just f*&*ing prepositions.

(Yes, I know the examples are different, and the TV version of the night desk bears no resemblance to a real newsroom ...)

We're hiring

APN Online is looking for:

Two web developers, specifically with Python and Django experience.
An advertising operations manager
A product manager.
A producer.
A web designer.
And a graphic designer.

What's black & white and completely over?

Jon Stewart explains why it's all the internet's fault.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Clusterf#@k to the Poor House - Final Edition Edition

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Reading Fairfax's tea leaves

Reading between the lines of the latest reports, including comments from industry analysts, it seems there may be a fair shake up inside Fairfax Digital once McCarthy gets his feet under the desk. There's no doubt digital is the future of the business, but there's plenty of debate about the right strategic path to success in this format, and the right structure to pursue within the company.

Here are a few choice quotes.

Malcolm Maiden speculating on Brian McCarthy's brief as new CEO:

"[McCarthy's] elevation following Kirk's departure would resolve a talent overlap at the top, and he would have a brief to accelerate the integration of Fairfax and its new businesses, including its online division, Rural Press and the former Southern Cross radio network."

Jane Schultz and Nick Tabakoff quoting Macquarie Equities media analyst Alex Pollak:

"With respect to Fairfax's ongoing migration to digital, McCarthy was not in the forefront of the digital strategy while at Rural Press (possibly correctly) so it will be interesting to see whether and how he manages this critical process at Fairfax."

Andrew Main in the Weekend Australian (not online) quoting Greg Fraser media analyst at Shaw Stockbroking:

"After pointing out that Fairfax's 'undoubted local content goldmine' could in the right hands become a multimedia powerhouse, as long as Brian McCarthy can upskill himself in that area as soon as possible, Fraser's note ends on a school yard analogy. 'If FXJ was in a game of media bullrush, it would be the big fat kid that knocks a few of the skinny kids out of the way but eventually gets bowled over by its more nimble buddies before reaching the safety line. Lose some weight, FXJ.'"

So, will it be integration and cost cutting at Fairfax Digital?

How the papers covered the Kirk story

Reading the main papers today on the Fairfax story it's fascinating to see how the four broadsheets (including the AFR) have treated it. It says a lot about their current focus and strengths.

The Australian has done a fairly predictable Oz-type job: a "we told you so", chest thumping editorial, but also some really strong reporting from Andrew Main (currently not online), Jane Schultz and Nick Tabakoff who has led the way in covering the Kirk story for some weeks.

The SMH coverage is truly woeful. I can understand why they might be so timid on this issue, but it just looks pathetic given the scale of the story, its context in a tumultuous week (and year), and the competition from other publications, including within Fairfax.

The AFR does a pretty good job in print (tho of course not online) thanks to the steady hands and experience of Chanticleer's Alan Jury and the dean of Australian media writers Neil Shoebridge.

But my vote goes to The Age. They've gone hard - as they should have - but kept a good balance. They have a solid piece by media editor Matthew Ricketson, and a typically astute piece by the ever reliable Malcolm Maiden. Their straight business report doesn't add much that hasn't already been said, but I think the point about The Age's coverage is that it's bold and it shows that they are putting reader interest ahead of Fairfax politics.

Interestingly, there hasn't been anything from Businessspectator today despite a summary piece from Bartho yesterday. Gottliebsen's piece on the current Fairfax debt woes a few weeks ago pricked up a lot of ears but there hasn't been any more from him on this since.

Life's photo archive

Good old Google brings millions of LIFE photographs together in an historical archive ...

Melbourne, May 24 1930, crowds cheer Amy Johnson after her long distance solo flight from London to Australia.

One word to describe Peter Costello? Peevish

The Howard Years was a great piece of television. I'm looking forward to the next three instalments.

But how about Peter Costello? He just can't seem to help himself.

In today's AFR the utterly brilliant David Rowe perfectly captured Costello's squirm inducing performance from last night.

Monaco Media Forum

Nice place to have a media conference.

Here's Jeffrey Cole's keynote from last Thursday - he's still bullish on TV (kind of ironic given the only place to view the speech is Youtube).

Nocleanfeed

Protest is erupting against the Rudd Government's clumsy attempt to filter the internet.



It's a quixotic scheme - most likely technically unfeasible, and certainly of dubious economic value.