New to AW is OutdoorX4, a bimonthly print and digital publication sub-titled: “Adventure is Worthwhile.” Editor Frank Ledwell says, “OutdoorX4 is focused on providing engaging articles and photography of which you can relate to, whether in a 4×4, dual-sport motorcycle, or on a hike, camping, mountain biking, fishing . . . you name it!” For more information visit: Outdoorx4.com/ . . . Wooden Horse Newsletter reports, “Black Television News Channel should be launching in about a year. It plans to air live news from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., followed by commentary programs until 9 p.m. The network does not have established TV personalities to attract target viewers yet. Co-founder is Robert Brillante.
The inverse dynamic of data growing exponentially while the time to keep up becomes proportionally shorter or the multiplying media means to target and reach consumers dividing the subscriber and advertiser dollars available to use them, may indeed produce a new form of journalism. Shaun Koiner, writing in Online Publishing Insider, thinks so. He says, “The idea that it always takes 600-700 words to elucidate an opinion is ridiculous. That (approximate) mythical word count was determined by the 72 column inches in newspaper pages for the previous 100-plus years. Those pages dictated an organization’s ability to tell the story that needed to be told. Consequently, there still are far too many people convinced that “journalism” is what printed newspapers used to do. That’s patently false. Journalism is content that serves readers. Sometimes they’re the same thing. These days, they often are not.” He praises Circa and theScore, both of whom, he says, “have redesigned the packaging of news in a concise, clean experience that’s optimized for mobile devices.
That most likely is what the NYTimes is doing in its own way by introducing new digital “packages” for the news its sizeable staff gathers and reports so professionally. One of the new packages is Times Premier, which the editors say, “is an enhanced offering that takes you beyond the news, with access to exclusive behind-the-scenes content and expanded benefits.”
The other is NYT Now which Erik Sass describes in Media Daily News as offering access to a curated collection of the most important NYT content, including videos, infographics and slide shows, as well as content from around the Web. The information appears in a continuously updated News stream, where the user can click on summaries to go to full stories. Sass quotes NYTCO CEO Mark Thompson “Our goal with this next phase of our paid products strategy is to satisfy the demand for Times journalism by giving new subscribers the ability to choose the amount of access they desire at a price point that suits them, and to enhance the value we offer our current loyal subscribers.” Re-packaging “All the news fit to print,” fitting the time and dollars available.
