Search

The financially troubled `Daily Telegraph' after weeks of negotiations, published a brief front-page story confirming that control of the paper and its sister publication `The Sunday Telegraph' had passed into the hands of Toronto millionaire Conrad Black, 41.

This article presents information about widespread news in the daily newspapers regarding the A-levels fiasco. It castigated Ministers for not taking the blame for a serious failure of policy that could be traced directly to the decision of the British government to press ahead with reforms against the advice of its officials. Politicians are backing away from their stand to help students wrongly graded in the A-levels fiasco to get into their chosen universities.

The article focuses on the British newspaper business. Newspapers are trying all sorts of strategies to slow their decline. Having changed its shape from broadsheet to tabloid last year, the "Times" put its price up by five pence. And a more radical response appeared with the launch of "City A.M.," a new free daily paper aimed at business readers. Although fewer people are buying papers, lots more are reading free ones. Some newspaper consultants reckon, if young people are reading freesheets, it might just entice the next generation into buying the real thing later on. Most free papers are generalist, and it is far harder for a business and finance freesheet to get any attention from professionals. Attracting younger readers is the main reason for the format change by "The Guardian," with colour throughout It will take a sizeable jump in circulation for the investment to be judged a success. Nonetheless, this week's burst of activity shows that while Britain's newspaper market is not thriving, it is still vibrant and innovative.

This article explains that London, England is in the grip of a turf war between the U.K.'s heavyweight newspaper publishers. In the red corner is Rupert Murdoch's News International; and in the blue corner, Lord Rothermere's Daily Mail group, Associated Newspapers. Ordinarily this would be a joy to watch, in the hope that one would deliver a fatal blow to the other. Soon to be added to this is a free afternoon paper to be distributed, like Metro,But this time the stakes are too high to get any enjoyment from the dingdong. At risk is the future of the British press, which for all its wrongs has been a mainstay of our system of democracy for centuries. But the rise of free newspapers means that hundreds of thousands of trees are pulped each week to provide us with disposable paper.

Presents information on the problems plaguing the newspaper publishers in the United Kingdom as a result of quality values. Effect of rise in the cost of newsprint on publishing companies; Squeeze in the profit margins by newsprint costs and reduced revenue; Indications from companies to return to the chasing of market share; Information on companies affected and actions taken.

Reports on the retention of Real Media Inc. as provider of online ad management software and other services of ADHunter, a consortium representing more than 800 separate publications in Great Britain. Real Media's use of its Open AdStream ad management software; Reflection of the strategic development of long-term relationships with the British press.

The article focuses on the successful website of the BBC, Britain's public-service broadcaster. The internet has brought the BBC and newspapers in direct competition--and the BBC looks like coming off best. The improbable success online of Britain's lumbering giant of a public-service broadcaster is largely down to John Birt, a former director-general who "got" the internet before any of the other big men of British media. He launched the corporation's online operations in 1998, saying that the BBC would be a trusted guide for people bewildered by the variety of online services. The BBC now has 525 sites. It spends £15m ($27m) a year on its news website and another £51m on others ranging from society and culture to science, nature and entertainment. But behind the websites are the vast newsgathering and programme-making resources, including over 5,000 journalists, funded by its annual £2.8 billion public subsidy. It is the success of the BBC's news website that most troubles newspapers. Newspapers need to build up their online businesses because their offline businesses are flagging. Total newspaper readership has fallen by about 30% since 1990 and readers are getting older as young people increasingly get their news from other sources--principally the internet. The difficulty for all newspaper websites is that most of their visitors tend to stay only briefly, viewing just a few pages. That makes it tricky to build a subscription model. Part of the papers' problem online is that they're papers: they don't understand moving pictures and graphics. The BBC's television background gives it a feel for what works well on the internet. And, crucially, it has far more journalists on tap than any newspaper.

Reports that the owner of Hollinger International, Conrad Black, was illegally paid millions of dollars by Hollinger's North American papers to not make any competing publications. Illegal aspects of the exchange of money between the two companies; Countries that Hollinger has newspapers in such as Israel and Britain; Intentions of competitors to bid for papers currently published by Hollinger, such as The Telegraph; Financial difficulties of Hollinger.

The British newspaper industry thinks rather highly of itself. It sustains 11 national titles, and unusually high readership levels. It has a culture of irreverence, from which it looks down at the tame and stodgy German papers, and now at "Le Monde," France's leading high-brow newspaper, recently the target of accusations of political collusion. Yet British newspapers are in bad trouble--even worse than meets the eye. Pearson, part owner of "The Economist," reported this week that its flagship title, the "Financial Times," lost money in the second half of 2002, and just scraped a £1m ($1.6m) full-year operating profit, 92% down on 2001. One reason is the advertising slump. While some businesses, such as fashion, are still advertising heavily, others, such as technology, telecoms and financial services, are not. A survey last year by Freeserve showed that, in the 50% of homes that are wired to the internet, online news sites beat newspapers as the main source of news, and were topped only by TV and radio. Richard Desmond, the owner of Express Newspapers and publisher of titles ranging from "Women on Top" to the "Daily Star," has reinvented this end of the market.

The article focuses on the "New Milton Advertiser" and "Lymington Times," two community newspapers located in New Milton and Lymington, England. The two newspapers remain financially successful, an exception to an overall decline for the country's community newspapers. Journalism and management practices which contribute to the papers' success are discussed.

The author comments on the media in Great Britain. The "Sunday Express" offered a poem about the London whale. The papers could not agree on the whale's name, but agreed that something had to be done to commemorate its death. The London "Evening Standard" published a four-page souvenir. Suggestions of who to blame for the whale's predicament included the Ministry of Defence, the Royal Navy, deep-sea trawling and global warming. This is the 20th anniversary of Rupert Murdoch's dismissal of all his printers and the transfer of his newspapers from Fleet Street to Wapping.

The author offers observations on the media in Britain. Newspapers continue to report on more child abuse scandals following the publication of an article on sex offenders in schools that was published by the "Observer." Education Secretary Ruth Kelly's supporters were in such papers as "The Guardian." A story on global warming in the "Independent" predicted that by the end of the century only a few will survive, having retreated to the Arctic.

Describes the News Education Centre, a computer-packed classroom in Portsmouth, England, where visitors can learn how a newspaper is put together. Portsmouth's evening paper `The News'; Primary, secondary and college students' use of the facilities; Desktop publishing technology; Awards received by the center; Application of the center across the curriculum; Children's motivation through the medium.

Focuses on the newspaper market in Great Britain as of January 31, 1998. How the British newspaper market is unlike any other; The large number of national daily papers in competition with each other; The resulting high levels of sensationalism and gimmickry; The need for editors to have a strong instinct for how the market is developing.

Examines Rupert Murdoch's decision two months ago to cut the price of `The Times' from 45p to 30p. Paper sales up 26%; The `Independent' raised its price from 45p to 50p; Cost of the price cut for Murdoch; Revenues from advertising; Losers so far are Conrad Black's `Daily Telegraph,' the `Daily Mail' and `Daily Express'; Financial situation of the `Independent.'

The article focuses on the Kodak Prosper S30 Imprinting System from Eastman Kodak Co. used by British newspaper publisher News UK for its offset presses at its three print sites in Great Britain. It says that the system allows readers to collect special codes printed on papers for a month access to the digital content of "The Sun." Will Mansfield, director of marketing for Inkjet Printing Solutions at Kodak, says that the company is helping publishers to change their model into digital content.