The iPad's role in saving newspapers is far from certain
ANDREA CARSON
June 9, 2010
It may make delivery easier, but a different partnership is needed for quality stories.
THE young man with a new iPad sat in a city cafe, sipping a short black as he swiped electronic pages, seemingly effortlessly. A dozen or so of us gazed at him through the cafe window. And why not? This machine is many things: lightweight, clever, portable and - having outpaced the iPhone with 2 million sales worldwide in two months - also popular. But will this tablet technology be the miracle panacea for the uncertain future newspapers face?
Newspapers are expensive to own and run. The ''rivers of gold'' advertising revenue of the heady 1980s have slowed as new online tributaries compete for market share. Today, any popular online site can attract advertising. As competition watchdog chief Graeme Samuel can testify, healthy competition drops prices. Advertising rates are no exception.
This paper's technology editor, Gordon Farrer, is optimistic the iPad will provide the ''smart interface'', backed by a company's track record, to get consumers to pay for content. But writing online, Eric Beecher - whose long newspaper experience includes writing, editing and publishing - says it is unclear how the iPad will create advertising revenue for newspapers.
The truth is it's hard to know who's right, because the iPad is an infant. Like all infants, it brings excitement, has wonderful potential, and has some growing up to do.
But it is a winner for Apple chief executive Steve Jobs's marketing team. Even though it has built the iPad without convenient modern features such as a USB port, camera, memory card, Adobe flash and multi-tasking capabilities, Apple has forced a deliberate market space for the new device. It has ensured consumers ''need'' a laptop, an iPhone, an iPod and now an iPad. Why merge functions when you can sell more products?
This model is perhaps a precursor to a better servant for newspapers, but not yet. Salvation waits.
Here are some facts about newspapers:
■The internet is barely a teenager. Western newspaper readership decline began before the internet became a word in the dictionary.
■British research shows quality newspapers have lost fewer readers relative to their circulations than tabloids.
■Quality journalism builds public trust. US media doyen Philip Meyer asserts democracy is strongest when several conditions are met, including survival of ''quality'' newspapers. This is supported by studies showing a positive correlation between healthy democracies and hard-copy newspapers. Meyer says the internet serves democracy as a distributor of information rather than an originator.
■Research shows that online newspaper content is less diverse and more entertainment focused than its print equivalents. Content converges when a medium relies solely on advertising revenue rather than a mix of sources.
For journalism to serve democracy, it seems clear that the content is of most importance. With this in mind, the question is less about whether the iPad is the right delivery method and more about how to sponsor good journalism.
Relying on subscription-based online delivery is flawed because the modern trend is free, free, and free. Rupert Murdoch may think readers will pay for content, but that genie is out of the bottle. Also passe are family-owned newspapers. Moreover, public broadcasters provide a quality non-subscription alternative.
Only niche publications such as business mastheads can get away with charging for content because credible information is specific and not easily found free.
In the United States, quality journalism has been funded by philanthropy. The success story is ProPublica, which recently won a Pulitzer Prize for its investigative journalism. But a philanthropic model requires a steady flow of donations and goodwill. And there is a risk of perceived and actual conflicts of interest. Some Scandinavian and European governments subsidise newspapers. But seeing as we already have the excellent ABC, this seems indulgent.
A more effective model builds on this idea. Innovative partnerships such as a recent one between The Age and the ABC delivered a bigger audience and broader coverage of an important story about Securency, a Reserve Bank subsidiary, and allegations of corruption involving its polymer note contracts.
Time will tell if the iPad was a step in the right direction for delivering newspapers. But clever partnerships to pursue public interest journalism? That is cause for optimism.
Andrea Carson is working on a PhD on the role investigative journalism in broadsheet newspapers plays in a democracy.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Cure for fog
Fog plan hits turbulence
ANDREW HEASLEY
June 5, 2010
MELBOURNE Airport is supposed to be ''fog-proof'' after a $17 million infrastructure upgrade but as this week's flight diversions showed, the planes and flight crew are not.
Not all of Australia's domestic aircraft fleet are equipped, or pilots trained, to make use of the airport's new low-visibility landing system.
On Thursday, fog caused havoc with airline schedules as several morning flights were unable to land at Melbourne and had to be diverted to Sydney or Adelaide.
Air Services Australia spokesman Matt Wardell said the system primarily benefited international arrivals, as modern long-haul planes had more sophisticated avionics in the cockpit and pilots were trained to use the Category 3 low-visibility Instrument Landing System (Cat-3).
''It's not practical or economical to mandate aircraft to be fitted with it because there are only a few airports Australia-wide that are affected by fog,'' Mr Wardell said.
Melbourne is the only Australian airport to have the system installed.
Mr Wardell said the system was used on Thursday for landings, allowing suitably equipped planes and trained crew to land safely while Melbourne was shrouded in fog.
All of Qantas's Airbuses and Boeing 747s, 767s and 737-800s are equipped with the ''Cat-3'' gear and its pilots trained in its use.
A spokesman said Qantas had 21 older 737s-400s and smaller aircraft flying domestically that were not equipped with Cat-3.
While Jetstar has the equipment on its Airbus fleet used here and abroad and its international pilots are trained in its use, its domestic-only pilots are not trained to use the system.
Tiger Airways and Virgin Blue's planes are not Cat-3 equipped, either, though Virgin is evaluating the technology for its next aircraft purchases.
The airlines said the reason the planes did not have the technology was that until two months ago no Australian airport had it either.
Despite downtown Melbourne looking grey all day yesterday from the ground up, airlines reported that flights were landing and leaving normally.
ANDREW HEASLEY
June 5, 2010
MELBOURNE Airport is supposed to be ''fog-proof'' after a $17 million infrastructure upgrade but as this week's flight diversions showed, the planes and flight crew are not.
Not all of Australia's domestic aircraft fleet are equipped, or pilots trained, to make use of the airport's new low-visibility landing system.
On Thursday, fog caused havoc with airline schedules as several morning flights were unable to land at Melbourne and had to be diverted to Sydney or Adelaide.
Air Services Australia spokesman Matt Wardell said the system primarily benefited international arrivals, as modern long-haul planes had more sophisticated avionics in the cockpit and pilots were trained to use the Category 3 low-visibility Instrument Landing System (Cat-3).
''It's not practical or economical to mandate aircraft to be fitted with it because there are only a few airports Australia-wide that are affected by fog,'' Mr Wardell said.
Melbourne is the only Australian airport to have the system installed.
Mr Wardell said the system was used on Thursday for landings, allowing suitably equipped planes and trained crew to land safely while Melbourne was shrouded in fog.
All of Qantas's Airbuses and Boeing 747s, 767s and 737-800s are equipped with the ''Cat-3'' gear and its pilots trained in its use.
A spokesman said Qantas had 21 older 737s-400s and smaller aircraft flying domestically that were not equipped with Cat-3.
While Jetstar has the equipment on its Airbus fleet used here and abroad and its international pilots are trained in its use, its domestic-only pilots are not trained to use the system.
Tiger Airways and Virgin Blue's planes are not Cat-3 equipped, either, though Virgin is evaluating the technology for its next aircraft purchases.
The airlines said the reason the planes did not have the technology was that until two months ago no Australian airport had it either.
Despite downtown Melbourne looking grey all day yesterday from the ground up, airlines reported that flights were landing and leaving normally.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Is this why Skype is touchy lately? R more people using Skype?
Five million ready to make Skype calls over 3G
June 3, 2010 - 1:06PM
Nearly five million people have downloaded a Skype phone application launched on Sunday, allowing iPhone users to make Skype calls over mobile networks.
Before the launch of the application for use on high-speed third generation (3G) networks on May 30, consumers could only use Skype on their iPhone when they had access to Wi-Fi. Although some exclusive deals with operators in some countries, such as 3 Mobile in Australia, have allowed calls on the operator's network from different phones from time to time.
"We've had millions of downloads to date," Russ Shaw, Skype's general manager for mobile, told Reuters, referring to global iPhone users. "That's really positive."
A Skype spokeswoman said the number of downloads of the application was nearly five million by Wednesday morning US Eastern Time.
Shaw said the app saw a good mix of demand across Skype's three main operating regions: Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.
However, Skype faced a lot of complaints from web commentators after it also said on Sunday that it would start charging for 3G calls between Skype users next year.
This was seen as a big turnaround since the main reason Skype became popular was because Skype-to-Skype calls have always been free whether subscribers use it on their computer or their mobile phone.
Shaw said the company needs to start charging for the service so that it can fund the investments needed to ensure that the quality of 3G Skype calls stays high.
He declined to give specific details about pricing plans except to say that the service would still be competitive with rival services including traditional cellphone calls.
"We're not going to want to price ourselves out of the market," he said. "I can't ignore the fact that consumers (currently) use us for free."
Apple is expected to announce a new iPhone on June 7. Shaw said Skype would hope to support the next iPhone too but noted that he had no details about Apple's announcement. AT&T Inc is currently the exclusive US iPhone provider.
June 3, 2010 - 1:06PM
Nearly five million people have downloaded a Skype phone application launched on Sunday, allowing iPhone users to make Skype calls over mobile networks.
Before the launch of the application for use on high-speed third generation (3G) networks on May 30, consumers could only use Skype on their iPhone when they had access to Wi-Fi. Although some exclusive deals with operators in some countries, such as 3 Mobile in Australia, have allowed calls on the operator's network from different phones from time to time.
"We've had millions of downloads to date," Russ Shaw, Skype's general manager for mobile, told Reuters, referring to global iPhone users. "That's really positive."
A Skype spokeswoman said the number of downloads of the application was nearly five million by Wednesday morning US Eastern Time.
Shaw said the app saw a good mix of demand across Skype's three main operating regions: Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.
However, Skype faced a lot of complaints from web commentators after it also said on Sunday that it would start charging for 3G calls between Skype users next year.
This was seen as a big turnaround since the main reason Skype became popular was because Skype-to-Skype calls have always been free whether subscribers use it on their computer or their mobile phone.
Shaw said the company needs to start charging for the service so that it can fund the investments needed to ensure that the quality of 3G Skype calls stays high.
He declined to give specific details about pricing plans except to say that the service would still be competitive with rival services including traditional cellphone calls.
"We're not going to want to price ourselves out of the market," he said. "I can't ignore the fact that consumers (currently) use us for free."
Apple is expected to announce a new iPhone on June 7. Shaw said Skype would hope to support the next iPhone too but noted that he had no details about Apple's announcement. AT&T Inc is currently the exclusive US iPhone provider.
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