As I informed my readers more than three months ago.

SCMP unveils redesign as Clifford departs

by James Murphy Media Asia 21-Mar-07, 08:27

HONG KONG--Leading English-language daily newspaper South China Morning Post (SCMP) is gearing up to unveil a new look on Monday in a bid to bridge its print and online products.

The launch comes a week after editor-in-chief Mark Clifford announced he was stepping down from the role amid a series of recent staff departures. The SCMP, which last redesigned three...

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But to save you some trouble, read the article when I mentioned it at Asia Sentinel, here.

I had said in the original version of this article that 1Q 2007 the company would change its online platform. It got changed a bit in the editing, but still, here it is in the context of a discussion about 2007:

Meanwhile, SCMP's own online platform, which is subscription-based and offers no free content, is likely to undergo a revamp as management looks to target higher monetization. SCMP.com saw revenue contract by 10 percent during 1H 2006 due to a 21 percent drop in content syndication fees and the postponement of a number of advertising campaigns. The site's paid user base remains flat at around 20,000.

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It's an important question, because in media, no matter what they tell you, content is key. One could ask the same question about the newly redesigned Time (is that tear on Reagan's cheek photoshopped?).

If a magazine or newspaper publishes its stories in a certain way for millenia, it does nothing for me if they change the way it looks, if there's nothing new in the content. Not to be rude, but I don't care how it looks. Unless it's really ugly, like ugly.

There is a problem in traditional media' encounter with digital media, to speak broadly. (When I'm talking about media that is digital, I am talking about media that is interactive)

The problem: Perceived isolation between reporters and editors and management that could make the changes that reporters adn editors most keenly feel are needed in making the paper/magazine/publication accessible to a greater and more interested audience.

No fault to them, but I think management is there to make money and money is made in media through advertising.

But couldn't you make money through advertising in a way that left the publication more open to audience interaction? Yes. Look at Web TV content provider Gyao in Japan. Site is in Japanese, but hey, the point is this: free content makes money. Honest, it does!

For me, when I'm looking for a story, and looking to read a story, what grabs my interest is whether that content speaks to me. If it doesn't speak to me, does it at least speak about something or some activity or some change in the way of life I am living or the people around me are living, that makes me sit up and take note? If I'm visiting a news site for information and its making me pay for that content because it blatantly is concerned about making money and growing, I might hesitate. I can get information elsewhere.

It is news, after all. If it can't keep me sharp and focused, because it is not sharp and focused, then it doesn't matter what the design looks like. And it doesn't matter if you freeze me out by asking me to pay. I have a google news feed. I can visit blogs. And hell, if I wanted to, I could even go out and get teh story myself and attract my own advertisers.

I predict that the new design at the SCMP will be largely about looks, but there are two things that have been said before (see above article) that should be shown in the new layout.

1. Free access to certain parts of the site.

2. A tiered subscription plan, where there will be different levels of entrance to the site and linkage to the stuff in the paper.

By the way, whatever happened to all those pod casts and talks with the writers? They were always too far down on the web site. In other words, interaction has never been key to the SCMP.

But the SCMP is strides ahead of other local paper, The Standard, which for a time used to put its reporters' email addresses at the bottom of every article. Those are now gone.

There is a letters to the editors email, but when was the last time you saw a letter to the edtior in The Standard. I don't know, I've never picked up a paper copy since I stopped working there. But I can tell you, that it seemed to me that letters to the editor went into the print publication only when the editors felt like something interesting was being said. A good rule of thumb, but surely there were other not so great but worth reading emails to the editor?

I would be willing to bet that the reporters at The Standard and The SCMP have great ideas and that their interaction with the community would enhance their papers. Right now, reporters interact with reporters and sources. It's time to open up the industry.

My pitch for a new kind of newspaper?

Editors sit down with reporters and get their sense of what can be done to make the paper more interactive.
Editors and reporters sit down with management and tell them what they want to make the media more interactive.
End the hierarchical system of isolation.
Consumer generated section of the newspaper.
Free content.
Forums for public and reporting staff.
Video streams, whether live or VOD.

Let's go, Hong Kong. Chop! Chop!

 

rion
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