Posted by Tonie Auer, president of the DFW ASBPE chapter.

Labels: Journalism, Tonie Auer

Labels: Productivity, Tonie Auer, Writing

E-Ink May Prove Profitable in The Future

By E&P Staff
As print newspaper revenues continue to fall, Bill Richards wrote on the Crosscut Web site that papers may want to look to devices such as Amazon’s Kindle, which use E ink technology.Such devices could make up for the losses in print and make the newspaper industry very profitable.

The Web has taken away both readers and ad money from print papers, but it hasn’t grown ad revenue enough to make up for the losses. Hearst has announced plans to release a wireless online paper within the next two years, using E ink technology with a flexible screen device the size of a tabloid paper.

The costs of an e-paper are mostly fixed because circulation is not an issue. The devices are simply a new delivery system for old content, which eliminate production and distribution costs. The building and general and administrative costs at the paper would shrink with the e-paper being the only version. The staff, like in the hypothetical paper could also be cut in half.

Advertisers may be more interested because the ads are still displayed in the same manner they are in the regular print newspaper because the e-paper screen is the size of a tabloid paper. Ads could also target specific audiences.

Labels: Economy, Media Business, State of the Industry, Tonie Auer

As a freelance writer for the past six years, I have followed this case with some interest. While a court has ruled, I'm not sure that all the questions have been answered. Most editors and publications' representatives have addressed this issue with specific wording in writer agreements. I know for me, almost every publication I write for has wording in the agreements specifying that the rights to the story include online publication, too. Just be wary and read those agreements over.

On Nov. 30, the New York Times reported: A federal appeals court yesterday threw out a hard-fought agreement between publishers and freelance writers to pay the writers for electronic reproduction of their work.

In a 2-to-1 decision, an appellate panel ruled that the courts had no jurisdiction over the copyright dispute and that a lower court erred in accepting the writers’ lawsuit and approving the settlement.

People on both sides of the dispute said it was unclear what would happen next — whether the decision would be appealed, a new suit filed, or a new agreement negotiated.

“The decision is an outrage, and I hope it’s appealable to the Supreme Court,” said Gerard Colby, president of the National Writers Union, and a plaintiff.

In 2001, the United States Supreme Court ruled that digital reproduction of newspaper, magazine and other articles without the writers’ permission violated their copyrights. Publishers removed such articles from their digital archives and began requiring freelancers to explicitly cede electronic rights to their work.

But that did not resolve claims for monetary damages for the earlier violations. In Federal District Court in Manhattan, Judge George B. Daniels allowed a class-action suit by writers and their organizations; without that crucial step, each writer determined to win payment would have had to sue individually.

The suit named major publishers and archive services, including the Thomson Corporation, The New York Times Company, Dow Jones & Company, the LexisNexis unit of the Reed Elsevier Group and the Tribune Company.

After years of negotiation, the companies and the writers reached a settlement in March, 2005, which the judge approved. It provided for mostly modest payments to freelancers, and capped the publishers’ payout at $18 million.

But yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan voided the settlement. In his decision, Judge Chester J. Straub wrote that federal copyright law allows claims for damages only by writers who have registered their work with the United States Copyright Office. The vast majority of freelancers did not register, so he said the courts had no jurisdiction over their disputes, and the case should not have been approved as a class-action suit.

He noted that the defendants had themselves made similar arguments before settling and stated that they settled the case out of “the desire to achieve global peace in the publishing industry.”

The settlement had recognized the gap in standing, providing higher payments for writers who had registered their work with the copyright office. Judge Ralph K. Winter joined in the majority.

In a dissenting opinion, Chief Judge John M. Walker argued that the registration requirement was a malleable procedural rule for processing a legal claim, not a strict limit on the court’s jurisdiction.

Contributed by Tonie Auer, president of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the ASBPE.

Labels: Career/Employment, Freelancing, Tonie Auer

By Steven Roll
ASBPE President

When I read Alvin Toffler's Future Shock in high school, I scoffed at his premise that the pace of technological change would accelerate so rapidly that people would someday be unable to keep up. After all, it didn't take me much time to master the first-generation word processing program on our family's green-screened computer. But given the technological advances since then, Toffler's prediction seems alarmingly accurate.

As business journalists we experience the impact of profound changes to communications technology every day. At ASBPE's national conference last summer attendees described how having access to all of these new forms of communication is both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing because learning how to use new technologies such as a podcasts is exciting and often enables us to present information in an interesting format. It is a curse because of the additional time we need to learn about them and effectively use them.

One thing that hasn't changed is that there are still only 24 hours in a day. Business journalists are often asked to juggle learning to use new forms of communication with traditional roles such as writing detailed feature articles on complex topics.

The primary goal of this blog is to equip b2b journalists to handle these demands.

To kick off ASBPE's National Blog, I'd like to define some words that each illustrate the nexus between technology and journalism. Knowing the meaning of these phrases might make the difference between being duped and finding your next scoop or market niche.

sock puppet: According to Poynter Institute's Web Speak Blog, sock puppetry is the act of creating a false identity to manipulate an online discussion. The "sock puppet" appears to be a neutral third party on a message board or blog. A sock puppeteer creates a fake identity while having a personal interest in the discussion -- usually as the author of a blog post in question or as a representative of a company under discussion. In July, the New York Times reported that John Mackey, the chief executive of Whole Foods Market used a fictional identity on the Yahoo message boards for nearly eight years to assail competition and promote his supermarket chain’s stock.

crowd sourcing: Poynter's Web Speak blog says it is taking a task traditionally accomplished by a professional journalist and includes outsourcing to a large group through an open call. The Oct/Nov. issue of the American Journalism Review describes how the Gannett newspaper chain reorganized its newsrooms to encourage greater reader involvement in the news reporting process. AJR reported that Gannett's goal is to "recruit readers at the beginning stage of stories, publishing inquiries on the papers' Web sites and in their print editions, and ultimately using citizen contributions to help produce high-quality content."

mashup: using software or Web applications to present data in a compelling format. The original mashup man is the 20-something Adrian Holovaty. A great example of his work is chicagocrime.org, which uses Google maps to report crime statistics.

social bookmarks: Wikipedia describes social bookmarking as a way for Internet users to store, organize, share and search bookmarks of web pages.

Social bookmarking sites include Digg, del.ici.ous, and Fark. Besides serving as an electronic filing cabinet in which you can store pages you'd like to see again, these sites rank popular items on the Internet. So the next time you hear someone say that the story they wrote was "farked up," you'll know they don't have a speech impediment, and their story was widely read on the Internet.

social networking: Web applications designed to facilitate interactions between people. Two of the most popular sites are Facebook and LinkedIn. LinkedIn is geared to an older, more professional crowd. The CEO of my employer, BNA, added his profile to LinkedIn a couple of weeks ago. Facebook caters to a younger, more casual crowd. But many publications and associations are taking it seriously because it offers "group pages" that provide an effective platform for communicating with their audiences. A good way to test the waters on Facebook is to join ASBPE's group page. Despite the recent controversy surrounding Facebook, the site reportedly has 50 million active users and is likely to retain its status as one of the most popular destinations on the Web.

Labels: Digital, Journalism, Productivity, Social Media, Steven Roll, Technology, Writing

Contributors to the ASBPE National Blog include members of the national blog committee, which is responsible for its overall content, as well as other ASBPE national and chapter officers, working business-to-business editors, and consultants. Click an author’s name to see that person’s posts.

ASBPE National Blog Committee

Steven Roll, blog chair, is senior state tax law editor of the Weekly State Tax Report, Multistate Tax Report and the Multistate Tax Portfolio series published by Arlington, Va.-based BNA Tax & Accounting. He was president of ASBPE from August 2007 through July 2009. Previously, he served as chapter president for ASBPE’s Washington, D.C., chapter from 2003-2007. He coedited Journalism That Matters, a book of case studies about B2B journalists whose stories triggered important changes within government or industry. The Multistate Tax Report has won ASBPE awards for newsletter general excellence and original research. Roll has been named as a finalist in BNA’s Editorial Excellence Award competition several times. He lives in Kensington, Maryland.




Other Blog Contributors

Maureen Alley is editor for Woodland Management magazine. She is also a freelance writer and editor for other business-to-business publications. She was previously managing editor for Website Magazine and Residential Design & Build magazine. Alley has been an ASBPE member since 2006, and Azbee judge for the last two years. She can be reached at malley13@gmail.com, or visit www.maureenalley.com.

Dan Blank is the director of content strategy and development for RB Interactive, the online division of Reed Business Information. You can find daily updates to his personal blog at www.danblank.com.

Matt Bolch is an Atlanta-based freelance writer and editor. After a long career in newspapers (including nine years at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution), Bolch became a full-time freelancer in 2002. He currently is managing editor of CDHCSolutions and EmployersWeb.com magazines and writes for a dozen mainly B2B magazines. He graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 1987 and has been a member of ASBPE since 2002. Bolch has been an Azbee Awards judge for three years and is a regular attendee at the national conference. His Web site is MattBolch.com and his e-mail address is mbolch@mindspring.com.

Amy Buttell is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Journal of Financial Planning, Hospitals and Health Networks, American Executive, Better Investing Magazine and Savingforcollege.com, as well as many other publications and websites. She reports on a variety of trends and industries including finance, healthcare, legal and real estate. In 2009, she earned an Advanced Certificate in Accounting from the Walker Business School at Mercyhurst College. She co-authored the book Personal Investing: The Missing Manual with Bonnie Biafore and Carol Fabbri. She lives in Erie, Pa., with her two sons and two cats. Her online home is at www.amybuttell.com, her e-mail address is lecreative@ mac.com and you can find her on Twitter at twitter.com/lecreative.

Jim Carper has started new magazines and revitalized old, tired magazines for large and small publishers. Currently an independent contractor, he is editing a new-products tabloid, consulting with a website owner, creating e-newsletter content for a marketer, and blogging for various clients. See more at www.jimbocarper.com and Gift & Home Today.



Marisa Palmieri is senior editor of GIE Media's Golf Course Industry magazine and an ASBPE Cleveland chapter board member. Previously, she was associate editor of GIE Media’s Lawn & Landscape and ancillary publications. She also has been an associate editor on Paperboard Packaging and Official Board Markets. She has written for various trade publications, including Interior Business, Commercial Dealer, Snow Business and Hotel & Motel Management and served as the editor-in-chief of Southeast Ohio magazine and a student writer for Ohio Today magazine. She was a 2007 recipient of ASBPE's Young Leaders Scholarship. She can be reached at mpalmieri@gie.net.

Abe Peck became director of business to business communication at Northwestern University’s Medill School after 27 years as a professor there. He consults to Advanstar and other B2B media in the United State, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, China and India, and received the ASBPE Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. He can be reached at a-peck@northwestern.edu.



Christina Pellett is the managing editor of the Agent’s Sales Journal, a business-to-business publication for life and health-licensed insurance agents published by Summit Business Media. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism in 2002 with a focus in magazine writing and editing.


Jennie L. Phipps is the editor and publisher of Freelance Success, a subscription newsletter and online community for independent nonfiction writers. She can be reached at editor@freelancesuccess.com.




Joe Pulizzi is founder and chief content officer for Junta42, the leading media/bookmarking site for content marketing and custom publishing. Junta42 Match is the industry's only buyer/seller marketplace for custom publishing solutions. A writer, speaker and evangelist for content marketing, Pulizzi was named American Business Media's "Custom Media Innovator of the Year." He is coauthor of the book Get Content. Get Customers. Contact Joe at joe[at]junta42.com.

Howard Rauch is president of Editorial Solutions Inc., a consultancy focusing on B2B magazines. Rauch is the 2002 recipient of ASBPE’s Lifetime Achievement Award. You can contact him directly at howard@editsol.com.



Jim Romeo is a freelance writer based in Chesapeake, Virginia. He is a mechanical engineer with and MBA and writes about business and technology. His new leaf in 2010 is to network more and start calling himself a technology evangelist because it sounds cool! www.JimRomeo.net, freelancewriting@yahoo.com.


Robin Sherman is a principal at Robin Sherman Editorial and Design Services. He has directed the content and design for more than 50 titles, including numerous launches. He is also associate director and newsletter editor for the ASBPE; he edits both the print and email newsletters. Previously, he was editor and associate publisher of Adhesives Age. He also spent six years as a newspaper journalist, including at the Atlanta Constitution. His email address is asbpe@bellsouth.net.

Jim Sulecki has more than 25 years of editorial, publishing management and sales/marketing experience in business-to-business and consumer media. Currently he manages Meister Media Worldwide’s 20 brand and custom websites, 12 branded e-newsletters, custom e-media, webinars, and online video/audio, crafting sales and marketing strategies and developing online content and search engine optimization programs. He was named “Innovator in Business Media: Online Executives” by BtoB Media Business magazine in June 2009.

Thomas R. Temin is a consultant with 30 years of publishing experience in media and information technology products and services. He is co-host of “The Federal Drive” with Tom Temin and Jane Norris, a weekday morning news and talk program on Federal News Radio AM 1050 in Washington D.C. You can see his weekly column on the op-ed page at www.federalnewsradio.com and contact him at tom.temin@gmail.com.

Labels: About This Blog, ASBPE National Blog Contributors

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Labels: About This Blog, ASBPE Blog Policies