Monthly Archives: March 2004

by eubie

Books — Mar. 31

Current: The Murder Room by P.D. James. Set it aside for awhile to read Emotional Design.

Finished: Emotional Design: why we love (or hate) everyday things by Donald A. Norman. His first book The Psychology of Everyday Things was more eye-opening. Best parts were about designing robots with emotions so humans will feel more comfortable with them and “bystander apathy,” where mistakes happen because everyone in the group thinks someone else will catch or has caught the mistake.

Audio book
Current: Flashing before my eyes 50 years of headlines, deadlines & punchlines by Dick Schaap

Finished: To America: personal reflections of an historian by Stephen E. Ambrose.

by eubie

Wal-Mart, P&G expand as publishers

Wal-Mart and Time Inc. are publishing a magazine that will be sold only in Wal-Mart stores, according to this Reuters story.

If Wal-Mart, which controls 15 percent of all U.S. newsstands sales, is successful, other retailers could try publishing special magazines, says a journalism professor quoted in the article. Tip from rexblog.

Procter & Gamble is considering a print publication building on the success of its web site HomeMadeSimple.com, according to AdAge. One reason P&G is considering a print edition of that brand is possible backlash against Martha Stewart Living from Martha Stewart’s conviction. A P&G executive quoted in the article says HomeMadeSimple has also tested a TV show in the UK.

P&G has created a new online media brand HealthExpressions.com, to tap the unmet need of “light health-care information” and the ability of P&G products to meet that need.

One more publishing note, NY Times reports on Ford’s UK division signing a sponsorship deal with “Chick-lit” novelist Carole Matthews, that includes writing references to Ford’s Fiesta into her next novel. The novel, The Sweetest Taboo, was almost finished when the deal was signed. In the original draft it was a Vokswagen Beetle.

by eubie

Readers reply to “credibility crisis”

Credibility with readers has become a non-stop worry with newspapers.

Losing touch with readers is one reason given for many ills in the industry from falling circulation to believability of articles to news judgment. The revelations of plagarism or fabrication these days fuel the concerns of editors and publishers. Here is an ombudsman column from the Sacramento Bee on the range of comments from readers about the credibility of the Bee.

by eubie

Writing for the web

When newspapers first started Web sites, journalists envisioned it as a place where reporters could write long, putting back into stories what was cut.

That view didn’t last long. Writing for the web requires shorter, tighter writing. People scan Web articles, and they’ll leave a story quicker than they can turn a newspaper page.

Crawford Kilian writes Adapting Print Text for the Web urging shorter sentences, shorter overal lengths, more bulleted lists and being careful of color choices with text.

He has a 1,300-word “print” version and a Web “chunked” version about one-third as long. Tip: Steve Outing.