Chinese Newspaper Ownership,Corporate Strategies,and Business Models in a Globalizing World

This study takes Beijing Youth Daily (BYD), Beijing's largest newspaper in terms of advertising revenue and second largest in terms of circulation, as a case study to examine and analyze how globalization influences the ownership, corporate strategies, and business models of local newspaper organizations in China; and, thus, accelerates Chinese-style capitalism and media convergence. Declining advertising revenue and the loss of readers due to the digital revolution and the availability of multimedia news channels are global challenges that face newspapers around the world. BYD is no exception. In response, BYD has shifted from an exclusively state ownership model to a split or dual-track management model that has allowed foreign capital into the business operations while the party/state still retains ideological control over the news content. BYD has reoriented its corporate strategies and carried out structural reforms, building a media conglomerate via new titles, acquisitions, concentrations, and convergences; and developed its business models with advertising as a major revenue source. All these measures are market-oriented and intended to maximize newspaper profits by pursuing economies of scale and scope.     

Free daily newspapers ‐ business models and strategies

Abstract

Free daily newspapers, first introduced in Sweden in 1995, have proved to be much more than a passing phenomenon. By 2002, 80 free daily newspapers were introduced in 26 countries, 60 of them still exist. In thirteen countries free papers are responsible for more than ten percent of the total daily weekday circulation. The total circulation of the 60 free papers is almost 10 million copies, every day more than 20 million people read these papers. The success of the free papers is the result of their efficient cost structure and their ability to reach a new and relatively young audience. When looking more closely at the firms that publish these free newspapers two different models emerge; first, the entrepreneur entering a new market, and second the local or national newspaper firm. In the second model, free papers are launched to prevent other firms entering the market or to counter new firms already in the market. In the long run these obstructive tactics may develop into more positive strategies. Most readers are former ‘non‐readers’ or people who read paid and free newspapers Existing firms are developing strategies to benefit from the growing readership of newspapers created by free papers.     

The Economic Advantage of Being the “Voice of the Majority”

This article analyzes price competition in a duopolistic newspaper industry, where politically differentiated newspapers compete in 2 distinct markets: circulation and advertising. Assuming that 1 of the newspapers represents the “voice of the majority,” the theory of the circulation spiral is investigated and whether the interdependence between newspapers' demands in the circulation and advertising markets favors the majority's newspaper to the detriment of the minority's newspaper is investigated.     

Effects of Cost and Revenue Strategies on Newspaper Circulation

Cost, revenue, and market data were used in this study to seek effects of business strategies on daily newspaper circulation performance from 1981 to 1990. We found that investment in quality may help circulation but hurt profits and that aggressive pricing hampers circulation while helping profits.     

浅析报纸的“有效发行”

本文主要对追求经济效益报纸“有效发行”的内涵进行界定。文章认为,“有效发行”主要表现在两方面,即受众定位与发行量的控制。受众定位应以使报纸目标受众与强势广告主们的目标消费者重叠度最大为基本原则,发行量则是使报纸达到边际成本等于边际收益时的发行量。     

Press,Paper, and the Public Sphere

In late nineteenth-century USA, technological developments in paper production—a shift from a reliance on scarce cotton rag to plentiful wood—drastically reduced the price of newsprint. That decline helped overturn the reigning economics of the daily newspaper and resulted in the rise of new cheap papers with vastly expanded circulation. This novel mass press encompassed almost all Americans in the public sphere as represented by its pages. Focusing on newspapers in Detroit, this study examines the manifold consequences this shift had for the press's economics, its news agenda, and the implicit identity of the audience it addressed. The rise of a mass press in the late nineteenth century, however, was not specific to Detroit or the USA. As comparative historians have highlighted, the emergence of a mass press in Europe and elsewhere was a turning point that deeply marked the historical evolution of press systems around the globe.     

Exceptional Research or Why Harry Truman Sought a One-Handed Economist

This article challenges the traditional illustration of the relations between circulation size and advertising rates used by educators. It does so by using a sample of newspapers and explores various regression trendlines and data display of the data obtained from the sample. I find that the relations are best explained by curvilinear rather than linear trendlines and suggest an improved illustration of the relations between advertising price and newspaper circulation.     

Evaluating Strategic Approaches to Competitive Displacement: The Case of the U.S. Newspaper Industry

The concept of competitive displacement is central to theories of media evolution, and the threat that the Internet has posed to printed newspapers provides an ongoing case study on the topic. In particular, this situation offers an opportunity to examine the strategic efforts of print newspapers to prevent competitive displacement, as well as the effectiveness of these strategies. This article addresses these issues through an analysis of a unique data set, constructed from 20 years of newspaper circulation data, as well as data on local market characteristics, newspaper staffing and content variety, and state-level Internet penetration. Specifically, this article examines whether, and to what extent, these competitive strategies impacted local print newspaper circulation trends over this 20-year time period. This analysis focuses on the following strategic responses: (a) newspapers’ launching of online versions (a diversification strategy within the language of media evolution literature); and (b) newspapers’ efforts to cover a greater variety of subject areas, as measured by the number of editors and special editorial sections produced. (The authors characterize these as a “mimicking” strategy from media evolution literature, as this strategy essentially represents an effort to simulate the much greater content variety that readers can find online). This article examines the relationships between these circulation, strategic, and Internet penetration variables over a 20-year time period, while also taking into account relevant characteristics of local newspaper markets.     

The community model of content management: A case study of the music industry

Abstract

In 450 years of existence, the written press has never faced a change with the intensity and consequences as those of the Internet. The decision of going online represents a whole set of opportunities and threats that publishers must carefully weigh. Once they have made the step, newspapers find themselves in a completely different competitive environment. They deal with different competitors, business models, customers and patterns of consumption. The present study explores such patterns of consumption by using data from 15 Spanish newspapers, covering time periods from 2 to 20 months. Characteristics of the printed newspapers and general patterns of the Internet are also analyzed in order to isolate the factors that enable an Internet newspaper to achieve a high level of readership. The findings indicate that reading patterns on the Internet strongly differ from those in the physical world, particularly when we consider weekday versus weekend circulation. The use of the newspaper is different too: reading of Internet newspapers is usually more functional and goal oriented, as indicated by the small number of pages read per visit. These and other results can provide publishers with valuable insights to understand this new frontier in the history of journalism.     

Free Newspapers in the United States: Alive and Kicking

Free newspapers are a substantial segment of the U.S. newspaper industry, as well as an under-studied topic within media research. This study considers the economic health of free newspapers in the United States and whether they face a dire future given their heavy reliance on advertising, a source of revenue that has been in decline for newspapers. One question guiding this research is whether free newspapers face two options: continue producing free content by relying on advertising (in addition to other revenue sources), or abandon the advertising-based business model. Seven research questions address a number of issues, such as whether free newspapers are profitable, if decision-makers are considering changing their business model, whether they are seeking alternative sources of revenue, whether reader engagement is connected to the price, or a lack of one, of a newspaper, and whether decision-makers are optimistic or pessimistic about the future of their industry. A Web-based survey asked decision-makers at free newspapers in the United States to respond to questions related to the health and future of their newspaper or newspapers. This survey was complemented by in-depth interviews with publishers of four different types of free newspapers in Texas. The study concludes by suggesting free newspapers are not only viable but in many markets they are thriving. Sweeping generalizations (often seen in industry discourse) about the future of print newspapers can be misleading. This study contributes a reality check and calls for further research on the economics of print media in the digital era.     

A Sixty Year History and Analysis of the Japanese Publishing Industry: A Statistical Analysis of Circulation

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how changes in the social environment of print media have affected the history of the Japanese publishing industry in the postwar period. Data on the circulation of books, magazines, and newspapers are analysed on a population basis. The results of these analyses show that per-capita circulation of these media increased almost monotonically until the 1980s, but then began to decrease after peaking in the 1990s. After conducting statistical correlation analyses, we conclude that per-capita circulation was affected by economic trends indicated by the GDP growth rate. Our analyses also show a positive correlation between the pace of change in per-capita book and magazine circulation, and this reciprocal relationship is investigated in detail.     

简析"北京喜迎圣火"报道报纸版面语言的张力

报纸版面语言的张力直接影响到新闻报道的效果,而图片直观、形象的特点可以使人们产生良好的认知,进而影响社会,形成循环共振的作用。北京2008年奥运会圣火欢迎仪式暨火炬接力启动仪式报道中的图片处理即达到了此效果。     

台湾报业危机:政策、自律与他律

台湾报业在报禁时期受到了钳制,而报禁开放20多年后的台湾报业发展现状又如何?本文从报禁开放前后的社会背景出发,对台湾报业的发展进行了全景式的梳理,认为二十一世纪的台湾报业正陷入危机,并分析了导致危机的原因,提出解决危机的基本思路。     

Libraries of newspaper publishers in Kerala. A survey

Journalists working in newspapers frequently resort to retrospective reference to make news presentation more attractive and informative to the reader. Realizing the impact that the library can have on newspaper production, some newspaper managements maintain a library/inhouse information system for the provision of a comprehensive service to the editorial department. This study was undertaken with the objective of assessing the present state of newspaper libraries in Kerala with respect to their administrative set-up, organizational efficiency, library collection, technical processing, services, personnel and physical facilities. Libraries/information units attached to newspapers having a circulation of above 50 000 were chosen for study. Data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, examination of the relevant files and records, and by personal observation.

The study revealed that the book collection of the newspaper libraries in the state of Kerala in South India is inadequate. Books are not procured regularly and even the reference books available are outdated, old editions. Newspaper managements do not seem to be enthusiastic about developing a library collection containing the latest edition of important reference books. The available materials are not properly classified and catalogued in most of the libraries and adequate measures are not taken for preservation of library materials. No comprehensive clippings indexing services are available in the majority of the libraries. Library personnel employed in the newspapers in Kerala are totally inadequate from the point of view of both quality and quantity. The problem of space is faced by almost all libraries and reading materials lie scattered in different places because of this shortage of space. Thus the picture presented by the libraries of the newspapers in Kerala is far from satisfactory.     

Libraries of newspaper publishers in Kerala. A survey

Journalists working in newspapers frequently resort to retrospective reference to make news presentation more attractive and informative to the reader. Realizing the impact that the library can have on newspaper production, some newspaper managements maintain a library/inhouse information system for the provision of a comprehensive service to the editorial department. This study was undertaken with the objective of assessing the present state of newspaper libraries in Kerala with respect to their administrative set-up, organizational efficiency, library collection, technical processing, services, personnel and physical facilities. Libraries/information units attached to newspapers having a circulation of above 50 000 were chosen for study. Data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, examination of the relevant files and records, and by personal observation.The study revealed that the book collection of the newspaper libraries in the state of Kerala in South India is inadequate. Books are not procured regularly and even the reference books available are outdated, old editions. Newspaper managements do not seem to be enthusiastic about developing a library collection containing the latest edition of important reference books. The available materials are not properly classified and catalogued in most of the libraries and adequate measures are not taken for preservation of library materials. No comprehensive clippings indexing services are available in the majority of the libraries. Library personnel employed in the newspapers in Kerala are totally inadequate from the point of view of both quality and quantity. The problem of space is faced by almost all libraries and reading materials lie scattered in different places because of this shortage of space. Thus the picture presented by the libraries of the newspapers in Kerala is far from satisfactory.     

基于盈亏平衡分析的报纸发行经营的经济学思考

现代报纸大多采用发行售价低于单位成本,实行低价亏损发行的报纸赢利模式。报纸经营的盈亏平衡分析可知,报社需理性看待报纸的发行扩张,将报纸的发行量控制在一个适度有效的范围内,以求得报社总利润的最大化。报纸进行科学控制发行,在把握好报纸发行盈亏平衡点时,不同种类报纸宜区别对待。     

Looking at London for Inspiration

This article focuses on a broad process which took place in Europe and the United States starting in the second half of the nineteenth century: namely, the emergence of an incipient mass media culture. Scholars have tended to circumscribe this historical transformation within the contours of the nation state or, at best, to media systems theory. The following pages, in contrast, will show that the transition from the partisan press model towards a commercial and politically independent model involved a hybrid process, powered as much by the circulation of norms and practices across national borders as by local (and sometimes, quite paradoxically) by national mindsets. To reveal this hybrid character, the article adopts an entangled and empirical perspective based on three renowned newspapers from three different countries.     

基于CRM的期刊报纸订阅读者推荐系统

分析现行期刊报纸订阅过程,指出该过程缺乏对读者需求信息的详细调研且具有较强的主观性,导致图书馆订阅的期刊报纸的利用率较低。介绍基于CRM(客户关系管理)的服务思想和理念所研发出的报刊订阅读者推荐系统的功能模型,分析其工作流程,并对系统功能实现和关键技术进行探讨。     

The Morality of May 2, 2011: A Content Analysis of U.S. Headlines Regarding the Death of Osama bin Laden

Following the death of Osama bin Laden in the late hours of May 1, 2011, many print newspapers throughout the United States and the world ran front-page coverage of his death the following day. Although public support for bin Laden's death was largely consistent, newspaper headlines across the country varied in their presentation of the story, from “Got the Bastard!” to a more stoic “bin Laden dead.” Content analysis derived from the model of intuitive morality and exemplars (MIME) was applied to explain variance in headlines as a function of the dominant political philosophy found in different areas of the United States—philosophies rooted in moral salience structures. The MIME suggests a reciprocal relationship between basic motivations underlying moral judgment for distinct audiences and media content produced for those audiences. Consistent with predictions, findings suggest that newspapers in conservative-leaning regions presented the story as a patriotic “killing” (an emphasis on authority and loyalty), whereas newspapers from liberal-leaning regions were more likely to present it in terms of justice restoration (an emphasis on fairness and reciprocity).     

THE RISE AND FALL OF AN ETHNIC ADVOCATE AND AMERICAN HUCKSTER

As president of the American Association of Foreign Language Newspapers, Louis N. Hammerling accumulated substantial power over some 800 newspapers in 33 languages. As advertising, public relations and journalism emerged as professions in the 1900s, Hammerling functioned as a translator, advertising agent, public relations man and go-between for ethnic-language newspapers when they flourished. With his trade magazine, The American Leader, he extolled the virtues and hardships of immigrants, and offered editorial proposals for legislative changes. In response to his widespread influence, federal officials called him to testify in 1918 about his First World War-era propaganda for Germany, the USA and alcoholic beverages industries. This historical, biographical case study highlights the potential corruptibility of the boundaries of news, advertising and circulation sides of the media.