Anne Sachs Leads a Fresh-Faced ElleGirl.com

by Jennifer Lai
In July, Elle Girl shut down its print operations to focus only on the web. This decision seemed to confirm what older folks have long feared—the beginning of the death of print, at least for the younger generation. Though most people over a certain age will always prefer a print magazine to its online version, it’s apparent that teens prefer browsing online to flipping through the pages of a glossy magazine. So for Anne Sachs, who was promoted to executive editor of ELLEgirl.com, this presented an opportunity to produce a publication that fully utilized the Internet’s capabilities—starting with a redesigned site and new types of content.
-Interested in Jennifer Lai's article? Contact her at jl2879@columbia.edu

Wall Street's online customers willing to pay to read news articles

by Anna-Katarina Gravgaard
While most web pages provide their news content for free, the Wall Street Journal has managed to produce a successful web page where customers must pay to read full-text articles. “People are willing to pay because it is a niche market” said Jennifer Johnson, interactive news writer at the Wall Street Journal's online edition, wsj.com. Johnson said wsj.com has 800,000 paying customers and each subscription costs $ 99 a year. She says that the website's appearance is similar to that of the print edition but adds that wsj.com also has independent reporting, interactive features, polling data and research tools.
-Interested in Anna-Katarina Gravgaard's article? Contact her at ag2567@columbia.edu

An Effort to Preserve Multimedia Archives

by Sheena Tahilramani
The preservation of news coverage provides a credible source through which the youth can experience history. With the rise of the Internet and the increasing popularity of online news, how will today's multimedia news coverage be archived for future generations? In "An Effort to Preserve Multimedia Archives," Tahilramani talks to Debra Bade, an editor in the News Research and Archives department at the Chicago Tribune and Nora Paul, director of the Institute for New Media Studies at the University of Minnesota School of Journalism to discuss the standards (or lack thereof) of archiving online news content.
-Interested in Sheena Tahilramani's article? Contact her at sat2127@columbia.edu

The Future of Video On Demand

by Brian Henderson
Visitors to fox23news.com, the homepage for WXXA Albany, will find that the local Fox affiliate has adopted new video-on-demand technologies early. WXAA provides video and audio podcasts and is one of 80 local new stations working with Weather News Americas, Inc. to provide local broadcast news content on cell phones. Handheld devices are not just changing how traditional print media is delivered to readers, but more and more, a consumer’s ability to get video on-demand on the go is changing broadcast news. Now, many news outlets are testing the waters and trying to come up with ways of delivering video content to mobile users. This new market is changing not only how the news business works, but also how broadcast news itself is written, shot and produced.
-Interested in Brian Henderson's article? Contact him at bch2109@columbia.edu

Handheld Technology Changes Everything

by Paulo Kluber
The latest hand-held devices are changing how news is delivered, as well as how content providers make money. The technology isn't perfect, and carries some risks, including addiction and increased stress, but it also promises useful new features (such as one-click phone dialing from websites) and the power of connectivity. Advertisers see a lot of potential for hand-held devices, and some media organizations are currently experimenting with innovative ways of using the technology to better present news.
-Interested in Paulo Kluber's article? Contact him at pfk2104@columbia.edu

Bronx Blogger: What One Reporter Learned From Blogging the Yankees

by Paul Suwan
A traditional newspaperman, Peter Abraham of the Westchester Journal News in White Plains, N.Y., has been learning to take his craft online through blogging. Abraham, who covers the Yankees, started a blog on his paper's Website in February, and his timely coverage and sharp insight have earned him considerable popularity. He has even been featured in Newsweek. Abraham is currently experimenting with podcasts, video and better photography to keep pushing his work to the next level.
-Interested in Paul Suwan's article? Contact him at pss2121@columbia.edu