The decline continues

jmcc · 05-06-2019 9:47am

JTMan wrote: »

The FT reports on the increasing use of robots to write news articles in a fascinating article here.

Some of the work I've been doing for the last few years is on the classification of website usage over the gTLDs (COM/NET/ORG/BIZ/INFO etc, the new gTLDs) and some ccTLDs. At the moment, the full TLD surveys for NET/ORG/BIZ/INFO and a few other gTLDs are being processed (approximately 27 million websites).

One of the main changes in the last five years or so is the automated generation of websites from blog posts, search engine results and content scraped from other websites. The Chinese market is amazingly volatile and there is software available to churn out thousands of these sites. To the ordinary user, these sites look genuine. It really is amazing to see them in operation because they change structure so frequently.

There is also content "spinning" software available in the English language market that takes content and changes words so that sites can reuse content from Wikipedia and other sites.

As part of the work on classifying website usage, it was necessary to examine some of the algorithms used to automatically generate these sites. It doesn't look good for basic journalism.

The problem for most entry level journalists is that the algorithms used for these sites could just as easily be used to spin the press releases upon which so many publications now depend for a lot of their content. The lower the expertise of the journalist in the area that they are covering, the easier they are to replace with some of these algorithms. The only safeguard would be to develop in-field expertise and do it quickly.

Regards...jmcc

BarryD2 · 05-06-2019 10:07am

Reads like the news cycle could become one huge echo chamber, with new material principally being thrown in by spin doctors, advertisers and sundry vested interests. Churn it all and out comes the news stories for the day that's in it

Of course, these elements have long existed and even independent journalists have their own agendas, but still.

The maintenance of 9% VAT for print and the reduction of the 23% to 9% VAT for digital publications should be helping newspaper & periodical publishers here. That is assuming, they swallow the differential and don't pass it onto the customer.... having lectured other businesses in the past re not passing on VAT reductions!!

IRE60 · 06-06-2019 3:44pm

JTMan wrote: »

The FT reports on the increasing use of robots to write news articles in a fascinating article here.
Main robot news system is called Radar — Reporters and Data and Robots.

Bloomberg, AP, Iliffe Media and JPIMedia are amongst the users of robots.

Radar is a joint venture between Press Association and data journalism start-up Urbs Media with an investment from Google.

JPI (Scotsman, i and lots more) publishes 700 robot stories a week.

Previously, robots were just used for sport and company results but now used for human interest and other areas.

Example of fees - Radar charge 1,270 GBP per year per council that a media group wants a robot to cover.

Iliffe Media say readers cannot tell the difference between a robot story and a human story.

Clear way for newspaper groups to cut costs further and cut journalist jobs further. Regional newspapers seem most primed for robot usage.

Interesting perspective of a hack (in the comment section) on holdthefrontpage - who works on a paper that uses RADAR

'However, the stories have no local context and no local comments. Hospital stories have a generic DoH comment, education stories have a DfE comment etc. This really infuriates local authorities because they then call us and (rightly) ask why there has been no chance for them to comment or contextualise the story'

JTMan · 07-06-2019 2:48pm

Journalists are obviously not going to like robotic articles.

Interesting that they complain about a lack of context and a lack of comment.

As the FT article states, robotic articles have come a long way in a short period of time and no doubt will get better with context and perhaps better and asking for comment via auto-emails or bot calls with time.

It is believable that with time robots will write better articles in certain fields that journalists because they can analyse much greater data sets in much quicker time-frames.

JTMan · 07-06-2019 2:53pm

Meanwhile, more cuts, this time at The Sun. Also, massive losses for News UK. Not clear if the cuts effect Ireland or not.

jmcc · 08-06-2019 7:17am

JTMan wrote: »

Journalists are obviously not going to like robotic articles.

They will hit the entry level journalists who rely on press releases hardest. Many of them won't be journalists for much longer if this kind of robo-journalism takes off. And some print publications are losing readers to sych an extent that they will use anything that can save them money. I'm not sure of the costs of wire services but this robo-journalism will be a competitor to some (some of the wire services seem to use the approach already).

Interesting that they complain about a lack of context and a lack of comment.

Good journalism puts things in context. It should, theoretically, present both sides.

It is believable that with time robots will write better articles in certain fields that journalists because they can analyse much greater data sets in much quicker time-frames.

The problem with analysing data sets is that there's a step between explaining what the analysis means and the raw analysis. The problem for journalists when it comes to providing that analysis is that they have to have in-field knowledge. Economics would be a good example. It is possible to crunch a data set of economic data but extrapolating from results of the crunch would require more knowledge. The only way that journalists can keep ahead of this is to continually upskill and expand their knowledge of the field that they are covering.

The local and regional newspapers may be more resilient when it comes to this form of journalism because their main strength is often local knowledge, the Births, Marriages and Deaths section, and classified adverts. The classifieds business might be under some threat from local Facebook buy and sell groups but the free papers tend to be quite robust on this because they have nearly 100% coverage of their markets.

Regards...jmcc

JTMan · 08-06-2019 10:38am

jmcc wrote: »

They will hit the entry level journalists who rely on press releases hardest. Many of them won't be journalists for much longer if this kind of robo-journalism takes off. And some print publications are losing readers to sych an extent that they will use anything that can save them money. I'm not sure of the costs of wire services but this robo-journalism will be a competitor to some (some of the wire services seem to use the approach already).

Newspaper groups have being pros at cost cutting. As the sunset continues to draw closer for most of the print industry, far more cost cutting will be needed. Robotics is expected, for now, to effect lower grade workers the most, robo-journalism is a good example of this.

jmcc wrote: »

The local and regional newspapers may be more resilient when it comes to this form of journalism because their main strength is often local knowledge, the Births, Marriages and Deaths section, and classified adverts. The classifieds business might be under some threat from local Facebook buy and sell groups but the free papers tend to be quite robust on this because they have nearly 100% coverage of their markets.

In some senses yeah in other senses a robot can take a national news story and attempt to add some local flare to the story in certain but not all cases.

Local free/non-free newspaper classifieds are struggling. Where once free local newspapers were distributed door-to-door, now 10k copies are printed and dumped in the local supermarket where a few people pick them up and less and less people care about advertising in them. Local newspapers face the same competition from Done Deal, Adverts, Google Adwords, RIP.ie, Daft etc

callaway92 · 08-06-2019 10:47am

Just an example of how robot articles look/work (in sports from my field):

We have reporters for NBA in work that write 'headlines' on our system. Robots write articles from these (and put them together using the analytics/data that we have) and then anyone that's subscribed to use our articles can publish it etc:

6:10 p.m.

Klay Thompson is back in the Golden State Warriors' starting lineup for Game 4 of the NBA Finals, as expected.

Thompson missed Game 3 with a hamstring strain. He's starting with Stephen Curry, DeMarcus Cousins, Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green.

It's the usual starting five for the Toronto Raptors - Kyle Lowry and Danny Green in the backcourt, Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam at forward and Marc Gasol at center.

---

5:45 p.m.

Stephen Curry says Game 4 is "a must-win" for his Golden State Warriors.

The NBA's cameras caught up with the Warriors guard as he walked into Oracle Arena for Game 4 on Friday afternoon. Curry was stoic as he talked and walked for a few seconds.

Curry says, "It's a must-win. Every game's a must-win for us. That's how we feel. But tonight especially, we've got to get back in the series and take it from there."

Toronto leads Golden State 2-1 in the title series going into Friday's matchup

---

5:15 p.m.

Mychal Thompson agreed with the Warriors' decision not to play his son in Game 3 of the NBA Finals because of Klay's strained left hamstring.

Klay Thompson missed the first postseason game of his career to snap a streak of 120 straight playoff games.

He is set to return for Game 4.

Mychal Thompson, a former two-time NBA champion, said Friday Kobe Bryant was Klay's inspiration and his idol growing up and "he knew that Kobe didn't sit out for nagging injuries and he wants to try to follow that example throughout his career. And he was very proud of his playoff streak that he had going on. He wanted to keep that alive as long as possible."

Mychal said "all of those things came into play and he felt like he could play if it was the seventh game, but I think Steve (Kerr) did the right thing giving him a couple extra days of rest to make sure he's fresh and ready."

---

4:50 p.m.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr says he done providing details of Kevin Durant's rehab.

The two-time reigning finals MVP is missing his ninth straight game since straining his right calf in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals against Houston.

Kerr said Friday before Game 4 that the Warriors are "hoping he can play Game 5 or 6. And everything in between I've decided I'm not sharing because it's just gone haywire."

The coach says "there's so much going on ... it doesn't make sense to continue to talk about it. He's either going to play or he's not. So tonight he's not playing."

--

4:25 p.m.

Kevon Looney got a second opinion and a second chance to play in these NBA Finals.

After Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Looney would miss the remainder of the series against Toronto with a displaced first costal cartilage fracture, the team now says he may be able to play in Game 4.

Kerr says Looney is "just tough and he wants to play."

Looney got hurt in Game 2 when he was defending a drive by Toronto's Kawhi Leonard.

Looney has been a major part of the Warriors' big-man rotation. His addition is an obvious boost.

---

4:15 p.m.

Hall of Famer Al Attles is expected to attend Game 4 of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena.

Al Attles III told The Associated Press Friday his 82-year-old father will be in attendance. It will be the first game Attles, who has had health issues, has attended this season.

The Warriors trail the series 2-1 and this could be the final game at Oracle Arena with the team moving into a new building next season.

The former point guard was named player coach of the Warriors midway through the 1969-70 season. He guided the Rick Barry-led Golden State team to the 1975 NBA title.

---

9:40 a.m.

The NBA Finals resume Friday night amid the fallout from the incident involving Toronto guard Kyle Lowry.

Game 4 of the title series between Toronto and Golden State is on tap. The off day following the Raptors' Game 3 win on Wednesday was dominated by reactions to Warriors' investor Mark Stevens shoving Lowry at courtside. Stevens was banned by the league for a year and fined $500,000.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver says Stevens was spared a lifetime ban because he's never been disciplined by the league before and because he was deeply apologetic for his actions.

Kevin Durant will not play in Game 4 for Golden State as he continues recovering from his calf injury, but the Warriors are getting Klay Thompson back after a one-game absence with a strained hamstring.

Loafing Oaf · 08-06-2019 1:16pm

Current Indo big tech podcast focuses on the future of Irish media:
https://www.independent.ie/business/technology/news/the-big-tech-show-why-we-the-media-are-not-screwed-38191334.html

surprisingly positive overall, although a lot of the 'good news' stories they highlight come from other countries

JTMan · 09-06-2019 6:20pm

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

Current Indo big tech podcast focuses on the future of Irish media:
https://www.independent.ie/business/technology/news/the-big-tech-show-why-we-the-media-are-not-screwed-38191334.html

surprisingly positive overall, although a lot of the 'good news' stories they highlight come from other countries

Thanks for sharing.

I felt the podcast was very wishy-washy. They talked little about the elephant in the room (the rapid decline of print), talked about "value add" solutions but rarely mentioned specifics.

The little that was specific was mentions of paywalls (but said scale was needed), seemed to indicate that online advertising alone was not the right model, talked about how the industry could create 'marketplace' portals for property etc (:rolleyes:) and how governmental intervention was needed with VAT (but it would just be a plaster on a much bigger problem).

Largely seemed like an attempt at an optimistic outlook on the print industry but if it was so vague on the solutions in the face of a cliff-edge urgent problem for print, and without immediate solutions it just made me feel more than ever that the print news industry is totally screwed.

IRE60 · 10-06-2019 3:57pm

Oh it was utter sh1te. Rather than clapping each other on the back, as the barn burns(!), could they not have found one dissenting voice for balance.

The one thing I liked was that there was the fact that they believed that the publishers in general let the social media players in.

There was a condescending attitude to them - who's laughing now!

JTMan · 13-06-2019 6:41pm

May ABC UK newspaper in Ireland stats here.

13% decline in the overall market YoY. The journey into the sunset for print continues.

May ABC UK newspaper stats here.

IRE60 · 13-06-2019 7:13pm

The Reuters institute did their annual report which becomes very interesting as the dust settles. 12% here pay for online news....

https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/risj-review/digital-news-report-2019-out-now

IRE60 · 14-06-2019 1:55pm

Not to be outdone - the BAI, Reuters and DCU did an analysis of the study specifically for Ireland here http://www.bai.ie/en/download/133992/

But, perplexed is not the word, and a line jumped on by the Irish Times yesterday (I'm sure they could have tipped into the Circulation dep to verify some of the information) - referring to 2018:

'The Irish Times saw a 26 per cent rise in digital sales in 2018, but it was the only Irish newspaper to grow across both print and digital during this period'

The digital part is correct - had any paper increased it's sales in 2018 there would have been a fanfare and perhaps ticker tape!!!

JTMan · 14-06-2019 7:02pm

IRE60 wrote: »

'The Irish Times saw a 26 per cent rise in digital sales in 2018, but it was the only Irish newspaper to grow across both print and digital during this period'

The digital part is correct - had any paper increased it's sales in 2018 there would have been a fanfare and perhaps ticker tape!!!

They are quoting Laura Slattery who has a few times sugar coated the Irish Times in her media articles with misleading or in this case false statements.

jmcc · 15-06-2019 4:00pm

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

surprisingly positive overall, although a lot of the 'good news' stories they highlight come from other countries

So as reliable as its "technology" journalism then?

Regards...jmcc

jmcc · 15-06-2019 4:33pm

IRE60 wrote: »

Not to be outdone - the BAI, Reuters and DCU did an analysis of the study specifically for Ireland here http://www.bai.ie/en/download/133992/

But, perplexed is not the word, and a line jumped on by the Irish Times yesterday (I'm sure they could have tipped into the Circulation dep to verify some of the information) - referring to 2018:

'The Irish Times saw a 26 per cent rise in digital sales in 2018, but it was the only Irish newspaper to grow across both print and digital during this period'

The digital part is correct - had any paper increased it's sales in 2018 there would have been a fanfare and perhaps ticker tape!!!

Some of the stats in that report should be quite terrifying for Irish publications. There does seem to be a decline in trust. The readership of the Irish Times being largely a bunch of Lefties is quite comical but not surprising.

The 12% paying for news is a bit strange as it isn't broken down by subscription type (just skimming through the document at the moment). A one-off purchase is very different to a yearly and renewing subscription.

The biggest problem for the Irish "news" media has been its steady drift away from news towards opinion. From my own perspective, should I pay for the opinion of some "technology" journalist who is barely able to turn their mobile phone on without blowing their head off? Or should I, instead, subscribe to news sources from specialists and people who understand technology and the business of technology.

Now extrapolate that to other specialist areas and the generalist mainstream media is at a serious disadvantage against specialist and niche publications. Would people pay for commentary by experts and specialists rather than press release recyclers? The fragmentation of the Irish market already seems to be happening in the business field and it is even mentioned in the document. (The Currency is a good example.)

There may well be a fragmentation of the Irish news market with the most vaulable, or more easily monetised, sections being cherry-picked. The mainstream media will be at a disadvantage because they cannot afford to dilute their existing brands. Previously, the mainstream publications would have adopted an embrace and extinguish strategy by buying these successful publications but many of the mainstream publications don't have the funds for this now.

Regards...jmcc

JTMan · 17-06-2019 8:08pm

Tyrone Times shuts up shop as JPIMedia shut down 10 UK regional titles.

JTMan · 26-06-2019 8:24pm

Mediahuis deal receives shareholder approval.

That's CCPC and shareholder approval done.

Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment approval and High Court approval to be received.

Muahahaha · 26-06-2019 9:14pm

Has anyone seen any articles or analysis on how the Guardians donation/crowdfunding model is working? Is it said to be successful and has there been any financials published on it?

IRE60 · 28-06-2019 10:21am

Muahahaha wrote: »

Has anyone seen any articles or analysis on how the Guardians donation/crowdfunding model is working? Is it said to be successful and has there been any financials published on it?

The article doesn't give too much away - but its about as good as you will get
https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/guardian-has-received-donations-from-more-than-1m-people-but-is-not-a-charity-says-editor-kath-viner/

JTMan · 07-07-2019 8:29am

The Sunday Times reports that Beach Point Capital have provided funding to Encircle Business Post 365 (who own the Sunday Business Post), Maximum Media (who own Joe.ie etc) and Irish Studio (who own owner of Irish Tatler magazine). Beach Point Capital have a charge over some SBP assets.

Beach Point Capital effectively have a stake in some Irish media.

Muahahaha · 07-07-2019 11:53pm

IRE60 wrote: »

The article doesn't give too much away - but its about as good as you will get
https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/guardian-has-received-donations-from-more-than-1m-people-but-is-not-a-charity-says-editor-kath-viner/

Yeah there is not much there in terms of financials. Still she says that they are on track to get back to profit so it is pointing in the right direction. Interesting that half of donations are coming from the US and that two thirds in total coming from outside the UK. Also donations are now outstripping advertising revenue.

JTMan · 08-07-2019 8:58pm

The likely new owner of IN&M, Mediahuis, are interested in acquiring JPIMedia, who publish 200 UK newspapers including i.

The consolidate and gain scale to extend lifetime strategy for the newspaper industry strikes again.

JTMan · 10-07-2019 7:09pm

I find it interesting that DMG Media Ireland (Daily Mail group) seem to be gradually giving up the ghost on their newspaper publication but are pumping cash into their 2 Irish digital offerings - Extra.ie and EVOKE.ie. The latest evidence is Extra.ie are to be the sponsors of the FAI Cup.

DMG, probably thanks to the Daily Mail Online success, still believe in the free content supported by adverts model despite the small scale of the Irish market. Madness?

Muahahaha · 10-07-2019 9:24pm

Maybe they have come to the realisation that the Daily Mail brand itself is toxic for a lot of people in Ireland and rebranding online as Extra and Evoke is the only way to go. Wont help either that the newsroom just got slapped with a €45,000 fine for their reporting on the Ana Kriegel case, with their very low circulation numbers it was a bit of a hit.

JTMan · 11-07-2019 1:53pm

I think DMG Media are trying to gain revenue from their content by spreading their content over a number of websites (as well as the newspaper) in order to maximise revenue.

I think they see Daily Mail Online as the global brand with global content but Extra.ie and Evoke.ie as the local brands with local content.

JTMan · 18-07-2019 6:47pm

June 2019 ABC circulation for UK newspapers in Ireland here and UK stats here.

UK newspapers in Ireland market is down 11% YoY. The print journey into sunset continues.

JTMan · 23-07-2019 6:11pm

Laura Slattery is at it again. Telling the world how rosy things are at the Irish Times.

No mention of the rapidly declining print revenue.

Makes reference to 'operating profit' but quotes the operating profit before exceptional items and amortisation of goodwill. The amortisation of goodwill is a legitimate P&L expense given inflated goodwill figures. The real total operating profit was 15,499 EUR.

The 90,000 subscribers figure in her article sounds impressive but is the figure honest? Why do ABC report it was 21,271. Who is giving the more honest measurement?

jmcc · 23-07-2019 8:26pm

JTMan wrote: »

The 90,000 subscribers figure in her article sounds impressive but is the figure honest? Why do ABC report it was 21,271. Who is giving the more honest measurement?

Actual subscribers versus total number of subscribers over a year including short-term subscribers? That's a really high churn rate though if ABC is the accurate source.

Regards...jmcc

The decline continues

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