This will come as no surprise to anyone who has been following the debate over advertising on the BBC news website. The proposal to put ads on the international websites has been approved by the BBC’s executive directon group. It means the plan now goes before the governors, who will have the final say on the matter when they meet on 13 December. The news was leaked in a e-mail

More changes at the Washington Post, announced in a memo from executive editor Len Downie. It talks about maximizing “readership of the printed newspaper, build audience on the website and further reduce costs in the newsroom.” Other phrases in the memo include “shrink” the newsroom, “tightening up the paper’s news hole,” “story length guidelines for the staff” and moving reporters and editors “within and among staffs.” At this stage, it

Mindy McAdams has drawn up a five-part series on online journalism on her blog. Her entries are full of good advice for both budding journalists and seasoned reporters. I share much of the same outlook on online journalism and was struck by the similarities between her entries and the material in the multiplatform journalism course I teach at UBC. Here are links to the five parts: Media User interaction Skillsets

The Independent has a round-up of views about the future of newspapers in an internet era. The problem with the article is that it assumes that the internet is simply another publishing format for newspapers. Yes, most newspapers have an online presence. But what many are only just starting to realise is that the internet is a new medium. There are similarities with print, just as there were similarities between

Flash is something that tends to divide people. It can be an effective tool when used well, but all too often, websites use Flash simply because they can. MTV has wholeheartedly adopted Flash, launching a very busy revamped site. As Lost Remote points out: “Wow, punch up the new MTV.com and you’ll be awash in Flash action, clearly a site for a ADHD generation.” The site comes across as an

The future of newspapers may well rest with whether owners see them as a business or as a mission. Rumblings at the New York Times suggest that this inherent tension in the newspaper business is coming to the fore. From the WashingtongPost.com: “Investors increased pressure on the New York Times Co. to scrap its venerated family-ownership structure, saying it has harmed the company’s value and is no longer accountable to

Here is something to cheer up your day. It certainly made me smile. Via Richard Sambrook’s Sacred Facts blog, a unique take on citizen journalism. In this case, from the UK tabloid The Sun. Apparently, one of its glamour models loves citizen reporters. Make of this what you will

CBC.ca’s decision in May to expand the range of programmes it offers as podcasts appears to be paying off. According to CBC director international business development Julie McAlpine, the current download rate sits at about 140,000 per week, reports Media in Canada. In iTunes, four of the top podcasts in Canada are from CBC.ca. Since it began podcasting in April 2005, CBC.ca has recorded more than four million downloads. CBC

The CBC website had what we call in the online world “technical difficulties” yesterday. In other words, a bit of equipment failed, the site crashed and staff were rushed around to put the website back up and keep it updated. The cause of the problem? A hard drive failure. From the CBC blog: ” Early Monday morning (around midnight ET) for some reason, the NAS (network attached storage — basically

The BBC’s experiment with podcasting is paying off. So far, this is just a trial, with only a limited number of programmes available to download. But listeners are lapping them up. The number of downloads hit a new record in September, with 4.8 million MP3s downloaded in the month. By comparison, the number of visitors to the websites of four of its digital stations fell compared to a year ago.