Monthly Archives: September 2009

We found him: the only one who spends too much time with a paper.

Someone is definitely determined to make newspapers more outdated than a pteranodon in an aviary.

Pressmart, a leading publisher of digital print media editions, announced today they are making e-Editions of their print clients available for e-Readers like Kindle and Sony, adding another digital media channel to their already massive list that includes, among others, Web sites, podcasts, RSS feeds, blogs and social networking sites.

The media distribution company, whose clients include such papers as the Birmingham Post, the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Orlando Sentinel, allows readers to experience digital versions of magazines, journals and newspapers on various new media platforms, and this latest addition only increases the availability of news for readers who adamantly eschew any form of print.

But in their press release, Pressmart promised this new avenue for article consumption would actually help papers increase their subscriptions. The company said this:

This unique technology enables news publishers to attract new subscribers who wish to read news and access their favorite newspaper content on the e-Reader screen in its original format.

And really, who doesn’t want to read a cool electronic edition of another Pressmart client, the soon-to-be-extinct-anyway Philadelphia Inquirer? At least no one will be able to identify that unfortunate soul who still deigns to open a dying news rag. We hear it’s too difficult to unfold a Kindle.

But Pressmart is only used in 35 countries and distributes content in only 22 languages so far. And, seriously, how many people really own a Kindle? Actual newspaper might still stand a chance.

That is, until Apple decides to completely bury the printed lede and release their own version of an e-Reader.

Sensationalism sells newspapers. And those raging headlines bombarding newsstands with reports on the most recent disease outbreaks are sort of magnetic.

But what happens when iTunes starts offering apps that immediately chronicle the newest pandemics by allowing anyone to submit health reports using what the organization has deemed “participatory epidemiology?”

On September 1, HealthMap released a bound-to-be hysteria-inducing free iPhone application that enables users to instantaneously share their pathogen fears with people around the world.

What is this, a hypochondriacal Twitter?

Said Clark Freifeld, one of HealthMap’s founders and a Ph.D. student in MIT Media Lab’s New Media Medicine Group: “It’s about empowering citizens in the cause of public health to both provide them with information and allow them to contribute information to share with others.”

And some ignoramuses thought newspapers were already outdated. At least papers know a disease hoax from a real outbreak.

Although it would be kind of cool to induce some worldly panic by submitting the first case of sheep flu from somewhere in Azerbaijan.

It seemed like the Claremont Eagle-Times was set to reemerge after a Pennsylvania family-owned publishing company submitted a bid Sunday afternoon for the local New Hampshire paper.

The Sample News Group agreed to pay $261,679 for the Times, which might look like a lot at first, but is so much less than the more than $4.6 million in debts and almost $1 million in assets the paper’s previous publisher had accrued that the pledge becomes almost laughable.

Sure, David Carr wrote in his New York Times column yesterday that “news is worth less than it used to be in a new digital economy,” but this is definitely getting a little extreme.

But now, the gung-ho publishing group, who also promised to honor the nearly 8,000 existing subscriptions, may not be able to run away with the newspaper. Though there was no initial opposition to the bid, the publishing outfit is now facing objections from the U.S. Trustee’s office, shedding doubt on the likelihood tomorrow’s scheduled 9 a.m. hearing will actually occur. At least Sample News won’t have to wake up early to make it to the Manchester courthouse. Though they may lose their $5000 deposit. Shame.

According to the New Hampshire-based Union Leader, the proposed purchaser — in this case, George “Scoop” Sample — would have also obtained printing equipment and supplies, the newspaper’s archives including copyrighted photos, two vans and a telephone system.

But Sample News Group already owns 10 dailies, 20 weeklies, two magazines and three commercial printing companies, so losing this shriveled publication would probably be okay. Even if the telephone system does sound kind of cool.