Some major newspapers, including the New York Times, are contemplating the idea of charging users for access. This plan may not work out very well for publishers. A new Pew Internet study found that 82% of online news readers would find another news source if their favorite site started to charge.
82% of those with a favorite site said they would find somewhere else to get the news.
Because so few online news consumers even have a favorite site this translates to only 7% of all people who get news online having a favorite online news source that they say they would pay for.
If the above study is accurate newspapers who start charging fees are likely to suffer from large traffic drops.
Homeless Haiti Children Smile as Dog Tries to Get in Photo
A group of children with no home in Haiti share a brief and much needed moment of smiles as a dog tries to get into the photo. The Government of Haiti has requested assistance from the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) to help with the emergency relief operation. WSPA along with other animal welfare organisations that have come together as the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) will be in Haiti this weekend. The WSPA says tt is estimated that there were 5,925 poultry, 1,450,000 cattle, 1,900,000 goats, 500,000 horses, 80,000 mules, 1,000,000 pigs and 153,000 sheep before the earthquake. You can get updates on the WSPA disaster work on the Animals in Disaster blog.
The latest numbers from the Audit Bureau of Circulations found that newspaper circulation fell by 10.6% from April-September, 2008 to April-September 2009.
Daily Finance says this latest six month drop is the steepest so far in the newspaper industry's ongoing decline.
It's the largest drop recorded so far during the past decade's steady decline in paid readership - a span that has coincided with an explosion of online news sources that don't charge readers for access. Many newspapers also have been reducing delivery to far-flung locales and increasing prices to get more money out of their remaining sales.
The latest decline outstripped a 7.1 percent decrease in the October 2008-March 2009 period and a 4.6 percent decline in last year's April-September window.
Newspapers are faced with both a weak economy and growing competition from online news sources. Some newspapers, like the Christian Science Monitor, have already made the move to go entirely online. Many others will likely join the Monitor over the next several years. Some newspapers like Newsday have decided to start charging for online news. That solution is likely to only work for financial newspapers like the Wall Street Journal. A recession is also the wrong time to try and obtain money from readers.
Whole Foods Leads WSPA's Humane Grocery Store Rankings
Whole Foods has topped a World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) study of the most humane grocery stores. Whole Foods had nearly double the score of its closest rivals.
The majority of U.S. animals raised for meat, eggs and dairy spend their lives confined in factory-style farms. Generally animals raised under humane food programs are given access to sunlight, fresh air, and freedom of movement. Levels of animal welfare can be identified by a variety of labels on food packaging, which are often misleading to consumers. WSPA rates food labels such as “free range,” “USDA organic” and “cage free” in terms of the way the animals raised for food are treated and aims to educate consumers about what food labels to choose and which ones to avoid.
The 2009 survey recorded products in four categories: dairy, eggs, unprocessed meat and poultry, and processed meat and poultry (bacon, ham, hot dogs). Stores were ranked using a point system based on the quality and variety of the food products available on the shelves.
Whole Foods scored the highest by far, offering twice as many humanely labeled products per store as the two companies tied for second -- Shaw’s Supermarkets and Publix Super Markets. Wal-Mart Stores, the world’s largest food retailer, scored near the bottom. The lowest in the survey was Save-A-Lot Food Stores with no humanely labeled products found in its stores. For complete store rankings and survey results visit www.EatHumane.org.
The top five ranked stores and their scores were:
Whole Foods Market - 83
Shaw's Supermarket, Inc. - 42
Publix Super Market - 42
Hy-Vee Inc.- 36
Ralphs (Kroger, Co.)- 33
You can see a list of the top ten grocery stores here. A full list of stores and the rankings can be downloaded from the WSPA here. The WSPA also provides a website called Eat Humane that helps shoppers find animal-friendly foods at the grocery store.
New York Times Considers Charging Web Readers $5 a Month
Bloombergreports that the New York Times Co. said in a survey to print subscribers that they are considering charging a monthly $5 fee for access to the nytimes.com website. They survey also asked subscribers if they would consider paying a $2.50 fee.
Times Co. is contemplating additional sources of revenue as marketers slow spending on the Internet. Ad sales at the publisher's sites, also including about.com and boston.com, fell 8 percent and 3.5 percent in the first quarter and fourth quarter of 2008 respectively. They gained 6.5 percent last year.
"The question here for consumers is the psychological barrier of now paying when you were getting it for free before, and you're going to lose some readers as a result," said Ken Doctor, an analyst at Outsell Inc. in Burlingame, California. "The New York Times will also have to evaluate what this means for ad rates as they lose readers."
If the New York Times started charging a fee there would be many that would not pay and they would suffer a serious reduction in traffic. The New York Times used to have a paid feature called Times Select that charged for select columns and blogs but it was discontinued in 2007. Bloomberg says 200,000 people paid for Times Select at its peak.
Isaac Mizrahi Makes Dress Out of USA Today Newspapers
Isaac Mizrahi, co-host of Bravo's The Fashion Show, discusses a dress he made from USA TODAY newspapers. Isaac Mizrahi says a full newspaper went into the dress. He says an arm hole is very difficult to make in newsprint. Isaac Mizrahi even managed to make a rose for the couture newsprint dress. Take a look:
Amazon.com has launched a larger-sized Kindle device called the Kindle DX. The Kindle DX is 1/3 of an inch thick and has a 9.7" screen. The DX provides 3.3GB storage, which is enough room for 3,500 books. It uses the same Kindle digital library that the smaller Kindle uses. However, a PDF reader can also be used with the Kindle DX. It retails for $489 and will be available this summer.
One of the main reasons Amazon went with a larger-sized Kindle was so the device could be used as an alternative to textbooks. The Kindle DX launches with partnerships with major textbook publishers including Addison-Wesley, Wiley Higher Education and Longman and Prentice Hall. Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Princeton University, Reed College, and Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia will launch trial programs to make Kindle DX devices available to students this fall.
Newspaper publishers are also interesting in using the device for distributing their content. The New York Times Company and Washington Post Company are launching pilots with Kindle DX this summer. The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post will be offering the Kindle DX at a reduced price to readers who live in areas where home-delivery is not available and who sign up for a long-term subscription to the Kindle edition of the newspapers.
A video explaining the Kindle DX can be found here on Amazon.com's Kindle DX product listing.
The ads for Isaac Mizrahi's Spring collection for Liz Claiborne are out. The ads show models and regular people wearing pieces from the collection in an urban setting. Isaac is injecting quite a bit of his personality into the Liz Claiborne brand, which is really injecting life and fun into the brand. We love both the concept and the clothes. That's Isaac sitting on a bench on the far right of the campaign ad. There are few more shots from the campaign here on the Liz Claiborne website; just click on the "behind the scenes" link. The new line already has great buzz after the debut runway show at Macy's.
Here's a closeup of Isaac sitting on the bench and reading the newspaper in another photo from the new campaign.
Newspapers are teaming up with Zillow for real estate search.
The Tampa Tribune, owned by Media General Inc., and 100 newspapers published by Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. are scheduled to add the Zillow search engine and other site content to their Web sites' real estate sections beginning Wednesday, Zillow said.
Once visitors enter a city, address or similar search term into the Zillow search box, their Web browser will connect them to a version of the Zillow site - co-branded with the newspaper - where they can comb through their search results, find local market data and other real estate content.
In all, 180 newspapers, including the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Winston-Salem Journal, plan to update their Web sites over the next few months to include the real estate search features, Zillow said.
Zillow provides a database of home data and for sale real listings - they had over 3 million for sale listings as of November, 2008. Zillow lists over 88 million homes.
Chicago Sun-Times Auctions Fine Art Prints of Obama Victory Edition on Ebay
People snapped up the historic November 5th editions of newspapers declaring Barack Obama as President-Elect. Now people are turning to eBay to find them. The Chicago Sun-Times is selling 44 high-quality, numbered canvas prints of its historic front page of November 5, 2008 featuring the President-elect himself with the headline "Mr. President." Oprah Winfrey featured this edition of the Sun-Times on The Oprah Winfrey Show on November 5, 2008.
Available only on eBay at www.eBay.com, the giclée prints measure 30-inches wide by 40-inches high and 1.75-inches deep and are handmade by Printmakers Chicago. Only 44 will be made to commemorate the election of Barack Obama as the nation's 44th President and are sure to be collector's items. The prints are coated with a special gloss to protect the colors and prevent yellowing and cracking, and will be securely wrapped for shipping.
A limited number go on sale each day: No. 2-15 went on sale Monday, November 17, 2008; numbers 16-29 will be up for auction on Tuesday, November 25, 2008; numbers 30-43 will be available for sale on Tuesday, December 2, 2008; and numbers 1 and 44 will be up for auction on December 9, 2008. Opening bids are $350.
You can find the auctions for these special editions here on eBay. Note: There are many copies of the November 5th edition of the Sun-Times being sold on eBay for around $15 but only 44 of these fine art print versions from the publisher are being sold. If you want one of these special versions make sure the seller is the Chicago Sun-Times.
Whole Foods has topped a World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) 
Bloomberg 
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