Twitter - Huge UK Growth

New figures show that usage of Twitter mushroomed by almost 1,000% in the UK during 2008, reports the BBC.

According to statistics from analysts HitWise, the microblogging platform has zoomed up the chart of the UK’s most popular websites and now stands at 291.

HitWise pointed to Twitter users’ coverage of breaking news events such as the recent plane crash on New York’s Hudson river as drivers behind its huge growth in traffic.

But Twitter’s future is likely to stay stateside, despite impressive figures in the UK, as it’s the US which boasts the most popular user – President Barack Obama with more than 144,000 followers.



The blogging site has also hit the headlines this week thanks to exposure from some of Twitterati's more famous faces.

BBC presenter Jonathan Ross introduced Twitter to a mainstream audience last Friday when he talked about it on his chat show with top twitty Stephen Fry.


QI host Fry also talked about the sweet side of tweets in this video interview on the BBC site.


For more details on the HitWise story, visit Cybersoc.com.

[Picture - Stephen Fry on Twitter.]

Dallas Boasts Hyperlocal Websites

A collection of hyperlocal websites have been launched by the Dallas Morning News.

The newspaper’s site now has about 50 community pages offering neighbourhood news, opinion and information, reports Editor & Publisher.

Each hyperlocal site has news headlines, crime stories, a going out guide (through GuideLive.com), and information on local schools and residential properties.

In addition, user-generated content relevant to each area is presented in a blog style format using content from the Morning News’s dedicated UGC site – neighborsgo.com.

[HT - Martin Stabe]

Audio Slideshows – Do’s & Don’ts

The secrets behind great slideshows are revealed by Boston.com editor David Beard.

Speaking to Poynter Online, Beard suggests that the basic ingredients required for an effective audio slideshow are “outstanding images, distinctive voices, pace”.

And he points out that despite the popularity of video, sometimes a photo slideshow with an accompanying audio track is the right way to tell a certain story.

For example, he says that it is sometimes the case with video that “the single best image of a subject may not come with the single best sound bite”.

He adds: “In the rush to Flip cams and upper-end HD video, we recognise that each story has distinctive multimedia platforms - and that in some stories, going old school still works best.”

But there are some pitfalls and here are some of Beard’s list of do’s and don’ts:

DO:

Vary the rhythm

Cut out any filler – with the photos or on the soundtrack

DON’T:

Include boring audio that drones on

Record someone simply reading aloud their story

Rotate the same photos in order to fill the audio time


Check out Beard’s handiwork on Boston.com, including this audio slideshow leading up to Barack Obama’s inauguration.

Wired Launching UK Site

Technology magazine Wired has announced it will unveil a UK website when it launches in print over here.

According to Press Gazette, Wired.co.uk will share some stories with the magazine and will also have its own original content.

The site will have daily updates on happenings in the world of technology as well as articles on business, art, science and politics.

“With our digital launch of Wired we are exploring a new strategy which can then be rolled out across the CondéNet International network using a common platform,” said Michael Parsons, channel manager at Wired International.

He added that the new websites (a second is set for launch in Italy) will be “drawing on the best of content from our individual print brands, as well as Wired.com, while complimenting this with compelling news produced by the Wired International online team”.

The UK versions of Wired, both print and online, are set to launch at the start of April this year.

YouTube To Share Ads Revenue

Media groups may soon be getting their share of the spoils from ads on videos uploaded to YouTube.

According to Tech Crunch, the video-sharing website is about to launch a programme whereby media companies will take a cut of the revenue generated by ads accompanying their own video content.

Only a handful of major media groups currently display their own ads on videos displayed on YouTube, but this is likely to change within the next few months as the net is widened.

Tech Crunch notes: “The ability to sell their own ads on YouTube is a big deal for larger media companies, especially those which are already selling Web video ads across their own sites.

“The prospect of selling ads against all of their videos on YouTube at those higher ad rates has them salivating, even if they have to share the spoils with YouTube.”

[HT – LostRemote.com]

Inside View On Breaking News Blog

A Philadelphia editor is passing on the wisdom of his experience with setting up a breaking news blog.

The executive editor online/news for the Philadelphia Inquirer has revealed some of the decisions behind its online outlet for breaking news and shared some top tips with the Knight Digital Media Center.



Chris Krewson began the From The Source blog near the end of 2008 and said it has become an ideal place to put news stories with scant details.

“For the past nine months or so we’d struggled with what to do with information like that; posting news in a blog format helped us get over the mental hurdle that ‘we didn’t have enough for a story’.”

Krewson also explained that he ensured From The Source was well stocked with content from its launch date by getting newsroom desks, such as education and sport etc, to file “brief dispatches” to be posted the night before.

And the blog is particularly user-friendly and makes sure the details on how to contact its writers are made prominent to encourage story tips from readers.

The result? From The Source started in November and was placed 11th on Philly.com’s most popular blog charts.

By the following month it had risen to second place and accounted for almost 12% of all blog traffic on the site.

[HT – Editors Weblog]

Washington Who’s Who Launched

The Washington Post has unveiled a website dedicated to the people and personalities that make up the city’s political class.

WhoRunsGov.com has currently launched in a beta version, boasting in-depth profiles of America’s senators, representatives, Pentagon officials and administrative staff.



For example, each senator profile provides a career biography of its subject as well as information on their views, voting records and key collaborators.

According to PR Inside, the aim is to provide a free online resource holding policy biographies on all the key decision-makers working in politics, law, and the military.

In addition, the site notes that the first group of profiles has been created by a dedicated editorial unit within the Washington Post.

The website’s creators plan to enable users to upload their own profiles of government figures in the future when the resource becomes more of a moderated wiki.

“The site gives political, business and opinion leaders, as well as students, educators and engaged citizens, a destination for crucial, real-time information on Washington’s key players,” said Rachel Van Dongen, the editor of WhoRunsGov.com.

She added: “This is the first phase of a new venture to create a uniquely collaborative and rich information resource that demystifies the individuals behind Washington’s policy-making process.”

The site also includes a regularly updated Washington politics news blog entitled The Plum Line.

[HT - Editors Weblog]

Guide To Web Metrics

An introduction to the often misunderstood world of website analytics has been published by journalism.co.uk.

Brian Clifton, a former head of web analytics at Google, has produced a three-part guide aiming to demystify metrics and show how website providers can use them to enhance their online offerings.

According to Clifton, web analytics are “the part art and part science of measuring a website’s performance”.

He adds that such data can help “website owners to understand their online visitor behaviour with the purpose of improving it”.

Following the introduction in part one, Clifton highlights the advantages and disadvantages of on-site and off-site metrics in the second instalment.

And in the final post of the series, he looks at different ways to measure online audiences and evaluates their accuracy.

Digital Awards Round-Up

Recent regional media awards have bestowed honours upon a local football website and a Yorkshire reporter.

First up are the EDF Energy East of England Media Awards, which named the online output of the Pink ‘Un as the region’s Website of the Year.

Owned by Archant, the website acts as a sister site to the Norwich Evening News and provides updated headlines on Norwich City FC and other local clubs.

According to HoldTheFrontPage.co.uk, the judging panel “praised the website for its good level of interaction and its strong relationship with the sports fans it serves”.

The website hosts a number of popular features including a free bet service and a match predictor game.



Another recent regional prize winner is David Behrens from the Yorkshire Post who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year at this month’s O2 Media Awards for Yorkshire and Humber.

The Post’s digital editor, who pens the Tech Speak blog, received the accolade at a recent ceremony in Leeds.

While the Highly Commended Digital Journalist titles went to Joanna Hunter from the Hull Daily Mail and David Parkin from The Business Desk.com.

A full list of winners from the inaugural O2 media prizes is on HoldTheFrontPage.co.uk.

Ex-Editor Launches Grassroots Site

A former newspaper editor has created a hyperlocal news website covering his old stomping ground.

Following redundancy from Newsquest’s Epping Forest Guardian, David Jackman decided to launch a community news website for his old Essex patch - EverythingEppingForest.co.uk.



“In a way I guess it felt like I owed it to the district and the countless contacts I had established over the years,” he told HoldTheFrontPage.co.uk.

He added: “I’ve lived in the area almost all my life and know people value the ‘community news’ element of their local newspaper.

“They see their local newspaper as a different read to their daily national paper and, while they want to be able to read about major crime and the big council issues, they also want to read about who spoke at the last WI meeting.”

Citizen Journalism Site Stops Pay

The international version of Oh My News (OMNI) will no longer automatically pay volunteers for published work.

According to Journalism.co.uk, the citizen journalism website is changing its current cybercash payment system where contributors receive money for articles which make the website.

Instead, citizen journalists who get their pieces published will be eligible for one of three cash prizes available each month.

The head of business relations for OMNI hopes that the new system will be accepted by writers and suggests that it will result in more published articles as editors will no longer be limited by a payment cap on content.

“Prize money will also allow selected top three citizen reporters with greater financial rewards every month, though we don't believe their sole reason of writing for us is to earn money,” says Jean K Min.

The spokesperson adds: “We hope our citizen reporters will understand the merit of the changed system over time and even welcome this as they begin to see positive aspects of the new system.”

OMNI was created in 2004 as an English language spinout from the original Oh My News website in South Korea, which was the first site of its kind to collect, edit and publish news articles from citizen reporters.

Site Offers Tech Tips For Journalists

Helping reporters to use digital technology is the aim of a new website launched by a techie and a journalist.

NewsTechZilla is the brainchild of two Tennessee-based bloggers looking to aid journalists who are relatively new to the world of digital media.

The site essentially comprises two blogs – one categorised as “From the tech perspective” and the other hosting posts “From the journalist perspective”.



The tech blog provides journalists with practical tips and features posts on using tools like Twitter and on subjects such as Search Engine Optimization.

Responding to the question of why they created this site, founders Trace Sharp and Scott Adcox write: “The genesis of this project was the countless conversations we’ve had over IM discussing these very issues, time spent reading about the shifting media.

“One day, it just made sense to make these conversations public so others could benefit and contribute.”

They conclude: “Our hope is that we can all learn from each other and discuss the changes that are taking place in news, media, and technology.”

[HT – Poynter Online.]

A Historic Day -- for Online Video

Internet traffic in the United States hit a record peak on Tuesday, as millions of office workers accessed online video of the U.S. presidential inauguration ceremonies, The New York Times reports.

CNN, for instance, fed 1.3 million live streams simultaneously, part of a total of more than 21.3 million video streams provided through mid-afternoon Eastern time -- roughly four times the number of streams the news network's website provided during all of Election Day 2008.

However, the high demand for live video of President Obama's inaugural address created technical problems for some users, reportedly stemming from bandwidth capacity by internet service providers. "I didn't really get to see any of it," one frustrated user said. "Ultimately, I just saw frozen images."

Sign of quality

A new report suggests that a 'digital kitemark' be used to differentiate quality journalism from 'the noise of the web', according to an item in pressgazette.co.uk.

What’s Happening to Our News, an independent report carried out for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, says such a visual signal could signal to users that `content offered on a website had been subjected to a rigorous series of checks, and further, had been created by a professional journalist employed to write in a specific field of coverage - as opposed to a blogger, writing for free and outside any formal editorial process or code of conduct.'

The report also recommends include tax breaks for newspapers, potentially through scrapping the VAT on digital advertising or reducing tax on digital income. The goal would be to 'mimimise the current disparity between the costs and revenue-generating potential of news websites,' the report says.

In addition, it calls for more easily accessible public information.

The report, to be launched at the Oxford Media Convention, is based on interviews with 70 editors, journalists, academics, MPs and regulators.

NY Plane Crash On Twitter Pic

A Twitter user is being feted for his picture taken at the scene of yesterday’s plane crash in New York.

Janis Krums captured the dramatic scene on the Hudson River using his iPhone as the ferry he was on moved towards the plane to rescue people.



Posted to Twit Pic, the photo could then be accessed by a link from his Twitter feed where the accompanying Tweet read: “There’s a plane in the Hudson. I’m on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy.”



According to the New York Daily News, Krums has now become something of a Twitter hero after he sparked the “Internet firestorm”.

The photo has been viewed in its original posting spot over 100,000 times so far and has been displayed on photo-sharing site Flickr by several users.



It has also attracted a deluge of comments from admiring viewers and fellow Twitterers.

CNN & Facebook Integrate For Obama

Facebook users will be able to share their thoughts on Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration at the same time as watching it online.

The social networking website has teamed up with CNN to offer users a split screen comprising coverage of the ceremony alongside Facebook status update streams, reports Reuters/The Hollywood Reporter.

According to the Editors Weblog, the collaboration came about after Facebook members were switching between TV coverage of the recent national elections and their profile pages in order to post updates.

Over 2,000 members have already visited CNN’s Facebook page to confirm their virtual attendance for the event.

2008 - Top Social Media Sites

A chart of the world’s most popular social media websites shows Facebook is on the up and up.

Ranking social media sites by the number of unique visitors, the ComScore list places Google’s blog hosting platform Blogger in the top spot with more than 221 million.

Close behind is social networking site Facebook, with more than 220 million unique visitors and a growth rate of 116% from 2007.

According to TechCrunch, the chart demonstrates that “while the audience for blogs is still showing healthy growth overall, Facebook stands out as the social gorilla taking share from not only other social networks but blogs and other social media as well”.

Facebook is joined in the top 20 by fellow social networking sites including MySpace, hi5, Orkut (majority users in Brazil and India), Baidu Space (China), Netlog (Belgium) and Bebo.

Other blog or web hosting platforms making the list are Wordpress, Yahoo Geocities, Six Apart, Webs.com and Windows Live Spaces.

And completing the top 20 are content-sharing websites such as Flickr, 56.com (China), Scribd and imeem.

See TechCrunch for the full list.

“Revenue Solutions” For News Media

Twelve ways for newspapers to improve their turnover in the future are offered by Steve Outing in his monthly column.

Writing in Editor & Publisher, the new media expert says his 12 suggestions by no means represent a “silver bullet” for the industry, but they’re a place to start.

He writes: “Let’s shoot for a panoply of revenue solutions to keep newspaper companies afloat in print, online and in the mobile world.”

So here are five of his dozen recommendations:

* All platforms are equal

Outing asserts that sales teams should sell ad space across all platforms, identifying the best one for each particular client.

“This may mean selling a retailer who targets a younger customer base on Web, search, blog and/or mobile ads and not trying to talk them into more expensive print placements as well, or bundling print in with the package.”

* Cut print issues

This strategy is already being put into effect by a number of titles in the US and Outing reckons that the costs saved can be invested in new digital services to attract alternative advertising revenue.

“One of the newspaper industry’s big impediments to digital innovation over the last decade has been the distraction of putting out the daily newspaper.

“As those demands lessen, more innovation and executive focus on monetising digital content and services is possible.”

* Embrace “micro-personal” news

“‘News’ to today’s digital consumer runs the gamut from what trail your friend hiked today (and posted news of it on Facebook to her personal online social network) to how many people died in the latest Israeli air raids on the Gaza Strip.”

* Recruit a “VP of social media”

Outing says this person would be responsible for building traffic via social network communities etc.

* “Newspaper as ad agency”

In other words, sales teams work with long-standing customers to find them ad deals which may not be with the news company itself.

“Facilitate getting them into other venues that will achieve the client’s goal. Set up systems that support that with the client business going through you - and you get a referral (or agency) fee.”


Visit E&P for the full column.

Economist Offers Free Text Alerts

The Economist magazine is set to launch a free text alert service outlining each week’s cover story content.

According to Press Gazette, the complimentary offering will start on Friday and send out the first message to users who request the alert.

“We hope it will inspire those less familiar with our magazine to take a second look, so they don’t miss out on the stories that matter to them,” said spokesperson Yvonne Ossman.

Car Crash Mobile Pics Go National

A regional reporter has highlighted the value of mobile journalism as her first-on-the-scene pictures of Cristiano Ronaldo’s car crash made the national news.

Manchester Evening News journalist Nicola Dowling used a mobile phone to take photographs and video footage of the footballer’s wrecked Ferrari at the scene of the accident near Manchester Airport.



Holdthefrontpage.co.uk reports that the resultant content was used by the MEN, local TV station Channel M, and syndicated to national media including the BBC, Sky News and The Sun.

Dowling captured the exclusive footage using a Nokia N95 mobile phone, which were distributed to all MEN journalists in 2008.

“In a situation like this where you have got to get something in a short space of time they are invaluable,” said Dowling.

MEN editor Paul Horrocks added: “It proves the worth of reporters with some training using a mobile phone as a video camera in the way Nicola did.”

Archant Unveils New Site Design

It’s new year, new look for the Ipswich Evening Star after it launched the first of Archant’s redesigned websites.



According to Journalism.co.uk, the new template was based by developers upon the publisher’s dedicated football site – Green’Un 24.

It was also informed by audience feedback and user stats related to the original website, which is still used by other Archant titles.

Managing director Stuart McCreery revealed that titles including the East Anglian Daily Times will launch their own new-look websites when the template is rolled out across the network.

Trinity Titles Launch Multimedia JLR Campaign

Securing a future for Jaguar Land Rover is the aim of a new multimedia cross-title campaign from Trinity Mirror.

Newspapers in Birmingham, Coventry and Liverpool are taking part in the action, using both print and online outlets to gather support.

Each of the titles has a Support Jaguar Land Rover Now/Save The Motor Industry home page with links to innovative features including an interactive timeline on Dipity.



The campaign also has a Save Jaguar Land Rover Facebook group - which has attracted almost 4,000 members since its launch last week.



The Birmingham Post has also registered an online petition to save the company on Downing Street’s e-petitions page.

Audio and video is a key part of the campaign site, which boasts an exclusive video interview with prime minister Gordon Brown and with JLR’s chief executive.

Birmingham Mail editor Steve Dyson said that the campaign shows the combined strength of print and online products.

Writing on his blog, he noted that “together, the traditional printed editions AND the web can make the ‘press’ even MORE powerful.”

More information on the campaign can be found on the websites of the Birmingham Post, the Birmingham Mail, the Coventry Telegraph, the Liverpool Echo and the Liverpool Daily Post.

BBC Maps UK Teen Killings

The BBC has produced a map and searchable database of all known violent deaths of teenagers in the UK last year.

Head of its website Specials Team, Bella Hurrell, said the multimedia project aims to “tell the complete story of teen killings in 2008”.

It includes a database with details on each of the 72 deaths of young people aged from 10 to 19, which can be searched by the victim’s name, age and location of their death.



Locations of the killings are also shown on an interactive map and further information is displayed on a statistics page.



Writing on the Journalism Labs blog, Hurrell added that this is the first version of the database project and it will be developed and updated during the course of the year.

Data Project Shows School Air Quality

USA Today finished the year with a large-scale data project showing impact rates of industrial pollution on the nation’s schools.

“The Smokestack Effect: Toxic Air and America’s Schools,” took eight months to put together and includes searchable databases of pollution statistics and a map showing schools with the highest levels of toxic air.

Visitors can search the results by school, by city or by state to see how the air quality at any given institution compares to others across the country.

In addition, the feature has video reports including interviews with industrial pollution experts.



USA Today says it has analysed data covering a total of 128,000 public schools across the United States.

Further details can be found at Editor & Publisher.

Standard Unveils Clothing Channel

The Evening Standard has launched an online fashion channel where users can browse and buy outfits from its website.

Brand Republic reports that Associated Newspapers has partnered with fashion website LynkU.com to produce the portal on ThisisLondon.co.uk dedicated to designer and high street collections.



Shoppers can browse designs from names such as Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Matthew Williamson and also the latest products from stores like Miss Selfridge and Marks & Spencer.

Registered users can also save their favourites to their virtual wardrobes or email them to fashionista friends.

LynkU.com’s chief executive Robert Gordon described the site as “a one-stop portal of fashion” which will keep the Standard’s online readership “up to date with all the latest fashion offers”.

[HT – The Editors Weblog.]

How To Track Blog Comments

Tracking comments on your blog and your own comments on other blogs is the subject of a post by journalist and academic Julie Starr.

Starr reviews two software services which allow the blogger and the poster to keep up to date with conversations they’re involved in around the Web.

On her blog she discusses Backtype, a service which enables users to track their own comments and to follow others on the Web through their comments.

Backtype users can receive RSS feeds of comments mentioning search terms selected by them.

Starr, who worked with the Telegraph Media Group on its multimedia newsroom, also reviews Disqus.

This service sends emails to bloggers when a comment is placed on their own blog and can help with quick moderation and spam filtering.

Visit The Evolving Newsroom for more details.

Five Ideas For Future News Success

An end-of-year journalism conference hosted by Poynter asked attendees for their ideas on ensuring a successful future for journalism.

Poynter Media’s business analyst Rick Edmonds looked at these suggestions and produced a list of the five prevalent themes on the subject of maximising “our chances of having robust journalism five years from now”.

Here are the five:

1 - “Collaborate and partner”

According to Edmonds, media participants at the summit believe newspapers need to start looking at partnership projects with other companies in both advertising and editorial matters.

2 – “Harness the energy and learning from current experiments”

This is about putting ideas into action and trying out new things.

In addition, the group agreed it would be valuable to have some kind of project set up to sponsor and track the range of ongoing experiments with long-term aims.

3 – “Target and customise”

Particularly relevant when it comes to the younger social networking generation.

4 – “Get over being jilted by the audience”

Related to acceptance that you can’t provide everything your audience needs and also the demise of the ad-supported business model in its former guise.

5 – “Defining value, then pricing it, remains elusive”

The ultimate question according to Edmonds – “what high-quality news is worth to an audience of readers that is motivated to be informed”.


Visit Poynter Online for the full post.

New Roles For Multimedia Newsrooms

The changing nature of information means that the role of the journalist must also change, according to academic and blogger Paul Bradshaw.

So he has come up with a set of six new roles which journalists could fulfill as part of his vision for A Model for the 21st Century Newsroom.

His six suggested roles are:

1 – THE AGGREGATOR SUB

“To collect feeds together (aggregating), identify the useful and relevant stuff (filtering), publish it (bookmark-blogging), identify legal issues and verify where necessary.”

2 – THE MOBILE JOURNALIST

3 – THE DATA MINER

“The investigative journalist of the 21st century is someone who can work with databases and spreadsheets, picking out interesting patterns, pushing the powerful for data, and having an understanding of the vagaries of statistics.”

4 – MULTIMEDIA PRODUCER

“An understanding of how a story or issue can be explored on a range of media makes a significant difference in how you come up with story ideas and gather information.”

“They may not do all the work themselves ... but they can see the possibilities.”

5 – NETWORKED SPECIALIST

“Now it’s not just about knowing their subject area, and the big names, but also being visibly networked in that environment, blogging, vlogging, bookmarking and commenting across their specialist parts of the blogosphere.”

6 – COMMUNITY EDITOR

“Building communities, helping start or fuel conversations, preventing them turning nasty, supporting users, inviting guidance and help, and assisting them in certain projects.”



Check out the Online Journalism Blog for the full post.

Newspapers & The Net’s Five P’s

Journalists should concentrate on delivering four of the five P’s of the Internet, according to a new media chief in the US.

Rob Curley from Greenspun Interactive says effective content on the net can essentially be split into five categories:

Passions – Think travel, sport, shopping etc

Practical – Information such as opening times, maps and so on.

Playful – This is YouTube and similar.

(As Curley puts it: “How many times have you heard someone say, ‘You know, I was on YouTube last night, and I just lost myself. I must have been on that site for two or three hours.’

“Now when was the last time you heard someone say, ‘You know, I was on my local newspaper’s website last night and I just lost myself. I must have been on that site for two or three hours.’”)

Personal communication – Such as social networking, instant messaging and all that jazz.

Porn – No explanation required!

Curley, who is president and executive editor at Greenspun Interactive, continues: “Here’s what is wild: With the exception of porn (and probably personal communication), newspapers should really be able to deliver on these things.”

Writing on his blog, Curley suggests that newspapers should take a look at the non-news things that work in print and try to “embrace those sorts of equivalents with new media”.

So he considers some of the initiatives followed by his newspaper – the Las Vegas Sun – and how they match two of the magic P’s:

Passions – Examples at the Sun include boxing features and entertainment news and gossip from the Strip.

Practical – At the Sun this comprises information features such as restaurant guides and crime data.

Most importantly, Curley writes that these changes have had a very positive impact on the site’s traffic figures with a growth of 300% in the past six months.

And of particular interest is that he includes in his write-up some of the projects that so far haven’t elicited the kind of page views initially expected.

Visit Curley’s blog for the full post.

Guide To CMS

A short guide to the all-important content management system (CMS) was published recently by Press Gazette.

The article considers some of the key elements that news organisations look for in a good CMS and includes thoughts on the subject from developers and digital editors at a number of groups including the Financial Times and the Guardian News & Media.

“Today, the interface between reporters, sub-editors, websites, news pages and mobile devices is so important that even in the current hellish downturn it is one of the few things that journalism organisations are spending serious money on,” writes Press Gazette editor Dominic Ponsford.

He adds that “having a good one can also mean having a website which is search-engine optimised, can be updated and changed easily, and which has all the new technical bells and whistles you need to stay up to date”.

Visit Press Gazette for the full article.