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Apr. 2nd Report from Bucharest, Part 2 : Newspapers at the crossroads, blogs thriving

Updated Friday, April 3, 03:28 am EST

Scroll down for new update on Blogs and their impact

Here I am this evening, speaking at the US Embassy in Bucharest: the topic, all about Blogs

Earlier in the day, speaking to Romanian publishers, editors and designers


Eveninmentul zilei is a midmarket daily (notice interview with me bottom of page); Business Standard, is a new financial daily in Romania, in tabloid format.

Adevarul is one of the “quality” midmarket newspapers with various regional editions, with powerful promotion/marketing campaigns, such as giving out books; Libertatae is the largest circulation and largest readership of any newspaper in Romania.

Cotidianul is a quality newspaper in tabloid format; Gazeta Sporturilor is colorful and full of important sports information

From one transition to the next

With about 150 editors, publishers, designers in the audience, all the questions usually turn to “how can we survive?“, with a few trying to learn as much as possible from the “mistakes of the American newspapers”.

However, quick conversations with publishers and editors show that, in many cases, traditional journalism prevails here, and little or no investment is made on the newspaper’s online operations, although I am happy to see that there are already some financial online newspapers that do not exist in print (http://www.wall-street.ro).  LIke U.S. editors 10 years ago, some of the Romanian editors I meet still think that it is NOT news until it appears in print.  There is little, if any, experimentation with advertising.

The existing newspapers fall into three main categories: the serious ones who, as one editor puts it, pride themselves in “being heavy” (this means long texts without interruptions, few graphics and a front page that is more 9 point than anything else, in a broadsheet format!).  Then there are the contemporary ones: breezy, colorful, dynamic. And, a big basket of the tabloid variety, with the big headlines, the cutout photographs on every page, and one 300 point headline after the other.  The largest circulation daily here, Libertatea, falls into this category.

One thing that is of interest to me, in this my first incursion into Romania, is that the design and texture of newspapers here falls into two camps: either they look like Swiss or German dailies, or like Spanish ones.  Change the language, and, presto, you could be reading a newspaper from Geneva or Sevilla.  Nothing wrong with that, of course, except that as I travel the world I see the loss of some of the “country/cultural” flair that newspapers always had, somehow lost.  Because we have Internet access and we can see what others are doing, we are more likely to target our products after successful ones elsewhere. I ask the locals: what are the major influences here? What does a Romanian newspaper look like?

The audience simply smiled.

“Well, we tend to follow American newspapers here a lot,“ Amalia Badescu, Managing Director for MMI, tells me,  “but we also love those Spanish newspapers, and we have a major Swiss media house, Ringier,  involved with ownership of some of the dailies, so those influences show.“

Blogging thrives in Romania

Color illustration by Andrew Skwish (http://www.skwish.com/)

One of my sessions here was specifically devoted to the impact and influence of Blogs, with tips for Romanian bloggers on how to make their blogs more interesting. This session took place at the U.S. Embassy of Romania. A group of about 20 bloggers gathered for the occasion, a large number of whom described themselves as journalists who blog.

Some highlights of my talk:

A new force: Blogs are already changing the way we practice journalism, and shaping the world in which we live. Not to mention their impact on the political landscape. Think Obama campaign blogs

People make the difference: Traditional journalism is practiced by journalists, blogs open the door for the masses to participate. The audience is part of the process. My actual quote was:

When you practice traditional journalism, it is as if you play tennis against the wall. With blogging, there is always the instant comeback from the audience. It is like playing tennis with Serena Williams, and she throws the ball back at you. More exciting and a more complete process of interaction.

Tips for making those blogs more visually appealing: Use visuals to draw your readers in; write crisp, short headlines to identify each topic; use bold face to highlight names; use color to create a branding/identity for your blog.

The topics:  Emphasize variety, from newsy to featury to the very light and personal.  Blogs are opinionated, so let your ideas be known, and express them with force and conviction.
Objectivity, the landmark of traditional journalism, is not what it is about here. However, accuracy always is!

The Daily Me concept: It is no secret that blogs are part of this The Daily Me concept where we all express how we feel, what we believe, what we like and don’t like. In that sense, your blog is a daily front page of your feelings and ideas for a given day. I know mine is.  It is not everyday that you have something extremely interesting, let alone profound, to say. But your readers flock to you because, regardless of the subject, there is always the element of surprise, and, often, valuable information to share as well.

Roy Peter Clark and blogs

Dr. Roy Peter Clark, long-time friend and one of my dearest colleagues at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, where he has been the reigning writing guru for more than 25 years, was extremely helpful as I prepared my blog presentation.  Roy always offers unique and insightful views on the craft of writing, and here are highlights of his remarks to me as I asked him for his contributions with the blogs and blogging presentation. Many thanks, Roy!

My special thanks also go to David Shedden, Poynter Library director, for his valuable assistance with an updated bibliography on blogging, which helped me tremendously.

Recommended books about blogging

Jim McManus send us a great tip about two books related to blogging, by Biz Stone, that I definitely plan to read soon, while the subject of blogging is right up there to the front of my head.

Here is how Jim introduces the books to me in an email:

About 6 years ago I used to have these long discussion about blogging with a young friend named Biz Stone who was an early blogging enthusiast and wrote a couple of books on the subject. I used to tell him that this whole blogging thing was overrated and would never take off. I mean who would want to read the aimless musings of some everyman? But he held steadfast and ignored my ill-informed thoughts on the subject. He later joined Google and Blogger and later still became one of the three founders of Twitter.

The books are by Biz Stone:
Blogging: Genius Strategies for Instant Web Content
Who Lets the Blogs Out?

 

Biz’s books can be found here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Biz%20Stone

 

For those who read Romanian, here is how the media have covered my presence here:

Interview published Thursday, April 2, 2009:
http://www.evz.ro/articole/detalii-articol/845755/GARCIA-Media-trece-printr-o-schimbare-istorica/

http://www.wall-street.ro/articol/Marketing-PR/62262/Presa-ca-un-meci-de-tenis-In-print-lovesti-un-perete-in-online-te-joci-cu-cititorii-tai.html

http://aluiann.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/news-design-legend-la-bucuresti/

Facts about circulation of Romanian newspapers:
http://aluiann.wordpress.com/2009/03/04/crestere-cu-8-a-vanzarilor-de-ziare-in-2008/
Cotidianul: http://www.cotidianul.ro/mario_garcia_reclamele_de_pe_prima_pagina_le_provoaca_editorilor_atacuri_de_cord_dar_cititorii_le_adora-77634.html
Hotnews: http://economie.hotnews.ro/stiri-media_publicitate-5500038-interviu-mario-garcia-peste-5-ani-publicitatea-ziarele-tiparite-parte-unor-pachete-diverse-platforme.htm
Cotidianul: http://www.cotidianul.ro/brainstorming_media_pentru_depasirea_crizei-77636.html
Business Standard: http://www.standard.ro/articol_83862/expert_in_presa_la_inovatia_in_media.html
Hotnews: http://economie.hotnews.ro/stiri-media_publicitate-5471886-expertul-international-mario-garcia-vine-conferinta-nationala-presei-din-romania.htm
Ad Players: http://www.adplayers.ro/articol/Eveniment-9/Expert-print-si-online-The-Wall-Street-Journal-Die-Zeit-si-Handelsblatt-vine-in-Romania-la-Managing-Media-Crisis-2898.html
Tolo: http://www.tolo.ro/2009/03/11/mario-garcia-vine-in-romania/
IAA: http://www.iaa.ro/Articole/Stiri/Mario-garcia-vine-in-romania/2399.html

For more information about Media Management Institute:
http://www.mediainstitute.ro

A flash from the communist past

When the curtain came down on communism here in Romania——which historians officially cite as Dec. 22, 1989, the end of Nicolae Ceaucescu’s dictatorship, after 42 years of Communist rule which also included leaders Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Nicolae Ceaucescu——it also opened doors and windows to the press, which could finally be free, as opposed to propaganda machines.

One editor was telling me today that during communism, newspapers were full of propaganda, but the VALUE ADDED was in two areas: classified ads and obituaries.

“Yes, people ignored all the propaganda the government dispensed page after page, but they got the newspaper to deal with sales, a little capitalism in the middle of the rest. We could sell a piano, a lamp, or buy something. And, of course, we wanted to know who had died, to perhaps attend the funeral services and go to the burial.  That was the true value of a newspaper in those days.“

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To read TheRodrigoFino blog, in Spanish, go:
http://garciamedia.com/latinamerica/blog/

TheMarioBlog posting #230

Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia on April 02, 2009