PHUKET: Phuketwan looked on this week as events in Australia pointed towards a future without newspapers, a world where readers will use tablets and mobile telephones to keep up with the latest.
Fairfax Media, once home to Australia's best-known quality newspapers, has declared the battle is over. The Internet has won. Newspapers are on the way out.
Yet there was some good news for journalists this week, too.
The reporting team who created the businessspectator.com.au and eureka.com.au sites were bought out for $30 million for their hard work on the online outlets.
So on the one hand, 1900 newspaper staff lost their jobs. On the other, five journalists who built something new online were handsomely rewarded.
It's still our intention that Phuketwan will undergo dramatic changes of one kind or another at the end of this year. We are encouraged to believe that a major Asean region publisher will find us appealing, and invest.
We are also encouraged that a major part of our reason for being - reforming Phuket to make it an honest place to live and a great place to visit - is now underway. So at this stage, we could go in either direction: to continue and flourish, or to call it quits.
Our own statistics show we are viewed by about 6500 unique visitors a day, every day, a very good number for an outlet that doesn't bother putting out wasteful newsprint versions to create awareness.
People who want a guide to the success of online media could do worse than visit alexa.com, where the ''Site Info'' section in the toolbar delivers a worldwide ranking and allows users to compare as many as five sites at once.
On present listings Phuketwan ranks 39,275 while businessspectator.com.au, the site that was part of the $30 million deal, ranks 39,346. In Australia's national capital, canberratimes.com.au fits at 36,677 while Britain's yorkshirepost.co.uk trails a little at 71,794.
Given that Phuketwan relies solely on news and does not have a classifieds section or much in the way of vanity profiles designed to please advertisers, we think we are offering better value to readers than any other English-language product on Phuket.
We clearly mark some of the material we publish as ''Media Releases'' and make no pretence that it is ''news'' or ''journalism'' the way that others do. And when we make mistakes, we tell you.
We're the only Phuket publishers with a code of ethics. We're not timid, self-interested or easily bought. And we do appreciate our readers, even if we don't always show it.
We'll keep you up to date on Phuketwan's progress as the countdown continues over the next six months.
Fairfax Media, once home to Australia's best-known quality newspapers, has declared the battle is over. The Internet has won. Newspapers are on the way out.
Yet there was some good news for journalists this week, too.
The reporting team who created the businessspectator.com.au and eureka.com.au sites were bought out for $30 million for their hard work on the online outlets.
So on the one hand, 1900 newspaper staff lost their jobs. On the other, five journalists who built something new online were handsomely rewarded.
It's still our intention that Phuketwan will undergo dramatic changes of one kind or another at the end of this year. We are encouraged to believe that a major Asean region publisher will find us appealing, and invest.
We are also encouraged that a major part of our reason for being - reforming Phuket to make it an honest place to live and a great place to visit - is now underway. So at this stage, we could go in either direction: to continue and flourish, or to call it quits.
Our own statistics show we are viewed by about 6500 unique visitors a day, every day, a very good number for an outlet that doesn't bother putting out wasteful newsprint versions to create awareness.
People who want a guide to the success of online media could do worse than visit alexa.com, where the ''Site Info'' section in the toolbar delivers a worldwide ranking and allows users to compare as many as five sites at once.
On present listings Phuketwan ranks 39,275 while businessspectator.com.au, the site that was part of the $30 million deal, ranks 39,346. In Australia's national capital, canberratimes.com.au fits at 36,677 while Britain's yorkshirepost.co.uk trails a little at 71,794.
Given that Phuketwan relies solely on news and does not have a classifieds section or much in the way of vanity profiles designed to please advertisers, we think we are offering better value to readers than any other English-language product on Phuket.
We clearly mark some of the material we publish as ''Media Releases'' and make no pretence that it is ''news'' or ''journalism'' the way that others do. And when we make mistakes, we tell you.
We're the only Phuket publishers with a code of ethics. We're not timid, self-interested or easily bought. And we do appreciate our readers, even if we don't always show it.
We'll keep you up to date on Phuketwan's progress as the countdown continues over the next six months.
ED,
Good Luck! Phuket needs PW.
Posted by GiantFan on June 23, 2012 16:51