Two New Newspapers to Launch
Posted on December 15, 2006
Filed Under Channels and Content |
Hot on the heels of the news that one third of newspapers are likely to close because of new media competition, two more are launching but listen to this: the first is Avastar which will be a product of Axel Springer, in Germany, and will debut in Second Life and on the strasse. Yes, a funny kind of mixed reality, really a paper, really a virtual one too. So what beats will it cover? All we know is it will be a tabloid.
It sounds like an idea that’s right on the money and just the kind of risk a large media organization with abundant cash resources should be taking. These things are too often left to entrepreneurs who then mortgage their houses to pay off the legal bills come judgment day.
New Media Musing points to Politico - a new paper produced by ex Washington Post, Time and Bloomberg journalists. It’s going to be serious, objective and on the web as well as in print. In fact it’s billed as a multimedia venture. Politico goes live on January 23rd, and as yet none of the editors have contacted me but still I wish them well.
It’s unlikely to spur VCs into action but businesses in the content sphere are going to be profitable and IPO-ish. More forward thinking it taking place at WIRED where Chris Andersen, fresh from the Long Tail book tour, is writing about the future needs of news: how to construct stories that live and breathe in a public space. Andersen offers a utopian view of the perfect story always out there from inception to old age. he could be wrong but the cumulative effect of all three initiatives is novelty in newspapers. A good omen at last for the princes of print.
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