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As always another fine piece of research and analysis from Project for Excellence in Journalism.

There are always a lot of brief articles around touching on the “death of the newspaper”, discussing the state of the industry, with alerts to continued cutbacks and weak revenue figures coming out from print media companies. Commentary on media stocks tell a tale of a dire need for creativity, development and diversification or a certain demise. The report below from PEJ is an in-depth look on the newspaper and “state of the media” today. Discussed within is the current situation, new channels (online) and new players (citizens) and some insight into what the future will look like for this industry.

It has fewer pages than three years ago,
The paper stock is thinner.
The stories are shorter.
There is less foreign and national news, less space devoted to science, the arts, features and a range of specialized subjects.
Business coverage is either packaged in an increasingly thin stand-alone section or collapsed into another part of the paper.
The crossword puzzle has shrunk.
The TV listings and stock tables may have disappeared.

But…. coverage of some local issues has strengthened and investigative reporting remains highly valued.
- The Changing Newsroom: Project of Excellence in Journalism, July 2008

The report, The Changing Newsroom, is a recommended read.

Quick click to the following sections:

• Cutbacks
• Changing Content
• The Changing Newsroom
• The Influence of the Web
• Citizen In the Newsroom
• The Future
• Conclusion

Media and communications habits of people have and will continue to rapidly change. Consumption of media is moving towards social media, where people can converse and collaborate, and away from traditional media which is more of a one way conversation. This is no longer the realm of teenagers, businesses need to reframe this very quickly or will be left behind.

Historically a lot of money has been poured into market research to understand consumers and their drivers. Now, with social media channels this information is much more freely available and beyond this companies can invisibly find out more about peeves and positives about their product and services and refine as such.

Communities are formed around specific interest areas so these kinds of insights companies can gain are now available at their fingertips, in much higher volumes and are likely to be of greater quality and relevance.

I. Why?

• Powerful, cost efficient communication tools.
• Reaching fragmented, targeted audiences.
• Understand consumer behaviors.
• Knowing shifts, trends and being up to date with news.
• Building  interactive networks.
• Listening to consumers.

II. Who?

Globally, businesses are appointing people specifically for this critical function for example:
Head of Social Media, Director of Consumer Generated Media, Head of Online Brand Equity, Consumer Insights Manager, Director of Social Media, Director of Social Media Analysis, Voice of the Customer, Director of Social Networking, Head of Interactive Content, Director of Online Customer Relations, Chief Networking Officer, Director of Social Marketing, Chief Relationship Officer, Marketing Director Emerging Media, Chief Media Officer, Social Media Officer, Manager of Online Contact, User Created Content Guru. * - TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony.

An example, see today: BBC’s Huggers Confirmed Future Media & Technology Director
“He will control a 2008/09 budget of £114.4 million ($228 million) for BBC.co.uk alone, but Huggers’ responsibilities encompass all internet, interactive TV, mobile, broadband and emerging platforms operations, including iPlayer, totaling around £400 million ($797 million).”
Read more @ Paidcontent.org here

III. What?

-A Company blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Diigo, FriendFeed, Ning, Mixx, Bebo, Get Satisfaction, Google and Yahoo Groups….. And by tomorrow, or in an hour, more would have emerged.

IV. How?

I think a good way to do this is:

• Firstly start reading blogs and social media channels where your consumers interact (listening to conversations).
• Then start commenting & responding within these channels. This is if agreed with management that this is the right social media policy for your company & benefits outweigh risks (participating in conversations).
• Next step is creating content, whether on a company blog or within other social media channels (initiating conversations)

But in saying the above there is no prescribed method. If you have something to stay straight away and you understand the audience then this is right for your business. Some may prefer just to listen, gain insights and feedback and silently implement solutions based on this.

V. When?

If last week didn’t work then now is good!

I am a huge fan and supporter of channels that give everyone a voice and expose us to a much wider range of information and insight into what is going on in our world.

Heard today of the launch of AllVoices.com which is a “new citizen media start up” which allows anyone to report from anywhere. You can upload your own news, videos, images and add views, commentary and opinion as it happens. Very cool concept.

• “It’s the first true peoples media, providing eyewitness news and perspective that is free from editorial filtering and censorship.”
• “The Allvoices community provides eyewitness news and perspective that is free from traditional editorial oversight and censorship characteristic of global media organizations.”

Take a look here (and submit some breaking news if and when you have it!)

A few posts ago I mentioned that listening to earnings calls is a great way to learn more about or stay up to date with companies and/or industries that you are interested in. Today I came across this resource at TheStreet.com which is really useful. Runs through detail on preparation, process as well as what to look out for during the earnings call in a quantitative (on the balance sheet) as well as a qualitative (tone of management) sense.

1. Preview the call - Listen to previous earnings call, note benchmarks & company metrics.
2. Read the earnings release - Usually issued an hour before call, closely review benchmarks/metrics. Pay attention to future guidance and new announcements. Factor in or out one time items. Look at the balance sheet and focus on changes in financial position e.g. cash, short term investments, inventory, sales, diluted share count.
3. Listen to the earnings call - Details in IR section of website. Usually Intro (US:”safe harbor disclosure), Welcome and Overview, Discussion of details, Q & A.
4. Analyse the call - Look at info gained on call, in release, and previous and form an opinion. Be aware of GAAP vs non GAAP, tone of management and irrelevant metrics.

View full article by Scott Rothbort @ The Street here

Homework is to listen to an earnings call… so:

View Yahoo! Finance Conference Call List here