Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Christian Science Monitor going all-digital
Christian Science Monitor changes how it delivers the news
Michelle Bearden. McClatchy - Tribune Business News. Washington: Nov 8, 2008.Nov. 8--Don't write its obituary.
Because the Christian Science Monitor, a venerable 100-year publication, isn't dead.
It's just reinventing itself.
In April, the daily newspaper run by the Christian Science church will transition to a 24-hour online news operation, publishing a newspaper only on Fridays.
With that move, the Monitor, with a circulation of about 52,000, becomes the first newspaper with a national audience to make a dramatic shift into the digital world. No doubt, all eyes will be on the experiment.
Church founder Mary Baker Eddy, who launched the newspaper in 1908 with the mission to "injure no man, but to bless all mankind," would probably understand. With readership habits changing and advertising revenue plummeting, the traditional newspaper is in trouble.
According to editor John Yemma, it was a matter of economics and how readers are getting their news these days.
"Online journalism is more timely and is rapidly expanding its reach, especially among younger readers," he says. "There's still a role for print, but one that is geared to weekends, when people still can find time to catch up, look behind the headlines and experience the pleasures of print."
The Monitor will maintain its 18 worldwide bureaus and its commitment to reporting comprehensively and without bias on global and national events. Although the paper has the unusual distinction of being run by the Boston-based church, its coverage isn't slanted, as one would expect. That's why it has won seven Pulitzer Prizes.
"We're proud of what this paper represents," says Phil Davis, a church spokesman.
It's also been a great public relations tool for the church, whose official name is The First Church of Christ, Scientist. Since the Monitor established itself as a player in the media world, it opened the door to discussion on the church that owns it.
A few quick facts: Christian Science (not to be confused with Scientology), is based on the teachings and practice of Jesus, including healing through prayer. The denomination claims about 1,800 churches in about 60 countries.
Eddy, of Lynn, Mass., founded the church after she was healed of a critical condition while reading biblical accounts of Jesus' healing. In 1879, a charter for the Church of Christ, Scientist was established "to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing."
Although Christian Scientists are free to seek medical treatment, many followers choose prayer as a means of health care. Davis says the church publishes testimonies from members every week that support their belief in prayer's healing powers.
Church members aren't alone in turning to a higher power when it comes to health care. According to a Gallup Poll, more than 40 percent of Americans claim that, "at one time or another," they had a physical healing through prayer.
"That's a significant number," Davis says. "So when you talk about health care reform in this country, which is a critical priority, you exclude a substantial number of people if you don't address the spiritual component."
Even medical educators are coming around to this way of thinking. Davis says in the past 15 years, more than half of the nation's medical colleges and universities have added programs about spirituality to their curriculums. It's not an attempt to replace conventional medical treatment, but to enlighten future health care professionals about the role faith can play in combating illness.
"I love the fact we share the same motive -- to alleviate suffering and disease," Davis says. "We may have a different system, a different approach, but we all want the same outcome. We can work together toward that."
Kudos to Christian Science for giving us a great newspaper and a spiritual support component to our traditional health care system. Eddy was a woman way ahead of her time.
Three programs are planned this month to introduce the public to the church's beliefs. At 2 p.m. Sunday, you can attend "The Medicine of Christian Science" at 1310 W. Linebaugh Ave., Tampa; at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Nov. 28, a presenter will talk on "How Did Jesus Heal? The Certainty of Christian Science Healing" at the Christian Science Reading Room, 431 First Ave. N., St. Petersburg. For information, call (727) 641-0656.
Michelle Bearden talks with two Christian Scientists on her "Keeping the Faith" segment at 9 a.m. Sunday on WFLA-TV.
Credit: Tampa Tribune, Fla.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Worst yet to come for newspapers
The New York Times, the Boston Globe and the Washington Post are some of America's venerable democratic institutions. They are all in financial trouble, says the Philippine Star's Joe Katigbak:
Newspaper ad revenues in the United States have fallen 23 percent in the last two years and because of the recession 2009 may be the worst year yet, said an annual report on the health and status of American journalism. Some papers are in bankruptcy, others have lost three-quarters of their value and nearly one out of every five journalists working for newspapers in 2001 is now gone as a result of layoffs, pay cuts, downsizing and firings.Read more.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Cheap shot from a cheap Chip Tsao
In case you haven't heard of him, that's okay. Chip Tsao is a best-selling author and columnist -- in Hong Kong. Now, thanks to an article posted March 27 in the Hong Kong Magazine, most Filipinos are by now seething at him. He just replaced Malu Fernandez on the top spot on every Pinoy Hate List.Random thoughts:
- Humor? Or suppressed emotions?
- If Tsao's maid Louisa is indeed for real, she should resign. (I tried and tried but did not find any online resource saying that the University of Manila offers a degree in international politics. Also, Pinays rarely spell it Louisa.) There are probably a handful of reasonable employers in Hong Kong.
- Filipina maids are working for cheap salaries thanks to cheap employers like Chip Tsao and the cheap policies of the Hong Kong government.
- He does not know what he triggered. Probably Filipino hackers are now working on his online accounts, and his smiling (not for long) image now adorns the dolls of every magbabarang on Siquijor island.
- A wiki entry says To Kit earned degrees from British universities, including a diploma in international relations from LSE. (His article makes good publicity for the LSE program.)
Friday, March 20, 2009
Le Monde online only due to strike
A labor strike in France prevented the physical circulation of today's issue of Le Monde, but the full electronic version was online.
En raison d'un mouvement de grève, le quotidien Le Monde daté du 20 mars ne sera pas disponible en kiosque. Retrouvez gratuitement le journal électronique.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Seattle 'paper' drops paper
The Web claims a 'victim.'
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer became the first big American newspaper (2008 circulation 117,572) to succumb to the rigors of printing a daily product, and find a refuge -- and perhaps prosperity -- in the new technology.
It ran its last copy today and henceforth will be a strictly online enterprise.
As I have noted in class many times, the future is bleak for the newspaper industry, but bright for journalism.
The P-I, founded in 1863 as the Seattle Gazette, is believed to be the city's oldest paper. In 1921 William Randolph Hearst bought it and it continues to be a Hearst Corp. enterprise. The company put it up for sale early this year because it was losing. Failing to secure a buyer, it decided to stop printing.
Read also:
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer became the first big American newspaper (2008 circulation 117,572) to succumb to the rigors of printing a daily product, and find a refuge -- and perhaps prosperity -- in the new technology.
It ran its last copy today and henceforth will be a strictly online enterprise.
As I have noted in class many times, the future is bleak for the newspaper industry, but bright for journalism.
The P-I, founded in 1863 as the Seattle Gazette, is believed to be the city's oldest paper. In 1921 William Randolph Hearst bought it and it continues to be a Hearst Corp. enterprise. The company put it up for sale early this year because it was losing. Failing to secure a buyer, it decided to stop printing.
Read also:
- David Horsey's "The end and a new beginning"
- Joel Connelly's "Online-only P-I will be a journalism adventure"
Monday, January 26, 2009
Cover price of Metro Manila newspapers
| Weekdays | Sundays | |
| BusinessMirror | 25 | 25* |
| BusinessWorld | 25 | 25* |
| Daily Tribune | 15 | 15 |
| Malaya | 15 | 15* |
| Manila Bulletin | 18 | 20 |
| Manila Standard Today | 15 | 15* |
| Manila Times | 15 | 15 |
| Philippine Daily Inquirer | 18 | 20 |
| Philippine Star | 20 | 20 |
*No Sunday paper