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Sep. 21st In Liberia: low tech newspaper, high following

Updated Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009, at 12:07 EST

TAKEAWAY: This Liberian editor/publisher does not have to worry about printing, circulation, convergence or technical problems.  His daily newspaper on a chalk board has a strong following and a sense of purpose.  ALSO: Front pages that do it right, with Pure Design download about the topic. AND: New look for France’s Le Figaro: with more color.

All the news that fits into the blackboard

They come everymorning to read The Daily Talk.  Yes, they must come and stand close to read every word. Nothing to buy. Nothing to download. No paper. No ink. No screen.

English is the official language of Liberia (also several tribal languages are spoken as well), where The Daily Talk appears on the big blackboard daily. Population of Liberia is 3,042.004

Alfred Sirleaf’s ‘Daily Talk’ newspaper reaches thousands of Liberians every day in the tiny African country’s capital, Monrovia,  but he always produces only one copy. How does he do it? By writing the day’s biggest stories on a large blackboard beside a busy road, something Sirleaf has done since he founded The Daily Talk in 2000.

I have found great inspiration in Sirleaf’s model of a newspaper that serves its purpose in grand style, yet he produces it daily by just writing with chalk on a board.  It proves that storytelling is more about the stories than the medium or the technology.  If we ever needed a reminder of this, then Sirleaf’s newspaper on a blackboard is the ultimate testimony.

Tyler Brule’s Monocle has visited Sirleaf and you can watch the interview and see how he goes about producing his Daily Talk here, including reaction of the Daily Talk’s readers:

http://www.monocle.com/sections/culture/Web-Articles/The-Daily-Talk/

Also of interest in Monocle:

Read Andrew Tuck’s evaluation of the closing of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.‘s closing of thelondonpaper:
http://www.monocle.com/monocolumn/2009/09/18/free-but-not-so-easy/

Pure Design download: Page One

Since today’s Pure Design fable is all about that important Page One, I thought I would comb through the files of yesterday’s front pages worldwide to see which ones I would have used as illustrations if I were doing the book today.  These 10 are, by no means, the only ones that are representative of what is good for a Page One in 2009.

However, they constitute a good assortment of ideas, styles and effective ways to appeal to readers in a hurry.

One thing they all have in common: good use of navigation to guide the reader, one dominant visual to grab the attention of the scanner in a hurry, and tons of color.

Two front pages with enormous visual impact: Portugal’s I and Spains’s Publico

Putting tons of visual punch into that page one: Austria’s Kleine Zeitung; Turkey’s Zaman

Masters of navigation in the broadsheet format: Brazil’s O Povo; USA’s The Wall Street Journal and The Virginian Pilot

Poster treatments for Page One: Chicago’s Red Eye; Newcastle’s The Journal

Brussel’s De Morgen shows that one can have text on Page One and still devote a good portion of the page to inside navigation

From the WAN/IFRA Executive News Service’
Tuesday 22 September 2009

- USA: ‘Newspaper Junkie’ Obama Signals Support for Paywalls
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004014435
 
- USA: NYT Explores New Twitter Search Products
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/digital-downloads/search/e3i87c96b4228796e1d3cdffc7eb6afc322
 
- USA: Publishers Debate: Low Subscription Prices Good, or Bad for Business?
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004014438
 
- PCUK/Harris Poll: Subscriptions Appeal More To UK Readers Than Micropayments
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-pcukharris-poll-subscriptions-appeal-more-to-uk-readers-than-micropayme/
- Most Traffic Growth To UK News Sites Is Coming From U.S.
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-most-traffic-growth-to-uk-news-sites-is-coming-from-u.s/#comments
- Singapore: SPH to launch high-end lifestyle publication ZbBz
http://www.sph.com.sg/article.display.php?id=2220
- Financial Times expands blog
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20090921/FREE/909219987
- Metro International launches new advertising package and implements structural changes in Hungary
http://www.metro.lu/node/76/story/1
- ABC Survey: Mobile Content Full of Potential for Newspapers
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004014433
 
- Micropayments for news: The holy grail or just a dangerous delusion?
http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/09/micropayments-for-news-the-holy-grail-or-just-a-dangerous-delusion

 

 

France’s Le Figaro new look

Here is how front page of the newly designed Le Figaro looks

Those French newspapers: they are no longer staying behind in the “look and feel” department, as they did for years. 

Barely two weeks ago Liberation rolled out its new look, and this week is Le Figaro’s turn to show us that it has put a new coat of paint (mostly blue) and refined its front page navigator.  There is color on every page, a newspaper art director’s dream, which Le Figaro has managed to accomplish.  In fact, Le Figaro’s team heralds the arrival of color on every page as a first for any French newspaper, made possible by the opening of a new printing plant. I bet the advertisers are happy, too.

Coincidentally, Le Figaro’s management announces that the newspaper will see its advertising revenues figure rising as it announces results next time.  It also mentions that this redesign also involves a major effort to create better relationships between the printed and digital editions.

For more information, go here:
http://www.lefigaro.fr/medias/2009/09/18/04002-20090918ARTFIG00456-un-figaro-nouveau-et-tout-en-couleurs-.php

Who is Jacky?

Jacky belongs to Frank Deville.  The Luxembourg-based pooch is an “avid reader” of the German newspaper, Bild Am Sonntag. Every Sunday Jacky picks stories and interesting graphics in Bild Am Sonntag , the German newspaper.

 

 

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TheMarioBlog post #374

Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia on September 21, 2009