Category Archives: media

Adding Color to breaking news

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

Today marks the launch of a groundbreaking new app called Color. The app, available for iPhone and Android, has users automatically share pictures with those around them. Take a picture and people in close proximity can see them. No logins, … Continue reading →

Posted in journalism, media, newspapers, photography | 5 Comments

All the news thats fit to retweet

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

The New York Times today came out with its long awaited digital subscription pricing. Beginning immediately in Canada and March 28 in the United States and the rest of the world, heavy users of the New York Times will be … Continue reading →

Posted in journalism, media, newspapers | 3 Comments

The Daily is a solid effort facing huge challenges

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

Today we saw the unveiling of Rupert Murdoch’s new iPad-based newspaper, The Daily. It looks very different from apps from the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today. The impression is distinctly more of a magazine … Continue reading →

Posted in apple, ipad, journalism, media, newspapers | 1 Comment

Why iPad magazines aren’t selling well

Posted on January 4, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

Women’s Wear Daily reported recently that after an initial burst, iPad-based magazines aren’t selling well. Well, duh. They were designed to meet the needs of publishers, not readers. Hey, let’s charge $5 an issue for something that requires little work … Continue reading →

Posted in ipad, journalism, media | 3 Comments

Junk journalism: media flaming fear and irrationality

Posted on November 30, 2010 by Rakesh Agrawal

The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz recently took the media to task for spending too much time covering the TSA’s new procedures, referring to it as a “‘junk’ journalism epidemic.” I’ve about had it with media types who insist on turning … Continue reading →

Posted in journalism, media, newspapers | 5 Comments

Chart of the day: journalistic innumeracy illustrated

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Rakesh Agrawal

What would readers conclude after looking at the graph above? Best Buy sales have gone up at least 10 fold in the last 2 years. (Recession, what recession?) Best Buy’s monthly sales at the end of 2009 were roughly $22 … Continue reading →

Posted in journalism, media, newspapers | 1 Comment

Plowing through the middleman

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Rakesh Agrawal

The snow day. Growing up in Michigan, it was always a treat. Whenever a significant amount of snow was in the forecast, I’d wake up early to see if I got the day off. I’d listen to the radio as … Continue reading →

Posted in facebook, journalism, media, newspapers, twitter | Comments Off

How the AP blew it

Posted on April 15, 2009 by Rakesh Agrawal

In the most recent round of AP getting in a huff about search engines and aggregators stealing traffic that they feel rightly belongs to them, there’s a fundamental problem they’re ignoring: AP chose not be in the online news business. … Continue reading →

Posted in google, iphone, journalism, media, newspapers, yahoo | 9 Comments

Anyone can be a journalist

Posted on April 6, 2009 by Rakesh Agrawal

In conversations with people in the news business, I regularly hear about the need for “professional journalists.” Ask them what makes a professional journalist and the answers get wishy-washy. Is it someone who is on staff at a newspaper? What … Continue reading →

Posted in facebook, flickr, journalism, media, mobile, newspapers, publishing, social networking, twitter | 7 Comments

Newspaper companies can’t unring the bell

Posted on April 5, 2009 by Rakesh Agrawal

American newspapers are in trouble. So far this year, the Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer have shuttered their presses. Tribune is in bankruptcy. My first employer, the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, is also there. Publishers have threatened to … Continue reading →