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Can We Be Persuaded To Pay For Online News?

 Got any idea of how to make money from news in the online era? Well prepare for the media giants to beat a path to your door, as they struggle with plunging print advertising revenues and an audience that seems to think news should be free.

No wonder then that a young former technology journalist Alexander Kloepping is attracting attention – and investment – from the likes of the New York Times and the Axel Springer group.
His idea is called Blendle, and in his native Holland it has brought hope of better times for newspapers, in much the same way as Spotify has shaken up the music industry. Blendle allows the Dutch papers – which have all signed up to the service – to charge small payments for individual articles.

Blendle subscribers are presented with a series of cards on their home screen, showing the first paragraphs of articles which may interest them. If they click to read on they are charged somewhere between 20 cents (14p) and 90 cents (63p), although if they get to the end and decide they are unsatisfied they can get a refund.

Of half a million people who signed up to Blendle, about 100,000 have actually opted to pay for articles. Kloepping says that is a good start and compares it to the 20% of Spotify users who pay rather than opt to listen to adverts.

Alexander Kloepping

On this week’s Tech Tent he explains that readers are generally choosing to pay for opinion and background pieces rather than hard news. I was surprised that they would pay as much as 90 cents. “It’s not about the price,” he says. “It’s about the ease of use. When you know it’s one click away and you can get your money back, then users are really comfortable spending small amounts on articles that are really relevant to them.”

He is now hoping to bring the Blendle recipe to other countries, notably the United States. But he could find readers far more reluctant to spend money on articles than Dutch customers have been. Newspapers in the Netherlands had been very conservative in putting much of their longform journalism online, which in retrospect seems to have been a wise strategy. Readers have not had access to that content without buying a paper, so paying to get it online is not such a hard choice.

But in other countries, newspaper groups rushed to put everything online for free, before staging a partial retreat and in some cases erecting paywalls. While specialist titles like the Financial Times have made them work, others have found that their readers are reluctant to pay. In the UK the Sun newspaper has just abandoned a two-year experiment with a paywall.

The Financial Times is one of the few publications to make a paywall work

Alexander Kloepping admits that getting cash out of readers is hard, but says media groups have not given up on the idea: “All over the world, publishers are shifting to models on the web where they expect users to pay, but they see it’s not working for them.” His solution is a model which does not tie readers into a subscription to one newspaper but offers them a menu from which they can snack at will.

The other route, which sees online journalism supported by advertising, is certainly looking ever less attractive. This week the most successful exponent of the art of pulling in huge online crowds and serving them adverts, the Daily Mail group, unveiled its latest figures. They showed an impressive 24% rise in online audience to 208 million, and an 18% rise in online ad revenues. But that was not enough to offset plunging print revenues, and with advertisers paying less for every click, the old saw that analogue dollars are being replaced by digital cents looks truer than ever.

But there is one other route to online profits which more and more news sites are now heading down. It is called branded content and is what we used to call advertorial. It involves creating readable and watchable material for corporate customers which does not look like traditional advertising – and it has proved very lucrative for the likes of Buzzfeed.

All sorts of media companies are now trying this out, from the New York Times to the podcast maker Gimlet Media. But it brings with it all sorts of ethical dilemmas. A recent edition of Gimlet’s Startup podcast – which documents its own journey as a new tech business – featured agonised discussions about branded content. During an episode called “Words about Words from Our Sponsors” Gimlet staff try to work out how far they should go in allowing their brand as a journalistic product to be associated with the companies for which they make branded podcasts.

Such debates are going on in all news organisations right now. Turning good journalism into a profitable business has never been easy, but in the digital era it is proving to be more complicated than ever.

By Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC Technology correspondent

BREAKING: Suicide Bomber Hits Muslim Procession In Kano

A suicide bomber on Friday blew himself up among crowds in a Shia Muslim procession in the village of Dakasoye, on the outskirt of Kano, organisers of the procession said.

“It’s a huge crowd so it’s too early to give a precise figure of casualties,” one of the organisers said of the blast in the village of Dakasoye, some 20 kilometres (13 miles) south of the city.


Source: ngrguardiannews

Update! Adele Announces First Tour Since 2011

Adele is to embark on a UK and European arena tour next year – her first tour for five years.

The star will start in Belfast next February and visit Dublin, Manchester, London, Glasgow and Birmingham before moving on to mainland Europe.

Tickets for the UK dates go on sale to members of her website on 1 December before going on general sale on 4 December.

Her third album 25 has sold 737,000 copies in the UK in just six days.

It has also sold almost three million in the US since its release on Friday.
In interviews, the singer has suggested she may not tour, blaming stage fright, her chequered vocal health, motherhood, and saying she finds touring lonely.

In a short video posted to accompany the tour announcement, she said: “I have been bluffing this whole time and I’m so relieved to tell you I am of course coming on tour.”

Her last tour, in 2011, ended prematurely due to the discovery of a haemorrhage on her vocal cord, which required surgery.

With huge demand likely for her gig tickets this time, her tour website carries a request that purchasers do not sell tickets on for a profit.

Reselling tickets at inflated prices is common for sold-out gigs and is not illegal. But it often causes consternation among genuine fans and the site says: “The resale of tickets will not be tolerated.”

The tour announcement came after 25 set a new record for the most albums sold in a UK chart week, overtaking the previous record of 696,000 set by Oasis’s Be Here Now in 1997.

However the Oasis album only went on sale three days before the end of the chart week, whereas Adele has notched up her total in six days.

Sales of Adele’s third album far outstrip those of any other release in recent years. No other artist has even sold 100,000 copies in a single week this year.

One Direction came closest when their LP Made in the AM sold 93,000 last month – including more than 7,000 from streaming data, which Adele does not have because 25 is not available on streaming services.

Last year, Ed Sheeran’s X sold 182,000 in its first week, Coldplay’s Ghost Stories sold 168,000 and Sam Smith’s In The Lonely Hour shifted 101,000.

Benzema ‘Sex Tape Plot’: Mathieu Valbuena Breaks Silence

Footballer Mathieu Valbuena has spoken publicly for the first time about France teammate Karim Benzema and an alleged sex tape blackmail plot.

Mr Valbuena told Le Monde that Mr Benzema had “indirectly” suggested he would need to pay blackmailers to get the tape back.

Mr Benzema is under formal investigation for complicity in attempted blackmail.

A lawyer for Mr Benzema insists his client is not guilty.

The sex tape is said to be of Mr Valbuena and his girlfriend.
Sources have told French media that a relative of Mr Benzema was contacted by blackmailers in an attempt to involve him in the scheme against his teammate. There has been no confirmation from police.

A source close to the inquiry, quoted by AFP news agency, said Mr Benzema, 27, had told investigators he had approached Mr Valbuena, 31, about the tape on behalf of “a childhood friend”.

‘Not sincere’

In the interview in Le Monde, Mr Valbuena said of Mr Benzema: “He was not aggressive in his manner of talking, he did not talk about money concretely, directly. But when someone insists that I meet someone… hmmmm.

“I have never met anyone who is going to destroy a video for free just because they love me! You shouldn’t treat people like idiots.”

He added: “I am very, very disappointed and I can only note that my relations with Karim were not as sincere as he makes out.”

After Mr Valbuena lodged his complaint, he said Mr Benzema had telephoned him via a member of staff of Mr Valbuena’s club, Olympique Lyonnais.

Karim Benzema

Born in Lyon as one of 10 children in a family of Algerian origin
Joined Lyon youth football academy aged nine
Made professional debut in 2005, aged 17
Recruited by Real Madrid FC from Olympique Lyonnais in 2009
Played first senior match for French national team in March 2007
Linked with a move to Arsenal in August
Cleared of charges he slept with an under-age prostitute in 2014

Mr Valbuena said Mr Benzema had said “Mat, my name is out, what the hell is this? I cannot be involved in stuff like this.”

Mr Valbuena said he tried to reassure his teammate, telling him he had done nothing and there was nothing to worry about. But Mr Valbuena said that deep down he still thought it strange Mr Benzema would try to get him to meet the people involved.

“After that he told me, ‘We’ll have to deny it, it’s hot, it’s going to go crazy… I have a daughter and everything’,” Mr Valbuena added.

Mr Benzema’s lawyer, Sylvain Cormier, has insisted his client is innocent, saying: “He took no part, I state this again – no part – in the blackmail or blackmail attempts.”

The striker has been placed under formal investigation for complicity in attempted blackmail and participation in a criminal conspiracy.

His case will be examined by a judge to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for charges.

If formal charges do follow and he is convicted, Mr Benzema could face a minimum jail sentence of five years.

Three other men have been placed under formal investigation.

The scandal has damaged France’s build up to the European Championships, which the country hosts next year.

France coach Didier Deschamps left both players out of his squad for recent friendly matches.

Credit: BBC

Music Trends: Chris Brown – ‘Fine By Me’

Chris Brown recently wowed viewers of “The Tonight Show” in the USA with his first television performance of “Zero.” Not only did it signify Breezy’s impeccable talent, it also declared that his seventh album Royalty will be special.

Recently, he announced a new release date of Dec. 18 for Royalty. Although loyalists of Team Breezy will have to wait a bit longer, he’s promised to make the album available for pre-order on Black Friday (Nov. 27). Once fans do pre-order the project, they’ll get to hear “Fine By MeThe track channels similar vibes Brown has been feeling lately on his previous songs. It’s part ’80s nostalgic and part EDM, which all ties together with a soaring hook.

“She only loves me when the lights are out, lights are out / She only loves me when the sun is down, sun is down / She only loves me when no one’s around, no one’s around / She only loves me cause I put it down / And it’s fine by me,” he sings.

Donald Trump: 21 Things The Republican Believes

Donald Trump is the frontrunner in the Republican race to be the presidential nominee for next year’s election. What are his policies and beliefs?

1. Arab-Americans cheered the attacks on 9/11.Trump repeatedly claimed that on 11 September, 2001, there were thousands of Arab-Americans celebrating in New Jersey after two planes flew into the Twin Towers. He says such public demonstrations “tell you something” about Muslims living in the US. However, there are no media reports to back up the claim.

2. There should be surveillance on US mosques. Trump believes Muslims should be tracked by law enforcement as a counterterrorism initiative. He has walked back some comments about keeping a database on all American Muslims, but says he doesn’t care if watching mosques is seen as “politically incorrect”.

Demonstrators protest surveillance at New York mosques in 2013

3. The US should use waterboarding and other methods of “strong interrogation”in its fight against the Islamic State. The candidate said that these methods are “peanuts” compared to the tactics used by the militants, such as beheadings.

4. Trump would “bomb the hell” out of IS. He claims that no other candidate would be tougher on the Islamic State and he would weaken the militants by cutting off their access to oil.

 5. Create a simpler tax code.Trump wants anyone who earns less than $25,000 (£16,524) to pay no income tax. They would submit nothing more than a single page tax form that reads “I win”. He would lower the business tax to 15%. He would also allow multinational companies keeping money overseas to repatriate their cash at a 10% tax rate.

 6. Hedge fund managers are “getting away with murder” under the current US tax code. Trump found common ground with Democrats like Senator Elizabeth Warren when he said that hedge fund managers and the ultra-wealthy do not pay enough taxes. However, after the campaign released specifics of his plan, analysts argued that hedge fund managers would actually get a tax cut along with the middle class.

A Trump supporter outside NBC studios

 7. He wants to build a “great, great wall” between the US and Mexico. In some of his earliest campaign comments, Trump suggested that Mexicans coming to the US are largely criminals. “They are bringing drugs, and bringing crime, and they’re rapists,” he said. A wall on the border, he claims, will not only keep out undocumented immigrants but Syrian migrants as well. He also believes that Mexico should have to pay for the wall, which a BBC analysis estimates could cost between $2.2bn and $13bn.

8. A mass deportation of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the US should go into effect. Despite criticism that this idea is both xenophobic and prohibitively expensive – the BBC estimates $114bn – Trump says his deportation plan is as achievable as it will be humane. In addition, his immigration reforms would end “birthright citizenship”, the policy that grants the children of illegal immigrants citizenship so long as they are born on American soil. He does not support creating a new path to citizenship for undocumented workers.

9. He and Vladmir Putin would “get along very well”. In an interview with CNN, Trump said that Putin and Obama dislike one another too much to negotiate, but that “I would probably get along with him very well. And I don’t think you’d be having the kind of problems that you’re having right now”.

Trump addresses supporters in Norfolk, Virginia

10. In order to end mass shootings, the US should invest in mental health treatment. However, Trump does not believe that more gun control is the answer. In a position paper on gun rights, Trump revealed he has a concealed carry permit and that when it comes to gun and magazine bans, “the government has no business dictating what types of firearms good, honest people are allowed to own”. He would also oppose an expansion of background checks.

11. China should be taken to task on a number of issues in order to make trade with the US more equitable. If elected he says he will make China stop undervaluing its currency, and force it to step up its environmental and labour standards. He is also critical of the county’s lax attitude towards American intellectual property and hacking.

12. The Black Lives Matter movement is “trouble”. Trump mocks Democratic candidates like Martin O’Malley for apologising to members of the protest movement against police brutality and casts himself as a pro-law enforcement candidate. “I think they’re looking for trouble,” he once said of the activist group. He also tweeted a controversial graphic purporting to show that African Americans kill whites and blacks at a far higher rates than whites or police officers. However, the graphic cites a fictitious “Crime Statistics Bureau” for its numbers, and has been widely debunked using real FBI data.

13. Current unemployment statistics are wrong. Trump has said repeatedly that unemployment in the US is at 20% – once commenting it may be as high as 42% – despite the fact that the Bureau of Labor Statistics pegs the number at 5.1%. Trump says he doesn’t believe that figure is real.

14. His net worth is $10bn. Based on Trump’s 92-page personal financial disclosure form, Bloomberg calculated that the real estate mogul is worth about $2.9bn and Forbes put Trump’s worth at $4bn. In response, Trump insisted in a press release that he is worth “in excess of TEN BILLION DOLLARS”. He is self-funding his campaign and describes his start in the business world as a “small loan of a million dollars” from his father.

15. Veteran healthcare in the US needs a major overhaul. Trump wants to clear out the executive level in the Department of Veterans Affairs, saying that wait times for doctor visits have only increased after previous interventions failed. Thousands of veterans have died while waiting for care, he says. He will invest in the treatment of “invisible wounds” like post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. He would also increase the number of doctors who specialise in women’s health to help care for the increasing number of female veterans.

 Trump signs copies of his latest book, Crippled America
Trump registers for the New Hampshire primary

16. Obamacare is a “disaster”. Trump says he favours repealing the president’s Affordable Care Act, which aims at extending the number of Americans with health insurance, but he believes that “everybody’s got to be covered”. A spokesman for Trump told Forbes that he will propose “a health plan that will return authority to the states and operate under free market principles”.

17. Climate change is just “weather”. While Trump believes that maintaining “clean air” and “clean water” is important, he dismissed climate change science as a “hoax” and believes environmental restrictions on businesses makes them less competitive in the global marketplace. “I do not believe that we should imperil the companies within our country,” he told CNN on the issue. “It costs so much and nobody knows exactly if it’s going to work.”

18. The world would be better off if Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddhafi were still in power. Trump told CNN that he believes the situation in both Libya and Iraq is “far worse” than it ever was under the two deceased dictators. While he concedes Hussein was a “horrible guy”, he says he did a better job combating terrorists.

19. He would send back Syrian migrants seeking asylum in the US. He says that the Paris attacks prove that even a handful of terrorists posing as migrants could do catastrophic damage, and so he will oppose resettling any Syrians in the US, and deport those who have already been placed here.



20. Kim Davis should get another job. The Kentucky clerk became a conservative cause when she was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licences to gay couples because of her Christian faith. But Trump said: “I’m a very, very strong believer in Christianity and religion, but I will say that this was not the right job for her.”

21. He is a “really nice guy”. In Trump’s most recent book, Crippled America, he writes that “I’m a really nice guy, believe me, I pride myself on being a nice guy but I’m also passionate and determined to make our country great again”. The news site Gawker points out that he calls himself a “nice guy” throughout the book, and Trump repeated that self-assessment in his opening monologue on Saturday Night Live.

Assembled by Jessica Lussenhop, BBC.

Taiwanese Film ‘The Assassin’ Has Been Voted As Best 2015 By Critics

 

Taiwanese martial arts drama The Assassin has been named the best film of 2015 in a poll of 168 critics.

Set in the 9th Century, the film earned Hou Hsiao-Hsien the Cannes Film Festival’s best director prize in May.

It has now topped Sight & Sound magazine’s Films of the Year poll, ahead of Carol and Mad Max: Fury Road.

Arabian Nights by Portuguese director Miguel Gomes was fourth, followed by Cemetery of Splendour by Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
Seven of the top 10 films had “striking female leads”, according to the British Film Institute (BFI), which publishes Sight & Sound.

They include The Assassin’s heroine, played by Shu Qi, who was kidnapped as a child by a nun, trained in martial arts and sent to kill her cousin, a military leader.

Hou Hsiao-hsien won best director at the Cannes Film Festival this year

Sight & Sound editor Nick James said: “It’s pleasing that such a gorgeous work of revenge, magic and delicate restraint – a work of martial arts cinema only in the loosest sense – should win out with the critics.

“Todd Haynes’ swooning, subtle lesbian melodrama Carol has no peers in terms of craft and guile, so it’s no surprise to see it in one of the top spots.

“On the other hand, finding George Miller’s mega-chase-movie Mad Max: Fury Road in third place might seem a surprise but many critics have waited a long while for such a sharp, vivid and imaginative blockbuster.”

The highest-ranked British film was drama 45 Years, which starred Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay. Asif Kapadia’s Amy Winehouse documentary, simply titled Amy, was also in the top 10.

Other films in the top 20 included Charlie Kaufman’s animation Anomalisa (joint 11th place), horror film It Follows (=11th), Pixar’s Inside Out (=14th), and Tangerine, which was shot entirely on iPhones (=14th).

Carol stars Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett

The full top 20:
1. The Assassin (director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
2. Carol (Todd Haynes)
3. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller)
4. Arabian Nights (Miguel Gomes)
5. Cemetery of Splendour (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
6. No Home Movie (Chantal Akerman)
7. 45 Years (Andrew Haigh)
8. Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes)
9. Amy (Asif Kapadia)
10. Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson)
=11. Anomalisa (Duke Johnson & Charlie Kaufman)
=11. It Follows (David Robert Mitchell)
13. Phoenix (Christian Petzold)
=14. Girlhood (Celine Sciamma)
=14. Hard to Be a God (Aleksei German)
=14. Inside Out (Pete Docter)
=14. Tangerine (Sean Baker)
=14. Taxi Tehran (Jafar Panahi)
=19. Horse Money (Pedro Costa)
=19. The Look of Silence (Joshua Oppenheimer)

The poll comes days after The Assassin collected five awards at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards, including best film and best director.

Report: President Buhari To 'Decide MTN’s Fate’

 Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari will decide mobile network MTN’s fate regarding a $5.2bn fine, according to reports from that country.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has fined MTN $5.2bn for failing to disconnect five million unregistered SIM cards in a timely manner. Nigeria’s SIM card registration process is designed to curb terror and criminal threats in a country where the military is fighting an ongoing incursion by Boko Haram in the north.
In the wake of the fine, MTN’s share price slide by around a fifth and its group chief executive officer Sifiso Dabengwa quit. Phuthuma Nhleko was then appointed as executive chairperson and talks between MTN and the NCC regarding the fine are said to be ongoing.

Now, reports in Nigeria’s The Nation and the Vanguard said that Buhari, who was voted in earlier this year, will have the final say on the fine.

The reports quoted Nigeria’s communications technology minister Adebayo Shittu, who was said to be speaking on the sidelines of the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) meeting.

“Nigerians should expect that Mr. President will do the best to ensure that public interest is guaranteed,” the reports quoted Shittu as saying.

“The President will take the best decision. It is his responsibility and I am very sure that in his wisdom, he would do what is right. Whether Governors take a position or not, laws have been established about how to deal with an issue like this. It is just like a judgment,” said Shittu.

Shittu added that he didn’t want MTN to “die” but that it must adhere to the country’s laws.

Shittu was sworn in as minister earlier this month in President Buhari’s new cabinet.

The announcement of Buhari's cabinet, though, came more than five months after he took office.

Meanwhile, MTN did not want to give comment on the latest reports regarding its fine in Nigeria.

Source: news24

Rising Star Mys Araya Stunning Pic As She Covers Adele’s ‘Hello’

Mys Araya, also known as A Different kinda of Diva, (#ADKD), the 90’s Akuaba of CNLSU MUSIC is at it again with a cover of Adele’s Hello.

Jumia Black Friday Deals That Will Wow You

I guess you Know that Friday Nov 27 is black friday
Therefore I am using this opportunity to remind us to stay alert as the product (jumia) will be made available to those with smartest finger.

Various product will be available on jumia site ranging from Laptop, smartphone of all kinds, shoes, qualities wears and lots more at cheaper and affordable rate.
Just be smart you all get one. get set for the deal as it will last from 12:00AM - 12:00PM.

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