The New York Times is preparing a weekly news television show, the latest effort to broaden the audience for the big US daily.
The newspaper confirmed Tuesday it is in talks with cable channels and online platforms on which the planned 30-minute show could run, according to Sam Dolnick, an assistant managing editor.
No specific timetable was announced for the show, which is expected to showcase the New York-based daily's investigations and reporting.
A number of Times journalists are expected to participate in the project, according to CNN, which first reported the plans.
The Times, which already streams its own podcasts, would not be the first newspaper to venture into television.
In 1988, USA Today launched a daily television news broadcast that was pulled after 14 months.
Newer online services like Vice combine traditional news with television, including an HBO show called "Vice News Tonight."
The Times has been transitioning increasingly to digital as more readers turn away from print.
In its latest quarterly update, the Times said it added 157,000 net digital subscriptions in the final three months of the year, which pushed subscription revenue for the full year to more than $1 billion.
Facebook launches effort to help boost newspaper subscriptions
Washington (AFP) Feb 27, 2018 –
Facebook on Tuesday announced a $3 million pilot project aimed at helping US newspapers boost paid digital subscriptions.
The move was the latest by the huge social network to respond to concerns that it and other online platforms have hurt news organizations by dominating internet advertising.
The "local news subscriptions accelerator," part of the Facebook Journalism Project, will work with a small group of metro news organizations "to unlock strategies that help publishers build digital customer acquisitions on and off our platform," said a statement from Campbell Brown, Facebook's head of news partnerships.
Facebook recently took steps to enable publishers to encourage paid subscriptions directly from the social network, moving away from requirements that news organizations offer free content in links from Facebook.
The new initiative builds on that effort by offering guidance to publishers to help their digital initiatives.
"We know Facebook is one part of the strategy to engage readers and ultimately drive paid subscriptions," Brown said.
Facebook will offer "coaching from digital subscription experts" to help build reader engagement, she added.
The effort by Facebook comes amid ongoing woes of legacy news organizations which have had trouble replacing revenues lost from print advertising in the digital space, with many outlets implementing new or revised "paywalls."
Facebook said it is working in the project with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, Denver Post, Miami Herald, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Omaha World-Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer, Seattle Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Tennessean and Newsday.
Brown said Facebook would coordinate with the Lenfest Institute for Journalism to share findings through the Local Media Consortium, Local Media Association, and the News Media Alliance.
