'Life' Magazine Resurrected As Web Site

Here's an article from Media Post Publications that serves as yet another example (among many) of the growing popularity and power of online journalism:

'Life' Magazine Resurrected As Web Site
By Erik Sass

Like a non-threatening zombie, Time Inc.'s Life brand is back from the dead again, this time as a Web site offering thousands of old photos from Life as well as new photos from Getty Images.

Set to debut some time in early 2009, the site will make the images available for free online for non-public use, including sharing the photos with friends. Visitors will also be able to buy photo albums created by other users.

Overall, Life.com hopes to publish 3,000 new images provided by Getty every day, executives revealed at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's MIXX Conference in New York. The new venture's CEO will be Andy Blau, the president of Life and a senior vice president with Time Inc. Interactive.

Catherine Gluckstein, vice president of iStockPhoto and Consumer Markets for Getty Images, will serve as CFO.

The Web portal has been a long time in the planning.

Time Inc. first disclosed plans for an online archive of Life's extensive collection of 20th-century photography in March 2007, when the company announced the closure of the Life Sunday supplement, a newspaper-distributed magazine.

Blog Binge

After sharing some surprising (and I'd also have to say distressing) information in my last post that nearly half of newspaper editors do not check their website traffic during the day, I thought I'd provide some more positive news surrounding the world of online news.

This might also provide some of you with new media outlets from where to get your news...

American Journalism Review recently published a list of blogs and other online media sites that are read daily by some of the country's most well-known political writers and reporters (from outlets such as The Chicago Tribune, USA Today, ABC, NPR, and The Washington Post).

As part of a Brodeur study of reporters and social media, 69 political reporters listed their favorite blogs. Their top five:

* The Huffington Post
* Real Clear Politics
* Talking Points Memo
* Daily Kos
* Townhall.com

AJR reported that "More than 70 percent of the political journalists surveyed by communications firm Brodeur in May said they spent at least an hour per day reading blogs and other online media."

I know I definitely spend at least one hour per day reading blogs and other online media (I'll admit 99 percent of it is dedicated to sports). How about you guys? How much of your 24-hour day is devoted to reading news or blogs online?

Financial forecast & traffic report

I came across some interesting information (especially for aspiring journalists) in the most recent edition of Editor and Publisher magazine.

First, what I referred to as the "financial forecast" is some data on the starting salaries of journalism school graduates. What I called the "traffic report" displayed information on how often newspaper editors check their website's traffic each day.

First, the money...

According to the Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Graduates at the University of Georgia, of J-School graduates:

* 63 percent of bachelor's degree recipients had a full-time job

* $30,000 is the median salary for bachelor's degree recipients

* $40,000 is the median salary for master's degree recipients

If nothing else, I think numbers like these simply reinforce the fact that you better love journalism is you're going to get into the field (especially today with all of the added duties brought on by the internet).

Now to those who already have jobs...

How often do editors check their own website traffic each day? Well, here's how much according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism: The Changing Newsroom report:

* 42 percent check it less than once

* 35 percent check it once

* 16 percent check it 2 to 3 times

* 6 percent check it more than 3 times

I don't know about you, but I found this to be quite shocking. I can't believe that 42 percent of editors do not check their site traffic at all during the day! I would expect a majority of them to check it at least once if not multiple times throughout the day!

What do you think? Do these figures (and those on salaries above) surprise you?