De Standaard
• Circulation: 87,392 copies (CIM 2007) 91,118 incl. online subscriptions
• Sales in 2007: +4.1%
• Reach: 312,000 readers daily (CIM 2006-2007)
• De Standaard Online: major news site,
average daily reach of 148,500 unique
visitors (Metriweb february 2008)
De Standaard
• De Standaard stands for balanced journalism.
Not black & white, but grey.
• We want to be a trusted brand in a world which is
characterised by information overflow.
• Cross-media strategy
Economic Section (E&F)
• 11 Full time journalists
• About 12 tabloid pages / weekday
• Plus: website, supplements, series,…
• Specialists AND Generalists
Our object of study…
Why a piece on Apple TV?
• Signpost function: not just the news, also
the trends
• Computer & TV: in the middle of our lives,
yet incompatible?
• It’s Apple, stupid!
The birth of a short article
•
•
•
•
•
Get the press release via e-mail
Look up the archive (“Is this news?”)
Convince your boss
Define length and place
Get extra info (mail, phone, web, archive)
• … and mash it all up
Some journalistic guidelines
• Write for your reader, not for yourself or
your sources. “Does my reader want to
know this?”
• Get the facts before the rest
• Be concise
• Provide some entry points: catchy title,
quotes, graphs & pictures, referrals,
URLs…
Some journalistic constraints
• Fixed length & format => Fact filtering
• Limited time => Source selection
• Limited knowledge => Reliable sources?
• Complexity => Nuance?
1. Filter out the facts
What, When, Where, How?
1. WHAT is Apple TV?
• “an easy to use and fun
way to play your iTunes
content from your PC or
Mac on your widescreen
tv, including movies, TV
shows, music, photos
and podcasts.”
?
• “a box that connects
your pc and your tv”
• “It can play all media
that are stored on your
hard drive on your
television”
WHEN and WHERE can you get it?
• “now shipping”
• “available beginning
this week” (it’s
Wednesday!)
?
• “available throughout
Belgium by next
week”
• “a lot of stores
already this weekend”
• Need more info? Go
to the website
HOW does it work?
• “easy to connect to a
• “tv connection runs
broad range of
via the HDMI port,
widescreen TVs and
used on nearly all
home theater systems
widescreen TVs, or a
and comes standard
classic component
with HDMI,
port.”
component video,
analog and optical
ports”
2. What are the the shortcomings?
Technical & content limitations
Shortcomings
• “A so-called Scart-connection is not
available”
• “Cannot be used to stream video directly
from the internet to your TV”
• “You had better buy your movie on iTunes”
3. Add some context
What’s Apple’s big plan?
Apple’s big plan
• Van den Eynde: “Targeting people who are downloading
increasingly more media”
• Draw more people to iTunes
• Impose their own formats and “ecosystem” : drive people
to Mac, iPod, iPhone…
• ……….They’re after your time & money!
4. Writing style
Talk to your reader, don’t sell him
something.
Talk to your reader
• “anyone can quickly
browse (…)”
• “Users can watch
(…)”
• “consumers can
easily browse (…)”
…Who is this about?
• “a small box you can
connect”
• “you can play all
media (…)”
Don’t sell him this thing
• According to Apple,
the Apple TV is…
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Easy to use
Fun
Stunning
Quick
Simple
Intuitive
Seamless
…
• According to the
newspaper, it is…
– Small
– Compatible, suitable
But remember…
Journalism is not an exact science!
THANK YOU