Media stories of note for Monday, May 13, 2013:

Bloomberg has found itself in the middle of a controversy in recent days. Its reporters are able to see some, but not vast, information about a client's use of its vaunted terminals. And a complaint was launched that suggested this access was inappropriate and infringed on privacy --- or worse, that reporters might have benefited from the access. The New York Times reported that Bloomberg journalists were trained in how to use the login activity to advance news coverage. Bloomberg's editor-in-chief today responded. Matthew Winkler indicated that, while the access was limited, it should not have happened. Policies have been changed so reporters have no more access to information than do clients. 

Rick Edmonds, writing for Poynter, notes new McKinsey and Company research that indicates people spend 92 per cent of their news consumption time on legacy platforms. The research suggests 41 per cent of the time is spent with television, 35 per cent with newspapers and magazines, and 16 per cent with radio. Laptops and desktops account for four per cent, and tablets and smartphones amount to two per cent of time spent. 

Frédéric Filloux, in his weekly Monday Note, examines the different strategies of The New York Times and Washington Post. The former has created a paywall, the latter is moving toward one. But Filoux notes the Times is increasingly able to develop a digital subscription model and other media firms might be able to do so because the approach is common.  "It is increasingly clear that readers are more willing than we once thought to pay for content they value and enjoy," he writes. 

Three media stories of note for Thursday, March 7, 2013:

The Guardian has an excerpt of a chapter about journalism's challenges following the Leveson inquiry. The chapter's contributor is Richard Sambrook, former BBC News executive and current journalism school director at Cardiff University, He writes that, post-Leveson, journalism needs to apply a premium on transparent standards in order to rebuild trust. Rather than address standards through statute, what's needed is a shift in perspective by newspapers toward their staff and the public.

Frédéric Filloux, in his Monday Note, has a look at last week's massive Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Among what interested him: 3.2 billion mobile subscribers, great machine-to-machine growth and data growth, meaning a large opportunity for media through video streaming. He identifies a challenge in the range of screen sizes, features and operating systems.

Earlier this week freelance writer Nate Thayer took The Atlantic Online to task for asking him to rewrite free an article he'd contributed elsewhere. Matthew Ingram, writing for paidContent, notes that the episode epitomizes the changing landscape for writing --- namely, that there is plenty free writing good enough to meet the audience's expectations. He concludes that a writer's competition isn't the better product but the one that is good enough for others and is free.

The McKinsey Quarterly newsletter (available here via free subscription) has some promising news for the newspaper industry: News consumption is up, and newspapers are the most trusted medium.

The challenge is to convert the consumption overall into newspaper consumption specifically, and McKinsey is clear that the gains in online revenue will not offset the declines in print revenue.

What is an advantage, possibly, is the trust consumers place in newspapers. "This suggests that newspapers have further scope to go beyond news, to drive reader interest and advertising revenues at the same time," it says.

The prescription: "To survive in the digital age, newspapers will need to develop deeper skills—for example, in managing advertiser relationships and gaining customer insights—and they must walk a fine line to retain editorial independence and quality to capture these opportunities. But for those who get it right, the rewards could be significant.