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eBay founder Pierre Omidyar dropping Twitter project for local news service

0 comments By Andy Soloman Filed in Uncategorized, blogging, journalism, news, newspapers, online revenue, publishing, twitter Tagged with Business, EBay, editor, Ginx, Hawaii, Honolulu, Howard Weaver, journalism, local news, media, news, Newspaper, Peer News, Pierre Omidyar, publishing, randy Ching, twitter November 19th, 2009 @ 12:48 pm

: Pierre Omidyar, Image via CrunchBase

Billionaire eBay founder Pierre Omidyar has announced that he’s abandoning Ginx, his Twitter client project, in favour of developing a new online local news service in Hawaii where he lives.

Peer News, founded by Omidyar and fellow eBay stalwart Randy Ching in 2008, has advertised via Twitter for an editor and in a blog posting Omidyar said a lot of effort was now going into building the new service.

We have a lot of work to do before our public launch in early 2010. We’re focused on building a really talented team here in Honolulu. For our Ginx users, we’re sorry to let you know that we’ll be shutting down the service at the end of 2009. We learned a lot and greatly appreciate all the interaction and feedback from you over the past year. We’re huge fans of Twitter, so you will still see us online, but we want our developers focused on the new organization and news service.

Omidyar (@pierre on Twitter) said he had been interested in news for some time and that Peer News was founded with the goal of:

empowering citizens and encouraging greater civic participation through media. We believe that a strong democracy requires an engaged society supported by effective news reporting and analysis. And, we believe that this can be done in a profitable, sustainable way.

So if you fancy applying to be the editor based in Honolulu, the details can be found here. Prospective candidates need to offer answers to two key questions impacting news today.

In 100 words or less, when did you first realise that the Web was going to change journalism forever?
In 100 words or less, what advice would you give the news industry?

News veteran Howard Weaver has been advising the Peer News team, and in a blog posting entitled “Looking toward one future for local civic journalism” he said:

The new venture intends to demonstrate that a digitally native, technologically fluent web organisation can profitably serve targeted readers who want sophisticated journalism focused on local civic affairs.

Local and regional newspapers have been hugely impacted in the crisis affecting journalism and changing reader and advertiser habits. Local publications have been closing in their scores as revenues and circulations plummet. The loss of a local newspaper closes a prime avenue for local accountability and democracy. It is a subject of heated debate, and stressed out newspaper executives will be watching Omidyar very closely to see if he can generate profits from online local news.

Rock’n'roller Josh Tyrangiel to leave Time.com, pogo over to lead BusinessWeek

0 comments By Andy Soloman Filed in US, Uncategorized, magazines, media, news, publishing Tagged with bernard madoff, Bloomberg, bruce springsteen, BusinessWeek, dixie chicks, editor, george clooney, josh tyrangiel, magazines, norman pearlstine, publishing, stephen adler, Time Inc, time warner, time.com, warren buffet November 17th, 2009 @ 5:55 pm

: Rock’n'roller Tyrangiel to head BusinessWeek

Michael Bloomberg’s new play thing, the top (but loss-making) BusinessWeek magazine will have 37-year-old Josh Tyrangiel as its new editor, once the acquisition from McGraw-Hill completes in December.

In his “On Media” blog within the BusinessWeek site, Tom Lowry wrote today:

By selecting the 37-year-old Tyrangiel who is not a business journalist per se, Bloomberg clearly wants a leader for BusinessWeek who is not only a highly-regarded editor but someone who has demonstrated he knows how to reach a wider array of readers in both print and online.

Tyrangiel, a deputy managing editor at Time magazine and the editor of Time.com, is actually a bit of a rock’n'roller. Prior to taking the reins at Time.com he was the magazine’s music critic and also wrote for publications such as Vibe and Rolling Stone. While he may never have interviewed Bernard Madoff or Warren Buffet, he can count Bruce Springsteen, George Clooney and the Dixie Chicks among his interviewees.

Bloomberg’s chief content officer and former Time Inc. editor in chief Norman Pearlstine, was reported by Lowry as saying:

“I saw Josh in a number of leadership positions as he took on increasing responsibilities at TIME.”

He continued:

“Working closely with him …. I came to appreciate his intelligence, curiosity, energy, and integrity. Josh is recognized within Time Inc. and its parent, Time Warner Inc., as an ‘editor’s editor’ and a natural leader. His understanding of the ways in which print and online publications can work together will serve Bloomberg well as we expand our consumer media offerings.”

Changes have been sweeping through BusinessWeek since the sale to Bloomberg was announced last month. Jobs have gone and staff fear the venerable old magazine will become a promotional tool for Bloomberg, with the real business being done online. With his strong online credentials, Tyrangiel, who will replace Stephen Adler, may well help confirm those fears. His tenure at Time.com saw web traffic soar from 400 million page views in 2006 to what could be an estimated 1.8 billion page views this year, Lowry wrote.

Top Time Editor To Become BusinessWeek’s New Editor

Posted by: Tom Lowry on November 17

Josh Tyrangiel .jpg
Josh Tyrangiel, a deputy managing editor at Time magazine and the top editor of its online operations, will become the first editor of a Bloomberg-owned BusinessWeek. The acquisition, announced Oct. 13, is expected to close in early December.

By selecting the 37-year-old Tyrangiel who is not a business journalist per se, Bloomberg clearly wants a leader for BusinessWeek who is not only a highly-regarded editor but someone who has demonstrated he knows how to reach a wider array of readers in both print and online. A major reason Bloomberg LP executives pursued BusinessWeek was to reach a broader audience beyond Wall Street and the professional investor communities.

“I saw Josh in a number of leadership positions as he took on increasing responsibilities at TIME,” says Norman Pearlstine, Bloomberg’s chief content officer and a former editor-in-chief of Time Inc., Time’s parent. “Working closely with him …. I came to appreciate his intelligence, curiosity, energy, and integrity. Josh is recognized within Time Inc. and its parent, Time Warner Inc., as an ‘editor’s editor’ and a natural leader. His understanding of the ways in which print and online publications can work together will serve Bloomberg well as we expand our consumer media offerings.”

In some media circles, Tyrangiel was considered a leading candidate to succeed Time managing editor Richard Stengel. According to sources, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes was so impressed with Tyrangiel that he tried to recruit him to be come the editor of CNN.com, the online arm of the 24-hour cable news channel, but Time Inc.’s current editor-in-chief John Huey intervened and convinced Tyrangiel to stay at Time with the promise that he might one day succeed Stengel.

During his tenure at Time.com, Tyrangiel boosted the Web site’s traffic from 400 million page views in 2006 to what could be an estimated 1.8 billion page views this year. Previous to Time, Tyrangiel worked at Rolling Stone and Vibe magazines and served as a news producer at MTV.

“Josh Tyrangiel will be a tremendous asset as we build the market presence of BusinessWeek backed by Bloomberg’s global multimedia news organization, to create the most compelling business news for the most sought-after readers.,” said Bloomberg L.P. President Daniel Doctoroff.

Tyrangiel will report to Pearlstine, who in turn will report on editorial matters to Matthew Winkler, Bloomberg’s editor-in-chief. “Norm and Josh are the ideal team to deliver a terrific business magazine that brings the most trusted, most influential and most important news to a global audience of thought leaders,” said Winkler.

Tyrangiel will work alongside BusinessWeek executive editors Ellen Pollock and John Byrne and managing editor Ciro Scotti. Pearlstine announced earlier that they would continue in their roles at the magazine. Tyrangiel succeeds Stephen J. Adler, who announced his resignation as editor-in-chief on Oct. 20.

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