- Nihon Shinbun Kyokai
- NSK News Bulletin
- NSK News Bulletin April 2012
NSK News Bulletin April 2012
Asahi, Yomiuri, Nikkei Open New Bureaus Overseas
The Asahi Shimbun, the Yomiuri Shimbun and the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on April 1 opened new bureaus overseas to expand their coverage of foreign news.
The Asahi opened bureaus in Vladivostok, Russia, and in Dubai of the United Arab Emirates. The Yomiuri opened a bureau in Guangzhou, China, and the Nikkei set up a bureau in Istanbul, Turkey.
The Asahi Vladivostok bureau is a front-line base for newsgathering in East Asia that will support the Asahi’s existing China General Bureau. With the addition of its Dubai bureau, the Asahi aims to cover developments in relations between the rest of Asia and the Middle East. These two new bureaus bring the Asahi’s overseas bureaus to a total of 34.
The opening of the Yomiuri bureau in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, in southern China, is aimed at helping the Yomiuri increase its coverage of news from southern parts of China, the growth center of the Chinese economy. The Guangzhou bureau is the Yomiuri’s fourth main reporting base in China after Beijing, Shanghai and Shenyang, and it raises the Yomiuri’s overseas bureaus to a total of 28.
The Nikkei has set up its new Istanbul bureau to follow up on Turkey’s increasing role in both diplomatic and economic terms, and to have convenient access to both Europe and Asia from a single location. The Nikkei’s new initiative increases its total overseas bureaus to 35.
NSK Survey: Japanese Newspapers Focusing on Smartphone Content Market
NSK’s Media Development Committee on March 22 released its 2012 survey on electronic media, reporting that the number of newspaper companies providing content for smartphone users has surged from 12 to 43 since the 2011 survey.
In order to assess electronic newspaper services, the committee added a new item titled, “Delivery of page-images of print editions (excluding extra issues) or comprehensive news website services, on a fee basis” to the response list in the survey. A total of 23 companies reported that they have started such services.
The annual survey, conducted each January, tracks the moves into electronic media by NSK member companies and evaluates their strategies. Of the 109 NSK member newspaper companies and news agencies, 86 responded to the 2012 survey.
Smartphones users consume diverse kinds of fee-based and free services. Applications dedicated to smartphones, and news content files, are both distributed via mobile phone operators, each on a fee basis. Free services include the delivery of limited-size news articles via specially developed applications, like the Asahi Shimbun’s “Catchew!” and free internet access to news websites specifically formatted for smartphone displays.
A growing number of newspapers are generating digital content tailored to smartphones that use Google’s Android operating-system. As of the end of this February, 21 of the respondent companies were delivering news content to Android smartphones via Kyodo News’ “Newsmart,” a platform connecting its subscriber newspapers to users of mobile phones on a fee basis. The number of respondent companies generating content formatted for the Apple iPhone operating system was slightly higher, at 23.
A total of 23 of the respondent newspapers reported that they are running an electronic newspaper. The companies doing so include: the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei), the Sankei Shimbun, the Hochi Shimbun, the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, the Japan Maritime Daily, the Doshin Sports Daily, the Tokachi Mainichi Shimbun, the To-o Nippo Press, the Yamagata Shimbun, the Iwaki Minpo, the Kiryu Times, the Yamanashi Nichinichi Shimbun, the Niigata Nippo, the Kitanippon Shimbun, the Fukui Shimbun, the Yukan Mie, the Kobe Shimbun, the Chugoku Shimbun, the Yamaguchi Shimbun, the Nishinippon Shimbun, and the Ryukyu Shimpo.
In terms of delivery channels, these companies can be categorized into three groups:
? those delivering electronic editions directly, themselves,
? those using Kyodo News’ News Oasis platform, and,
? those using the hosting services of the “Shimbun Online” website run by digital content management firm WAYZ JAPAN of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
The survey found that 54 of the respondent companies, or 20 more than a year ago, have adopted a system to deliver digital content over social networking services (SNS). Of those companies, as many as 52 said they are either setting up their own accounts or using social bookmarking functions via the “twitter” service to transmit news directly.
Some newspapers have opened new websites dedicated to specific subjects. For instance, the Asahi in August 2011 renewed a website specializing in book reviews, while Kyodo News in July 2011 opened a news site for university students searching for jobs.
Kyodo News in February 2011 set up a news site in the Korean language and in December opened a English-Chinese-Korean trilingual site named the “Japan Portal,” to offer foreigners the latest public relations information releases about Japan. The Miyazaki Nichinichi Shimbun in June of last year set up a news site dedicated to local business information.
A total of 13 respondent companies, or three more than reported doing so in 2011, said they are now running their own SNS services, according to the 2012 NSK survey.
Nikkei Launches Chinese-Language News Website
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on March 15 launched a comprehensive news website in Chinese
The site offers news and columns from the Nikkei’s daily and other publications, as well as information from Nikkei group companies, such as Nikkei Business Publications, Inc.
There is no charge for accessing the news site. Registered users receive a daily mail magazine containing the day’s top news.
The news site covers economic trends in Japan, China and other major economies worldwide, as well as information on Japanese entertainment and tourism. It also provides original analysis articles and columns by Nikkei veteran reporters and outside contributors.
The content is sorted by Chinese editorial staff members who present all content in both simplified and traditional Chinese characters for users in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, as well as for other Chinese-speaking users.
An official from Nikkei’s corporate planning office said the news website aims to provide Nikkei information to East Asia to thereby contribute to promoting economic exchange across the region.
