http://peterong.com/blog Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:26:46 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en For a good part of the last decade, China has been flexing its economic muscles. But now it is ready to flex its journalism might. A few days ago, Newsweek reported how Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese government's propaganda wing, is setting up bureaux all over the world and making its presence ... http://peterong.com/blog/?p=186 Have you noticed that many papers that are hugely successful are manned by younger people? Take the Jawa Pos group, the second biggest media organisation in Indonesia after Kompas., for example. Helming the newspaper division is Azrul Ananda, who is under 30, having taken over operations from his father. Azrul tells me that ... http://peterong.com/blog/?p=184 South Africa is still very much a country where newspapers are sold by street hawkers. Here's a photo taken from my car while driving around Johannesburg a couple of weeks ago. What's amazing is that morning papers are still being sold in the evening. Does that mean the morning papers are not doing ... http://peterong.com/blog/?p=182 In The Diary of the Media section of The Australian today (Aug 30, 2010), the writer Caroline Overington says it was the first time she had heard of the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers' Association (Panpa). This comes as a shocker since she is the media writer for the paper! While it is ... http://peterong.com/blog/?p=181 Why do editors continue to believe they must squeeze as many words as possible into their newspapers? Don't they read what research has found out – that readers are  having trouble reading small point sizes on newsprint? Here's proof – yet again – that they are struggling. Bhutanese journalist Sonam Pelden shot ... http://peterong.com/blog/?p=179 South Africans woke up Sunday morning to a new look City Press. The Sunday English-language paper sports a new masthead, new names for various sections, a new colour palette, new typography and best of all, new content too. Here's how the new Page One looks. As the designer for City Press, I have ... http://peterong.com/blog/?p=173 How often do you get a new newsroom? In fact, how often do you get a new newsroom in the process of a redesign of the paper? Many newspapers tend to think a redesign is just that – a new look paper. But the few that are more forward looking look ... http://peterong.com/blog/?p=162 PwC, the accounting conglomerate, spends well over US$250million each year on internal professional development. The figure was cited in the Financial Times on Feb 22 in a story headlined: PwC finds the doctor knows best, which talked about PwC working with Duke University to help develop a training programme. It brings into ... http://peterong.com/blog/?p=161 What's in a name? Plenty if you look at these two stores in a mall in Johannesburg, South Africa. On the left is a linen shop and two doors away is a bookstore. I'm sure the linen store owner deliberately used the name, but the bookstore? Hmmm..... I'm not so sure. http://peterong.com/blog/?p=158 Who do you go to when you think of queue management? Why, Disneyworld of course. They are masters of managing the zillions of people who line up at its amusement parks around the world, be it Los Angeles, Florida, Hong Kong, or Paris. Queues are almost always orderly and extremely well-managed. ... http://peterong.com/blog/?p=157