Progress at Variety

This morning, Daily Variety Editor Leo Wolinsky and I sent this memo around to the staff. I thought friends and colleagues might want to see what we’ve been up to out here.

We wanted to point out once again the great progress we’re making in giving our audience a real reason to read print even after readers have learned about all the breaking news from our Website.

On today’s front page, every story was significantly different from the one readers saw yesterday on Variety.com.

Our Web story early Tuesday listing the nominees for the Tony Awards was followed in print by a very different Tony story – one that looked at how the star-studded list would likely benefit the televised event.

Our initial Web story on News Corp.’s quarterly results explained that Avatar had helped the company achieve great results. The print version instead focused on how all this additional money was likely to put Rupert Murdoch into the deal-making game once again.

The Jimmy Fallon story posted to the Web confirmed that the comic would be hosting the Emmys, as we had predicted. The print story, however, used the announcement to explain how Fallon was important to the TV Academy this year with negotiations looming for a new broadcast contract.

The print version of X-men, a story we broke first on the Web, added a new lead and more details. There are other examples inside the paper as well. Stu Levine picked up a tip on Fox’s likely bid for the Olympics during a call on another subject and wrote it into a true exclusive – a story based entirely on his own reporting.

Although many papers are beginning to ignore print as they make their transition to the digital world, the work we’re doing here shows you can do both — which is not only great journalism but a big help in supporting the financial model that keeps the newsroom running. Many thanks for your continued efforts.

Leo and Chris

wanted to point out once again the great progress we’re making in giving our audience a real reason to read print even after readers have learned about all the breaking news from our Website.

On today’s front page, every story was significantly different from the one readers saw yesterday on Variety.com.  Our Web a story early Tuesday listing the nominees for the Tony Awards was followed in print by a very different Tony story – one that looked at how the star-studded list would likely benefit the televised event. Our initial Web story on News Corp.’s quarterly results explained that Avatar had helped the company achieve great results. The print version instead focused on how all this additional money was likely to put Rupert Murdoch into the deal-making game once again. The Jimmy Fallon story posted to the Web confirmed that the comic would be hosting the Emmys, as we had predicted. The print story, however, used the announcement to explain how Fallon was important to the TV Academy this year with negotiations looming for a new broadcast contract. The print version of X-men, a story we broke first on the Web, added a new lead and more details. There are other examples inside the paper as well. Stu Levine picked up a tip on Fox’s likely bid for the Olympics during a call on another subject and wrote it into a true exclusive – a story based entirely on his own reporting.

Although many papers are beginning to ignore print as they make their transition to the digital world, the work we’re doing here shows you can do both — which is not only great journalism but a big help in supporting the financial model that keeps the newsroom running. Many thanks for your continued efforts.

Leo and Chris