A tale of two concessionaires: A natural experiment of water privatisation in Metro Manila

10.1177/0042098007085108Urban Studies451207-22

Mixing quality journalism with good business: A strategic plan for newsbreak magazine

After four years in operation, Newsbreak magazines has emerged as the Philippines most credible news magazines and one of the most influential publications. It gained notice for its high-impact stories that exposed wrongdoing in government. Politics, military, religion and business, winning a Jaime V. Ongpin award for investigate journalism in its first year. However, its stories are not always about the dark side of the countrys institutions. It also pioneered reporting on best practices in local government and the little-known opportunities in war-torn Mindanao. Financially, the magazine is losing money P9 million in 2004 and has survived in the past four years because of continuing equality infusion from a wealthy businessman who, whoever, does not want to publicly confirm his association with the magazine for fear of reprisal from powerful people and organizations. This sponsor considers his support for Newsbreak and other civic journalism ventures as a personal contribution to nation building. Newsbreak expects to break even in 2006 mainly because of grants from international organizations such as Asia Foundation, Ford Foundation, US Institute for Peace and others. However, circulation has not picked up significantly in the past two years while advertising placements are still slow in coming. A critical issue for Newsbreak as it enters its fifth year is how to attain financial sustainability, a key ingredient of editorial independence. Another is defining its target readers. Should it try, like a daily newspaper, to appeal to as broad an audience as possible? Or should it try to focus on a specific segment that shares certain demographic, psychological, social and even political characteristics? All magazines, almost by definition, follow a differentiation strategy the only difference is how they differentiate themselves. Newsbreak is no different. It thrives on its reputation as an independent, hard-hitting and investigative publication that does not hesitate to expose irregularities in government, business, and other social institutions, including the Catholic Church. While its differentiation strategy is clear, its focus in terms of target market is less so. It tries to appeal to a broad audience that encompasses the politically astute and the politically curious as well as the youth who have a strong political or current affairs interest. This paper will argue for a narrowing of Newsbreaks target market to decision makers and leaders in government, business and civil society who can use of the magazines information and insights to make the country a better place to live in. People in positions of power and influence should be keenly interested in what the magazine has to say because it could help them come up with better informed decisions. Newsbreaks reportage on allegations of corruption in the management of Pampangas quarries for example is not only interesting because it involves a senator of the land but because businessmen, particularly those locating at the Clark special economic zone in particular, have to deal with local officials like Lito Lapid all the time. By narrowing its focus to decision makers and leaders, Newsbreak should be in better position to plan editorial content, and devise strategies on how best to reach and appeal to its target market

Industrial Clusters in Russia: The Development of Special Economic Zones and Industrial Parks

This paper investigates the process of developing and implementing special economic zones (SEZs) and industrial parks in Russia. Governments commonly use SEZ policies to develop and diversify exports, create jobs and launch technology/knowledge sharing. The industrial cluster concept is based on the significance of rivalry and supplier networks within the cluster, the combination of geographical specificities and government policies that lead to innovation and productivity growth. This study reveals that in Russia the government′s approach in developing these initiatives has strongly interfered with business activities and prevented the vital competitive and collaborative behavior of firms within these economic zones