The future of the news

The research draws on over 170 interviews with a range of professionals from a cross section of mainstream news media, as well as news sources and new producers online including bloggers and people operating in the realm of alternative news; we added to this, 3 newsroom ethnographies and a content analysis of online news across mainstream news media, online alternative media, social networking sites and YouTube.

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Washington Times to lay off staff today

The Washington Times, a daily launched in 1982 by Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, is set to lay off much of its editorial and production staff today, according to reputable sources within the paper.

The struggling paper, which reportedly has lost billions of dollars in its 27-year history, may be on the verge of a shutdown within 60 days. The paper may switch to a completely online format, according to insiders.

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Times editor James Harding outlines plans for online charging

Micro-payments dismissed in favour of charging for 24-hour access to day's edition of the paper.

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Another community steps up

Until about three weeks ago, Mazur was sure the weekly newspaper she owns, the Pine River Times – which serves the community of Bayfield and is located in La Plata County, near the four corners of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah – was headed for imminent closure. But just when they were on the brink of shutting down, community members interested in buying or investing in the paper swooped in. Meanwhile, an anonymous donor paid two weeks’ worth of the paper’s printing bill, amounting to more than $1,900. For the time being, the paper that has a history spanning 24 years remains open.

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100 more hacks on the dole?

The Guardian Media Group (GMG), publishers of ‘The Guardian’ and ‘The Observer’, in the last financial year lost £89m and is desperate to save money.

It plans to cut more than 100 extra staff as part of further cost saving measures aimed at reducing its current “unsustainable” losses.

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Niiu Personalized Newspaper

Niiu, a daily German newspaper customized to individual readers and printed on an Oce JetStream 2200, launched yesterday in Berlin. Niiu, founded by entrepreneurs Wanja Oberhof and Hendrik Tiedemann, lets readers choose their 16-page newspaper from 17 different German and international newspapers (including The New York Times and the Washington Times) and several Websites.

Customers build their own newspaper via the Niiu Website before 2 p.m., selecting specific pages and sections, and the paper is printed and delivered next day.

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Zuckerman and Dunn show faith in print

Mortimer Zuckerman, owner of New York Daily News, has shown his faith in newsprint by spending more than $150m (£90m) to instal advanced high-speed presses that will enable full colour on every page.

Zuckerman signed the deal for the equipment almost two years ago, before the drop in advertising turned into a free fall, and before the weekday circulation of the Daily News fell to less than 550,000 from more than 700,000.

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Murdoch Warns That Without eTablets, “Newspapers Will Go Out Of Business”

Old habits die hard. Rupert Murdoch believes that the future of the newspaper business is subscriptions—electronic subscriptions. He’s done with giving away his news for free on the Web and to search engines like Google. Instead thinks that Kindle-like tablet computers can save the media industry. It’s a notion that’s been floated before: an entire newsstand in a color tabletwhich delivers electronic versions of any newspaper or magazine you want for a monthly subscription of $15 to $19 a month.

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Crosscut's new approach

David Brewster writes:

Crosscut Public Media, the publisher of Crosscut.com, recently received its tax-exempt status from the IRS, so we are now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. (Earlier, Crosscut was published by a for-profit company, Crosscut LLC, which has gone out of business after donating all its assets to the new nonprofit.) Also recently, we received some major early support in the form of a $100,000 gift for this project to the Seattle Foundation, serving as our fiscal sponsor at the time, from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This key lead gift, along with $50,000 of funding from generous individuals, is meant to launch Crosscut's new mission of providing online local journalism in the public interest, and to build Crosscut's capacity and sustainability.

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NYC has lost nearly 60,000 jobs in communications

New York City, the center of the nation's information industry, has lost nearly 60,000 communications jobs since 2000, including in publishing and broadcasting, the comptroller's office said Wednesday.

The New York City metro area lost 44,500 communications jobs from 2000 to 2007, and has since lost another 15,100 jobs through August of this year, according to the comptroller's office. Preliminary figures show further declines for September, spokesman Michael Loughran said.

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New name, same good journalism

Bill Glisky writes:

For good and bad, I like to compare the idea of citizen journalists to the concept of citizen teachers. Most right-minded people would blanch at the idea of allowing unqualified and untrained people access to the minds of our children. Yet there are plenty of people out there who look simplistically at what teachers do and believe they could walk in and do just as good as job, if not better.

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The Associated Press lays off undisclosed number of workers as part of 10 percent payroll cut

The Associated Press laid off an undisclosed number of news employees Tuesday as part of the cooperative's yearlong plan to cut worldwide payroll expenses by 10 percent.

AP spokesman Paul Colford refused to specify how many jobs were eliminated Tuesday or in previous months from the news staff and other departments throughout the company. He said the not-for-profit organization intended to realize the targeted payroll savings by the end of the year even as the AP is looking to hire people in other positions.

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Rupert Murdoch and Google

From Wired:

“The idea that the web has entirely evolved is ridiculous. You’re asking that question as if we’ve reached the epitome of our life, and we know that that’s not true. I think one of the questions for Google is, is the very definition of the verb to Google going to change over the next couple of years.”

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With New Presses, Daily News Is Betting on World of Print

WITH advertising and circulation falling, and with publishers pessimistic about their prospects of bouncing back, newspapers are slashing expenses these days, not finding new ways to spend enormous sums of money. Industry executives and analysts regularly field questions about how much longer ink-and-paper media will be with us.

The paper's new presses are more efficient and computerized than the ones from the mid-1990s they replaced. They require less labor, electricity and water while generating less waste paper.

But Mortimer B. Zuckerman, owner of The Daily News, insists he has no use for such conventional wisdom, and the proof sits in an isolated patch of Jersey City waterfront with a splendid view of Lower Manhattan and the back of the Statue of Liberty.

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New Detroit Daily Newspaper To Launch

Isak Dinesen writes:

My city is getting its third daily newspaper next week. The Detroit Daily Press is carving out a space for itself amidst a market dominated by The Detroit News and The Detroit Free Press. The Daily Press, which will offer regular home delivery, is believed to be the first daily launched in a major U.S. city since the New York Sun in 2002.

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Murdoch must turn Fleet Street into Quality Street if he wants us to pay

John Naughton writes:

RUPERT MURDOCH's declaration, in an interview with Sky News, that he was thinking of barring Google's search engine from indexing all of News Corporation's websites, had a magnificent Canutian ring to it and got the blogosphere in a tizz. Some commentators saw it as an early sign of dementia; others interpreted it as an invitation to Microsoft to do an exclusive deal.

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Irish-language paper goes national

FLUENT Irish speakers and those with the cupla focal can now read 'Foinse', the country's biggest Irish language newspaper, for free with their Irish Independent every Wednesday.

The newly revitalised 'Foinse' is to be distributed every week from this Wednesday, ensuring it reaches more than 150,000 people through the Irish Independent, the largest selling national quality daily in Ireland.

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Southern Voice, longtime gay and lesbian newspaper, shuts down

Employees arrived at the newspaper's offices off of Briarcliff Road early Monday to find the door locked and a sign posted on the front:

"It is with great regret that we must inform you that effective immediately, the operations of Window Media LLC and Unite Media LLC have closed down."

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Patience Wheatcroft interview: 'It's very dangerous to go free'

On the eve of the relaunch of Wall Street Journal Europe, its new editor-in-chief explains why she returned to journalism and how she will take on Google

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New online news publication focuses on Wyo. state govt., pursues nonprofit model

A group of Wyoming politicos and journalists is launching a nonprofit online news publication dedicated to covering state government.

The Cowboy State Free Press started publishing stories on the Web a few weeks ago and plans to ramp up its operation by the beginning of the legislative session in February.

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Enquirer's Double-Digit Drop

Now that any gains from an influx of Kentucky Post readers are no longer helping boost its numbers, The Cincinnati Enquirer had a 13.2 percent drop in its weekday circulation during the past year.

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