Will the paywall work? Thanks to Murdoch, we'll soon find out

John Naughton writes:

The Times and the Sunday Times websites can now only be accessed for a fee. The rest of the newspaper industry is watching with interest to see how readers react.

}}} full column {{{
.

Memo details consolidation of Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News

You might think it means less local coverage in both cities, but not so, according to the memo.

}}} full story {{{
.

NY Times terminates hyperlocal test

The New York Times is pulling out of its online hyperlocal news initiative, The Local, after 18 months.

}}} full story {{{
.

New York Times Should Charge for News, Google Too

How much, where and when is determined by the competitive environment and how well a producer can distinguish his product in the mind of the consumer. That will be the challenge of the New York Times when it begins charging for online access next year.

}}} full story {{{
.

Zell sees the future: pdfs and the iPad

Roy Greenslade writes:

Sam Zell, the real estate investor who became a media mogul by acquiring the US group Tribune, is convinced that home-delivered newsprint newspapers are on its way out.

}}} full story {{{
.

Home Delivery Cuts Working for Detroit Newspapers

A year after cutting home delivery, Detroit newspapers say the move helped keep them afloat.

}}} full story {{{
.

Le Monde board prepares to vote on takeover

The future of France's flagship daily newspaper Le Monde will be decided today when the paper's supervisory board votes on a takeover bid to save the 66-year-old title.

}}} full story {{{
.

If You Love Newspapers, Let Them Go

Katherine Mangu-Ward, Jesse Kline & Robby Soav offer "A handy guide to kicking your dead tree habit."

}}} full story {{{
.

Rise of citizen journalism reflects shifting media landscape

This idea of citizen journalists as activists is one of the reasons why many in the mainstream media object not only to the term citizen journalism but also to the idea that these amateur contributors can supplant professional reporters.

}}} full story {{{
.

Keeping Old-Fashioned Journalism Alive

As Americans increasingly turn to the Internet for their news — and advertisers follow them — newspapers and magazines are struggling to stay in business. In San Francisco, an unlikely group of partners may have found a way to keep old-fashioned journalism alive in the digital age.

}}} full story {{{
.

USA Today plans reorganization, layoffs on the horizon

USA Today president and publisher Dave Hunke, recently announced they would be reorganizing the paper, reports Gannett Blog. Most shockingly for the publication's staff, the reorganization will include layoffs.

}}} full story {{{
.

Businesses plead for Saturday mail service

Christopher Huckle, publisher of the Cadillac News, a daily newspaper in northwest Michigan, said the plan could result in dropping the Saturday newspaper, which would lead to a decrease in advertising revenue and to staff layoffs.

"It surprises me to find that I now must approach my largest vendor and plead for a continuation of service," Huckle said.

}}} full story {{{
.

Extra! Extra! eRoll To Give Newspaper New Lease On Life! In Other News, Paper Routes Down 100%

Sure, newspapers are great if you don't mind newsprint-covered hands, folds in all the wrong places and a massive pile of useless paper when you're done. Sounds great. For those a little more forward-thinking, Dragan Trencevski has come up with an alternative - the sleek and slightly saran-wrap-dispenser-looking eRoll.

}}} full story {{{
,

Palm Beach Newspapers to discontinue La Palma, its Spanish-language newspaper and website

La Palma, the local, award-winning, weekly Spanish-language newspaper, announced today that it will cease publishing in both print and online as of July 16.

}}} full story {{{
.

Ink Gushes in Japan’s Media Landscape

JanJan was the last of four online newspapers offering reader-generated articles that were started with great fanfare here, but they have all closed or had to scale back their operations in the past two years.

And it is not just the so-called citizen journalism sites that have failed here. No online journalism of any kind has yet posed a significant challenge to Japan’s monolithic but sclerotic news media.

}}} full story {{{
.

Freesheet London Evening Standard on target to turn loss into profit

In what must rank as one of the most surprising newspaper business turnarounds of modern times, the London Evening Standard is on the verge of transforming losses into profits.

}}} full story {{{
.

Pocono Business Journal resurrects itself online

When the operation ceased in February, East Stroudsburg businessman Jason Trump decided to buy it and start over — without the paper.

}}} full story {{{
.

Good news for the world's newspapers – except in Fleet Street

While it's all doom and gloom in the UK and US, other countries are finding newspaper readership at healthy levels.

}}} full story {{{
.

FCC asks: Do media ownership limits make sense?

Congress requires the FCC to take a hard look at the rules every four years to determine whether they still serve the public interest. If they don't, the FCC has to rewrite them.

Now, as the FCC kicks off its latest review, it faces calls to pare the limits because traditional media companies are no longer the almighty players that they were when the ownership rules were first enacted.

}}} full story> {{{
.

What the New Union-Tribune Looks Like

Going forward, The San Diego Union-Tribune's newsroom promises to be different: Flatter, with fewer editors overseeing what reporters write. Refocused, with senior reporters freed up to delve more deeply into their beats and publish straight to the web. And smaller, with fewer journalists on staff.

The Union-Tribune laid off 35 newsroom employees Thursday, part of a planned reorganization that comes as the newspaper is simultaneously hiring, recruiting both new leaders and entry-level reporters.

}}} full story {{{
.