Rather: Prez Must Save Newspapers

(NEWSER) - As newspapers hemorrhage cash, the refrain is getting louder: the Web is sucking away their audiences and can never replicate the serious journalism they offer. The argument sounds familiar, Jack Shafer writes for Slate: It’s the one newspapers used against radio 80 years ago. Radio was then seen as the death of print, delivering reports instantly and allegedly cheapening the “sacred rhetoric” of written journalism. More»

PBS takes on the future of news

(NEWSER) - From “infosnacking” to “hyperlocal” news, there is a whole new terminology describing the evolution of news, particularly the move to online news. The PBS show Frontline has developed a four-part series that examines the ‘News Wars’ taking place all around us. More»

Disgruntled staffers told few have ventured behind paywall

(NEWSER) - Three months after Newsday erected a paywall around its revamped $4 million web site, only 35 people have paid the $5 a week needed to breach it. Publisher Terry Jiminez revealed the figure at a heated newsroom meeting last week, insiders tell the New York Observer . Jiminez stressed that most visitors already had free access to the site via either their newspaper or their cable subscriptions, adding: "That's 35 more than I thought it would have been." More»

Newspaper lays groundwork for reinstituting paywall

(NEWSER) - Two-plus years after making its entire website free, the New York Times is about to roll out a plan that will charge readers for online access. The announcement may come within 2 weeks, but the pay wall won't be in force for several months, New York magazine reports. Rather than charging for everything or for predetermined categories of content, the paper will use a "metered" system similar to the one the Financial Times employs, allowing free access to a certain number of articles before requiring payment. More»

Decline one of the biggest ever

(NEWSER) - Daily newspaper circulation has taken a massive 10.6% drop over the past six months, the Audit Bureau of Circulations said today, while Sunday circulation fell 7.4%. The drop, one of the worst ever, is a potent sign of the industry’s decline, Editor & Publisher reports. Things were especially bad at the USA Today, where circulation is down 17%, knocking the once-top-ranked newspaper down below the Wall Street Journal. More»