It's Time for Newspapers to 'Grow a Pair'

(NEWSER) - In the avalanche of reporting and commentary on the collapse of the newspaper business, a number of salient, none-too-flattering facts have been overlooked about how newspapers contributed to their own demise, Bill Wyman writes on Splice. First, there's the misunderstanding that readers pay for news. It's advertisers who pay, and in the boom years, rich profits from that advertising were devoted to pleasing Wall Street, not preparing for inevitable threats to the papers' monopoly in delivering those ads. More»

Collusion could avert disaster—but it won't happen

(NEWSER) - The newspaper industry is in dire straits, and to fix it, its bosses must “hold hands and jump off the following cliffs together,” writes David Carr in the New York Times. First, end free web access; it will drive away some readers, but they're not paying for quality reporting anyway. Second, aggregators like Google and Newser shouldn’t get a “free ride”—though that could mean angering the search king. More»

Historic paper ceasing daily publication

(NEWSER) - Sad news from one of America's great newspapers: The New Orleans Times-Picayune has announced that it will cease daily publication this fall. The paper, founded as the Picayune in 1837, will now offer print editions just three days a week, on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, while continuing to offer daily reporting online at Nola.com, reports the Washington Post . The move is expected to cost close to a third of the paper's 150 reporters their jobs, and will leave New Orleans as the biggest American city without a daily paper. More»

In $142M deal

(AP) - Billionaire Warren Buffett's company is making its largest foray into newspapers yet, agreeing to buy 63 papers from Media General Inc. The $142 million deal includes the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Winston-Salem Journal. The company is selling all its papers except those in Tampa, most importantly the Tampa Tribune. Media General says it is in talks with others for those papers. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has owned the Buffalo News for decades and recently bought its hometown paper , the Omaha World-Herald. More»

Real estate a major factor in sale of 71 papers last year

(NEWSER) - Despite plunging revenue and circulation figures, plenty of people in America are still buying daily newspapers—lock, stock, and valuable headquarters. Some 71 daily papers were sold last year, and while some investors see buying a paper as a civic duty, others view it as a way to turn a quick profit, especially since newspapers tend to own large buildings in prime downtown locations, the New York Times finds. More»