Newspaper News

The LA Times Says It Wants Your Help
Newspapers are all looking for ways to gain readers, and many have hired consultants to help them. In an unusual twist, The Los Angeles Times is looking to chart its future by using its own reporters and editors, who rank among the best investigators in the business.
The Times is dedicating three investigative reporters and half a dozen editors to find ideas, at home and abroad, for re-engaging the reader, both in print and online. The newspaper’s editor, Dean Baquet, and its new publisher, David Hiller, plan to convene a meeting today to start the effort, which is being called the Manhattan Project. A report is expected in about two months.

The Start of a Disturbing Trend?
Here's an interesting story which may signal the start of a very disturbing trend. In what is clearly a reaction to more and more people turning to online sources as their primary information outlets, The Boston Globe, the paper of record for Boston and arguably most of New England, is proposing to its employees a new contract that would tie wages to the paper's financial performance. The Boston Newspaper Guild, a union representing nearly 1000 editorial staff is voting today whether or not to take the deal.

Online Publishing:Focus on Newspapers
The online newspaper industry reached a benchmark in 2004: $1 billion in revenues, the majority from advertising. Although no small achievement, the major portals alone—Yahoo!, Google, AOL and MSN—generate more than eight times as much advertising revenue as the entire online newspaper industry.

Toronto Star Editor and Publisher Resign
When outgoing Toronto Start publisher Michael Goldbloom said his resignation, announced yesterday along with that of editor-in-chief Giles Gherson, stems from "numerous structural pressures facing the industry," I think he meant the falling advertising and sales and circulation revenue that's plagued the paper recently.

BEST WAY TO HOOK YOUNG READERS
A USAToday report says that teens get their news from TV and the Internet. Half of all high school students get news online at least once a week, but teens rate TV as the easiest news source to use. And the most accurate.

McClatchy CEO: Firm not interested in Tribune
(Reuters) — McClatchy Co.'s chief executive said on Tuesday that the company is not interested in buying troubled publisher Tribune Co.