The US newspaper industry has reached the full-blown crisis stage, attendees at an American Press Institute summit heard. Read a full report here.
A worthy addition to the select group of blogs about journalism is the Nieman Journalism Lab. It has just posted a list of the top 10 blogs about the future of journalism. With the exception of one from London, the list consists of 7 from the US and 2 from Canada. Yes, as ever the border of reality ends in the North American continent, excluding Mexico. In the interests of broadening horizons, here are some excellent blogs from outside that continent.
Some good news from the newspaper front in Australia. West Australian Newspapers has reported net profit of $A29.65 million for the three months to September 30. This is a 43.8 per cent jump on the previous corresponding quarter. It happened despite a weaker advertising market. Read the full story here.
The Christian Science Monitor will publish in online form only from next year. This move by a formerly print-and-online paper is the first of many. To date newspapers have cut costs by cutting into salaries of people. But the other two big costs are printing (presses and paper) and distribution (trucks and/or satellites). These other two are not likely to become cheaper. If anything they will get more expensive. So to produce the paper only online removes those other costs. That’s why I think the Monitor will be the first of many. Let’s hope the paper’s executives choose to put those cost savings back into editorial, because quality content will be what sells the paper, regardless of the delivery medium.