The trouble that newspapers now find themselves in is due entirely to a colossal failure of management and leadership over two decades, says former newspaper journo Alan Kohler.
Future of newspapers
Six pieces of News Ltd we’d like to see behind a paywall
News Ltd CEO John Hartigan is absolutely right: the more News Ltd content that is moved beyond a paywall, the better. Here are some articles we’d like to see there.
Don’t screw the internet to save newspapers
US Appeals Court judge Richard Posner recently floated the idea of banning online links to stop people stealing newspaper content for nothing. Hey, let’s also ban wheels in order to save the horse industry, snarks Hamilton Nolan.
Newspapers and bloggers: isn’t there room for everyone?
The failure to adapt a product to a market is bad business, but the petulant bitching and moaning from dinosaur media chiefs is just bad form, writes Scott Bridges
The real threat to newspapers: lifestyle
Lifestyle sections, or what News Ltd CEO John Hartigan discreetly referred to yesterday as “highly relevant and genuinely useful”, suck resources away from high-end journalism, says Trevor Cook.
John Hartigan’s Punchy attack on new media
News Ltd CEO John Hartigan has used a National Press Club address this afternoon to launch a savage attack on online media while spruiking News Ltd’s wares, writes Bernard Keane, (online) Canberra correspondent.
More coverage
- The full speech
- Pure Poison and readers weigh in
- mUmBRELLA hits back
newspaper death watch 
Thousands tipped to go at Gannett
The Gannett Company, publisher of USA Today and 84 other US titles, is rumoured to have 4500 on the chopping block since their ad revenue dropped 34.1% in the first quarter this year.
Gladwell: Free newspapers the way to go? Hmmm
“Information wants to be free,” says Wired editor Chris Anderson. Malcolm Gladwell is dubious: Does he mean that the New York Times should be staffed by volunteers, like Meals on Wheels?
Google is a ‘digital vampire’, says WSJ publisher
By profiting from content it doesn’t produce, Google is “sucking the blood” out of the newspaper industry, says Wall Street Journal publisher Les Hinton.
The newspaper still beats the Kindle
E-readers may have some price advantages over newspapers in the US, but they lack what print newspapers such a perfect delivery vehicle for news: graphic design.
Goodbye exclusivity: Gawenda on the Fairfax Canberra merger
There has hardly been any public reaction to what I think is a momentous move by Fairfax: merging the Canberra staff of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald into one bureau, writes Michael Gawenda.
If only newspapers were an iPhone app
The incredible success of iPhone apps has demonstrated the biggest tragedy of newspapers: their failure to find a viable micropayments system, writes Alan Kohler.
When newspapers’ woes set in
Newspapers used to be wonderful — until their financial possibility was fully realised. Simply, it was poor judgment to build a public enterprise on an advertiser-dependent structure, argues one journo.
The future of editorial cartoonists
Newsroom layoffs around the world aren’t just affecting journalists — editorial cartoonists are feeling the heat too, as the numbers narrow in the already niche field.
Just suck it up, newspapers
Newspapers have been crippled just as much by corporate profiteering, arrogance, elitism, and encroaching dullness as they have by the Internet and GFC, says Jerry Lanson.
newspaper death watch Boston Globe workers protest 23% pay-cut
The New York Times Co. have imposed a 23% pay-cut on Boston Globe workers to keep the embattled newspaper afloat, but the Globe’s largest union say they will challenge the move with federal regulators.
Murdoch predicts the end of paper and ink
Rupert Murdoch believes that in 20 years, paper and ink newspapers ma no longer exist.
Mutter: My advice to Chicago publishers
Former newspaper editor Alan Mutter gave Chicago editors some ideas about how monetise their content. Here’s what he told them.
API’s plan to save papers: put Humpty together again
The American Press Institute’s plan to save newspapers is to put “technological pressure” on the technology giants. Yeah, that’ll work.
Vanity Fair’s editor on the future of newspapers
The Telegraph’s reporting of the MP expenses scandal shows the best way to save newspapers is with great journalism, says Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter.
Free papers for Scottish teens
The Scottish Governmentis considering backing a scheme to give a free newspaper subscription to every 17-year-old in the country, in order to help boost the industry.
newspaper death watch 
Free newspaper king Metro pulls out of Italy and Portugal
Last month, Metro international announced it would be selling its American interest. Now the free newspaper company will sell off papers in Italy and Portugal.
newspaper death watch The News Cycle dooms newspapers to extinction
Does the newspaper have any role to play in the news cycle or is it destined to extinction? asks Peter Cox.
Paid online news pays off
Many newspaper publishers are still uhm-ing and ahh-ing over whether to charge for online content, but two US newspapers are already doing it — and their subscription numbers are up.
Democracy won’t die with newspapers
The decline of newspapers does not mean the end of journalism, says journalist Tom Regan.
