Brisbane’s Courier Mail has perfected the art of rumour-based reporting, a formula that consists of stringing together anonymous claims by sources whose own motives are never explored and whose identity is never revealed, writes Terry Towelling.
Newspapers 
Which print pubs have the richest readers?
Silicon Valley Insider charts newspapers and magazines with the wealthiest readerships. Wall Street Journal readers are the most cashed-up, while The Atlantic, The Economist and Architectural Digest readers also break the 100k mark.
National newspapers fall off a cliff, bury news
Australian newspaper buyers have punished the national papers, The Australian Financial Review and The Australian in the latest audit period, but basically spared the rod on their state-based competitors.
Australian newspapers following the US in steep decline
The declining revenues of Australian newspapers will spell trouble locally, just as the same trend has resulted in disaster for many US titles, writes Niki Scevak.
Why Murdoch wants to destroy the NY Times
News Corp’s Wall Street Journal is stepping-up its New York coverage, and it’s all part of Rupert Murdoch’s single-minded plan to strike a massive blow against the liberal world by buying-out or destroying the NYT, says Michael Wolff.
News International to drop freebies to airlines, hotels
In a move that strikes fear into the hearts of The Oz execs, News International in the UK, will stop distributing bulk copies of newspapers sold for a nominal amount to hotels and airlines, which give them to clients as complimentary offerings.
When a city loses its newspaper
When a newspaper goes bust — as they’re increasingly want to do these days — it isn’t just the writers and readers who are affected: government becomes less accountable and society becomes stupider.
The Christian Science Monitor: now with less Christian Science
News outlet the Christian Science Monitor may be subsidised by the Christian Science church, but only 20% of its subscribers are actually Christian Scientists, according to the editor.
Newsroom fist fight at the Washington Post
Pulitzer prize-winning Washington Post editor Henry Allen recently punched out one of the paper’s feature writers after he was presented with “the second worst story I have seen in Style in 43 years.”
Keating on the stairs: beating or beat up?
Insiders say a Sunday Telegraph alleging Paul Keating’s daughter kicked and threatened to kill one of its photographers was at best a beat-up, and at-worst a total fabrication.
leaked 
Politico and Wash Post to engage in DC territorial pissing
Online political news site Politico is going to launch a local Washington DC edition of the site, headed up by the former editor of WashingtonPost.com. It’s a pretty direct attack on The Washington Post’s DC supremacy, and HuffPo has its hands on an internal memo that outlines the plans.
graph pr0n 
A graphic history of newspaper circulation
The Awl has combined circulation figures for the major US newspapers going back to 1990 to create an eye-opening chart of media carnage. One of these things is not like the others…
The upside to the newspaper downturn
The plummeting circulation figures of US newspapers isn’t all bad news: the environment, journalistic standards and the internet may all reap the benefits. The Atlantic Wire rounds up the media pundits who still view the news-stand as half-full.
NYT publisher: Why print media is like the Titanic
When the publisher of one of the world’s most esteemed newspapers compares print media to the Titanic, it’s time to panic. So why is the industry like the ship? Because even if the Titanic had docked safely, it was still doomed: 12 years earlier, the airplane was invented. Ouch.
Bottom falling out of US newspaper circulations
No matter which way you look at it, the latest circulation figures from the embattled US newspaper industry are a disaster, with circulations falling more than 10% in the six months to September — the biggest fall ever.
“Oi! That’s my mX!” Are free papers fair game?
Should you share your mX or City Weekly with total strangers just because you didn’t pay for it? Julie Bindel rails against the rise of “newspaper vultures”, who swoop in on your free rag as soon as you put it down on the train.
newspaper death watch 
Newspapers enter their death spiral
The circulation figures for the top 25 newspapers in the US have just been released, and they’re horrifying, says Megan McArdle. This isn’t just the end of the newspaper as we know it — it’s the end of the newspaper full stop.
The Age slashes commissions for real estate advertisers to staunch bleeding
The Age has taken the desperate measure of cutting commissions for real estate advertisers in an effort to protect its deteriorating balance sheet, a sign of how dire things have become inside the paper.
Le Monde cuts the crap: buy our paper or we can’t survive
In what is surely a landmark in journalism, international paper Le Monde Diplomatique has made a direct and blunt appeal to its readers: buy our paper more regularly or take out a subscription, or we’ll go broke.
Free Evening Standard: paywall waters muddied
Newspaper publishers everywhere will be avidly watching the London Evening Standard’s decision to drop its print paywall. Will free newspapers attract more advertisers?
graph pr0n The death of newspapers
A depressing-yet-informative little infographic charting the downturn in revenue, circulation, stock price and advertising in the newspaper industry.
Shafer: Save the newspapers from Obama!
Obama has suggested he might bail-out dying newspapers who are willing to reorganise as non-profits. But the last thing papers need is to be forever stuck with their hands out, says Jack Shafer. Run for your lives, publishers!
The fake New York Post
Last year, political pranksters The Yes Men put out a fake edition of the New York Times. Now they’ve given the Post the same treatment in honour of the current UN meeting with the headline: “We’re Screwed”
New Matilda / Monday, 2 November 2009
Newspaper editors’ new schtick appears to be giving column inches to commentators whose words are controversial, but intellectually barren, says Jason Wilson. It may pull in more readers, but ultimately, it damages the masthead.