Newspapers, Print Media | featured news

Is the newspaper business dead? John Garrett's hyperlocal chain in Texas suggests there's still life in the old medium.

A major Southern California newspaper is defying conventional wisdom by spending heavily to expand in print... New and expanded sections to cover business, automobiles and food. A nearly five-fold increase in community news pages and more investigative reporting. Even daily color comics. It feels like a throwback to an earlier era at the Orange County Register, where a first-time newspaper owner is defying conventional wisdom by spending heavily to expand the printed edition and playing down digital formats.

How will the voluntary buyouts announced by The Post this week — the fifth such round in the past nine years — affect the quality of the publication?

Righthaven's dream of corporate enrichment via frivolous lawsuits is in tatters, and the company's erstwhile partners are abandoning ship. The new CEO of MediaNews Group, John Paton, announced this week that its partnership with Righthaven would expire at the end of the month and that the company has no plans to renew it.

The Washington Post Co. on Friday reported a 50 percent drop in second-quarter earnings, with revenue continuing to plummet in the Kaplan Higher Education Unit and both the online and print operations of the newspaper division seeing declines in advertising revenue. Overall profits for the quarter that ended July 3 totaled $45.6 million ($5.74 per share), the company said, compared with $91.9 million ($10.00 per share) a year earlier. Revenue increased at The Post Co.’s television broadcasting and cable television divisions.

Many newspapers are scaling back staff and trying to turn to other sources of revenue, but one Sacramento newspaper is expanding its business by tapping into an unconventional advertising source.

Globe and Mail journalists won five National Newspaper Awards for 2010. The Globe was also on the short list of finalists for six other awards. Here are the stories behind the stories: how they went to great lengths to get the facts and visuals for the stories and displays that were recognized for their excellence.

The New York Times won two Pulitzer Prizes for commentary and foreign reporting in 2010, while The Los Angeles Times received the coveted public service Pulitzer.

By contrast, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times are working with test iPads, according to people familiar with the matter. Six advertisers, including Coca-Cola and FedEx, have agreed to advertise with the Journal, and a four-month ad package costs $400,000, according to these people. Coke and FedEx declined to comment on terms. The Journal plans to charge subscribers $17.99 a month for iPad subscriptions, according to a person familiar with the matter.