At a Press Gazette breakfast, Kelner said that the present economics of how newspapers are using the Web is "fundamentally flawed" : "If you have an exclusive story at five o'clock to go in the following day's newspaper, the idea that you would put it on the website for nothing strikes me as complete madness."

He spoke out against the recently adopted Web-first practice of the Guardian emphasizing that the Independent's "relationship with our own website is one where the paper is first and foremost, and the website comes second." This will remain true as long as there is a lack of a sustainable online business model. 

Kelner went so far as to say that even if the Independent had the funds to invest in its products, it would invest in print and that papers should raise their prices to reflect the quality journalism they produce.

The Times, on the other hand, is using the Web to spread its print product. Thomson tells I Want Media that the success of the Times website in the US prompted its parent company, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., to publish a print version for Yankees. Admittedly having the resources to print in New York because another one of Murdoch's holdings, The New York Post, prints there, Thomson acknowledged that the Times' website puts it in competition with the more internationally recognized New York Times on a global level, but that his paper's journalism is the "intelligent choice" for readers.

Thomson went on to talk about the Times' new online video offerings and how by inviting readers to contribute their own video, the Times will create communities. He mentioned the social networking site MySpace (also owned by Murdoch) as another means of community building but said that some aspects of the Times' journalism may be suitable for the site but that "it is up to us to prove the worth of our content."

All in all, Thomson sees the Web a complement for print and that each medium has its own "strengths and weaknesses." "The Web," according to Thomson, "is now mainstream."

Sources: Press Gazette, I Want Media