Dave Morgan, Chairman of Tacoda and working on a project for the Newspaper Association of America, describes his vision of metropolitan newspapers’ situation in 2020: fully digital, increasingly personalized, mobile, and not ideal for newspapers.

“By then (2020), I very much doubt that folks in major metropolitan markets in the U.S. will wake up daily to the sound of print newspapers hitting their doorstep,” wrote Morgan, who believes “all media will be digital.”

In the US’ most tech-prone areas, perhaps, and at this point “most” sounds more accurate than “all” media.

Morgan believes that the newspaper product as we know it will no longer exist, but will be replaced by many more “large and very robust local news, information and advertising media products.”

Consumer attention will continue to fragment and news sources will follow suit. “Our news and information products won't be large, comprehensive and "averaged" for mass consumption as they are today in a newspaper,” wrote Morgan.

There will be many digital and mobile devices, which will enable users both to consume and publish information. “News and information applications and services will be more important than underlying data and news,” wrote Morgan.

“Newspaper companies are very likely not to be winners,” Morgan grimly concludes.

In the UK, The Sun’s bingo website has become its biggest-earning commercial partnership online. As more newspapers – especially but not only tabloids – offer news-unrelated services online, and as press groups become media groups, it’s no longer unreasonable to ask whether these ‘alternative’ features have become the actual content.

The Sun’s bingo website delivered £3.8 million in revenue last year. Revenues from commercial partnerships at News Group Digital, which oversees Sun Online, grew by a whopping 280% year-on-year.

The Sun Online has a poker feature, claims its bingo game is the largest nationwide (110,000 users and 9,000 daily), and has a fantasy football game, which it claims to be the world’s largest paid-for (500,000 paid users). Its mobile football news and video highlights service is projected to generate £3.2 million in revenue over the next 12 months (to June 2008).

So what is content when a media group draws a large share of its users and revenues through these alternative features (granted, print ad revenues still typically make up the majority of revenue)? Traditionally, content implied the production of content, whereas the Sun’s commercial partnerships don’t necessitate such production.

Floor leaders of South Korea’s five parliamentary parties met on Wednesday and agreed that the government’s new press controls hinder the public’s right to information, but no concrete action has been taken.

The government’s current policies make it difficult for media to get access to officials and merge press newsrooms into centralized briefing rooms.

“The government must normalize press access to officials through dialogue between government and journalists,” said the floor leaders, according to the Chosun Ilbo.

The next morning, managing and chief news editors of newspapers, broadcasters and news agencies met for the first time in 48 years (on such a wide scale) at the Korea Press Center in Seoul.

"Military dictators in the past attempted to ban the press from publishing what they had already covered. But the current government is attempting to block media coverage of government offices and access to government officials at source, which is a worse suppression of the press than during the military dictatorships,” they said.

The editors urged the government to suppress its controls and vowed to create a special committee if these demands weren’t fulfilled.

According to Fitch Ratings’ latest survey, the newspaper industry is faring even worse than expected.

Below are the more noteworthy numbers, as reported by Editor & Publisher:

“Gannett Co. where USA Today ad pages fell 17% compared to last year, and real estate classifieds at its community papers plunged 20%.

Tribune Company, where help-wanted classified tumbled 19%, and real estate shrank by 24%. (Fitch has Tribune on a "Ratings Watch Negative," anticipating a further downgrading of its credit.)

The McClatchy Co., where real estate collapsed by 26%, and automotive plunged 20%.

Dow Jones & Co., where ad volume fell 20% on a 75% tumble in technology-related ads.”

Contrary to the beliefs of Lee Enterprises CEO Mary Junck, Fitch concluded that the decline in ad revenues is "More Secular than Cyclical."

Fitch also believed that Sam Zell’s scheduled takeover of Tribune Co. could be stopped by the current credit crunch.

Source: Editor & Publisher

The Mail&Guardian (M&G) Online launched Thought Leader, an opinion aggregator that gathers the voices of South Africa’s columnists, bloggers and opinion makers in general. An interesting idea, inspired by the Guardian’s Comment is Free feature, which restores and reinvents newspapers’ civic mission as… thought leaders.

While still in the process of recruiting bloggers (about 40 so far), Matthew Buckland, publisher of the M&G Online, hopes to have about 200 signed up by next month. Current contributors include the M&G’s journalists and staffers, but also “professional bloggers, industry commentators and analysts, marketers, commentators, developers, columnists, freelance journalists, academics, businessmen and businesswomen,” Buckland wrote via email. Thought Leader focuses on established voices, but is also open to “up-and-coming writers.”

These voices supposedly range across the political spectrum and don’t necessarily match the M&G’s editorial line. Yet all posts are subject to editorial oversight, since Thought Leader is clearly displayed under the M&G brand name. According to Buckland, the M&G’s online editor has already rejected a few posts, and the print paper’s style guide also applies to the blog posts.

News Corp. got the approval from the US Federal Trade Commission’s Premerger Notification Office to acquire Dow Jones.

The merger is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Dow Jones stockholders have yet to approve the deal, but this should be a mere formality.

Source: Yahoo News through paidcontent.org

Iran has summoned a Swedish diplomat after a local newspaper published a cartoon of Muhammad showing his head on a dog’s body.

"She was told it was an insult against the prophet. We consider the matter closed," said Swedish foreign ministry spokeswoman, Sofia Karlberg.

The Nerikes Allehanda, a local paper with a circulation of 65,000 copies, published the picture to protest against the fact that local galleries had declined to exhibit the artist’s series of drawings about Muhammad.

"Alongside the picture, we published a comment piece saying that it was serious that there is self-censorship among exhibition [galleries]," said the Nerikes Allehanda editor-in-chief, Ulf Johansson.

The case echoes back to the row that began in Denmark in September 2005, which had led to violent protests. Let’s hope this incident ends here.

Source: Media Guardian

“Do the “human capital” financials dictate retraining the old-timer or is it time for “out with the old and in with the new,” asked Follow the Media’s Philip Stone, in the wake of an article on whether to retrain, hire, or ‘shift’ staff.

Most news organizations are essentially asking themselves the same question, whether crudely or with political correctness.

There are several approaches, and granted, they all can work. Gannett went through a massive training program for all of its newsrooms, implementing its Local Information Centers and forming its reporters to digital operations.

The ABC Television network seems to have a preference for the ‘renewal’ approach, as it seeks to bend seniority rules in its layoff policy, to take into account and privilege staffers’ digital skills.

There’s also the approach adopted by Lee Enterprises, which is offering buyouts to its veteran reporters at the St. Louis Dispatch, while also developing the Lee Online University. The Online University is a company wide training platform for Lee staffers.

A well-known Sri Lankan columnist has stopped writing, fearing for his life. He was working on an alleged corruption case in a deal for second-hand supersonic jets.

Aqbal Ithas’ “Situation Report” wasn’t published on Sunday, after the government withdrew police body guards who had protected him for over nine years.

"The Sunday Times regrets the Situation Report does not appear today in the light of serious constraints placed on the author, Consultant Editor and Defence Correspondent," the paper said.

According to press freedom rights groups, the situation has worsened for journalists. Over 5.200 people have been killed since December 2005, and the same sources claim that over 1,000 people have disappeared in the past year.

"At least four international non-governmental organisations monitoring the media -- the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Press Institute, Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) and the International Federation of Journalists -- have singled out Sri Lanka as "deadly" for journalists," the Asia Media Forum reported.

Source: AFP wire

Nobody can exactly define what the media landscape will look like in ten years, but in the meantime, all traditional media companies seem to be experimenting with possible features. Here are a few of the latest examples from television broadcasters that could be useful for newspapers.

Variety reports that E! (Entertainment Television) will be launching a new online news program called E! News Now. The "show" will run one to two minutes and discuss the latest breaking news story. The program will also be distributed on mobile phones and possibly through partners.

Ted Turner's baby, CNN, is adding to its anchors... online anchors that is. The cable station that became the world's first 24-hour news production machine has staff that report on camera only for the website.

As newspapers gradually turn into media companies and venture into non-print platforms, some simply don’t last. As is the case with the Washington Post’s 17-month-old radio experiment, which will be shuttered next month due to insufficient financial results.

Post Radio didn’t even succeed in drawing one percent of listeners during its first year. The relative growth in audience in recent months wasn’t enough to convince owners to sustain the project.

Bonneville International Corp., owner of the radio station, initially had a three-year agreement with the newspaper. The radio station will continue to broadcast after September, but without being associated to the Post.

Post Radio’s program featured discussions with Post editors and reporters about daily news. The Washington Post hadn’t invested in the radio stations: Bonneville paid an annual fee to the paper to use the Post’s name and have access to its journalists.

"It has been a good experiment during which we learned about radio as one of the platforms on which we can put Washington Post journalists and journalism," said Leonard Downie, The Post's executive editor.

At a time when transformation and adaptation is essential for newspapers, radio platforms could be a worthwhile option. In this case it wasn’t.