In the changing climate of print publication, publishers have been reducing the number of print editions, cutting back on staff and shrinking newspapers all in an effort to save money.

According to Myles Fuchs, president of Pressmart, "several publishers are evaluating replacing print edition with digital edition on alternate days of the week."
Pressmart is a company that offers a pay-as-you-go service to digitalize newspapers and magazines. It also offers ePublishing, delivery, hosting, subscriptions, single-copy sales, online payments, online ads and analytics - all on a single platform. In addition it provides multiple delivery channels such as the web, mobile, RSS, podcast, blogs, search engines and social media.

One example was during the wild fires in California, when part of the San Diego Union Tribune's delivery infrastructure was destroyed, Pressmart was able to put up an online version of their print edition.

Tim McGowran, Sales Director of Pressmart believes "the digitization of publications presents publishers with the greatest opportunity to extend their reach allowing them to expand into new markets without great expenditure. I predict that the majority of successful publications will be relying upon their digital editions to improve their bottom line in the next year or so."

Search engine giant Google announces that it will soon be releasing a third beta version of its Chrome Internet browser, which may deal more efficiently with bugs, performance and security problems, reports ZDNet UK.
Chrome version 0.3.154.9 could have sites that convince users to open a pop-up window to show an alternate web address, different from the one that initially provided information.

"This flaw could be used to mislead people about the origin of a website, in order to get them to divulge sensitive information," said Chrome program manager Mark Larson.

According to ZDNet UK, the new version will also offer optimized performance and reliability for tools such as Flash and Silverlight and for users who browse the Internet through a proxy intermediary.

Google mentions that while it is encouraging search technology to facilitate people's online activity, it may not be advisable to index content from sites that were browsed through a secure Internet connection. However, searching the history for a web site's address may be alright.

Chrome will also provide substitute files when users are downloading executable programs ending in .exe or .dll, until the user approves that that he or she confirms the download.

For the second time this year, Russian newspaper Moskovskiy Korrespondent was shut down.

Chief Editor Sergey Varshavchik said he doesn't expect the paper to continue being published, reported Lenta.ru. According to him, Moskovskiy Korrespondent does not have enough financial backing from investor Alexander Lebedev.

Earlier this year, the paper was temporarily shut down after it published a "scandalous" article about an alleged love affair between former Russian president Vladimir Putin and gymnast Alina Kabaeva.

Source: Lenta.ru

Today, October 31, the free glossy lifestyle magazine, 20 Minuten Friday was launched. It will be distributed in the German speaking parts of Switzerland.

The magazine is a collaborative effort with woman's magazine Annabelle, and entertainment portal tillate.com.

Source: Newspaper Innovation

Barely a day goes by at the moment without a raft of stories on the financial crisis, the US election and... the Associated Press. The Associated Press's communications team have never been so in demand, and the venerated news agency is moving dangerously close to becoming the story rather than being the one that writes about it.

The Editors Weblog spoke to Tom Brettingen, Chief Revenue Officer and Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing at the AP, to discuss bad publicity, editorial content, price structure, and editorial cuts at the agency.

EW: Have you been surprised at the reaction to the price structure changes?

TB: "Generally, and for most of the industry, what we were offering was much more content for less money and a broader license to use it. We expected people to be happy, and most people were happy, the people you are seeing in the news were people, as the economic situation got worse, who were expecting larger decreases in their rates."

US newspapers have recently begun working together on content sharing deals on an unprecedented scale. There has been much speculation that the driving force behind these agreements is dissatisfaction with the recent changes at AP. The most recent announcement came from five papers in the Tri-State area of the US last week.

Content sharing deals vary and although many are just starting, a group of three papers in Florida - the Sun Sentinel, Palm Beach Post and Miami Herald - started content sharing about three months ago. However, there is one group of five papers in New Hampshire who have had an agreement in place for the past 15 years.

In an effort to understand the inner workings of content sharing, how it will affect the future of newspapers and journalism, and if these deals are related to AP's actions, the Editors Weblog spoke with Dave Solomon, the vice president of The Telegraph of Nashua in New Hampshire, and Anders Gyllenhaal, senior vice president/executive editor of the Miami Herald.

The Florida Method

A global code of conduct has been signed by Microsoft, Google and Yahoo to protect free speech online and to combat official intrusion on the Internet.

The name of this agreement is The Global Network Initiative. The code has been put in place as a response to criticism that the large online companies have been complicit with regard countries such as China censoring the internet. The code's goal is to limit the data shared with authorities.

The Global Network Initiative was drawn up by the internet companies along with human rights groups, academics and investors.

The code says that privacy is "a human right and guarantor of human dignity," and the agreement commits the companies to try to resist overly broad demands for restrictions on freedom of speech and the privacy of users. The code commits participants to look at the human rights climate in a country before concluding business deals and to ensure their employees and partners do the same.

Source: BBC News

According to Publishing 2.0, Twitter should not be used as another place for newsrooms to "dump their content," but "as a way to create a whole new dimension of value under their editorial brand."

Publishing 2.0 argues that "there's another dimension to Twitter that newsrooms are entirely missing." What they are missing is the opportunity to use Twitter to incorporate more link journalism and news aggregation; essentially "they should look to their Twitter accounts as an easy platform for sharing links."

Furthermore, if "newsrooms want more Twitter followers, they need to be INTERESTING" by expanding outside of their own content.

Source: Publishing 2.0

Yesterday, The Christian Science Monitor announced that it will cease publication of its daily print edition as of next year. However, the CSM will launch a weekly magazine. The new version will be printed on heavy, semi-gloss paper.

According to the CSM website, "Each issue's cover story will feature an in-depth look at a key global issue or trend. This example includes profiles of young Russians who support their leader, Vladimir Putin, for delivering what they want: prosperity, security, and global respect. It also explains how Russia's rise is affecting the global balance of power."

It also plans to "go beyond the soundbites and superficial analysis to provide clarity and context on crucial issues."

Each edition will have a feature entitled People Making a Difference:

They will also have editorials, essays, and a Dispatch feature that will provide "snapshots of daily life in far-flung places:"

Photos from around the world:

The weekly Web Watch will feature highlights of the "best blog and web packages on the Monitor's site and elsewhere on the Internet:

A Money & Values section:

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

The Ocala Star-Banner and the Gainesville Sun, both New York Times Co. papers, have been redesigned. In addition to the new designs the papers had announced plans to merge their newsrooms two months ago, both are now based in Gainesville.

The new Ocala Star-Banner, old design on the left, new on the right:

The Gainesville Sun's new look (old design on the left, new on the right):

Source: Visual Editors

Journalists are burned out with the increasing demand placed upon them to use more types of technology, leading journalists told participants at a National Press Club forum this week.

Market Watch cited Paris correspondent for the New York Times, Elaine Sciolino when she stated "she now is expected to post to the Web by noon, produce video for the Web, write for the Times-owned International Herald-Tribune, and still write a flawless story for the next day's Times."

"If you want to be a journalist today, you just have to work harder and more efficiently. You aim for perfection until your deadline, and then you aim for doneness. You just gut it out," Sciolino added.

Jobs in the journalism are decreasing in numbers as companies continue to lay off their staff, while the jobs that do exist are becoming more and more demanding with the development of new technologies.

Source: Market Watch