It appears that online-only news site True/Slant is to close this weekend, having been purchased by Forbes in late May. The idea of the site was to feature commentary, opinion and some original reporting from journalists who were given the opportunity to build up their online profile and establish their own audience. It was founded by Lewis Dvorkin in May 2009, and by May this year it had gathered more than 300 contributors.

Although neither Forbes nor Dvorkin have confirmed the closure of the site, many contributors have written farewell posts explaining that the site is "winding down operations at the end of July," as Neal Ungerleider put it. From the time of purchase by Forbes, it was not clear what plans the company had for T/S and whether it intended to keep all the writers. Dvorkin was made chief product officer at Forbes, suggesting a definite integration with the Forbes brand.

Wikileaks has dropped two bombshells on the US military thus far this year, the more recent of which was the 'Afghan War Diary,' offering more than 90,000 reports containing raw information of the war in Afghanistan. Interestingly, the whistleblower site chose to share its information in advance of a public release with three newspapers: the Guardian, the New York Times and Der Spiegel.

According to the Columbia Journalism Review, Guardian journalist Nick Davies tracked down Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in Brussels in late June to suggest that Guardian journalists took a look at some of Wikileaks' unreleased documents to find which could make good stories. Assange suggested instead offering the Afghanistan war information to both the Guardian and the New York Times for an advance preview, later adding that Der Spiegel should be included too. He believed that these three papers "were the best in the world for investigative research," he told a press conference in London.

Google is considering creating a future online market for digital content through its mobile operating system Android. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Google CEO Eric Schmidt highlighted this potential source of income, alongside the possibility of newspapers providing sellable content.

"This can be a powerful business, a 10-plus billion-dollar business," Schmidt said, referring to Google's new auction system combined with the Android operating system, and the fact that Android systems are currently being given out for free to device makers. "If we have a billion people using Android, you think we can't make money from that?" He asked.

The 1 billion mark is not unreasonable, considering the Android OS increases with about 160,000 new handsets daily. Once there are 1 billion users: "all it would take, is $10 per user per year."

However, as some comments on the article noticed, revenue to content providers is not a definite possibility and the size of the revenue share would be a likely point of contention. As one reader points out, Google may get the better end of the deal than content providers: "they might be paying google not you," the reader comments.

Recent figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic have listed Mail Online as the top UK newspaper in terms of website traffic. Mail Online's website also recorded a 3.99% increase in visitors since May. The Guardian, The Independent, Mirror Group Digital and Telegraph made top five too.

Analysing the statistics, Jemima Kiss of the Guardian views the traffic increase as an experience shared by most UK national dailies because of the World Cup. She also describes the increase as relatively modest, because of "an audience perhaps saturated by coverage on multiple channels."

French hotel chain Sofitel will now offer the daily press to its guests through an iPad application, "in a move that could mean a fresh start for the dwindling tradition of the morning newspaper in hotels," The Independent revealed today.

The newspaper service, called "The Kiosk," provides a selection of six publications per country. For now, there will be media from France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy and the United States, the company announced in a press release.

For more on this story please see our sister publication www.sfnblog.com

Much media coverage has been recently devoted to so-called 'content farms' such as Demand Media, Associated Content and About.com. The goal of these companies is to produce vast amounts of content on topics that readers have been searching for that will attract large numbers of readers, and they have been described at 'robotic' 'sweatshops' or 'factories' that produce work that critics insist is not journalism.

These content networks use an algorithm to study and analyse web searches and behaviour to identify what is popular and what gaps in coverage might exist, and it then commission their networks of freelancers to write on these topics. Demand Media, the most prolific, publishes its content on properties including eHow.com, LIVESTRONG.com and Cracked.com, among others.

Yeeyan.org is a ground breaking volunteer community based China that translates news from English to Chinese. The name "Yeeyan" means "translate the information." The site has over 150,000 users and translates 50-100 articles a day, mostly for free. With over 60,000 articles translated in total, it appears that Yeeyan is living up to its name.

Due to the strict nature of the censorship laws in China, politics have not been the main focus for Yeeyan (although it appears on the site that the recently leaked "Afghan War Diary" is in the process of being translated), and the Chinese government shut down the website at the end of 2009 for several months on the basis that Yeeyan was posting controversial material. Currently Yeeyan editors must double check what its users are publishing and encourages members to self censor.

A new website named iNeedaGreatStory.com promises journalists and editors a bank of ready-written stories, complete with illustrations, that could fill gaps in their websites or print products when working to a tight deadline, for example. In a press release published on Poynter, it described itself as "a new resource for anyone in need of well-reported, well-told, well-illustrated content for websites and publications at an affordable price."

"We surveyed the marketplace and realized it's difficult to find interesting, high-quality stories that can stand up to critical scrutiny," Neil Dixon Smith, project director of the website, stated in the release. "Every editor has experienced being on deadline with an immediate story need with neither the time nor the budget to make an assignment. iNeedaGreatStory.com is the answer."

Powered by Content that Works, it "delivers immediate access to thousands of stories and graphics every one objectively reported and intelligently presented to help you attract a large and loyal audience," the press release said. iNeedaGreatStory also currently doubles as the official store of contentthatworks.com.

Indian JM Foundation for Excellence in Journalism is offering a certification course in citizen journalism.

The Hounslow and Brentford Times has recently announced its closure after an 115 year run. However, their website will continue to publish news stories in the area.

The Daily Mail may have found a way to subsidized itself, using revenue from its online unconventional tabloid version to create revenue for its printed paper consisting of both national news and celebrity gossip

Kenneth Klee has announced that he saw signs of fraudulent behavior after examining the buyout of Tribune Co. The enterprise owns several newspapers including the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.

Want to show your appreciation to your leaders in pre-press, press, and packaging operations? Editor and Publisher is taking nominations for its E&P Production All-Star award.

The Financial Times Group announced that the Financial Times has kicked off the first half of 2010 in the black with much credit going to its digital readership. Marjorie Scardino, CEO of the paper's parent company Pearson Plc, reported that online readership grew 27% up to 149,000 viewers within the last six months. Registered users also climbed 77% to 2.5 million subscriptions. While most of Pearson Plc's profits were driven by its educational and book publishing operations, Scardino was pleased to announce that FT group turned over operating profits with digital revenues contributing more than 25% of the total.

A significant amount of the FT's success is due to its iPad app. Last month, the Financial Times's iPad application received an award for "Best iPad App" at the 2010 Apple design awards. The application's merit goes beyond rhetoric, as it has been downloaded by roughly 250,000 users. Furthermore, Scardino cited that users of the Financial Times's iPad application spend an average of 25 minutes on the application.

Based on research carried out by Gartner, it has been determined that a whopping 20% of social media users are 'influencers.' Considering the increasing importance of such media in news dissemination and increasing website traffic, how can this information be exploited?

Grouped into 'Salesmen,' 'Connectors' and 'Mavens,' this 20% is able to influence over 70% of other users' activity. According to Nick Ingelbrecht, research director at Gartner, "Salesmen and Connectors are the most effective social network influencers and the most important groups."

The report explains the Connectors as performing a bridging function. They can be heavy connectors, "who have varied but tight circles of friends and family with whom they maintain very regular contact," or light connectors "who span a much wider range of different groups, but inevitably with ties that are much weaker and less frequent."

The Salesmen "have extensive social connections, but their defining characteristic is their propensity to persuade people to do things," and the Mavens "are knowledge exchangers or information brokers...experts in particular areas...other people go to Mavens for advice." Unlike the salesmen, the mavens are altruistic in intent.