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Washington is paying attention to the newspaper crisis. The president has even weighed in. But some worry that any government help would create a conflict of interest. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), sponsor of The Newspaper Revitalization Act, and Jim Moroney, publisher of The Dallas Morning News discuss what role, if any, the government should play in saving newspapers.
News organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to turn a profit, thus making non-profit news an increasingly attractive solution. Jim Barnett has been studying and blogging about non-profit journalism for 5 years and he says new organizations are springing up left and right.
What would happen if a major U.S. city was suddenly without a daily newspaper? It seems increasingly possible these days and so the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism set out to find an answer. They hired business analysts to create economic models for the news organizations that spring up. CUNY Professor Jeff Jarvis says journalism could thrive without a daily newspaper.
The Gazette of Colorado Springs recently published a series about the psychological struggles of a group of Iraq War veterans who'd been arrested for violent crimes at home. But while doing that reporting, journalist Dave Philipps uncovered another story about war crimes committed in Iraq. Philipps explains why he was an unlikely reporter to be writing this piece.
Last week the AP announced plans to electronically tag their online content so illegal use will be easier to track. The Fair Syndication Consortium, which includes The New York Times and The Washington Post, is trying to get a piece of the ad revenue other sites make off their member's content. But New York Times blogger Saul Hansell questions whether these efforts will work.
Breaking news is now copied and redistributed on thousands of websites across the Internet within minutes - producing a World Wide Web of carbon copies. First Amendment lawyer David Marburger argues that this redistribution is hurting newspapers financially and that the fault lies with the Copyright Act.
Budget cuts at newspapers have led to the firing of many copy editors. With their departure comes an increase in errors. John McIntyre was let go by The Baltimore Sun after 23 years and says newspapers are foolish to fire a disproportionate number of copy editors.
Ross Douthat and Ezra Klein are two new opinion writers at the New York Times and the Washington Post. Both started out in the blogosphere, and both are young - Klein 25, Douthat 29. The two discuss whether they may have actually lost a measure of influence by moving from the net to traditional media.
