Mediagazer: My Turn in Between the Readers and the Writers (Margaret Sullivan/New York Times)

7:55 AM ET, September 10, 2012

Top News:

Homicide Watch Venture Struggles to Survive — Journalism has a shortage of many things: capital, advertisers and, in some instances, readers. But certainly its most precious commodity is innovation. — Again and again, the business struggles to get out of the rut that put it on a road to ruin in the first place.

Discussion: @antderosa

Christine Haughney / Media Decoder:

Roll Call and CQ Today to Merge Into One Paper — As many Washington-area news outlets continue their hiring sprees to feed the appetite for political news, two political newspaper stalwarts, Roll Call and CQ Today, are following what recently has been a far more common path in journalism.

Discussion: Politico

David Taintor / Talking Points Memo:

NY Times' Jim Roberts: ‘The Pace Of Change Gets Faster And Faster’ — Jim Roberts, an assistant managing editor at the New York Times, recently spoke to TPM about his years at the Grey Lady, his social media strategy and the impact of the paper's paywall. What's the most dramatic change you've seen in your 25 years at the Times?

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Newspaper restructuring — think steel, cars and airlines — If there is a poster child for the “digital first” newspaper movement, it is probably Journal Register Co., which manages a chain of dailies and weeklies in the eastern U.S. John Paton took the helm as CEO after it emerged from bankruptcy in 2009 …

Discussion: Strange Attractor

Martin Langeveld / Nieman Journalism Lab:
Journal Register's bankruptcy is strategic, all right — but for whom?

Discussion: Guardian

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

My Turn in Between the Readers and the Writers — WHEN Andrew Rosenthal, the editorial page editor, phoned to congratulate me on my appointment as public editor, he closed the call with a quip: “I look forward to you trashing me.” — And there, in brief, is the paradox, and one of the challenges, of this role.

Discussion: The Public Editor's Journal and Pressing Issues

Max de La Bruyere / Yale Daily News:

For Our Readers: Membis investigation complete — After the Wall Street Journal fired Liane Membis '12 in July for fabricating sources, the News opened an investigation into her work as a staff reporter for the paper between 2009 and 2010. After fact-checking her articles and contacting …

Discussion: Poynter, Talking Biz News and @romenesko

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Newspapers' print ad revenue losses are larger than digital ad gains by a ratio of 25 to 1 — The newspaper industry' s effort to cover print advertising losses with digital ad gains, weak in 2010 and 2011, deteriorated further in the first half of this year.

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Yes, Spotify Is Headed to the Web. No, Spotify Isn't Cutting Its Prices. — Waiting to use Spotify on the Web? Hang on a few weeks. — Waiting to pay $8 a month for Spotify's premium service? Don't hold your breath. — Yes, as TechCrunch reported yesterday, the streaming music company …

Discussion: Softpedia News, paidContent, TechCrunch, PC Magazine, TechCrunch, Side-Line, Business Insider, digitaltrends.com, CNET, Gizmodo and The Verge

Christine Haughney / New York Times:

On Campus, an Experiment to Save Local News — MACON, Ga. — From the rattling cicadas at twilight to the willow trees bending in the late summer heat, the lush campus of Mercer University seems like the last place to find one of the nation's boldest journalism experiments.

Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:

Times-Picayune Is Singing the Blues to Angry Readers — As the chief architect of the plan to turn New Orleans into the biggest city in America without a daily newspaper, Ricky Mathews spent the summer having to “take the licks,” as he put it in his Mississippi twang, of a ferocious community blowback.

Discussion: Poynter

Mark Lisheron / American Journalism Review:

On the Rebound — Things are looking up at Minneapolis' once-troubled Star Tribune, where a publisher with deep local roots believes customers will pay for news—print, online, wherever—if the paper delivers the goods. — Senior Contributing Writer Mark Lisheron (mark@texaswatchdog.org) …

Bill Grueskin / Nieman Journalism Lab:

News orgs want journalists who are great at a few things, rather than good at many — Editor's Note: It's the start of the school year, which means students are returning to journalism programs around the country. As the media industry continues to evolve, how well is new talent being trained …

Alan D. Mutter / Reflections of a Newsosaur:

'How did L.A. Times get a grant when I can't?' — Second of two parts. This first part is here. — For 24 years, hundreds of Los Angeles high school journalists have learned about reporting, writing and life itself by volunteering at L.A. Youth, a free newspaper read by an estimated 350,000 teens a year.