New York Times to Begin Website Charges in January

We know that newspapers are shredding subscribers, laying off and buying out reporters and editors, cutting back on distribution, and closing bureaus across the country and worldwide. Like state and local governments, revenues are down at daily newspapers. They need to figure out how to bring in the money in this digital age. I'm not sure that this is the answer. Several years ago, the Times tried charging for access to their columnists and readership dropped so much they soon made access free again. It will be interesting to see if the new New York section of The Wall Street Journal will succeed in attracting advertisers and subscribers in the NY Metro area. Will they PAY for that renewed focus on LOCAL news? On the other hand, The Washington Post experimented with "hyper-local" websites a couple years ago (by county!) and that did not work either. I don't know what the fix is for newspapers.

Bankruptcy filed by Ohio newspaper publishers

From Bloomberg.com:

"Newspaper publishers Brown Media Holdings Co. and Brown Publishing Co. have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief and plan to sell their assets in 10 states to a bidder the companies have chosen. The Cincinnati-based, family-owned businesses filed Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York, asking for approval of $2.5 million in financing to help the companies through bankruptcy."

The list of newspapers Brown & Brown own are small dailies and weeklies, many located in Ohio. The company will be sold, but surely in these tough times not all of the newspapers will survive.