These are some of the things that have caught my attention lately. It’s a more eclectic mix than just the news business, but then so’s life:

• Mourning old media’s decline | International Herald Tribune – "The difference between print dollars and digital dimes — or sometimes pennies — is being taken out of the newsrooms that supply both. And while it is indeed tough all over in this economy, consider the consequences.

  New Jersey, a petri dish of corruption, will have to make do with 40 percent fewer reporters at The Star-Ledger, one of the few remaining cops on the beat. The Los Angeles Times, which toils under Hollywood's nose, has one movie reviewer left on staff. And dozens of communities served by Gannett will have fewer reporters and editors overseeing the deeds and misdeeds of local government and businesses."

• In E-mail, ABC News President Tells Staff All Print Subs Canceled | The New York Observer – "As of December 1, we will cancel all subscriptions (newspaper and magazine) for executives and production employees and move them to on-line. This change will have the added benefit of helping the environment. If there are particular circumstances where you believe this will materially impair your ability to get your work done, you should make your case to your executive producer or supervisor by November 15th."
• The Patriot News Network | The Tufts Observer Online – How do smart, well-educated young people like their TV news? "[T]here’s a solution to what is essentially the sad decline of journalism in the United States, and it comes from abroad: Al Jazeera English…Al Jazeera English is journalism as it should be, and journalism as it used to be. Instead of serving as a podium for charismatic commentators, it gives voice to the voiceless by exposing underreported stories from around the world. Similarly, it doesn’t reinforce the status quo but questions authority at its roots. Forget about the mantra “no news is good news;” the network understands that fear-mongering is a thing for politicians, not journalists. In essence, Al Jazeera English is more populist, more progressive, and more rebellious than the United States itself."
• 24/7 Wall St.: Magazine Business Starts To Follow Newspapers Down The Tank | 247wallst.com – "There are no Wall Street analysts who believe that newspapers will recover from the ongoing financial crisis. Publishers have argued that housing, employment, and car markets were the cause of their declining revenue. When those industries recovered, they reasoned, so would the newspaper industry. Based on the third quarter results from large newspaper chains including The New York Times Company (NYT) and Gannett (GCI), it is almost certain that the internet has mortally wounded this business and that the websites set up by local papers are not pulling in enough revenue to offset what print versions are losing…

  As the year wears on there is growing evidence that the magazine indus

• The WSJ’s Subscription Model | Seeking Alpha – "My feeling is that Thomson was entirely right when he said that commentary had become commoditized, and that therefore you couldn't charge for it; he also said the same thing about most news. But what he calls "specialized content" is to a large degree just taking commoditized news, and adding the kind of value that comes from informed commentators."
• Christian Science Monitor to End Daily Publication – washingtonpost.com – "The Christian Science Monitor said Tuesday it will become the first national newspaper to drop its daily print edition and focus on publishing online, succumbing to the financial pressure squeezing its industry harder than ever.

  Come April, the Boston-based general-interest paper _ founded in 1908 and the winner of seven Pulitzer Prizes _ will print only a weekend edition after struggling financially for decades, its editor announced Tuesday."

• Reporters Getting Burned Out With New Technology, Journalists Tell National Press Club Forum at University of Missouri | Yahoo! News – "I have been blogging for years," said Tony Messenger, a state capital bureau correspondent for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "I have yet to have a discussion in my newsroom about why we're blogging and to tie that somehow into the newspaper's business model."
  He said he Twittered during a gubernatorial election debate, taking time from blogging and writing the next day's newspaper story. Yet just 13 people were following his Twitter posts.
  "I should be sitting down with editors and other reporters who are using this technology and discussing whether it worked for this situation or that situation," he said. "And how can we save jobs in the newsroom if we do this?"