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:

• The New Journalism: Blogs Forcing Companies To Come Clean | Silicon Alley Insider – “At SAI, by the way, it has been interesting to watch companies go through the traditional PR steps to try to shape our coverage:
  Ignore us
  Be nice to us
  Threaten us
  Accuse us of stabbing them in the back (“We gave you access, and this is how you repay us??”)

  These tactics work with traditional media and traditional source-channels, because access to top management is so critical to a news organization’s gaining a competitive advantage over a handful of other competitors. In the new world, however, where there are thousands of potential outlets, some of the most valuable information we get comes from mid-level employees, who often pick up scuttlebutt long before the companies’ formal communications teams do.

  We’re always happy to have relationships with senior managers: They make our coverage and analysis smarter and more complete. But if senior management refuses to talk to us, that’s fine, too. We’re doing just fine hearing from everyone else.”

• In a Twitter Age, Even Bad News Like Layoffs Is on the Company Blog | NYTimes.com – “In the age of transparency, the layoff will be blogged.”
• Hazel Blears: Nihilistic new media | Comment is free – A politician writes: “There are some informative and entertaining political blogs, including those written by elected councillors. But mostly, political blogs are written by people with a disdain for the political system and politicians, who see their function as unearthing scandals, conspiracies and perceived hypocrisy.Unless and until political blogging adds value to our political culture, by allowing new and disparate voices, ideas and legitimate protest and challenge, and until the mainstream media reports politics in a calmer, more responsible manner, it will continue to fuel a culture of cynicism and despair.”
• U.S. News Will Become a Monthly Magazine | NYTimes.com – “Less than a year ago, U.S. News still published weekly, but this year it began publishing less often, and in June, it announced that, come January, it would publish every two weeks. Executives conceded then that the magazine had ceased to be a newsweekly competing directly with Time and Newsweek.But apparently even that plan has been deemed too ambitious, and has been declared dead before it could be put into place, according to employees of the magazine, who said they were informed this week that U.S. News would go monthly.”
• Newspaper rivals look to share burden | FT.com – “[L]ocal newspapers have been pummelled by online property sites such as Rightmove, as well as by ultra-local classified websites such as Gumtree. Newsquest, the UK arm of Gannett Newspapers of the US, recently announced that some areas of its classified advertising, principally cars and property, had fallen by up to a half year-on-year.But Lord Fowler, chairman of the Lords committee, said on Tuesday this parlous position did not necessarily mean mergers should be allowed.”
• Daily Mail Hits New York Jan. 1; On-Demand Editions For Big Apple | paidContent:UK – Fear and loathing hit the Big Apple: “Daily Mail (LSE: DMGT) will begin same-day printing in the Big Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) from January 1. Newspaper distributor and remote printer Newsworld Corporation got the contract in July and has now agreed a deal with New Jersey-based AlphaGraphics to bring use print-on-demand technology to for the newspapers from January.”
• What I’ll miss when the campaign’s over | John Robinson – “The election sucked all the air out of DC and Americans discovered they hadn’t missed anything. Yeah, for a brief few days when the economy tanked, Washington politicians got the cameras back and see how that has worked out. Mr. President, let’s make Congress more like the [North Carolina] legislature — a part-time job.”