For anybody who has followed the news over the past few years (probably on a computer), the long-awaited demise of newspapers shouldn't come as much of a surprise. But on Wednesday, the bell tolled once again for the printed word when the University of Southern California's Annenberg Center for the Digital Future offered a prophecy: Within five years, only four major daily papers will continue in print form.
Warren Buffett says he will step down as a longtime boardmember of The Washington Post when his term ends in May. But he has no plans to sell Berkshire Hathaway's shares of the company.
Of three Slate spinoff sites launched in the beginning of 2008, two have already folded. Will The Root, a site targeting African-American audiences, succeed where its siblings failed? There's some reason to think it might.
Washington Post Co. got what just it wanted: Someone else to take the blame for killing Newsweek. Of all the bidders, the 91-year-old audio-gear mogul is least likely to make the changes needed for long-term survival.
The Washington Post Co. probably isn't going to get much more than a token $1 when it sells Newsweek. But it's being awfully choosy about where that dollar comes from.
As the list of potential buyers for Newsweek shortens, Washington businessman Fred Drasner is emerging as the most serious candidate. Meanwhile, the Washington Post Co. has reportedly turned away two conservative would-be buyers.
Correctly or naively, print publishers all seem to think the iPad, Apple's new touchscreen tablet computer, is going to save their hides -- and Wall Street seems to agree, at least cautiously, as several print media companies saw their stocks rise today.
