Thad McIlroy - The Future of Publishing

1. The most fascinating, unbiased and authoritative source of information about what's happening in the newspaper industry is provided by the Pew Research Center and its various cousins.

The report I quote from extensively in the main article in this section, The State of the Newsmedia 2008: An Annual Report On American Journalism, is from the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

2. Of course newspapers are well covered by trade associations. I always feel just slightly sceptical of these sites, as obviously they are designed to serve their paying constituents, newspapers and advertisers, rather than from an enquiring public who are wondering where the industry is headed. Here's Google's omnibus listing:

http://www.google.com/Top/News/Newspapers/Publishers/Associations/

3. The big U.S. trade group is the NAA, the Newspaper Association of America:

"NAA is a nonprofit organization representing the $55 billion newspaper industry. NAA members account for nearly 90 percent of the daily circulation in the United States and a wide range of nondaily U.S. newspapers. NAA also has many Canadian and International members."

The NAA has recently launched a provocative blog, Imagining the Future of Newspapers Blog. (I see sadly, but not unexpectedly, that this is now available only to subscribers.)

4. The Canadian equivalent is the Canadian Newspaper Association, which offers a range of industry-oriented resources.

5. Ifra

Ifra, based in Darmstadt, Germany, bills itself, I think correctly, as "the world's leading association for newspaper and media publishing. Services - offered primarily to Ifra Members -  include trade exhibitions, international conferences, seminars and training events as well as consulting and various publications."

6. Three fine publications:

Columbia Journalism Review

American Journalism Review

And the excellent Canadian Ryerson Review of Journalism.

7. A couple of good blogs (there are numerous others):

World Association of Newspapers offers The Editors Weblog

http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/

8. Bob Sacks, aka BoSacks, a learned veteran of the American media industry, has a very good website, although if you can digest three entries per day, you can subscribe to his far-reaching newsletter.

9. Goodbye to Newspapers?

Russell Baker is a veteran of this war and those that have preceded it. His fascinating article in the New York Review of Books is well worth the read.

10. What Will Become of Newspapers?

A provocative article based on  a 2006 speech by John S. Carroll "the Knight Visiting Lecturer at Harvard University's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. He has been the editor of three newspapers: The Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore Sun, and The Lexington Herald-Leader."