(Via Greenslade) A newspaper subscriber is suing the News & Observer in a class action suit over its decision to cut staff and editions. He claims a breach of contract - he would not have renewed his subscription had he known he'll be getting an inferior product. It will be interesting to see if this catches on.

Not a publishing process, says Adam Tinworth (via Greenslade). As long as journalists focus on content rather than people, they will lose out on people's urge to be part of a community, rendering themselves irrelevant and forgoing any real relationship with the people they "ultimately work for."

The New York Times reports today that, in terms of growth, Google News lags behind Google as a whole: "the company is far from achieving the kind of dominant position in news that it has in other areas." Given Google's magic touch, and that it isn't yet clear how Google News will evolve, this should not be taken as a barometer for the viability of the market for news.

A story in the Wall Street Journal reports that Google will soon offer a Web measurement service that is based on data gathered from Web servers. It will compete with services such as ComScore and Nielsen Online which rely on surveys and panels, and will be offered to advertisers for free.

One of the early lessons we learned from RI's Impact study was that including ordinary people in the newspaper is linked to higher readership of same paper. Not to mention, it's good journalism. But, as The Center for American Progress reports, ordinary people are missing from one important type of news: business coverage. "On a range of economic issues, the perspective of workers is largely missing from media coverage, while the views of business are frequently presented."

News organizations are hurting and should re-think their strategies for the future - that much is clear. If hanging on to core values is essential, you'd think these organizations are ready to shed some fluff and sharpen their watchdog teeth. Many are not (though some newspapers are).

Pew Research Center reports that, at this point in the 2008 presidential election campaign, more people have gotten news online than in all of 2004. This is fueled primarily by watching videos and engaging in political activities via social networking sites. The study also found a hunger by the public to access "unfiltered" campaign materials (such as speeches and position papers).