Newspapers must win online--or they will face a painful future. The former head of Knight Ridder Digital believes that industry leaders must adopt a Marshall Plan embodying two key objectives: the migration to common platforms, and the ability to sell top-quality online products to advertisers. To fulfill these objectives, independent companies must aggregate into an industry-wide network. In this network, each company must cede some control over its digital future into a "Switzerland" organization that manages the network. It will require a degree of cooperation and trust rarely seen before in the newspaper business, and therefore will only be achieved …

Newspaper readership in India has grown during the past year, but magazine readership is down. TV viewing is up, and Internet growth has begun to slow down. That's according to the National Readership Survey, which involved 284,373 house-to-house interviews in 7,000 cities and towns and covered 535 publications. Supported by a $2.8 billion ad industry, the survey says Indian daily papers grew while fighting threats from the electronic media. With 203.6 million readers, 18 dailies crossed the 5 million mark--just one of them in English, Times of India at 7.4 million. But suffering acute poaching of marketing and editorial talent …

The Boston Herald has chopped about six pages off its daily edition from its news, business and sports sections as a cost-saving measure. The move comes during a dismal ad climate within the newspaper industry, and the tabloid's editorial director says it was triggered by business realities and competition from the Internet. "We've tried to cut in a way that isn't too obvious to readers," says Kenneth Chandler. He adds that the new format will change as the content does: This is not going to be hard and fast every day." Discussions to cut page count--which ranges from 72 to …

"It would be great if more magazines went out of business in the coming months," writes Scott Donaton of Ad Age. "And more Web sites were shut down, TV shows yanked off the air, newspapers folded and radio programs unplugged." The media landscape, he says, needs to be cleared of some clutter. Cases in point include the closing by Hearst of Weekend and Shop, Etc. magazines, along with Time Inc.'s decision to shut down the Office Pirates Web site. Rather than trashing them for trying the ideas, or for cutting jobs as result of their failure, Donaton says they should …

In a move that could signal a big change in the way magazine ads are bought and sold, Time is considering getting rid of its rate base--the circulation it guarantees to advertisers. While the newsweekly wouldn't be the first to take that step, it would be the most prominent. And it could open the floodgates for Time Inc. titles to rely on other standards to gauge audience levels. Mediaweek, citing insiders, says Time Inc. executives have been talking about various plans to tweak circulation strategy. A decision could come in November, two months before the magazine's on-sale date moves from …

Hundreds of workers who lined up in London to hand out free newspapers on Monday were on the front line of a high-stakes media battlefield. On one side is Rupert Murdoch's News International and its thelondonpaper, while on the other is Associated Newspapers' London Lite. The two are tussling over young commuters, an 18- to-34-year-old market of urbanites who have turned away from traditional, paid-for newspapers to the Internet. Both sheets claim to be packed full of news, entertainment, sports, and listings for the tired worker who just wants something light to read on the way home. "I don't think …

Republican congressional candidates are running away from an increasingly unpopular George W. Bush in their campaign ads. For example, Rep. Deborah Pryce is struggling to hold onto a seat in a swing district in central Ohio. In 2004, her campaign Web site featured a banner of her and Bush sitting together, but in her latest TV spot, Pryce is described as "independent," claiming she "stood up to her own party" to support increased funds for embryonic stem-cell research. Ironically, as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, Pryce is supposed to rally her colleagues to the party message. But on issues …

Writing in the Chicago Sun-Times about Katie Couric's slimmed-down photos, Carol Marin notes that in a week in which more American soldiers died in Iraq, phone rates threatened to skyrocket and enriched uranium was found at a facility in Iran, "we as a nation just couldn't get enough of Katie's waistline." Marin, herself a longtime local TV news staple, says that one could argue there is value in considering the trustworthiness of a news anchor who allows the truth to be altered in her press photos. But while "that's a fair question, it's one that hardly is launched with Couric," …

There goes another magazine. Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. is going to fold For Me magazine, a monthly spinoff of Woman's Day that debuted in May of last year. It was designed to compete for the 25-35 market, where it was believed there was a room for a mass-appeal title. But its newsstand-heavy approach proved to be its downfall--as President-CEO Jack Kliger tells his staffers that sales though the channel, which have been off since February, were too poor to justify its continuation. For Me was Hachette's first launch after Elle Girl and its first shutdown since the company closed that …

Ads in Wednesday's Lexington Herald-Leader by lawyers soliciting business from families of victims who died in Comair Flight 5191 have drawn the attention of the Kentucky attorney general. AG Greg Stumbo says his office has forwarded complaints about the tactic to the U.S. Attorney's office and the Kentucky Bar Association regarding the ads, which he says show "questionable conduct" by the advertising lawyers. He notes that federal law prohibits attorneys from soliciting victims' families for 45 days following a plane crash, and while he is not sure they are improper, he does find them tasteless.