• Financial Times (registration required), Tuesday, February 15, 2011 12 PM

In what one analyst calls "a first for the industry," two newspapers have ventured into ecommerce deals that go beyond selling reproductions of historic front pages.

The Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune opened up large shopping sections on their Web sites in the last quarter of 2010, in a move to diversify revenue streams in the face of... well, you know the rest. (This item in the Financial Times reminds us that both newspapers' parent, the Tribune Company, is in bankruptcy.)

Each newspaper has partnered with online coupon site Groupon to provide deals, and also offers separate discounts on food, travel, and entertainment purchases.

Read the whole story at Financial Times (registration required) »