• Forbes, Thursday, October 30, 2008 9:30 AM

A new company is trying to help failing newspapers do more with less. Massachusetts-based Helium offers a fee-based software widget that assists papers in finding and picking stories from their readers.

Reader submissions are evaluated and ranked by 150,000 Helium users on a Web site run by Helium, as a way to identify stories most appropriate for the newspaper's site or print publication. So far, GateHouse Media's State Journal-Register in Springfield, Ill., has signed up for the program.

The service is tapping into a gnawing problem in the news business: Staff resources are evaporating, but the demand for news, especially online, is growing.

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