Media Roundup: Tuscon Citizen Will Not Close, Seattle P-I Goes Online Only, and More
Tucson Citizen will not close -- The Tucson Citizen, which had been slated to close on Saturday, will remain publishing. The newspaper's publisher, Gannett, announced that there are two interested buyers that may keep the paper afloat. The Citizen has struggled in past decades to keep pace with the Arizona Star, which has nearly 100,000 more subscribers. Gannett said it hopes to make a decision about the paper's future "in the short term." [Source: Editor and Publisher]
Seattle P-I goes online only -- The Seattle Post-Intelligencer finalized its move to a Web-only publication yesterday. The Hearst-owned newspaper is the largest newspaper in America to make the transition from print to online-only. The paper has cut its staff to 20 from 165 and rely more on aggregation and linking. Some worry that the other paper in Seattle, The Times, will have similar problems in the future, due the end of a joint operating agreement between the two papers that shared production costs. [Source: New York Times]
46 percent of the Digg front page is controlled by the same 50 Web sites -- According to a study by Digg news site di66.net, 46 percent of the stories that make the front page of Digg are from the same 50 Web sites. The majority of sites are news organizations with the Telegraph, New York Times, YouTube and Time heading the list. The social news site has made changes over the past year aiming to increase user diversity on the front page. However since the changes, the range of Web sites making Digg's front page has narrowed. [Source: Soshable]
Twitter grows 1,382 percent -- Compared to last February, the mico-blogging site Twitter has seen 1,382 percent growth. The site registered more than 7 million unique visitors in the United States for February. The service has been touted in recent months by politicians, celebrities and journalists widening the user base past the initial group of early adopters. The site's growth rate, though not its traffic, puts it in striking range of Facebook; a threat magnified by Facebook's Twitter-inspired redesign. [Source: Mashable]
Conde Nast announces cuts -- Reports from several publications indicate that magazine publisher Conde Nast is planning several cuts. The company is said to be eliminating jobs from Conde Nast Media Group, the division that handles more than 80 percent of the company's revenue. Additionally, publishers and editors have been told to cut 10 percent from their non-salary discretionary budgets and pensions have been frozen. This is the second round of cuts for the New York-based publisher in less than sixth months. [Source: MediaBistro]
AOL launching "polypartisan" political site -- AOL is set to launch a political site in April that is focused more on commentary than breaking news. The company has hired several well-respected political journalists and the site's top editor will be Melinda Henneberger, a former Slate and New York Times writer. The move is part of AOL's push into breaking ties with its past as a portal to become more of a content provider. The political blog will add to AOL's already impressive roster of blogs such as the celebrity gossip focused TMZ and the tech news site Engadget. [Source: The Wrap]