Google announced Friday it has made deals with four international news agencies for its Google News site to publish their news stories.

Google News began at 6 p.m. GMT Friday to scan news articles from the Associated Press, Press Association, Agence France-Presse and Canadian Press, omitting any duplicated versions from the agencies that can be found on other news sites.

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The Sun is cutting its price from 35 pence to 20 pence in London and the south-east beginning Monday.

The move is aimed at keeping sales of News International’s red-top above 3 million copies per day. However, it may hit circulation revenue hard, because London and the country's south-east make up for about 20 percent of sales.

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The American Press Institute's Newspaper Next team spent a year researching patterns of disruption in the newspaper industry, resulting in the team's latest report, Blueprint for Transformation, which gives newspaper companies a practical innovation process, a strategic game plan and the field tests of those approaches.

The most basic roles of newspapers – fulfilling a civic mission to create an informed society, facilitate civic dialogue and be public watchdogs – has not changed. What has changed is the addition of more ways to disseminate that information and the ways to financially support it. Newspaper companies that cling to old ways of doing things will “sink into irrelevance,” as will newspaper companies that innovate poorly, the Newspaper Next (N2) report tells us.

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Online advertising revenue will pass radio’s for the first time, according to eMarketer’s recent study, Radio Trends: On Air and Online.

In 2007, Internet ad revenue is estimated to reach about $ 21.7 billion, compared to radio’s $20.4 billion.

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Advertising and sponsorship accounted for just over 73 percent of annual turnover and gross revenues in the UK's regional and local newspaper publishing groups in 2006, the latest Newspaper Society survey has found.

That near three-fourths majority is followed by circulation sales at 15.4 percent and contract printing at 5.1 percent, the survey reported. Other revenue for the UK's approximately 85 regional and local newspaper publishing groups include photo sales, IT services, training, rent, canteen, waste sales, editorial syndication and telephone promotions.

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The Polish media group Agora has appointed Marek Sowa as its new chief executive, responsible with pointing the company in the direction of growing its online advertising and finding a spot in local television.

Sowa, whose background is in television and electronic media, will take the reins from Wanda Rapaczynska, who took the company public in 1999.

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The four free daily titles in Italy have been found to have a joint advertising revenue of 62 million euro for the first half of 2007, Newspaper Innovation reported Friday.

Metro, Leggo, City and 24 Minuti were the four titles that could be measured by Nielsen//Netratings.

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