The dean at Northwestern University's journalism school, John Lavine, is being taken to task for his use of anonymous quotes in two introductory letters for the school's alumni magazine last year.

Last week, a column in The Daily Northwestern, the student newspaper, called his use of an anonymous source into question. Following the column's publication, written by senior David Spett, a firestorm of media coverage has ensued over the journalism ethics practised by the dean, and on Tuesday 16 members of Medill School of Journalism's faculty released a statement saying that the “matter has become a crisis for the school.”

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Hindi daily Nai Dunia is preparing to venture out of it's home in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, and spread across the entire Hindi-speaking belt in about six months, the Business Standard reported Wednesday.

Vinay Chhajlani, director of Nai Dunia News & Network Private Ltd, would not name specific states the newspaper plans to launch in, but did say Nai Dunia is “in an aggressive mode and ready to venture outside Madhya Pradesh.”

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According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday, dissident shareholder Harbinger Capital Partners has increased its stake to 11.8 percent in New York Times Co.

Harbinger, a New York University business professor, has criticised the Times for not aggressively focusing on its digital businesses.

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Over 98 million mobile subscribers in the United States and Western Europe played games on their handset during December 2007, according to new research from M:Metrics.

In spite of high demand, advances in mobile technology and the emergence of mobile marketing service providers, the market is still not yet ripe enough to draw major ad dollars, Media Post reported.

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The Sun-Times Media Group (STMG) Tuesday announced it will outsource its advertising production work to Affinity Express, which by estimate would save US$3 million annually for the company, Editor & Publisher reported Wednesday.

"Partnering with Affinity will enable us to significantly upgrade our service to our advertisers while reducing our costs," said president and CEO of STMG Cyrus Freidheim Jr. in a statement. "This is one in a series of actions to make our company more nimble and efficient."

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The Baltimore Sun Media Group will launch a free daily tabloid and Web site targeting young adults, which will focus on news, sports, pop culture, entertainment and night life, The Baltimore Sun reported Wednesday.

The new free daily, to be called b, and Web site, bthesite.com, will target younger readers, ages 18-to-34-years-old. The newspaper will also publish content from other publications, including Chicago free daily RedEye, both of which are owned by Tribune Co.

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The ten staff members at Irish language newspaper Lá Nua have been given redundancy notices, and the tabloid is expected to close at the end of the month.

At the same time, plans to launch a Welsh-language daily, Y Byd, were abandoned last week. Closure of both papers is due to inadequate funding, management for both papers have said.

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The Bay Area News Group newspaper publisher, controlled by MediaNews Group Inc. is cutting jobs at newspapers including the Contra Costa Times and the Oakland Tribune, in a sweeping cost-cutting measure includes offering buyouts to almost all of the group's 1,100 employees.

San Francisco-based Bay Area News Group will not disclose how many jobs will end up being cut, or how many it intends to save, The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

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The World Editors Forum, Reuters and Zogby International Wednesday began collecting data for the second annual Newsroom Barometer, a global survey of chief editors about their attitudes and strategies in the multimedia age.

The Newsroom Barometer aims to provide a better understanding of the changes in newsrooms through the eyes of editors-in-chief and senior news executives.

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