The Associated Press announced Thursday that it suffered serious losses in revenue and profit in 2009, but it also underscored the fact that it won't take the declines lying down. During its annual meeting the news agency announced the expansion of its AP Gateway initiative through the launch of their News Registry and a niche Web site for college football fans.

The bleak financial records included a nearly 10 percent drop in revenue, now down to US$676.1 million, and a 65 percent fall in net income, bringing it to $8.8 million. Much of this was the result of offering lower rates to its member newspapers, who were also suffering from reduced revenue as a result of the media crisis.

For more on this story visit our sister publication, editorsweblog.org.

Vivendi SA is seeking to purchase Lagardere SCA's 20-percent stake in pay-TV operator Canal Plus France, though at a discount, Chief Executive Officer Jean- Bernard Levy said in an interview with Le Figaro, Bloomberg reported.

The newspaper said Vivendi's objective is to fully own its French units "if at a reasonable price." However, "It's not a priority," according to Levy, "the company is also tempted to acquire Vodafone Group PLC's 44-percent holding in operator SFR," according to Le Figaro.

The Paris-based media conglomerate will get a first installment of $2 billion in September for its 20-percent stake sale of NBCU. According to Levy, the company hops to increase its presence in the southern hemisphere, Bloomberg reported.

"We're concerned that the big global investment funds aren't currently interested in a European technology, media and telecoms sector that's taking a pounding from regulators," Le Figaro cited Levy.

The Social Media Club France recently blogged about how the diversification of mobile devices which give readers access to the internet has obviously changed the way users access information. As a result, Social Media Club France recommends that journalists adopt a method of presenting news that is not only interactive but also adaptable to the non-linear diffusion of media.

Prior to the proliferation of smart phones and tablet PCs news was released in a fairly straightforward manner starting either with print or online and slowly working it's way outward. As previously mentioned, though this has changed journalists have not effectively adapted their methods of distribution to capitalize on the way users are consuming data.

For more on this story visit our sister publication, editorsweblog.org.

The Tribune Company-owned Los Angeles Times will soon begin adding e-commerce links to selected stories and blog posts, as "both a reader service and a revenue opportunity for the company," editor Russ Stanton told staffers in a memo yesterday, LAObserved reported.

The e-commerce links will be highlighted in green with a double underline and no blue editorial link will be replaced with an e-commerce link. Each article or a post that includes an e-commerce green link will have a disclaimer at its foot stating: "Clicking on Green Links will take you to a third-party e-commerce site. These sites are not operated by the Los Angeles Times. The Times Editorial staff is not involved in any way with Green Links or with these third-party sites," Stanton stated in the memo, posted on LAObserved. "These post-publication links to sites such as Amazon and TicketNetwork will serve as both a reader service and a revenue opportunity for the company."
The ads will be placed by an e-commerce producer based at the Chicago Tribune, also owned by the Tribune Co., where the project has been in its testing phase for about six months. The e-commerce links will appear on health, image, food, travel, books, entertainment, sports sections and photo galleries. The green links will not appear in columns, news section articles and blogs, according to the memo on LAObserved.

Popular tech blog Gizmodo's leak of the new iPhone prototype has garnered the attention of more than just interested Apple fanatics. Last Friday, Gizmodo editor Jason Chen arrived home around 9:45 to find police in his home, removing 4 computers and 2 servers with a search warrant signed by the judge of the Superior Court of San Mateo as their defense. In response, Gawker Chief Operating Officer and legal counsel Gaby Derbyshire claims this search was illegal under a California shield law created especially to protect journalists, and that the police must return Chen's belongings.

What has since erupted across the web and likely in legal courts soon is a debate over the legality of Gizmodo's iPhone scoop, the application of the untested shield law, and, most fundamentally, whether bloggers are considered journalists in the eyes of the law.

For more on this story visit our sister publication, editorsweblog.org.

The Sun plans to launch a special 3D edition on June 5, in order to commemorate the World Cup games, Huliq reported.

The special issue of the UK tabloid daily will print its editorial, ads and a World Cup Fixtures Wall Chart in 3D. Readers will receive 3D glasses.

This title, owned by News International, will be the first one to run ads and editorial in this format in the UK, Media Week reported.

It is understood that advertisers will have to pay a significant premium if they want colour ads in 3D.

Besides a print campaign, a TV campaign is expected to run in May to bolster the 3D edition.

Advertisers will need to pay premium for a 3D ad, Media Week reported. .

A Boston area publication, The Telegram & Gazette, recently announced it will begin implementing a "metered model" paywall over the summer. Jacqueline Reis from the Telegram and Gazette staff announced on the Web site that the new model will not charge print subscribers for access to online content.

The new model will still give readers free access to the majority of content offered on the site, with the exception of the content produced by the Telegram and Gazette's staff. The newspaper's publisher, Bruce Gaultney described the new method as a way to "recognise the value of local news" that would "bring new revenue to support news operations."

For more on this story visit our sister publication, editorsweblog.org.

Figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations show a circulation decline of U.S. newspapers, with average weekday sales falling 8.7 percent in the six month period ending March 31, reports The Associated Press.

However, the rate of decline slowed down from the previous six-month period. From April through September of last year, the average weekday circulation dropped 10.6 percent. Sunday circulation fell 6.5 percent, compared to 7.5 percent last year.

The New York Times notes that this decline affected both large and small newspapers, with the San Francisco Chronicle suffering the most out of the 25 largest circulation newspapers, due to the loss of 22.7 percent of its weekday sales.

Amongst other major newspapers, The Washington Post's average weekday circulation fell 13.1 percent to 578,482 and dropped 8.2 percent to 797,679 on Sundays. USA Today lost 13.6 percent of its circulation and averaged 1.83 million. The New York Times suffered an 8.5 percent decline in weekday circulation, and a 5.2 drop on Sundays. Its average circulation was 951,063 on weekdays and 1.38 million on Sundays.

UK daily Nottingham Evening Post has dropped "Evening" from its masthead and is now called the Nottingham Post, as it has been published overnight since last year, Holdthefrontpage.co.uk reported. The title change is accompanied by a redesign and typographical changes as well.

Also in its masthead, the Northcliffe newspaper has changed "Nottingham City of Legends" to "The City of Legends," printed below the the newspaper's name in the masthead. So far, the redesign "has been well received by readers," editor Malcolm Pheby told HoldtheFrontPage.

Other than using a slightly bigger fit, the print edition has more emphasis on photographs, as well as more letters, guest writers, a new daily picture section on births, weddings, celebrations and events, and a separate section for obituaries.

These changes are aimed at making the paper "fresher and easier to read," MediaGuardian reported. "Nottingham is a very metropolitan and cosmopolitan city and we felt that the newspaper didn't match the complexity of the city," said Pheby, according to MediaGuardian's Roy Greenslade.

However, Greenslade remarked he believes crime news reported by the newspaper is hyped, which goes against the idea of accurately reporting the city's complexity, as Pheby said.

The iPad currently makes up 26 percent of Wired.com's traffic from mobile devices, the technology site reported less than three weeks after the device's launch.

Although mobile accounts for just between 2.3 percent and 3.5 percent of overall traffic, the high number of iPad users suggests most are those who already used the iPhone and iPod Touch, as those users are declining the same amount the iPad user numbers are rising.

Wired UK editor David Cowan said last month the magazine's iPad edition will cost less than the print edition.

Meanwhile, a television station in Albany, Georgia, United States, is replacing its printed paper scripts with iPads, and expect to save about US$9,600 on yearly costs as a result, Poynter Online's Damon Kiesow reported today. Previously, each script was created as a PDF and e-mailed to staffers.

A free, quarterly business magazine called BQ Scotland is set to launch in Scotland on June 11, AllmediaScotland reported. This new full-colour magazine will provide business news, commentary from leading business people and profiles of Scotland's most inspirational entrepreneurs.

Having successfully entered the market with separate BQ editions for Yorkshire and the North-East of England in the last two years, the Tyne and Weir-based Room501 publisher will now aim to reach affluent influential businessmen and women, such as directors, owners, managers, entrepreneurs and opinion formers across Edinburgh, Glasgow and the central belt.

"BQ Scotland wants to get to the heart and soul of Scotland's business people and find out what drives, inspires and motivates them towards their ambitions," Alistair Fleming, project manager of Room501 Publishing told AllmediaScotland. "Each quarter, BQ will bring its readership a wealth of business intelligence and information, whilst looking ahead to forthcoming events and reporting on recent developments that will have a significant impact on the Scottish business landscape."

Hoping for a broader appeal, the magazine will carry regular features on things like commercial property, wine, fashion motoring and business lunches, Fleming said.