New venture to help ailing American newspapers make money on the web

Three veteran US media executives teamed up on and launched a company designed to help ailing US newspapers and other publications make money on the web by charging readers for news.

Journalism Online intends to "quickly facilitate the ability of newspaper, magazine and online publishers to realise revenue from the digital distribution of the original journalism they produce", its founders said in a statement.

The company is led by Steven Brill, the founder of Court TV, Gordon Crovitz, a former publisher of The Wall Street Journal, and Leo Hindery, a former chief executive of AT&T Broadband.

The venture comes as newspapers across the US grapple with a steep plunge in print advertising revenue, steadily declining circulation and the migration of readers to free news online.

Two newspapers, the Rocky Mountain News of Denver, Colorado, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, have shut down in recent weeks and several big newspaper groups have declared bankruptcy, including the Tribune Co., publisher of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other dailies.

Mr Brill said the company has already held talks with most major US newspaper and magazine publishers and they expressed "strong interest" in the venture.

"We think this is a special moment in time when there is an urgent need for a business model that allows quality journalism to be the beneficiary of the Internet's efficient delivery mechanism rather than its victim," he said.

"We believe we have developed a strategy and a set of services that will establish that model by restoring a stream of circulation revenue to supplement advertising revenue," he added.

Mr Brill said he and his partners were convinced that readers "will continue to support journalists by paying a modest, fair price for original, independent, professional work distributed online."

Among major US newspapers, only The Wall Street Journal currently charges readers of its website although a number of other dailies, including The New York Times, have said they are considering introducing a similar system.

Media analysts have been engaged in a fierce debate over whether readers will be willing to pay for news online after becoming accustomed for so many years to getting what they want for free.

The founders of Journalism Online said they were convinced consumers would pay for "quality journalism" and outlined plans to develop a website that would allow publishers to charge for content.