US newspaper executives discuss industry future

Top US newspaper executives discussed the future of the troubled industry last Thursday amid growing moves to begin charging for news on the web. The New York Times Co., Gannett, EW Scripps and Hearst Newspapers were among the two dozen newspaper publishers represented at the meeting, according to The Atlantic magazine and other press reports.

The US news agency the Associated Press reported that its chief executive, Tom Curley, also attended the discussions, which were held at a Chicago hotel.

John Sturm, president of the Newspaper Association of America, told Harvard University's Nieman Journalism Lab in a statement that the meeting was held under the auspices of the newspaper trade body.

"The group discussed business topics such as protection of intellectual property rights and approaches to the Congress and Administration to address these and other issues," Sturm said.

"With antitrust counsel present, the group listened to executives from companies representing various new models for obtaining value from newspaper content online," the NAA president added.

The meeting comes amid newspaper closures and bankruptcies and a debate among media analysts over whether readers will be willing to pay for news online after becoming accustomed for so many years to getting it for free.

Faced with a steady decline in print advertising revenue and circulation and weak online advertising growth, a number of US newspaper publishers appear ready to attempt charging for at least some of their content.