In my third year of writing my editorial, The Catwalk, for my local newspaper I am almost at my end as a high school correspondant. I am about to graduate. I wish I could say I will miss writing this editorial, but alas!

Recent coverage of the case of the anthrax tainted letters sent to senators and officials in 2001 has been baffling. When the story first broke, shortly after the attacks of September 11th, use of the word terrorism in connection to the case was widespread practise in the mainstream media. The so-called 'Amerithrax' case killed five people and injured seven others, and consisted of two waves of letters reading 'death to America, death to Isrel' and ending with the line 'Allah is great'.

Nick Kristof reports in his column in the New York Times that only four American newspapers now have foreign desks. But foreign correspondents are to some extent being replaced by freelance citizen journalists who reporting from places that newspapers that can no longer afford to send foreign correspondents, publishing their stories on sites like Demotix.

I don't propose to answer this question myself, for fear of being either lynched by a baying mob of subs, or told to clear my desk by the men at the top...but here's a very interesting piece from the Independent on Sunday about London freesheet City AM's decision to axe its sub-editing staff.

For me the central issue is that raised by 'an insider':-

Despite Malik himself seeing the court's ruling of 26th June as a 'victory for common sense', I feel the decision to compel the controversial British journalist to hand over party of his interview notes for his forthcoming book on self-confessed former extremist Hassan Butt marks a dark day for press freedom.
 

Everybody has a price; for the Bancrofts it was a tidy five billion and the hollow promise of a 'special commitee' to preserve the Wall Street Journal's editorial integrity - a deal that would certainly have had editors of The Times in London rolling their eyes. Cue much 'wailing and gnashing of teeth' (as the Private Eye would put it), slapping of foreheads and keyboards burning as bloggers register their disgust on the internet.

Every week there's a new claim from one of Britain's newspapers that theirs is now the most popular website among UK users.

The Guardian was up there for a while, the Telegraph claimed it, and now the Mail.

I suppose when the former White House press secretary wants to write a piece for your newspaper you don't refuse if you know your business.

Nonetheless i can't really understand why the Washington Post are running this article, from Ari Fleischer.

The Guardian, being an introspective bunch, are following the World Association of Newspapers congress pretty closely.

Stephen Brook reports on a talk given by Juan Antonio Giner, vice president of consulting group Innovation, on the surefire ways to kill off your newspaper. I reproduce them below:-

The American Journalism Review has an interesting article about the ongoing decline of newspapers. One startling statistic about newspaper readership in the US: 30 years ago, 71% of American adults read a newspaper, 10 years ago, 59% and last year 48%.

The Daily Telegraph reported yesterday that bloggers are in favour of a universal code of conduct being drawn up to govern conduct online.
It's a measure that comes too late in my opinion, for the unofficial rules have already been written: there are none.

I just came across this nuanced and well-informed approach to the recent upsurge in

Transitions Online is a cracking site devoted to 28 post-Communist countries.

This is our chance to prove that we aren't the doom-mongers our name might imply. Contrary to how it may seem, we at EofJ are confident that there is a bright future for the media. We simply recognise that there will be turbulent times ahead before that future takes shape.
Here we will try to showcase examples of what we hope that future will hold. This will include hard-hitting, in-depth reporting, alongside more practical and factual information, such as changes to media law and useful resources for journalists.