Swapping pennies for dollars

New York Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman told a British House of Lords committee last week that new online business models for newspapers are just substituting "pennies for dollars".

He said he is trying to develop new business models for the web but returns aren't comparable with print, according to a story in the UK Press Gazette.

Zuckerman said that the new challenges have meant that his magazine US News and World Report has gone from 12 foreign bureaux to none. He said the magazine now focuses on “news you can use” such as rankings for colleges and hospitals.

According to the Lords report: “A great story on Iraq, or politics makes no difference to their circulation figures but their rankings are of key importance to readers and advertisers. All new providers must find added value: analysis, opinion, parody, something not available elsewhere.”