L.A. Times’ long-form stories fall 86%; can tablets save in-depth reporting?

The number of stories over 2,000 words has sharply fallen at several major publications, with The Los Angeles Times seeing an 86 percent decrease in the last decade, according to research by Dean Starkman of Columbia Journalism Review. While some fear that the golden age of long-form journalism may have ended, many cling to hope that surging tablet use will usher a rebirth of “contextual” reporting.

Boston alt-weekly The Phoenix closes after 47 years

The Boston Phoenix, a free alt-weekly known for its sharp commentary on politics and culture, announced on Wednesday its closing after 47 years in print.

Surprising US year-end figures

Tracking newspaper profitability in the United States has become increasingly difficult, but figures indicate the industry is not doing quite as badly as it sometimes appears, according to Rick Edmonds, researcher and writer for the Poynter Institute focusing on business and journalistic issues.

Journalists react to Google Reader’s demise, search for alternative

Twitter users joked Wednesday night that the pope’s election marked the ideal time to reveal scandals, likely to be lost in the sea of Vatican coverage. But when Google dropped the bomb that Google Reader will end service 1 July, the web aggregator quickly out-trended the pope on Twitter.

Press violence in Mexico increases

In Mexico, attacks on journalists increased 20 percent in 2012, according to NGO Article 19 in its annual report released Wednesday. A total of 207 attacks on journalists, media workers and media facilities in 25 states were reported.

Success of print-on-demand strategy surprises New Scientist publisher

With digital content no longer supplementing but now supplanting many publishers’ print editions, New Scientist is pioneering a print-on-demand strategy to appeal to a different set of readers, The Media Briefing reported. This approach can be tested by other news publishers risk-free to augment digital revenues.

SXSW: BuzzFeed’s Jonah Peretti on how to make content go viral

BuzzFeed is the first “true social news organization,” said Jonah Peretti, founder and CEO. “All of our growth has come from making use of the social web,” he added, speaking at a SXSW session called The Big Power Shift in Media.

An algorithm of hope: Robo reporters could redeem hyperlocal news

Narrative Science, an organization that uses algorithms to convert data into news blurbs, scared many journalists, with one senior news executive even declaring the advent of robo reporters as a “coming apocalypse” for the industry. In fact, some of Narrative Science’s work has been regarded as better than that of human writers: “The robots are coming,” David Mattin writes, “and they want your job.” But while the Evanston, Ill. company has repeatedly emphasized that their technology will not displace journalists’ jobs, robots are ideal staffers for hyperlocal sites, which have been devastated recently.

The Guardian sales hits record low

Average daily sales for The Guardian dropped to an all-time low last month. Sales dipped to below 200,000, according to parent company Guardian News & Media

Druckzentrum Aschendorff obtains print quality certification

Druckzentrum Aschendorff is the seventh printing company worldwide at which a WAN-IFRA print quality certification process was successfully carried out. In order to qualify, the company had to prove that it was able to produce a consistently high standard of colour printing over the given period of almost one year.