Bully for him ...

John Lehmann, former editor of The Bulletin, is enjoying life in Noosa as a wine merchant.

WAtoday launches in Perth

It was one of the worst kept secrets in Australian online publishing, but after much speculation Fairfax Digital has launched WAtoday.

In design terms the site is more or less a direct copy of theage.com.au, minus that site's feature strip below the splash at the top of the front page. At least it looks better than the Brisbane Times.

Most of the copy is currently coming from the smh or theage, but you can't hold that against them at this stage. With eight dedicated reporters I expect they'll start generating local coverage fairly quickly. It remains to be seen how deep that coverage will go, however.

I suspect they'll struggle for local readers. After more than a year the brisbanetimes.com.au's unique Queensland audience is pretty small and if Watoday does better - given the relative size of the market - it will be surprising. But it does allow Fairfax to flog a (notional) national online reach.

What's the bet they'll do Adelaide next?

Murdoch and the future of newspapers

"Newspapers are in a sad way in America. Readership continues to fall. Advertisers are deserting them for newer forms of media. Revenues are plummeting, as the costs of printing and distribution mount catastrophically. ... In the eyes of many media experts, print journalism, that stubborn 15th-century technology, appears at long last to be on its deathbed.

"Except that Murdoch is investing in it."

Read the Full article in the Atlantic Monthly.

Rainy Monday (holiday) reading

Rob Curley’s response to this week's WSJ article on LoudounExtra.com [via AD]

Steve Ballmer on changes in technology and the media (and Yahoo!) [via Cameron]


Lawrence Lessig talks about the link between battling government corruption and media reform

ninemsn execs abandon ship

Tony Faure, the head of ninemsn has quit as chief executive claiming he is "not the right person" to take the business forward.

This is in addition to Chris Noone resigning as head of mobile. And it follows recent departures of commercial director Jason Scott, marketing director Tony Thomas who quit in March, and Jane O’Connell, the head of content and network innovation who quit in December and is now working for ninemsn partner Microsoft in Singapore. Scott has also turned up at MSN's Asia Pacific operation.

It's not a good look.

Wonder how much is attributable to the private equity influence?

Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley have you heard

The man has gone, but the beat lives on.