The New York Times can't catch a break. Just before the launch of Rupert Murdoch's planned Wall Street Journal metro section, the cash-strapped publication lost its stranglehold on one of the few places where people still read print newspapers—Starbucks. For nearly a decade, the Times was the only national paper sold at 6,500 Starbucks locations nationwide, Advertising Age reports. But starting soon, the chain will begin hawking copies of USA Today beside the Gray Lady. A Times spokeswoman said the paper is "delighted" to share Starbucks' shelf-space. "Customers will have more choices, just like they do online and on every newsstand," she said. But how will the Times feel when Murdoch starts trying to get the Journal into Starbucks? more ›

Your print edition of the NY Times may be getting slimmer and slimmer. According to the Observer's sources, "The New York Times plans to eliminate several weekly sections, including its stand-alone City Section," plus "There are also discussions to eliminate the regional weeklies in New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester and Connecticut, and the Friday Escapes section as well." This is the latest in a series of moves that the newspaper is taking to cut costs (last week, layoffs and salary cuts were announced) and it seems the City section, which arrived on Sundays with lengthy features about blog commenters and the subway, may only have four more issues left. Here are Times executive editor Bill Keller's remarks to the newsroom—one question left unanswered: What will the Weekender do?!? Also, last October is when the Metro section was rolled into Section A. more ›

News of the troubled newspaper industry was the second story on The Daily Show last night (following Blago, natch). There's the Tribune declaring bankruptcy, the fate of papers all over the country in peril, and, of course, the "sodomy-loving" NY Times' worsening fiscal situation. Noting how the Times is taking out a $225 million mortgage on their new headquarters in Midtown, Jon Stewart said, "This after an earlier plan to lease the building as a jungle gym for French douchebags proved unprofitable. So, the NY Times response to a fiscal crisis brought on by irresponsible mortgages is...to take out another mortgage." more ›