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Former staff members of the failed Denver newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News, will launch a daily, Denver orientated Web publication on Monday, the Associated Press reported on Friday. 'The Rocky Mountain Independent' will receive input from a dozen equity owners, about a dozen freelancers and collaborative blogs.

Steve Foster, co-editor at the Web site, said that the owners have invested enough to get the publication through three months of publishing before it would have to begin to finance its own existence.

The site is already seeking advertisers.

The Rocky Mountain Independent is also receiving contributions from founders of the failed online venture, InDenverTimes. The Web site was pulled after subscription targets were not reached.

Two of Ireland's free dailies, Metro and Herald AM, have announced they will merge, Newspaper Innovation reported.

The result of the merger will be the Metro Herald, which will be owned by Associated Newspapers, The Irish Times and Independent News and Media, after Metro International sells its shares in the paper.

The circulation of the new paper is expected to be the same as the combined circulation of the two independent papers, totalling approximately 70,000.

U.K newspaper group, The Trinity Mirror, has revealed the proposed closure of nine local newspapers in the Midlands area, a move that will see 120 jobs lost, The Financial Times reported on Thursday.

The Trinity Mirror has already closed 27 titles, sold four regional newspapers and cut 1,200 staff over the past 12 months.

Independent News & Media (INM) has sold 7.4 percent of its stake in Indian publishing company, Jagran Prakashan (JPL), in order to pay down debt while the company continues to rearrange its €200 million debt load, Media Guardian reported Thursday. The-Irish based media group has reduced its 20.8 percent share in JPL to 13.5 percent.

The company hopes to raise €22 million from the sale, which will be then used to "pay down debt and enhance the liquidity of the company during the ongoing standstill period." The first €15 million will go to refund the working credit facility granted by the company's banks, as part of the standstill arrangement, in May.

A law passed this week in Washington state will grant a 40 percent tax break to newspapers Editor & Publisher reported.

House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, who sponsored the law, said the measure was the government's "way of saying to the newspapers that we do believe you're incredibly important to our state and our democracy."

The tax cut will cost the state an estimated $1.3 million in what is generally considered a symbolic gesture to help aid the newspaper industry. "It's not a bailout, because it's not enough money" Kessler said, echoing Gov. Chris Gregoire's statement that, "I don't want government to be part of the reason that this industry can't make it."

Johnston Press has blocked the use of Facebook for employees of its titles Holdthefrontpage.com reported.

Despite the fact that Johnston Press' own papers have Facebook pages, the company has decided that employees wanting to use the site would have to ask permission from a manager before doing so.

A memo sent to employees said the reason for this decision was due to the fact that "50pc of Johnston Press' outward internet traffic is to the social networking site, Facebook."

Guardian.co.uk continued to draw the most visitors among online UK newspapers through the month of May, with 27.2 million visitors for the month, MediaWeek reported on Wednesday.

Telegraph.co.uk saw a dramatic boost, with 25.2 million unique visitors to the Web site, stimulated by its exposure of the MP misconduct.

In a Nieman Journalism Lab article, Martin Langeveld recently addressed the changing business model of newspapers, and the role that a "restructuring event," or bankruptcy, plays in the transition from the old model to a new one.

Langeveld cites characteristics of a successful business plan for the modern newspaper, such as reduced printing and delivery schedules, and posits that such downsizing and cuts cannot "carry the company's legacy debt load," and thus require chapter 11 to allow for the necessary reorganisation of the paper.

South Africa's oldest independent newspaper, the Grocott's Mail, has shut down its print shop and press after 140 years of operation out of Grahamstown, Dispatch Daily Online reported on Wednesday.

The Mail's general manager Louise Vale said the closure of the historic presses was "a very tough decision."

Federal appellate judge Richard Posner has advocated expanded copyright protection to ensure the future of journalism the Daily Online Examiner reported.

Posner's proposed modifications to copyright law would make news aggregation more difficult for sites such as Google that link to news stories without the consent of the owner of the content.