A Tale of TWO PAPERS: How to Fix the euro and erase the fixings
DRAWING A BLANK ON EURO SOLUTION
All hail a new experiment in open-sourced journalism, kicked off yesterday by the Guardian. The paper, edited by Alan Rusbridger (pictured) has generously opened up its daily news list for feedback from readers throughout the day, detailing the gist of most of the stories vying for space in its pages. The Capitalist naturally scrolled speedily to the business section to pick the great brains of her rivals. Everything seemed to be proceeding swimmingly – stories all assigned, boxes filled in, from Dexia’s bailout to the award for the Nobel prize for economics. With one rather crucial exception: “What is the plan to save the euro?” ran the summary for one of the evening stories under consideration. The column next to it? Blank.
ASSET STRIPPERS
IT IS three months now since Rupert Murdoch closed the News of the World, but the tabloid has already been erased from newspaper history. Any NoTW refugees wanting to collect their belongings from their old newsroom were told they had to make an appointment, then collect their possessions from tables within a ghostly hangar in the old News International site. “The entire newsroom was stripped bare almost immediately after the paper closed,” said The Capitalist’s man in Wapping. “All that remained were the four walls – there was no sign that the News of the World ever existed.” Some of the keenest trophy hunters unscrewed framed stories from the walls. No doubt some will turn up on eBay soon, along with the swathe of final editions on offer.