DOES CONVERGENCE WORK?
The answer, of course is: "It depends." Mark Glaser, in this Online Journalism Review article, "Business Side of Convergence Has Myths, Some Real Benefits," has this message: "Combined news units aren't going to save much money in staff or operations, and revenues won't boom. Instead, cross-promotion and brand-building are what sells convergence." Glaser canvassed publishers and managers at converged operations and offers a good sense of how news operations have adopted more realistic expectations about the benefits of convergence. What are your convergence tales? Tell us.

ONLINE CLASSIFIED THREAT
Have you heard of craigslist? If you haven't, listen up: one person with a good idea and a good computer network can undermine the profit center of American newspapers. See this Online Journalism Review article: "Nerd Values Help Propel Tiny Craigslist Into Classifieds Threat." Craig Newmark started the community site as a hobby, but it soon became a San Francisco area institution for selling cars, getting jobs and finding sex." And it's spread beyond the Bay Area to 45 cities, with more to come. If your city's not on the list, it could be soon. The idea is that classifieds can be more than "just" advertising. They can actually help build community. And every time another online organization builds such a community locally, it chips away at the newspaper franchise. Don't say you haven't been warned!

MORE CREATIVE BLOGGING

AP bloggers Nancy Benac and Walter Mears

Walter Mears, retired AP political writer, covered every presidential campaign from 1960 to 2000. He wrote an excellent book, "Deadlines Past: Forty Years Of Presidential Campaigning: A Reporter's Story." Last fall, we were on an APME conference panel together, and I suggested he'd make a terrific blogger. He initially laughed off the idea, but now he's agreed to come out of retirement to blog the political conventions this summer for AP. Mears will pair with Nancy Benac to provide running commentary, insight and news tidbits from the Democratic and Republican conventions. It's terrific news for readers, and a welcome recognition from AP that their news-delivery method is a perfect fit for this online story-telling form.

Another political reporter, Betsy Z. Russell, is the Boise, Idaho, bureau chief of The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash. She just finished covering a terrorism trial in Boise. In addition to regular print articles, she wrote 130 blog posts during the eight-week trial, and took a few pictures with her camera phone. As Poynter's Steve Outing suggests here, "This is surely how more and more newspaper reporters will be working in the near future."

FEATURED WEB SITE
Looking for practical tips on how to improve your Web site? Jonathan Dube has put together a handy guide, "101 ways to improve your news site."

The online portion of today's edition was written by Ken Sands, managing editor of online and new media, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash., and a member of the APME Board of Directors.