Recently in Graeme Whitfield Category

Debate continues to rage Rupert Murdoch's decision to charge for access to The Sun and the Times' websites, with most people in the industry saying he'll probably fail (but secretly hoping he'll succeed so they can do it too: just like when he smashed the print unions.)

The Guardian have called charging for online content "stupid" but also signalled that they might launch a "members' club", in which subscribers could get access to additional content that can't be replicated elsewhere.

I do, though, like the great Charlie Brooker's contribution to the debate, a column entitled "You know what'll save newspapers? Magic coins." (You can read it here.)

Not much, I would reckon, particularly as it's been free for the last 18 months.

I ask because Rupert Murdoch has announced this morning that he is soon going to charge for access to his news websites, including the sites of The Sun, News of the World and the Times.

Would you pay for news on the net? I'd be surprised if you would when there are so many other sources of news online that you can get for free.

The sad death of Sir Bobby Robson was that rare thing in newspapers: a happening momentous enough to literally hold the presses.

We first got an inkling of what had happened early on but had to hold back on publication until we were 100% sure. From there people had to work at breakneck speed to get the story in the Evening Chronicle.

What made it unusual was that Sir Bobby was a person who most journos in this office - normally a bunch of sourfaced, hard-bitten soaks - had genuinely affection for, some as personal friends, some merely as fans.

The Journal gets regular emails from North News, a Newcastle-based press agency who supply stories to regional and national newspapers.

To get tales noticed, they tend to put a lot of keywords into the subject of their emails which can lead to some amusing titles.

I particularly like one which arrived this week titled "BUM WRAP - MAN CAUGHT WITH HEROIN INSIDE KINDER EGG UP HIS BACKSIDE."

I didn't think I'd be writing about job losses in our newsroom quite so quickly after the last round of redundancies.

Having only re-organised in January - merging The Journal, Evening Chronicle and Sunday Sun into joint newsgathering and production teams - people were a bit shocked last week when the company asked for more volunteers.

Last time round, we were asked to do more with less and that seemed a big ask. At least time we're being asked to do less with less, but that does mean a few titles closing.

I'm not bugging your phone, honest: budgets in here are so tight that we can barely afford our own phones, never mind hacking into other people's.

Today's Guardian story about an alleged culture of illegal phone bugging at the News of the World has been great fun. For journos on local papers, it's very much a case of how the other half lives.

Some people will, I'm sure, tar all journalists with the same brush and assume we're all up to the dark arts. I can assure you that here at the Journal and Chronicle, we have to get our information by that old fashioned (and cheap) method of talking to people...

There were two interesting stories on race issues in the news this morning.

First off, the Royal College of Midwives made mincemeat of the British National Party over its claims that immigration is fuelling a crisis in NHS maternity care, pointing out that it is only immigrant midwives that keep the service going.

Secondly, Lord Carlile, the independent reviewer of anti-terror laws, said that police were using anti-terror laws to stop and search innocent people to avoid suggestions of racial bias.

This newsroom blog has of late turned into something of a funeral procession.

Barely a week goes by without someone predicting the death of the regional press, and today two leading industry figures have said that a "perfect storm" of falling income and rising costs could see half of the UK's local papers close within five years.

Christopher Thomson, chief executive of newspaper and magazine publisher DC Thompson & Co, and Claire Enders, chief executive of media research firm Enders Analysis, painted a bleak picture in evidence to the Commons culture, media and sport committee.

You may think that it is only television that can use incomprehensible graphics to spice up their election coverage.

But oh no. Below is a pie chart showing the votes garnered by candidates in last week's parish elections in Ashington. It was sent to us by Northumberland County Council and as you can see, it doesn't really tell you a whole lot about the poll, but I think it is rather beautiful.

I know what you're thinking: just who is the cleverest reporter in the new Journal/Chronicle newsroom?

For the last few weeks I have been running a daily quiz among the specialists in here and the current leaders are our political reporters Adrian Pearson and Amy Hunt.

The first person to 100 will officially be named the Cleverest Reporter but seeing as the current leaders currently have a score of 12, this could go on for a while. Rest assured that I'll keep you updated on the scores...